The State with the Best Education Wins!
	MATR Newsletter - Fri Aug 31, 2007

This MATR newsletter sponsored by: Add an event... Upcoming Events A Billionaire Fights Meth Addiction In Montana, 8/31. PBS Technology On The Green, 9/5, Missoula Managing Conflict in the Workplace, 09/05, Bozeman Sustainable Transportation Conference "Going Clean – Going Green", 9/6-7, University Of Montana, Missoula MATR supporter: New Events A Billionaire Fights Meth Addiction In Montana, 8/31. PBS Sustainable Transportation Conference "Going Clean – Going Green", 9/6-7, University Of Montana, Missoula MSU College Of Business Hosts Annual Family Business Day, 9/21, Bozeman, MT The Power of Angel Investing, 10/09, Whitefish, MT Tech Transfer Conference, 10/24-26, University Of California, Riverside 2007 Environmental Sensing Symposium, 10/25-26, Boise, Idaho MATR supporter: MATR Web services provided by: To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page

”I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous - everyone hasn't met me yet.” - Rodney Dangerfield

Montana is experiencing a critical shortage of psychiatrists. If you know of anyone who would like to relocate to Montana and contribute to the mental health community, please pass this along. Thanks, Russ -- The Psychiatrists Aren't In Montana.. Montana Career Opportunity - Psychiatrist - Missoula, Montana http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html

Come Home Montana

• Sidney, Montana organizations attempt to attract businesses to area
  There are several contributing factors for the business closures recently, including retirements, health issues, family members passing away and lack of work force.


• The Psychiatrists Aren't In Montana.. Montana Career Opportunity - Psychiatrist - Missoula, Montana
  Where do 600 people turn when their psychiatrist retires? In Missoula, they’re turned out.


• Businessman optimistic about Laurel, Montana's future
  "I think it's time, an opportunity to see positive results for downtown, more so than I've ever seen," Rankin said. "There's momentum."

Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities

• Study: Work, commute affect sleep
  "You could argue there's a hidden cost to living in suburbia," adds Gregory Belenky, director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University in Spokane. People who live in sprawling urban areas often make a long workday even longer when they try to run errands on clogged roads, he says.

Funding and Building your Business

• SBA and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Reach AgreementTo Enhance Disaster Response and Recovery
  “This collaboration will establish a larger corps of potential responders, made up of business leaders, the SBA and its resource partners, ready on short notice to help disaster victims rebuild their lives,” SBA Administrator Steve Preston said.


• Patent Law Gets Saner
  The Supreme Court sent a message to "patent trolls": your paydays are numbered.


• Four Important Things to Know Before You Sell Your Company
  Here are a few of the basics to be prepared for when contemplating selling your company.


• Business cards flourishing in Web-based world
  People are desperate to distinguish themselves with wildly colorful and multitextured formats


• SBA Loan Programs
  Here are some of the loan programs offered by the SBA.


• Inside Entrepreneurship: Taking the first steps to start a business
  Here's an easy checklist of administrative tasks to help you set up your business right from the start.

Business Plan Forums

• Bend Venture Conference 2007 Invites Seed and Early Stage Companies to Pitch Regional Investors
  Finalists will be competing for an investment worth at least $100,000.

Education

• The ABCs Of Fast Growth - Tech Firms Plug Into Education
  "The volume of opportunity in education technology is far greater than it was five years ago," said Frank Bonsal III, a Baltimore venture capitalist. He is trying to raise money to start a fund to invest in education companies.

Montana Meth Project

• A Billionaire Fights Meth Addiction In Montana, 8/31. PBS
  This Friday, PBS' NOW will air a story on the Montana Meth Project as part of its "Enterprising Ideas" series, which highlights the world's leading social entrepreneurs and how they are using business tools to tackle major social problems.

Connectivity & Communications

• Japan's Warp-Speed Ride to Internet Future. Most UK households now have broadband Internet
  Broadband service here is eight to 30 times as fast as in the United States -- and considerably cheaper.


• People-search engines try to be more specific than Google
  Rather than scouring the entire Internet, these search engines troll only Web sites that are rich with personal information.


• New Social-Networking Sites Let Professionals Rub Virtual Elbows
  Social networking, popularized by teens sharing information with their friends online on Web sites such as Facebook Inc., is now blooming in the business world, thanks to new social networks that enable professionals and executives in industries such as advertising and finance to rub virtual elbows with colleagues.


• Japan plans R&D on Internet replacement
  Many scientists are starting to believe a totally new network is needed. It could run parallel with the Internet or eventually replace it, or parts of the research could go into a major overhaul of the existing architecture.


• Municipal Wi-Fi Woes Spread
  Plans in San Francisco, Houston and Chicago to build municipal wireless networks were cast into disarray by the struggles of Earthlink, which laid off nearly half of its workforce and indicated it might back off from the Wi-Fi business.

Cool Stuff That's Coming

• Star Trek medical device uses ultrasound to seal punctured lungs
  "Doctors will scan the body from the outside, recognize where the injury is, focus the beam on the injury and use the beams to seal the wound," Jurkovich said. The futuristic medical technology's promise is substantial, he said. "It would be non-invasive and it would stop the bleeding from the outside. When it happens, that's going to revolutionize how we would care for some of these injuries."

Incubators and R&D

• University of Washington researchers find that human derived stem cells can repair rat hearts damaged by heart attack
  When human heart muscle cells derived from embryonic stem cells are implanted into a rat after a heart attack, they can help rebuild the animal's heart muscle and improve function of the organ, scientists report in the September issue of Nature Biotechnology.


• Rural women needed for chronic illness study
  "We rural people are sometimes isolated from the real world. It was great to be part of something that not only helps yourself but others as well."


• Research Roundup at Montana State University (#271), Montana's un-dinosaurs, Bacteria, dead or alive?, Summer job, added value, Artificial knees
  McLeod wants to develop a small, lightweight device that can fight infection from outside the body. He is focusing on knee implants.


• Montana State University engineering students help Leonardo Technologies Inc. find energy solutions
  Simply burning vegetable oil or diesel fuel in an engine is really not that efficient.

Regional Business

• Colorado startup telco, Zayo Bandwidth lands $225 million. Venture capital funds fiber-optic acquisitions
  The access to nearly one-quarter of a billion dollars of investment capital represents one of the biggest venture capital commitments to a Colorado company in recent years. It also reflects confidence in the demand for bandwidth that transports Internet and data traffic.


• Tech stars build $355 million investment "Invention Development Fund"
  Invention Development's filing says the Bellevue-based fund could grow to as much as $1 billion. At that size, it would be larger than any other single Northwest venture capital or private-equity fund, and would rank alongside some of the largest funds in Silicon Valley.

The Creative and Cultural Economy

• Is There a Need for a Youth Arts Center in a Small Community? An Exploratory Investigation
  Survey results indicate strong support for the concept of a Youth Art Center from both the demand (students and parents) and supply (artist) sides.

Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana

• The Power of Angel Investing, 10/09, Whitefish, MT
  Seminar is offered by the Education Committee of the Frontier Angel Fund, LLC http://www.frontierangels.com to grow expertise and knowledge about direct investment in entrepreneurial enterprises.

Montana Business

• Timec arrival in Billings, Montana stirs interest among industrial work force
  "The office has been crazy, standing room only."

Legislative Newsletters

• Sen Baucus' August Newsletter
  Well it has been an incredible month here at home.

Montana Economic Development

• Testing Great Falls employment pool's water makes sense
  It's an unnamed Fortune 500 company's strategy of setting two towns — including Great Falls — against each other in a job-application competition.


• Commerce Director Anthony Preite to Present More than $1.3 Million in Funding to Cascade & Pondera Counties for Economic Development Projects
  “These grants are essential to the ongoing economic development efforts in North Central Montana,” said Governor Brian Schweitzer. “These types of public-private partnerships maximize the benefits that economic development brings to our local communities.”


• Montana women among lowest income earners in country
  According to new Census data, Montana is in the bottom five among states.


• Bresnan putting Wi-Fi access in downtown Billings, Montana
  "Many metropolitans around the United States have launched these networks," he said. "We consider ourselves part of the economic development community. ... We wanted to keep with our mission of bringing the most advanced technology to Montana."


• Montana Senator Jon Tester tours dams, explores options for wind power
  As U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., flies over the sprawling system of hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River Basin, he can’t help but think this power network could play a role in boosting renewable energy in Montana.


• Kentucky ammunition maker, A-Square relocating to Butte, Montana
  Alphin said he will hire gradually while training employees. He hopes to have 24 workers by 2010.


• Montana jobs plentiful, but pay rate ranks 49th
  "To move up in rankings requires a tremendous amount of economic growth," Eldredge said. "We're moving in the right direction, but we're not going to be in the middle of the pack overnight."


• The Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Needs Your Input
  We need to know what questions you feel should be answered in the travel and recreation industry of Montana.


• The September MEDA Online News
  Thanks to the generosity of PPL Montana and MEDA, MEDA members will receive a reduced registration rate.


• Glacier National Park could see nearly $6 million in projects
  If funding does come through, here's a list of projects Glacier could see fairly soon:


• Fortune 500 Financial firm sniffs out Montana
  The Big Sky Economic Development Authority is helping an unnamed Fortune 500 company recruit transaction processors to work in the financial services industry in the Billings area.

Regional Economic Development

• "Rural Development and Natural Resources Research Mini-Grant Program"
  We are looking for research focusing on: rural economic development, energy, entrepreneurship opportunities, green technologies, land/water and the economic interface with rural communities as well as forest resources.


• Alaska Unveils Online Training for Workforce Development
  The Work Ready/College Ready program allows students and adult job-seekers to gauge their readiness for work, college and occupational training, and to improve the basic skills valued by employers and educators.

Utah Economic Development

• FiberTEK Insulation to Locate Manufacturing Facility in Nephi, Utah
  The central Utah location will provide FiberTEK with the ability to service the Western US building industry with a wide range of premium insulation products.


• Utah Fund of Funds Supports, Applauds Zions Bank Venture Lending Progress
  In venture lending, the financing institution provides debt capital sometimes accompanied by relatively small warrants (options to purchase equity) rather than the straight equity ownership characteristic of traditional venture capital.

Government Technology

• The Power of Enterprise 2.0 for Healthcare Delivery
  Government-run health care providers aren't usually the type of organizations that embrace emerging technology, but the ones that do often see tremendous benefits.

Washington State Business

• Diving for dollars. "The odds of coming back alive? Excellent. The odds of getting your money back? Fair."
  DeepSea investors would not be passive. For their money, they become "Citizen Explorers" with the opportunity to dive themselves, a lure that has already snagged a 79-year-old woman Zajonc met on a Titanic expedition. She wants to dive again.


• Small Business Development to Join with Washington State University Economic Development Office
  “It is our hope that the SBDC can help lead a state-wide emphasis on entrepreneurship,” said Gardner. “We want to see small business applications that fit locally – rural or urban, technology-based or service-based.”

Wyoming Business

• The Forward Cody Economic Development Campaign nets $1.2 million, moves into final phase of fundraising
  Work includes a four-year plan to expand and retain existing businesses, recruit new businesses to create high-wage jobs, train and recruit workers and expand affordable housing options in the city.


• Nuclear cowboys rush Wyoming
  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission anticipates license applications for 31 new nuclear reactors in the United States over the next 10 to 15 years.


• Jackson Hole, Wyoming developer proposes affordable-homes twist
  proposes to construct 125 traditional affordable homes and 375 units of "Homestead Ownership," a new category of home for those who work in Teton County.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

• Clive Thompson Explains Why We Can Count on Geeks to Rescue the Earth
  The answer lies in the psychology of numeracy — how we understand numbers.

Montana Education/Business Partnerships

• Student Assistance Foundation and Montana Chamber Foundation partner to offer $18,000 in annual scholarships to High School Business Challenge students
  Not only does HSBC expose students to business and life investment skills that they can ‘put to work’ in the future, we know how important postsecondary education is and we want to encourage graduates to take that next step.


• University of Montana seeks grad students
  Enhancing UM’s graduate enrollment is a “direct correlation” between economic development and graduate enrollments and research.

Careers

• Advice for Female Managers On Developing a Leadership Style
  Developing a leadership style is a challenge for most young managers, but particularly for young women.

Non-Profit News

• The Montana Natural History Center receives $800k Grant from the Kendeda Fund
  "That wonderful grant will allow us to purchase that building and clear our debt. It's a great opportunity."


• Raising Richard - Breaking the pay scale at Project Vote Smart in Philipsburg, Montana
  Project Vote Smart gave its president, Richard Kimball, a $400,000 bonus during the 2005-2006 fiscal year. Vote Smart, a group that advocates openness and clarity in American politics, has not been forthcoming about Kimball’s compensation


• Nonprofit Organizations Have Hard Time Finding Tech Talent
  For nonprofits trying to finding IT workers, 70% say the task is extremely challenging or somewhat challenging.

Energy

• Gas-Powered Car Ban Proposed In England
  Politicians in England looking for ways to comply with a nationwide goal of carbon-neutrality by 2050 have proposed a phase-out of gas-fueled cars by the year 2040.

Transportation

• Gateway airline adds 2nd Montana city to schedule
  Billings is the second Montana city that will see flights from Williams Gateway, joining Missoula.


• Sustainable Transportation Conference "Going Clean – Going Green", 9/6-7, University Of Montana, Missoula
  UM’s Environmental Action Community is organizing the event, "Sustainable Transportation – Going Clean – Going Green."

Montana Education Excellence

• Mortenson challenges MSU students to change the world
  "People bring peace. And one of the most important things we can do to bring peace is to educate all children."


• Engineering a new way to see dinosaurs
  "When we excavate a dinosaur, we're trying to preserve a story," Peterson said. "We already have a pretty good idea of what dinosaurs looked like. But the way the bones are in the ground may tell us something about how they lived and died. Currently, we lose a lot of that story in excavation."

Community

• The Percentage of Rural Children Living In Poverty Rises
  Child poverty rates increased in rural America during the first six years of the century even as poverty rates nationally declined.


• Montana Chamber Foundation supports "Path to Eden" project to welcome newcomers
  Webb Brown, Montana Chamber Foundation Executive Vice President said "We look forward to working with the newest Montanans, as well as those with the most longevity."

VIRUS ALERTS

• Monster: Millions of users' data may have been stolen
  "We're assuming it is a large number. It could easily be in the millions."

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