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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Oct 21, 2008 |
What's the difference between an investment banker and a pigeon? The pigeon is still capable of leaving a deposit on a new Ferrari.
Alberta Business and Economic Development
Idaho National Laboratory
- High Stakes in Canada’s Vast Oil-Sands Fields
“Canada represented 20 percent last year of US oil imports. By 2020, it could easily represent 40 percent.”
City Club Missoula
- Energy Department retains INL contractor, Battelle Energy Alliance until 2014
"Now we have to continue the momentum in making the INL a truly world-class laboratory during what will likely be challenging economic times," Sellers said. "I believe we're up for the challenge."
Making the Most of the American Prairie
- The Nature Conservancy's Legacy Project of Plum Creek Land Purchase discussed at City Club Missoula
"What we have here in Montana is something that's really on a worldwide scale, is something remarkable. Unique. And it's still intact. I think there are twelve eco-systems that are still intact and functioning worldwide and we have one of them here in our backyard. And so the worldwide organization really recognizes the importance of this," said Nature Conservancy Board Member, Cooper Burchenal.
Come Home Montana
- Climate change factors into conservationist buys
The Nature Conservancy is using ClimateWizard, a computer program that can show how temperatures have changed over the past 100 years and how they're likely to change in the future. It is also updating its strategies to preserve ecosystems in the face of development, agricultural runoff, roads and overfishing.
Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities
- Montana Career Opportunities - Software Testers, Software Support Technicians - Edulog.com
Since 1977, edulog has been the most respected and popular choice for school district transportation and planning professionals.
Montana Business
- Home Sweet Office: Telecommute Good for Business, Employees, and Planet. Scrap the office entirely
Companies shouldn't just be doing all they can to expand telecommuting — they should be scrapping their offices entirely. No, not turning them into toy-filled communal spaces, as advertising titan Chiat/Day infamously did in the early-'90s, but abandoning them outright.
Montana Economic Development
- Glacier National Park: Mountain majesty
Northwest Montana is deserving of Steinbeck’s affection. The northern Rockies are blanketed by pine forests and capped with snow. The lakes are vast and a brilliant blue, and the grasses are wild and colorful. Wildlife is almost everywhere.
- How Professional Services Firms Can Help Clients Impacted by the Economic Crisis
Significant opportunities exist for professional services firms with the ability to quickly adapt to current volatile market conditions. But opinions on how to do that are rife. A new report helps cut through the chatter.
- Wind turbine plant still on track in Butte
Gov. Brian Schweitzer announced the project in March and said the facility would create about 150 jobs.
Regional Economic Development
- Housing Application Workshops & Consolidated Plan Public Meeting, 10/29, Missoula
Representatives from various agencies will present overviews of their housing programs, requirements for applications and deadlines. In addition, a Consolidated Plan public meeting will be held.
- Housing Application Workshops & Consolidated Plan Public Meeting, 10/30, Great Falls
Representatives from various agencies will present overviews of their housing programs, requirements for applications and deadlines. In addition, a Consolidated Plan public meeting will be held.
- $40 Million tax credit allocation awarded to Montana Community Development Corporation
The award is the first for a Montana organization, and the only Montana award out of $3.5 billion awarded on Monday.
- Montana energy projects moving ahead despite downturn
"It's not going to be them going to Wall Street and saying, 'Please can I have some money to build a new well.' Big oil and little oil have been drilling a lot of wells and making a lot of money," Schweitzer said. "I fully anticipate they're going to continue to invest that."
- Missoula eyes $50 million from feds for biking, walking trails
With an already active population and existing infrastructure, Missoula is poised to be a pilot program.
Funding and Building your Business
- Note to Next President: Modern-Day WPA Will Save the Economy
History shows us the time to act is now.
- U.S. solar boom to include manufacturing, too
Solar companies have determined that it makes economic sense to manufacture close to your market, because among other factors it reduces shipping costs.
Montana Education Excellence
- Angel Investors Get Picky
Competition for startup cash is tougher than ever, and companies that might have sought venture capital in the past are turning to angels
- Crisis drying up venture funds - Rattled investors gradually cutting cash flow to startups
As it becomes increasingly difficult to cash out of their previous investments, venture capitalists are gradually closing their financial spigots in what could be the start of a long dry spell for entrepreneurs.
- 7 Steps To Selling Your Small Business
Reviewing these seven considerations can help you build a solid plan and make negotiations a success.
- Capital still available for SBA loans
"The biggest challenge of small business is capital."
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Montana parents express opinions on school choice
According to a release by the Montana Family Foundation, only one in 10 voters would opt for regular public schools.
Idaho Business
- New West Health Services has created the “Health Care for Montanans” Scholarship Program and is partnering with Montana’s institutions of higher learning to award the scholarships to Montana students.
The Program is aimed at students studying for Montana careers in health care fields, many of which are facing a shortage of professional workers.
North Dakota Business and Economic Development
- Idaho Department of Labor helps displaced Micron workers
Services include information about unemployment insurance, retraining, and a program for employees who have lost their jobs because of overseas competition.
South Dakota Economic Development
- North DakotaTrade Office launches export program
The Trade Office has hired Mike Seifert, a business development specialist, to lead a team of professionals who will work with North Dakota manufacturers and producers of value-added foods to overcome production capacity issues that limit exports.
Utah Business
- New Genesis of Innovation (South Dakota) Website
You will notice a lot of new features, including a Resource and Contact guide for the entire State.
- Small business loans acquired in South Dakota up
The state recorded an 8 percent increase in SBA loans, while the number of loans nationwide dropped 29 percent.
Washington State Business
- Tech company Fusion-io of Salt Lake City getting advice from Apple co-founder's Steve Wozniak
"It's a pretty wide-ranging conversation. Steve is a pretty impressive individual," Fusion-io CEO Don Basile said Friday.
Community
- Washington State University failed to verify references for the new now-former provost
A consultant did all the reference checks, Floyd said, without the search committee or the university doing any independent verification.
Connectivity & Communications
- Road Closures, Pedestrianization Key to Successful Urbanization
Inspired by a visionary Dane, communities around the world are reacquainting their citizens with the joys of walking and cycling. Can cities in climate-challenged Canada get off car-free as well?
Energy
- 88 Percent Polled Never Used Mobile Web
Mobile marketing plans that rely solely on mobile web (clicking a link to mobile web page) only reach approximately 12% of US mobile subscribers.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Five great green TED talks
The Technology, Engineering, and Design, or TED, conference announced its 2009 prizewinners Thursday.
Government Technology
- Future planes, cars may be made of 'buckypaper'
Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass.
Transportation
- Broadband Toolkit Assists Virginia's Rural Communities
How can rural local governments expect development without broadband access?
- Making Western states bicycle-friendly... worst of the region, my state, Montana (44). Ouch!
Having a statewide advisory council was also a major factor, something Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming all need to get going.
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