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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Jan 20, 2009 |
"There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs." Anon
"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there." Barack Obama --- Good luck Mr. President.
PrintingForLess
2009 Montana Legislature
- Andrew Field, CEO of PrintingForLess.com of Livingston, Montana offers SMBs stimulus plan
“Struck by its originality, Forbes.com featured the plan on its home page Friday,” according to a press release from the company.
City Club Missoula
- Republicans want “Google for government”
Republicans Friday rolled out a plan make the state’s spending ledgers searchable online, dubbing the proposed system a “Google for government.”
Montana Ambassadors
- City Club Missoula - Public Safety And The Mentally Ill, 2/9, Missoula, Montana
Come share your comments and ideas regarding this sensitive subject.
Come Home Montana
- The Pacific Northwest Chapter Of The Montana Ambassadors' Evening With Governor Brian Schweitzer, 2/5, Seattle, WA
Please join us for an evening of networking with fellow "friends of Montana" who share a professional and personal interest in Montana business and economic development. The event is free of charge thanks to our sponsors.
Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities
- Montana Career Opportunity - Assistant City Manager/ Finance Director, Whitefish, Montana
Whitefish, Montana is a thriving ski and golf resort community nestled next to beautiful Whitefish Lake and located 25 miles from Glacier National Park. This position is an outstanding opportunity for a person skilled in financial management, governmental accounting, and senior local government management.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Speak Your Piece: With No Commute, I've Got More Time To....
In my hometown, there's no 45-minute commute to work. Or home again. Isn't that something valuable rural communities have to offer?
Montana Business
- Entrepreneurs: Accountant builds business, family from home - Williams & Associates
"At first, it was a way for me to use my skills as an accountant and tax preparer to bring in some income while still being at home for my family," she said. Now, it's a growing company that Williams still runs from home.
Montana Economic Development
- NorthWestern Energy seeks electricity buyers for two upcoming projects
Potential customers will be able to reserve capacity on proposed transmission lines.
- “Best of the Rockies” bed and breakfasts in 2008-09 - Ghost Rails Inn in Alberton, Montana and Good Medicine Lodge in Whitefish, Montana
The Ghost Rails Inn was named one of eight “Best of the Rockies” bed and breakfasts in 2008-09 by Bedandbreakfast.com. Only one other Montana inn, the Good Medicine Lodge in Whitefish, has been on the list since it began in 2003.
- Blackfoot Launches Customer Advisory Council in Missoula
“We strive to be an excellent long term business partner by constantly seeking ways to improve our customer service and provide the services our customers want. At Blackfoot, we not only embrace new ways to do business, we initiate changes that will continue to keep our company’s technology at the forefront of communications.” Joan Mandeville, CEO of Blackfoot
- Peace is on the march - Time4Change in Helena, Montana - Goal is to donate 30 percent of its profits to a different nonprofit each month.
Collins said the firm has sold 150,000 bottles of water (now bottled in Missoula) to date, with a goal of surpassing 1 million by the end of the year.
- Bozeman , Great Falls, Livingston and Missoula predicted among top 25 housing markets for 2009 - Missoula, Mont., home sales drop, but not from subprimes
Housing Predictor, a national online real estate research firm, is forecasting that Bozeman and four other Montana cities will be among the top 25 U.S. housing markets in 2009
Regional Economic Development
- Econ '09: Turbine plans by Chafin/Fuhrländer still in works in Butte, Montana -
The partners announced plans in 2008 to begin construction as soon as last fall of a $25 million plant in Butte-Silver Bow's industrial park southwest of town.
- Montana lawmakers weigh in on Obama economic stimulus plan
As the nation prepares for the swearing in of Barack Obama, Montana's lawmakers are already looking ahead to what the President-elect's economic stimulus plan means for the Treasure State.
Careers
- Thin the Forests, Swell the Rural Economy - Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition
Conservation leaders see savings -- of money, lands, and rural economies -- in wiser management of national forests.
Funding and Building your Business
- Career program demonstrated for northwestern North Dakota and eastern Montana.
The program features interactive webcam "conversations" between students in a classroom and workers in high wage or high demand jobs.
Montana Education Excellence
- Blogging your way into the big time - Using internet contacts can lead to myriad opportunities for small firms
Watt found the most popular bloggers in each country and sent free samples to them. Having built a following, they convinced local importers to sell their beer and international orders took off. Today exports account for 80% of sales.
- Failure to Abide by Open Source License Constitutes Copyright Infringement
The significance of this case to software development firms is that it emphasizes the need to establish a system for policing the use of open source code by developers to ensure that if open source code is used, the license governing use of that code is identified, and the terms and conditions of that license are complied with.
- Apply for TechStars - Summer 2009
Get your startup funded and off the ground while learning from the best.
- Planning a Start-Up? Help and Advice Abound
It's hard to start a business alone.
- SBA Offers New Online Resources for Small Businesses to Help with Economic Recovery
Entrepreneurs can take advantage of new, free online training and other resources offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration to assist them during this period of economic recovery.
Idaho Business
- Psyched about science: Hands-on chemistry lesson by University of Montana professor thrills Frenchtown kindergartners
Nearly every professor in UM's chemistry department does some form of outreach education in Missoula schools.
- Chicks In Science 2009, 2/14, Billings -- Register 1/31 - Center Court In Rimrock Mall - 1:00-3:00 P.m.
Chicks in Science is a free one-day event that provides hands-on, minds-on interactive activities to introduce girls in 4th-8th grades to various careers in science, technology, engineering and math; encourage and excite them to pursue educational studies in these areas; and facilitate relationships between the girls and professional women in scientific disciplines.
Oregon Business
- Hoku Announces Arrival of First Polysilicon Reactors in Pocatello; Provides Update on Project Progress and Financing
The German-made reactors are used to produce polycrystalline silicon (also known as wafer silicon), which is in turn used in the fabrication of thin-film solar cells.
Oregon Economic Development
- Can Oregon's climate change plan survive a down economy?
Oregon's economy is putting at risk Gov. Ted Kulongoski's aggressive plans for tackling global warming.
South Dakota Economic Development
- Oregon VC funding held up OK in '08
Oregon startups brought in $186.6 million last year, according to VentureSource, down 11 percent from 2007's $209.8 million.
Utah Economic Development
- Pilot biofuels plant opens in South Dakota
Poet LLC http://www.poetenergy.com/ , the nation's top ethanol producer, has opened the spigots on an $8 million pilot-scale biorefinery at its Scotland, S.D., research center that will produce 20,000 gallons of fuel each year from the corn cobs and fiber normally left behind in fields.
Wyoming Business
- What is a World Trade Center and Why Do We Have One in Utah?
World Trade Centers, many of which are located in prominent real estate in the commercial centers of key cities, bring together businesses and government agencies involved in foreign trade.
Education
- Wyoming coal research facility attracts interest
A proposed coal gasification research facility attracted representatives of about a dozen Wyoming cities, counties and economic development associations that are interested in hosting the public-private project.
- Most of Powell, Wyoming fiber optics completed - Tri-County Telephone
Construction for a citywide fiber optic network began last May. Once complete, fiber-to-the-home service will be available to every house and business in Powell city limits.
Government
- 'What I Want for You — and Every Child in America'
I want us to push the boundaries of discovery so that you'll live to see new technologies and inventions that improve our lives and make our planet cleaner and safer.
Montana Meth Project
- Montana Governor Schweitzer releases Cabinet, staff salaries
The Missoulian's State Bureau requested the salaries from Schweitzer, who was re-elected in November, after getting salaries in recent weeks of the appointed officials hired by the four newly elected statewide elected officials.
Other Economies
- New worries about meth trends - Montana leads the way in U.S. success in curbing meth - The Montana Meth Project
The NDIC report projects these trends – more and larger-scale smurfing operations, more small-time labs, and more labs moving north from Mexico – to continue pushing up meth production. It also warns of Mexican producers circumventing import restrictions by smuggling ingredients from legal sources in South America. And it notes that an increasing amount of Ecstasy, another illegal stimulant, is being made with meth to make it more addictive.
Community
- Is Satyam Really India's Enron?
"India's Enron" is how the country's commentators are (predictably) characterizing Satyam Computers following the resignation this week of its founder and chairman, B. Ramalinga Raju, amid revelations of widespread accounting fraud at the global IT service provider.
Connectivity & Communications
- Celebrate the power of service on Martin Luther King Day
Tens of thousands of projects are planned across the country. Here in our state, Montana Campus Compact has information to help you find local and statewide projects at http://www.mtcompact.org.
- 13 NEW community-friendly grant opportunities
- Pete Seeger & Bruce Springsteen - "This Land is Your Land" - The Obama Inaugural Celebration Concert
This land is our land....what have you done for it today?
Energy
- Twitter Spreads News Of U.S. Airways Crash In An Instant
Expect to see more news breaking via Twitter rather than traditional media outlets.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Industry, environmentalists gang up on climate - The United States Climate Action Partnership
The United States Climate Action Partnership - whose members include PG&E Corp., oil giant BP and the Natural Resources Defense Council - called for setting hard limits on the amount of carbon dioxide produced each year by the American economy, with the limits declining steadily over time.
- Barack Obama Essay: Martin Luther King Day
The state of our union and challenges of a new century demand that we move beyond the old debates and stale arguments. We must focus today not on the dogmas of left and right, but on practical answers to the difficult problems of our times.
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