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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Jul 19, 2011 |
"Until the power of love overcomes the love of power, our world will never know peace." - Jimi Hendrix (Thanks to Marge Wieferich of Missoula)
The 2011 "Managing in Montana" HR Tour is now available for registration. http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- The NorthWest GIS User Group Has Open Positions For Its Board of Directors - Montana has always been a part of this group. Step up to represent Montana! http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Montana Department of Commerce
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- SBA can help innovators get started
The SBIR program is a highly competitive three-phase award program that encourages small businesses to explore their technological potential and helps the profit from their inventions.
Hellgate Venture Network
- State asks counties to plan for electronic textbooks
Florida schools are preparing for a state-mandated shift from print to digital textbooks by 2015. Florida, Indiana, and Louisiana are among states that have added Discovery Education's TechBook, a digital textbook for teaching K-8 science, to their list of approved core curriculum resources for this fall. And Texas recently passed a law that lets districts use state textbook money to buy digital materials.
- Why Illinois might be a model for education reform
The bill made dramatic policy changes in how teachers earn tenure, how layoff decisions are made, when teachers may be dismissed for poor performance, and what's necessary for them to strike.
- 6th graders build math instructional videos to teach each other.
Eric Marcos, 6th grade math teacher at Lincoln Middle School, Santa Monica, CA, discuss how students in the class are building math instructional videos and teaching one another.
- Our Broken Escalator
"We've gotten to the point where we can no longer 'do no harm.' We're starting to eviscerate education."
- Program provides weekend meals for low-income kids
Locally, Food4Kids is setting up food pantries in local middle and high schools where students may access food for the weekend as needed.
The Burton K. Wheeler Center
- Hellgate Venture Network, 7/28, Missoula, Montana
Our next meeting will be an informal networking and drinks event at the Ten Spoon Winery in the Rattlesnake, starting at 5pm.
Visit Montana
- The Burton K. Wheeler Center - Medical Marijuana in Montana - Thoughtful Questions - Responsible Answers - Helena, Montana - 9/19-20
What then, is the future of medical cannabis use in Montana? In September, the non-partisan Wheeler Center at Montana State University will host a gathering in Helena which to explore this important issue.
Come Home Montana
- A little slice of heaven: Montana's Beartrap Ranch offers unique stays for guests
"You won't find anything like it anywhere."
Come Home North Dakota
- Montana Career Opportunity - GIS Analyst - Cartographer - State of Montana
This position serves as a senior transportation planner and GIS application expert within the Road Inventory and Mapping Section and is responsible for planning and managing statewide GIS data and mapping projects and services.
- Montana Career Opportunity - Professional IT and Marketing Support Associate - A Meeting By Design
Our busy meeting and travel management company seeks a creative individual with excellent communication and customer service skills to join our team.
- Montana Career Opportunity - Marketing Coordinator - Red Lodge Mountain Resort
Position is responsible for graphic design in all print and digital artwork, maintenance of website and social media and managing internal events.
- Montana Career Opportunity - Marketing & Public Relations Coordinator - Flathead Valley Community College
Screening will begin immediately.
Montana Business
- Frigid North Dakota Is a Hot Draw For Out-of-State College Students
"The minute I stepped onto campus, I knew that North Dakota State was for me."
Montana Economic Development
- Baucus, Tester Urge Delta Not to Terminate Butte Air Service
Senators Question Plan to Make Butte an Essential Air Service Community, Call for Meeting with Delta CEO
- Missoula entrepreneur launches beauty-enhancing teas - BijaBody
"I see BijaBody as one of the players, and the beauty industry is a big industry. I don't want to be an Estee Lauder of the world, but I want to be a Patagonia of the world."
- Gov. Schweitzer tours Kalispell facility - Applied Materials Reaffirms Success of Semitool Acquisition
"Semitool's killing it for us. They're a large part of why Applied Materials has been very successful this last year,"
- ANTidote - Montana's Red Ants Pants...
Every pair of pants has a red ant stitched somewhere into the 100 percent cotton fabric. They are exactly what Sarah Calhoun searched for her whole life, but never found. So she made her own pants and started her own company. These are Red Ants Pants..
- The 2011 "Managing in Montana" HR Tour is now available for registration.
Topics will include employment relationships, discrimination and harassment, reasonable accommodation, wage and hour issues, workplace safety, employee privacy rights, wrongful discharge, time off, and more.
Careers
- $7.5 Million Commercial Building Project Continues Revitalization of Helena's Historic Last Chance Gulch Area
New major building project on Helena's Pioneer Block gets underway through local business partnership and federal tax credit financing from Montana Community Development Corporation.
- Tax credit incentive benefits Helena again
The Capital City becomes the first in the state to have two buildings that use the New Markets Tax Credit financing from the Montana Community Development Corp. http://www.mtcdc.org/ in Missoula, following the completion of the $9.4 million Capital City Health Club in April.
Funding and Building your Business
- Self-Defeating Job-Search Moves to Avoid
Here's our list of 10 real-life job-search misfires we hope will serve as cautionary tales for job-hunters.
- How to Negotiate the Salary You Deserve
"There [are] a lot of people out there who accept salaries lower than they could have gotten," she says. "So many people don't know how to negotiate."
- The Best Online Reputation Defense is Good Offense
After you claim your identity with placeholder domain names, accounts in social networks, and common blogging platforms, your next challenge is to create enough positive content as a "Google wall" to keep negative info out of the top Google search results.
Incubators and R&D
- Entrepreneurs Need to Be Leaders, Not Pushers
Leading from the front means that you are not afraid to get your hands dirty, pitching in to get the job done.
- How to Turn Customers Into Loyal, Raving Fans
Satisfied customers may come back a second or third time; they may even become regulars. But unless you exceed expectations, your satisfied customers could just as easily become your competitors' satisfied customers.
- "DON'T Do A Startup, You Will FAIL"
Here's a funny, motivational presentation for startup founders from super angel investor Dave McClure.
- Hiring Heroes Act aimed at helping unemployed veterans
The Hiring Heroes Act of 2011, would require the federal government to establish a system for certifying certain employment skills gained during active military service.
- Find the Best of the Best Blogs for Entrepreneurs
I'm sure there are some good ones I'm missing, so I'm soliciting your input as well.
- Model Term Sheet
This model term sheet, by Dan Rosen, CEO Dan Rosen & Associates, is for use by Alliance of Angels members as a starting point in negotiating seed stage deals.
- A Tool to Help Business Owners Struggling With Social Media
A tool called Roost http://www.roost.com/ has helped recruiter Carolyn Betts stay on top of her social networks, and she says the free tool will add up to $20,000 a year to the bottom line.
- Financing Options: Preferred Stock
One thing to know about terms around liquidation preference is whatever you agree to with one set of investors, that will be what all the future investors will want because they will not want other investors in the cap table with a preferred position to them.
- 5 real-world uses of big data - Companies not employing analytics are at a competitive disadvantage
While data analytics was once considered a competitive advantage, it's increasingly being seen as a necessity for enterprises-to the point that those that aren't employing some kind of analytics are seen to be at a competitive disadvantage.
- Nimble socialCRM combines social and business
Nimble helps small companies turn business leads and social connections into sales opportunities.
Montana Education Excellence
- The Online Business Incubator - Wicked Start - Free to Entrepreneurs
How is your online incubator different?
- "Innovation Idol" contest takes on nanotechnology - Statewide competition for cash, glory and free consulting
The contest is open to any Utah resident. Entrants may co-apply with another researcher, student, entrepreneur or industry representative.
- Portland Seed Fund to unveil first class of startups
The seed fund is the centerpiece of Portland's city-sponsored efforts to build a local software industry. The city has already committed $500,000 to the fund, and Mayor Sam Adams has $300,000 more for it in his new budget.
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Montana poorest-performing school district makes gains despite missing out on grant. Federally-backed program credited with improving four Montana reservation schools
Being labeled the poorest performing high school in the state of Montana a year ago didn't just affect the Hays-Lodgepole faculty and staff, but the whole community.
Regional Business
- Montana State Library Receives Grants For Statewide Early Literacy Program
The First Interstate BancSystem Foundation, based in Billings, awarded the State Library $35,000, and the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, based in Missoula, awarded the State Library $10,000. The money will be used to expand the Montana State Library's statewide early literacy initiative, Ready 2 Read.
University TechTransfer
- Down on the farm, investors see big potential
The value of Iowa farmland has almost doubled in six years. In Nebraska and Kansas, it's up more than 50 percent. Prices have risen so fast that regulators have begun sounding alarms, and farmers are beginning to voice concerns.
Idaho Business
- University/Industry Partnerships Work: Don't Kill the Golden Goose
If universities were run like businesses, they would not perform basic research designed to push forward the frontiers of learning.
North Dakota Business and Economic Development
- No benefits for corporate officers in Idaho - House Bill 80 in effect as of July 1; unwelcome to many businesses
"Think about how many businesses are gonna shut down."
Oregon Economic Development
- Economy in North Dakota tops in nation
Part of what's made North Dakota grow is its positive business climate, Anderson said. Legislators returned $500 million in income, property and corporate taxes to its taxpayers.
Government
- Gresham, Oregon hasn't given up on bringing thin-film solar plant to town
Last summer, when the deal was announced, Solexant promised to build a 100,000-square-foot plant with 100 employees initially and as many as 170 once it was running at full capacity. In return, the state offered $18.75 million in tax credits and a $25 million loan. Gresham agreed to guarantee $13 million of the loan.
Other Economies
- Legislature require rural homeowners to pay fire fee
The cash-strapped state can no longer afford the entire cost of battling blazes in fire-prone areas.
Energy and Climate Change
- Tax incentives to draw people to rural Kansas are questioned
Trying to rebuild rural Kansas, the Brownback administration is offering income tax breaks and student loan subsidies to lure people into areas with dwindling populations.
GIS Technology
- Harnessing solar power, on a small scale
The same technique could be used on fabric to make, say, curtains that can collect and generate energy from the sun.
- 'Smart grid' idea gets wet
Simplot, a powerhouse in the Northwest agriculture industry, instead installed a system that allows it to adjust its water pumping schedule - on request - from the shady, air-conditioned confines of an office to take advantage of fluctuations in the power supply.
Government Technology
- The NorthWest GIS User Group Has Open Positions For Its Board of Directors - Montana has always been a part of this group. Step up to represent Montana!
Help provide a forum for training, exchange of knowledge, techniques, and data among the users of Esri Software and related GIS product and services.
- Northwest GIS Users Conference, 10/17, Boise, ID
Boise is proud to host the 26th Annual Northwest GIS Users Group Conference for the very first time. Idaho's state capital and largest city, Boise, is home to a thriving GIS community eager to share our hospitality and our city with you.
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- Investigator begins work into Yellowstone County, Montana hacking
A computer forensic examiner from Butte began an investigation Monday into the hacking last week of Yellowstone County's website, an attack that appears to have involved electronic motor vehicle renewal payments as well as electronic property tax payments.
Transportation
- Man's quirky art could be what the small Wyoming town needs
Retired school teacher Jeannette Fisher wants Medicine Bow to be more than a stop-over, home of the Virginian. She wants something else to draw more people, to put the southeast Wyoming town on the map. Denis Bame could just be the answer.
- Gulfstream Airlines VP makes stop in Sidney, Montana
The company is offering one-way tickets to Billings at a flat rate of $75 and $150 round-trip. Travelers are pleased.
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