MATR Newsletter – April 12, 2021
The state with the best education wins!

Corona Virus Information

• 60 Minutes – Military programs aiming to end pandemics forever

  Bill Whitaker reports on the Pentagon projects that helped combat COVID-19 and may help end pandemics forever.

• Fake COVID-19 vaccination cards and tests are being sold on the black market

  A man who lives in the Tampa Bay region recently lost his job after he was called out online for trying to sell blank CDC vaccination documents.

• Montana Legislature proposes reducing funds to government agencies with COVID-19 regulations stricter than the state’s

  The bill states “the amount of the grant is reduced by 20% if that local government or any of its authorized agents have issued health regulations related to COVID-19 that are more strict than those imposed by the state.”

Come Home Montana

• Star Trek tells aliens to visit Bozeman, Montana first if (When!)  they come to Earth

  Star Trek’s official website had some fun with some video footage credited to Getty Images and the Bozeman Convention & Visitors Bureau to make a welcome video for any aliens looking to find a spot to land.

Eventgroove

• Eventgroove – Everything You Need to Know About All-In-One Fundraising Campaigns

  Big news! Eventgroove is getting even more powerful. Starting April 15th, you can run multiple types of fundraisers at once on the same page.  We’re calling them All-In-One fundraising campaigns

City of Bozeman Economic Development

• Avelo, America’s Newest Airline to Fly to Bozeman, Montana

  The Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport announced Thursday its 10th airline, Avelo Airlines, will soon begin flights to the airport’s 30th direct destination: Burbank, California.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Why universal childcare is the crucial infrastructure the economy needs

  The U.S. lags behind many other countries in both paid leave and accessible childcare, and it’s costing women and hurting the economy.

• Counties Need Good Recreation Economy Data to Secure Necessary Funding

  Better quality data could mean more funding for recreation counties.

• Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority April Board Meeting – 4/14 – 11:30AM – Online

  Establishing the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority via joint resolution is the first step to reestablish passenger rail across the state.

Montana Business and Govt. Agency Collaboration Success

• DOE Awards $110 Million to Small Businesses Pursuing Scientific, Clean Energy, and Climate Solutions

  102 Projects Across America will Receive Seed Funding to Launch New Ideas to Market That Will Create Jobs

Montana Business

• Mountain-Pacific Quality Health and Frontier Psychiatry are launching 3D ECHO, a four-state, tele-mentoring initiative that delivers medical education and health care management to clinicians in remote settings.

  Mountain-Pacific Quality Health and Frontier Psychiatry are launching 3D ECHO, a four-state, tele-mentoring initiative that delivers medical education and health care management to clinicians in remote settings.

• Hoplite Armor, a Kalispell company, has grown its sales by nearly eightfold since it launched in 2015

  With a background in mechanical engineering, Bishop designs ceramic and polymer body armor using SolidWorks software and now chooses to exclusively sell to civilians.

Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana

• Montana youth entrepreneurs bring their products to market online between now and April 16.

  Each semester students in grades 9-12 can take the class that focuses on building a business based on products that they make in class and then sell. The class is funded through a nonprofit called Youth Entrepreneurs, an organization that works to bridge the gap between book learning and application by providing curriculum, activities and funding to get kids started.

Funding and Building your Business

• NASA provides $45 million boost to U.S. small businesses

  Three-hundred and sixty five small business proposals were selected for SBIR and STTR programs based on technical merit and commercial potential, including six composite companies.

Come Home Idaho

• Idaho companies begging for job applicants

  Turn off the news and pay close attention to our neighbors. Boise businesses are hiring all over the place with one major problem, they can’t find anyone to work with.

2021 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Lawmakers Should Allow Sidewalk Delivery Robots to Stay
  The use of robots from companies like Starship Technologies for last-mile deliveries skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and legislators would do well to make them easier to deploy on city sidewalks.

Transportation

• Who Is Shaping the Future of Autos – Tech Firms or Automakers?

  “Tesla partly proves the point that you have to master a lot of what the automotive companies have always mastered in order to be able to do it yourself.” –John Paul MacDuffie

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