MATR Newsletter – August 19, 2020
The state with the best education wins!

“It used to be that you can measure the worth of any company by how many factories or raw materials or finished goods it has. These days people are a company’s most important asset.”

Steve Bartel, Cofounder of Gem

Corona Virus Information

• Female-led countries reacted faster and saw half the deaths of male-led ones, study finds

  “While women leaders were risk averse with regard to lives, they were prepared to take significant risks with their economies by locking down early,” Garikipati said, suggesting that the study challenged the concept that female leaders could be risk-averse.

Montana Department of Commerce

• Census 2020: Montana tribes poised for ‘historic undercount’ following shortened deadline

  Following the U.S. Census Bureau’s announcement to shorten its response deadline by one month, experts and Native Americans in Montana fear tribes will see a “historic undercount,” which could curtail funding for tribal programs for the next decade.  

Great Falls Development Authority

• GFDA’s Top 10

  It’s great to have so much entrepreneurial activity moving forward! There is much more going on that I’ll include in the next issue.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Regional SBA program to help Montana small businesses through COVID recovery

  MoFi, based in Missoula with operations across the Northern Rockies, said the Community Advantage Recovery Loan Program, or CARL, offers free consulting and loans for approved borrowers.

• University of Montana Travel Institute: 2020 Tests Montana Tourism

  In general, when the two national parks do well, Montana’s tourism does well. As travelers drive to the parks, they spend extra time in Montana just to get there.

• If businesses want to promote justice, they can help end the prison-industrial complex

  Thousands of businesses are invested in the U.S. prison system. As Americans call for justice from police departments and governments, there’s also pressure for companies to play a role.

• What Happens When Young People Take Over Economic Development – Video

  Economic Development Marketing Is Hilarious – Video

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• California Gov. Signs Order to Spur Broadband Improvements

  The newly signed executive order directs several agencies to “regularly convene private-sector companies in an effort to understand and predict current and future demand for broadband.”

• The Pandemic Is Forcing Everyone to Face the Digital Divide

  Attempting to teach and learn from home has put a tremendous strain on all parents, teachers, and students, but for families without access to high-speed broadband or the (proper number of) devices for kids to work off of, the upcoming school year poses the possibility that those children will fall even farther behind.

• CenturyLink pays to settle federal allegations that it broke antitrust deal in Boise, Idaho

  The acquisition gave CenturyLink an additional 200,000 miles of fiber-optic networks, allowing it to control 70% of the connections between buildings and fiber optic lines from Boise to Nampa. That violated federal antitrust laws.

• ImagineIf Libraries in Montana providing tech assistance during COVID-19 pandemic

  Gidden says thanks to the program, the ImagineIf libraries in Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Bigfork have about 25 hot spots, tablets — and soon iPads — available for people to check out using their library card. She told MTN News that she’s hoping to have iPads available for check out by the end of August.

Funding and Building your Business

• 7 Due Diligence Checks On Your Idea To Save Some Pain Before You Launch Your New Startup

  How does any entrepreneur know which ideas to implement, and which ones are best left behind?

Idaho News & Events

• Three Small Cities That Are Thriving Despite the Pandemic – Idaho Falls, Idaho

  Growth remains a bigger worry than unemployment in at least a few cities. They’re scattered around the country, but their economies have a few qualities in common that have made them pandemic-proof.

2020 Montana Politics

• Missoula City budget: Public unwavering in adversity to increased police funding

  At a meeting two weeks ago, Councilor Heather Harp said the Council had received roughly 1,500 emails pertaining to reforming the police department and community resources.

• New Tester Legislation Would Prevent, Reverse Removal of Mail Collection Boxes (What about sorting machines?)

  POST Act would restore boxes already removed, require DeJoy to explain reasoning behind removals

Government News & Events

• United States Postal Service (USPS) Files Patent for a Blockchain-Based Voting System

  “The system separates voter identification and votes to ensure vote anonymity, and stores votes on a distributed ledger in a blockchain.”

Government Technology

• Smart 911 – Plan Ahead for Any Emergency

  Smart911’s lifesaving service has been recognized by thousands of trusted sources across the country,
  is accredited by the Better Business Bureau, and secured by SSL and Norton.

MSU Leadership Institute & UM Global Leadership Initiative

• The Future of Leadership is Empathy—And Companies are Better for It

  By stepping outside themselves, empathetic leaders are often great communicators and relationship builders. Think about someone who really took time to help you grow. They were most likely an empath.

Transportation

• Electric vehicles could save the US billions each year, study finds

  The analysis combined climate modeling with data on vehicle fleets and public health to reveal that electric vehicles (EVs) could negate significant damages brought by climate change and air pollution, in addition to preventing many premature deaths.

• Elon Musk Says Tesla Developing Neural Network Training Computer for Full Self-Driving

  With a complete overhaul of the Tesla autopilot software, full self-driving capabilities will be possible as the AI will be able to interpret traffic signals, turns and stops.

• ‘This is our future’: Fairfax, Virginia tests region’s first self-driving shuttle for public transit

  “People’s heads were swiveling off their necks trying to get a glimpse of it. It was a pretty amazing ride.”

Cool Stuff That’s Coming

• Why Tokyo’s New Transparent Public Restrooms Are A Stroke Of Genius

  The two units each have three cubicles, which are surrounded by transparent tinted glass in cyan, lime green, blue, yellow, pink or purple. The see-through design has a practical reason, which is to allow a person to easily check inside before entering.

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