MATR Newsletter – August 5, 2019
The state with the best education wins!

“Economists who have studied the relationship between education and economic growth confirm what common sense suggests: The number of college degrees is not nearly as important as how well students develop cognitive skills, such as critical thinking and problem-solving ability.”

Derek Bok

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Pew Launches State Broadband Index

  There is also a functionality that shows how prevalent certain policies are across the nation.

2019 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Montana Governor Bullock Wins Dark Money Lawsuit Against the IRS

  Federal judge invalidates IRS rule that allowed dark money groups to hide their donors

Montana Business and Govt. Agency Collaboration Success

• Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) can help Continental Divide Trail in Montana

  It was a great event and couldn’t have been any better for Anaconda and its residents.

Incubators and R&D

• “CBS’s 60 Minutes” – Inside MIT’s “Future Factory”

  For more than 30 years, MIT has been recruiting people with crazy ideas to work in their Media Lab, where life-changing inventions are created. “60 Minutes” got a peek at what they’re working on now.

• Facebook-backed brain research decodes thoughts as words instantly for the first time

  Technology that for the first time, decodes brainwaves as words and phrases in real time.

Wyoming Business

• University of Wyoming adds scholarships, raises tuition
  High-achieving Wyoming students are set to receive more help from the University of Wyoming, though students overall will see higher costs.

21st Century Education Initiative – “You Should Care…”

• $1 million dollar grant will support Great Falls Early Head Start Program

  U.S. Sen. Jon Tester has announced a grant for a little more than $1 million will go to support the Great Falls Early Head Start Program.

• Votes against early kindergarten signal shift for Helena schools

  School psychiatrist Erika McMillin could not think of another time that the school board has denied early admission for a child who was recommended for approval by the team.

Government Technology

• How Local Governments Can Address Cybersecurity Challenges

  It is clear that “business as usual” is no longer an option.

Careers

• Want to Become a Dynamic Learner? Here’s How to Do It – ‘Never Stop Learning’

  Why are we “supremely bad” at learning?

• Can Missoula’s baby boomers help solve the labor shortage they created?

  More than 32,000 Missoula County baby boomers are expected to retire soon, affecting about one-third of the local labor force.

• 7 things everyone should do while they’re in college that can help them in the future

  “This is the time you should figure out what you love doing, what you hate doing, what you’re good at, what you’re bad at.” College isn’t forever.

Transportation

• Now on Used Car Lots: Great Electric Vehicles for Cheap

  “Twenty percent of what we sell is hybrid or electric,”

• Reality is going to stall for some time the advent of driverless cars

  Dominant autonomous car production and use throughout the country are years away.

• New paths will help keep bikes, scooters and skateboards out of traffic

  Neighborways are specially marked areas on city streets designed to safely move cyclists and scooter riders to their destinations by reminding motorists to share the road.

Cool Stuff That’s Coming

• The Life Factory: Synthetic Organisms From This $1.4 Billion Startup Will Revolutionize Manufacturing

  This quintet of modern-day Frankensteins design, modify and manufacture organisms to make existing industrial processes cheaper and entirely new processes possible.

MATR Newsletter Supporters: