MATR Newsletter – December 19, 2022
The state with the best education wins!

Bacon is 70% fat

And very, very salty.

Me too bacon. Me too…

Today’s MATR Newsletter is sponsored by:

Amazon facility being built in Missoula, Montana – Careers
“This new delivery station in Montana will connect Amazon’s national fulfillment network to customers in Missoula and beyond, while also creating more than 100 new jobs within the community during the coming years,” said Amazon spokesperson Leigh Anne Gullett. “We look forward to bringing faster and more efficient package delivery to Montana residents, as well as to growing our partnerships with businesses and community organizations in the area.”
Carnivorium looking for new ownership in Great Falls, Montana
“Thanks to outpouring of support from our amazing customers, we were able to provide tens of thousands of dollars to 30+ non-profit organizations. In addition, we were honored to receive two Best of the Best awards including Best Restaurant. Finally, the business has grown to the point where I have received numerous inquires to create a franchise model.

Big Sky Finance December Newsletter
The SBA 504 program is an excellent financing opportunity for your small business borrowers because:

Great Falls Economic Development Top 10 for 12-18-22
Here is our Top 23 for this week celebrating work and successes to grow and strengthen the Great Falls regional economy — Montana’s Golden Triangle. And, sharing business resources and skill-building opportunities to empower your success.

Too Much Stuff: Americans and Their Storage Units
The excesses of the American dream fill 50,000 storage facilities across the country. This material overflow results from crisis, indecision, laziness and selective forgetfulness.
Historic Izaak Walton Inn (Sandwiched between Glacier National Park to the north and the Bob Marshall Wilderness to the south) sold
The new owner, LOGE Camps, has properties in Washington, Oregon and California. Its mission is to “find forgotten motels near our favorite towns and trails, and bring them back to life.”
Missoula, Montana Business Buzz: New restaurant (Florabella), tech company (Silixa) lands job-creation grant
There’s a new Italian restaurant on Brooks Street in Missoula at the site of the old Caffe Dolce. Business partners Ben Burda and Drake Doepke have remodeled the building at 500 Brooks Street and have now opened it as Florabella.

UTOPIA, Strata Networks Turns Utah into Hotbed of Looming Competition
Now, officials in American Fork, Utah have struck a new partnership with Strata Networks to build 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps) capable fiber network to improve high-speed Internet access for the city’s 34,000 residents.

Glacier National Park announces plans for 2023 reservations
In addition to a vehicle reservation, each vehicle entering the park is required to have an entrance pass for any entry point into the park.

Employers are losing faith in community colleges. That’s bad for grads and the labor market
Only 36% of employers agree that community colleges produce work-ready employees.
Today’s TED Talk – How Millennials and Gen Z Can Invest in a Better Future
Millennials and Gen Z will inherit 30 trillion dollars of wealth in the coming decades, and what they do with their money will have an incredible impact on the future of the planet, says impact investor Miguel Goncalves.

Central Butte, Montana residents look for government action on urban decay
Historic Uptown Butte is an economic engine for the community, rich with tourist attractions and even drawing in the glitz and glam of Hollywood studios.
But just a few blocks away, there are stories of urban decay.

As enrollment falls and public skepticism grows, some colleges are cutting their prices
The cost of college has stopped rising faster than inflation for the first time since the 1980s

Montana bill would impose electric, hybrid vehicle fees
Popularity for such vehicles in Montana and elsewhere is expected to grow in the coming decades. As a result, state officials are pursuing avenues to make sure they will be able to capture needed transportation revenue from owners of fuel-efficient vehicles.

Montana bans TikTok on state devices
FBI Director Chris Wray said he was worried the Chinese government could manipulate content on the app, access user data for spying purposes and manipulate content to influence the app’s users.

Phoenix airport 1st to offer self-driving ride service Waymo
As Phoenix gets ready to host the Super Bowl, Mayor Kate Gallego has announced Sky Harbor International Airport will be the world’s first airport to offer the self-driving ride-hailing service Waymo
Make Room for Minicars, the Electric Vehicles Cities Need
Beyond their benefits to road safety, climate and mobility access, minicars offer one other potential upside, something harder to quantify but exciting nonetheless: They might make people friendlier.
How Traffic Engineers Blame You for Their Profession’s Mistakes
“They’re putting the onus on people using the roadway system, and not the actual design of it,” said Mike Lydon, author, advocate, and founding principal of Street Plans.
Transportation officials present Higgins Avenue plans to Missoula City Council
After years of discussion and the release of a new Downtown Master Plan, transportation officials with the city this month said they’d settled upon a preferred concept to improve the safety and aesthetics of downtown’s prized corridor.

From states to federal agencies, TikTok faces bans on government-issued devices
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill that would ban the wildly popular social media app from devices issued by federal agencies.