MATR Newsletter – December 22, 2021
The state with the best education wins!

Wishing all a very happy Montana holiday season with family, friends and the joy of life in Big Sky Country.

“Oh Montana, give this child a home.

Give him a fire in his heart, give him a light in his eyes, give him the wind for a brother and the wild Montana Skies.”

~ John Denver

Corona Virus Information

• Airplane Passengers At Least Twice As Likely To Catch Covid-19 Because Of Omicron, Airline Trade Body Says

  The omicron variant of the coronavirus raises the risk of infection on board a passenger plane by two or even three-fold, according to the airline industry’s biggest trade body, a finding that may foreshadow an exponential increase in cases as millions of travelers take to the skies to be with their families during the holiday season.

• One person caught the coronavirus. China locked down 200,000 of their neighbors.

  After a cluster of new cases in northwestern China, officials also sealed off a city of 13 million, ordering all residents to stay inside.

• Family of man who died of COVID after wife’s work exposure at See’s Candy can sue the company, court rules

  The family of a man who died from COVID-19 that he caught from his wife, who was exposed at work, can sue her employer for damages, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Come Home Montana

• A real rural future

  The COVID-19 pandemic dispersed many Americans across the nation. And today, cities are not dominant in the hearts and minds of Americans whatsoever. In reality, not only are most Americans more interested in living in rural areas than in big cities, but many living in rural areas are quite optimistic about the future and still believe in the power of hard work.

• Montana Career Opportunities – Human Resources Coordinator, Software Developer, Information Security Analyst and more….- Zoot Enterprises

  No Suits, Montana Roots At Zoot, our employees are committed to providing the best decisioning engines for the largest financial institutions in the world. Zooters are also committed to passions…

• Research: Migration Key to Rural Economic Development

  According to the researchers, the majority of new businesses opening in rural counties are operated by people “between the ages of 50 to 74.”

• Montana Career Opportunity – Economic Development Director – Big Horn County

    DUTIES: Under administrative direction, aggressively promote economic growth for Big Horn County. Provide assistance for new business and industrial growth and assistance for existing business expansion and retention.

Montana Department of Commerce

• Local Native-owned businesses receive Montana Department of Commerce grants

  The Montana Department of Commerce on Tuesday announced $320,000 in grants available through the Indian Equity Fund will support 24 new and expanding Native-owned small businesses including three in Lake County.

Zoot Enterprises

• Bozeman, Montana-based Zoot Enterprises Employees Support Non-Profit Organizations – Great Career Opportunities

  Company matches employee contributions, doubling impact.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• This is how childcare boosts the economy and pays for itself

  If lawmakers read the Build Back Better Act’s childcare provisions accurately, they would see that investments quickly pay for themselves, and the consequences of inaction is a tremendous economic slowdown.

• Be Kind: Campaign launched to promote goodwill in Billings in stressful times

  The Be Kind Tool Kit, developed by the Billings Chamber of Commerce and Visit Billings, is filled with downloadable materials for local businesses to use online, on their walls, and with their employees.

• The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is hosting its fifth annual Regional Economic Conditions Conference. – January 14, 2022 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. MST Virtual video event

  The event will feature Best Buy CEO Corie Barry, in a fireside chat with Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari. They will discuss how Best Buy has adapted to a changing pandemic labor market and its recent commitments to supply chain diversity.

• Downtown Missoula, Montana Welcomes 18 New Businesses in 2021 and Attracts $38 Million in Investment Despite the Pandemic – Available Properties

  There are several large land parcels in Downtown Missoula that have potential for transformation, including the former Missoulian building, the former library, and of course, the Riverfront Triangle.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Holistic Rural Broadband Solutions Are on the Horizon

  Federal money dedicated to building out broadband capacity for farmers and others in rural communities could follow a blueprint created by a minority colleges broadband grants. The idea is to approach the Internet needs more comprehensively than ever before.

Montana Businesses Seeking Investment or For Sale

• Midtown Missoula, Montana property owner looking for development partner for 84-unit “406 Commons” housing project

  Patrick Lawler, owner of the Bow Street property, has developed a vision he’s dubbed the “406 Commons.” If achieved, the project would bring an estimated 84 attainable housing units to the market in the heart of the Midtown district.

Funding and Building your Business

• How Y Combinator Changed the World

  “Bad people make bad founders,”

• The Leader’s Checklist for Board Directors

  The Goal – Understand and continuously evaluate your board’s performance and responses to today’s most pressing strategic and leadership issues.

Wyoming Business

• The ‘Cowboy Cocktail’: How Wyoming became one of the world’s top tax havens – “We never thought about the oligarchs or the dictator’s friends.”

  Trust companies in Wyoming now manage at least $31.5 billion in assets, according to the state.

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

• Montana’s Aaniiih Nakoda College to establish Buffalo Research and Education Center

  The center aims to enrich the relationship between the people of Fort Belknap, the tribal bison herd and the prairie ecosystem.

• Davidson Honors College – Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UM (MOLLI)

  Our goal is to create an accessible and innovative learning environment so that individuals from all backgrounds and levels of education may pursue learning. This is truly learning for the joy of learning – no exams, no grades – just fun!

American Prairie

• Montana’s American Prairie Reserve Purchases 73 Ranch – – Land acquisition expands habitat base stewarded by organization to more than 450,000 acres – that’s about 700 Square Miles

  “This purchase will further our mission to grow a contiguous habitat area, which is essential to restoring ecosystem biodiversity on the prairie.”

Transportation

• Experts Debate Where EV Charging Infrastructure Needs to Be

  At a summit earlier this month, experts explored policy questions around electric vehicle charging infrastructure. In general, policymakers should look at all levels of charging to serve as many EV use cases as possible.

• Study: EV Adoption Isn’t Enough. Car-Centric Culture Needs To Change. – The End of Carcatecture

  In addition, a population that continues to depend on cars poses significant problems for growing cities. With urbanization on the rise and space at a premium, we must reduce car ownership in cities if we are to keep them as affordable and accessible as possible. Huge amounts of land that could otherwise be used to house people or be dedicated to nature are still reserved for roads and car parks.

Cool Stuff That’s Coming

• Future Meats drives cost of lab-grown chicken down to $1.70 a breast

  “We have consistently demonstrated that our single-cell technology and serum-free media formulations can reach cost parity faster than the market anticipates,” says Professor Yaakov Nahmias, founder and president of Future Meat.

Energy and Climate Change

• TODAY’S TED TALK – Use your voice, vote and wallet for climate action

  In conversation with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, Tómasdóttir urges us all to recognize our power and to use our voice, vote and wallet to catalyze meaningful climate action.

• Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics – Change in snowpack statistics ignores climate change effects

  Now, however, we can’t really compare this January’s snowpack to last year’s because the NRCS is using different data. Is that a problem? Maybe not from one year to the next. But as climate change reduces mountain snowfall, comparing less snow to an average of less snow paints a picture that’s rosier than it should be.

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