MATR Newsletter – December 26, 2018
The state with the best education wins!

“It’s healthy to move beyond a place where the automobile is the sun in which society rotates around.”   Cincinnati Council Member P.G. Sittenfeld —

Downtown Cincinnati: Parking Not Required —

Come Home Montana

• The City of Missoula, Montana, is seeking proposals from qualified companies to provide warranties for customer-owned water service lines in Missoula.

  All customers of Missoula Water own and are responsible for maintaining the water lines extending from the point of connection at the water main into their houses.

2019 Montana Legislature and Politics

• What To Know Before The 2019 Montana Legislature Begins

  Heading into the 2019 legislative session all sides are more-or-less in agreement about how much there is to spend, although they’re not likely to find so much common ground on how to spend it.

• I read 1,182 emergency room bills this year. Here’s what I learned.

  People go to the emergency room to get help, not to get robbed blind by hidden medical costs. The cost of medical treatment in this country is unacceptable.” Gov. Steve Bullock

• Cash or debt, what and where: Montana Legislature set for infrastructure battle

  A comprehensive infrastructure package has eluded Montana for years.

• Gov. Bullock Confident In Reauthorization Of Medicaid, Says It Subsidizes Businesses

  “We’ve always viewed this as, well we’re taking care of you know people in lower income, but it’s about time we actually start talking about what we’re doing is we’re subsidizing businesses that either can’t or won’t pay their employees enough to have healthcare.”

Visit Montana

• CBS 60 Minutes – The return of wolves to Yellowstone Park

  The reintroduction of the predator has led to more visitors and a shift in the ecological makeup of the park

Northwestern Energy

• How Does Your State Make Electricity?

  Last year, coal was the main source of electricity generation for 18 states, down from 32 states in 2001.

Great Falls Development Authority

• Great Falls Economic Development Top Ten for 12/23/18

  Here is our Top 10 for this week, celebrating work and successes to grow and strengthen the Great Falls regional economy. Cheers to all the DOERS in Great Falls and across the Golden Triangle — the entrepreneurs, businesses, developers, non-profits and governments that make great things happen!

Idaho News & Events

• Rising home prices push Idahoans farther from Boise. But they still commute to the city

  “You’re seeing a trend where people are selling in Meridian, Kuna, Boise and Nampa, and they’re selling at a good price,” Drake said. “But they turn around and prices are way too high to buy.”

Funding and Building your Business

• Why You Should Sell to Fewer People to Increase Your Sales

  Most early stage companies chase anyone with money. However, if you truly want to scale you need to learn how to say ‘no’ to a lot more prospects.

Regional Business News

• Geena Davis Inclusion Quotient – The Reel Truth: Women Aren’t Seen or Heard

  Our hope is that we can use this technology to push the boundaries of how we identify the representation imbalance in media.

• Lack of Real Estate Supply in Popular U.S. Ski Towns Dragging Down Transactions Numbers

  The data show that in some of the most popular and pricey ski towns in the U.S., transactions have fallen by as much as 27.6%.

Government and University TechTransfer

• NIST Unveils Plans to Modernize Tech Transfer From National Labs

  “The steps outlined in this new report are strong proposals to pave the way for the competition-driven technological advances that are the cornerstone of American success.”

• The Administration’s Draft ROI Report: A Promising Roadmap for Accelerating Tech Transfer

  The Administration is serious about addressing a wide range of long neglected issues undermining effective technology commercialization.

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

• Performance incentives for college football coaches? How about for professors?

  Here are some recommended bonuses for professors

Education News

• ‘Right to Roam’ You’re entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts. – Podcast aims to bring scientific foundation to outdoors discussions

  For almost two years, four Wyoming biologists have been offering their perspective on outdoor issues via Right to Roam, a podcast that aims to bring science and expert opinion into a culture they say can lack a rigorous foundation.

Montana Education/Business Partnerships

• University of Montana business students use skills to help local nonprofit

  “I think it’s cool they were able to get students to work on this, young people coming out into the world to work on projects like this,” Sedgwick said of United Way.

Universities and Economic Development

• Catalyzing economic growth in the Heartland starts with research universities

  “Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.”Thomas Edison

Montana Education Excellence

• Helena schools implementing new programs to address rising autism rates

  Helena’s schools have recently seen a significant increase in conditions such as autism that can cause emotional disturbance and affect formal speech and language skills.

• Montana State University Mountains and Minds

  This issue includes several long-form stories of state-wide and regional interest with accompanying photos.

Government Technology

• Digitally enhanced: Estonia plots the end of bureaucracy

  Estonia has created one platform that supports electronic authentication and digital signatures to enable paperless communications across both the private and public sectors.

American Prairie Reserve

• Podcast – Steve “MeatEater” Rinella talks with Sean Gerrity, the founder of the American Prairie Reserve

  Sean Gerrity’s top 3 ways hunters can help; and more.

Careers

• Boise State to offer less-technical cybersecurity certificate

  Boise State University is developing a cyber- and physical security certificate that isn’t predicated on people being computer scientists or engineers.

• Selling Real Estate in Russia? Are You Crazy?

  Sellers must prove their sanity and agents kill their clients to steal their properties in Moscow’s fraud-plagued real estate market.

Workforce Development

• The Montana Code School says it can train Montanans for coding jobs in 12 weeks. What then?

  “If you are motivated, the code school has clearly demonstrated you can get a good job here.” Paul Gladen

Miscellaneous Ramblings

• US population growth hits 80-year low, capping off a year of demographic stagnation

  While some states—particularly in the Mountain West—are growing rapidly, nearly a fifth of all states displayed absolute population losses over the past two years.

• Video: “The Gift”

Transportation

• Many fatal crashes around Helena in 5 years may have been avoidable, data show

  “There are simple things you can do to save your life, and they don’t cost you a dime,” said Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton.

• Don’t Ask When Self-Driving Cars Will Arrive—Ask Where

  One of the deciding factors in where those geofences get built is regulation.

• New Traffic Management Tech Coming to Downtown Las Vegas

  “The future is now, and government must be ready to embrace technologies that can help to address community issues and make cities more livable,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman

• In Oslo, Streets for People, Not Cars

  Starting in 2019, the Norwegian capital will restrict the use of vehicles in its city center, following a global trend to make popular tourist destinations more pedestrian-friendly.

• 11 Futuristic Traffic Lights That Could Make Roads Safer

  Traffic lights have changed little over the last century or so, but these propose some significant changes to this ubiquitous technology.

• University of Washington expansion approval includes requirement that no more than 12 percent of students and employees commute by driving alone by 2028

  New construction to accommodate another 7,000-plus students and employees.

• Connected cars accelerate down data-collection highway

  The business consultancy McKinsey has estimated automotive data could be worth $450 billion to $750 billion worldwide by 2030.

• Smart Columbus Encourages Uber Drivers to Go Electric

  Smart Columbus, the multimillion-dollar effort to reimagine wide swaths of the transportation sector in the city, is making grants available to drivers of ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft to phase out their gas-powered car and buy an electric vehicle.

• Planning key to solve looming Flathead traffic crunch

  “Flathead County is going to be 150, 160,000 people or more. And how is the state highway system going to handle it?” said Montana Department of Transportation District Administrator Ed Toavs.

• Rivian develops long-lasting AI battery

  Electric-vehicle startup Rivian has developed an artificial intelligence charging system that could extend a car’s battery life roughly three times longer than a traditional battery.

Energy and Climate Change

• District of Columbia to Adopt the Nation’s Strongest Renewable Energy Target

  Under the D.C. program, utilities that sell electricity generated from fossil fuels will pay fees, and renewable energy credits will play a central role.

• Sustainable Missoula: How Missoula can give new life to old glass

  “You don’t recycle glass?!” is a common exclamation from Missoula’s visitors and new residents. Trust me, we old-timers aren’t too happy about it either.

• Meet perovskite, the mystery mineral that could transform our solar energy future

  Someday, solar panels may be light and cheap enough that they could be hung on a clothesline, thanks to a synthetic mineral called perovskite.

• Regulators approve Nevada Energy plan to build six new solar power plants

  With little fanfare or discussion, Nevada regulators have approved a major energy supply plan that will result in construction of six major solar projects and conditionally retire one of the state’s two remaining coal-firing power plants by 2021.

Other Economies

• It Doesn’t Matter if Ecuador Can Afford This Dam. China Still Gets Paid.

  “The strategy of China is clear. They take economic control of countries.”

Privacy, Hacking and Virus Alerts

• Idaho National Laboratory protects US infrastructure from cyberattacks

  The U.S. is rushing to catch up with what cybersecurity experts say are threats by hackers to systems that operate energy pipelines, hydroelectric projects, drinking water systems and nuclear power plants across the country.

• How China’s Elite Hackers Stole the World’s Most Valuable Secrets

  Imagine you’re a burglar.

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