MATR Newsletter – December 26, 2022
The state with the best education wins!

Come Home Montana

• Millions of Americans have left the country. Where are they going, and why?

  Before we dig deeper into the causes, let’s take a look at the numbers.

• Montana Career Opportunity – Grid Analyst – Montana Energy Office

  Are you looking for a career where you can make a difference for Montana’s energy system and its vital role supporting our communities and economy? Consider being part of the…

• City to solicit input on what it means to ‘belong in Bozeman’

  “Our goal remains to ensure that every resident, visitor, and city of Bozeman employee feels welcomed, valued and like they can thrive regardless of their race, identity, or life circumstance,” said Dani Hess, the city’s community engagement coordinator, during a city commission meeting this week.

TOMIS

• Webinar – What is Google Analytics 4 and Why this is important to you. Jan. 10 – 4:00PM MST – Online

  Why Google is forcing users over to Google Analytics 4

Northwestern Energy

• NorthWestern Energy joins Western Power Pool

  The WRAP is the first regional reliability planning and compliance program in the history of the West. It will deliver a region-wide approach for assessing and addressing resource adequacy and provide an important step forward for reliability in the region.

• Bob Rowe at retirement: NorthWestern boss leaves company in good shape

  Rowe, 67, is retiring Dec. 31 after a 14-year run as CEO of NorthWestern, during which he took the utility from the shadow of bankruptcy to stability, doubled its stock price, acquired the dams and hydroelectric assets that were at the heart of the old Montana Power, greatly expanded and upgraded the utility’s transmission and distribution infrastructure, fostered a safety-first, employee- and customer-focused culture, and built the copper-trimmed 5-story edifice in Uptown Butte that serves as its Montana headquarters.

• Where Does Your Energy Come From? Northwestern Energy’s electric portfolio includes a balanced mix of safe, reliable, affordable and clean energy.

  At NorthWestern Energy, our goal is to provide our customers reliable energy at the lowest long-term cost. We do this through a balanced mix of safe, reliable, affordable and clean energy. Our electric portfolio is built on the carbon-free hydro system, along with wind, coal, gas and solar. Wind and solar are variable energy resources, meaning they don’t produce power if the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining. Coal and natural gas, or thermals, are reliable and resilient energy sources that can start up quickly whenever we need them. This mix of renewable and traditional resources help us keep energy bills as affordable and predictable as possible.

Great Falls Development Authority

• Great Falls Economic Development Top 10 for 12-23-22

  Here is our Top 12 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.

Montana Business

• U.S. faces shortage of EMTs, nearly one-third quit in 2021

  California recently passed a law that could require a $22-an-hour minimum wage for fast food workers. However, there is no mandated pay for EMTs.

• Energy-conscious businesses are increasingly concerned about whether their utility is in lock-step with them on improving environmental performance.

  Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Business tracks the performance of 82 gas, electric and combination utilities to identify brand and customer experience opportunities and trends in the industry. The study is published semiannually by Escalent, a top human behavior and analytics advisory firm with extensive energy and utility experience.

• Reliable energy supply, not a ‘nice-to-have’ but ‘must-have’ following record cold temps: Gov. Greg Gianforte

   “Wind is not a reliable energy source when it’s cold like this.”  Montana Governor Greg Gianforte

• Many American politicians are grandstanding over TikTok for your attention.

  Those government TikTok ‘bans’ hardly ban anything

Visit Montana

• Why does Montana have such strong stream access laws?

  In Montana, we have this very particular law. It says that anybody can fish or recreate on streams and rivers in the state below the high-water mark, regardless of who owns the land beneath them.

Funding and Building your Business

• Now You Can Rent a Robot Worker—for Less Than Paying a Human

  Automation is reaching more companies, imperiling some jobs and changing the nature of others.

• 15 Ways To Hone Your Business Storytelling Skills As A Leader

  As leaders in their respective fields, the members of Forbes Business Council have learned the importance of storytelling for business and why it’s critical to hone those skills. Below, they offered some actionable tips for business owners looking to craft and tell effective stories.

• Congress isn’t extending 4 popular tax breaks in omnibus bill passage

  The omnibus bill is proving to be a Grinch for companies and families

Metaverse

• Why the industrial metaverse will eclipse the consumer one

  There may be far more money to be made in the industrial metaverse, a side that most consumers will never directly see.

• How deep learning will ignite the metaverse in 2023 and beyond

  Gartner recently listed the metaverse as one of the top strategic technology trends for 2023, and predicts that by 2026, 25% of the population will spend at least one hour a day there for work, shopping, education, social activities and/or entertainment.

Regional Business News

• 25,000 Laid Off In Major Cuts As Recession Fears Spiked, According To Forbes Tracker

  Nearly 125,000 employees lost their jobs so far this year as more than 120 large U.S. tech companies, banks and manufacturers implemented massive rounds of layoffs, according to the Forbes layoff tracker, which documented major cuts (over 100) beginning in June when recession fears began to surge.

Come Home Wyoming

• “How ‘Yellowstone’ Won Over NYC Fashion: ‘I Want To Be In Wyoming’” – Wyoming Ranchers Laugh At New Yorkers In ‘Chic’ Ranch Wear

  “How ‘Yellowstone’ Won Over NYC Fashion: ‘I Want To Be In Wyoming’” featuring New York City residents clicking along the sidewalk in designer cowboy boots.

2023 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Montana’s elderly care system is broken, and Legislature must fix it

  Of all our constituents across Montana, the most deserving are our elderly neighbors who are on Medicaid benefits.

American Prairie

• Montana’s American Prairie Adds Over 3,400 Acres in 2022

  Land acquisitions expand habitat base stewarded by organization to more than 455,000 acres

City Club Missoula

• City Club Missoula – Recession, Inflation, Economic Insecurity, Oh my! – 1/9 – Missoula

  Please join us on January 9 for a City Club Missoula forum that will discuss how national global and economic trends impact Missoula.

Energy and Climate Change

• California to cover canals with solar panels to combat drought, climate change

  Two things on California’s wish list — more water and more power — may come soon with a first-in-the-nation plan to cover irrigation canals with solar panels.

• Health Benefits of Wind Energy Could Quadruple By Dialing Down Fossil Fuels

  “Health benefits of using wind energy instead of fossil fuels could quadruple if the most polluting power plants are selected for dialing down, new study finds.”

• El Niño Is Coming—and the World Isn’t Prepared

  Global heating will set the stage for extreme weather everywhere in 2023. The consequences are likely to be cataclysmic.

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