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

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. 

Isaac Asimov

Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development

• Yellowstone filmmakers weigh in on judge’s ruling halting fees for commercial filming in National Parks

  Landis also said the permit acted as an “axe over the head” of filmmakers and photographers who, if they violated park regulations like approaching wildlife too closely, could be booted.

Great Falls Development Authority

• Great Falls Economic Development Top 10 for 2-21-21

  One of the best workforce training programs we have in Great Falls is the longstanding partnership between NeighborWorks Great Falls and Great Falls Public Schools.

The Telecommuting and Gig Workforce in Montana

• Video: Remote Workers Wanted: Small Cities Offer Cash to Those Who Relocate

  As the pandemic changes how — and where — professionals work, some smaller cities and regions are offering hefty relocation incentives to attract remote workers to help jumpstart their local economies. WSJ met one family who accepted an offer to make a new home in the Ozarks.

Housing

• Bozeman officials frustrated by state efforts to limit affordable housing tools

  It takes aim at “inclusionary zoning,” which is the basis for Bozeman’s affordable housing ordinance.

• New Research on the Effects of Market-Rate Development and Upzoning

  There’s a growing debate among housing advocates over the neighborhood-level impacts of market-rate housing development.

Montana Business

• Butte, Montana’s Headframe Spirits to expand greatly, make new whiskey

  Headframe’s co-owners, John and Courtney McKee, recently signed a six-year contract that will increase the amount of whiskey Headframe makes by a factor of 10.

Funding and Building your Business

• From dorm rooms to board rooms: How universities are promoting entrepreneurship – Is yours participating?

  15 institutions partnered to create a centralized pool of licensable IP

2021 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Right to privacy: Missoula legislator’s bill bars sale of GPS data without consent – Privacy Rings?

  Senate Bill 242, sponsored by Sen. Bryce Bennett, D-Missoula, would bar companies from selling GPS data without explicit consent.

• Solar net metering bill withdrawn in Montana

  MREA estimates that 3,000 homeowners, businesses, and local governments participate in net metering, either with solar panels or wind turbines.

• Whitefish Council to Legislators Targeting Local Measures: ‘Shame on You’ – Bozeman officials frustrated

  City officials slam Montana lawmakers for bills that would rescind public health ordinance requiring masks, prohibit affordable housing program

• North American Cities Are Replacing Cops With Civilians And It’s Working

  Toronto is the latest city looking to replace police with mental health crisis workers on non-violent 911 calls.

Careers

• Yes, good leaders are authentic leaders — but here’s what that actually means

  If you go on Amazon, you can find over 40,000 books on how to be more authentic. Clearly, we have a problem if we have to spend so much money just to be ourselves. But the cost, as I see it, is not just to our pocketbooks.

VR/AR, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and The Internet of Things

• This privacy ring is like an Incognito Mode for real life

  So do you don a mask? Nah. You just flip a switch on your ring. And anyone from the government to random advertisers can no longer use your face to identify you.

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