MATR Newsletter – February 24, 2021
The state with the best education wins!

All are invited!

MEDA Perfect Elevator Pitch Happy Hour – 2/26 – 11AM – Online

What is a great elevator pitch? It is a short statement you make about your business or yourself or just about anything that captures the questioner’s attention, raises their interest and helps them see you as someone they want to know more about, so they can open a dialogue with you. … Your questioner must see you as different, special — and valuable.

Come Home Montana

• Applications still being accepted to lead Great Falls College-MSU

  There is less than a week left for applications to be accepted for the next dean of Great Falls College-MSU. Applications will be accepted through February 26. The current dean, Susan Wolff, is retiring in June. She has has been the dean since 2012. The chair of the search committee for a new dean, Brock…

• Great Falls Airport Authority plans construction of communal space for businesses

  “We can achieve those economies of scale by sharing walls, sharing a ceiling, sharing truck bays, sharing the infrastructure burden that it takes to build these buildings,” Faulkner told the Board. He also added that the plan is to lease the space to a number of different local businesses.

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

• Dorsey – Companies Consider Transparent Face Masks as an ADA Accommodation During Pandemic

  Lawsuits from the deaf and hard-of-hearing community may require companies to consider new reasonable accommodations during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as transparent face masks for employees and clean writing tools for customers, in order to comply with state and federal disability discrimination laws.

Montana Department of Commerce

• Registration is Now Open! Montana Housing’s Annual Housing Tax Credit Compliance Training March 30-31

  This training is for developers and management companies that work with Housing Tax Credit properties. The virtual training will go over all aspects of compliance for the Housing Tax Credit program in Montana.

Big Sky Economic Development

• Rocky Vista University Medical School Proposes Billings, Montana Campus – First for Montana

  Rocky Vista University (RVU) announced today that it has selected Billings, Montana as the proposed site for development of a four-year medical school – the first of its kind in the state of Montana.

Prospera Business Network

• Apply Now for Prospera’s Emerging Companies Roundtable!

  You are invited to be part of Prospera’s Emerging Companies Roundtable program that creates a close-knit peer network of owners/senior management of local emerging growth companies. A new program for 2021 will include guest speakers to explore topics of interest to growth companies operating in Montana.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Rethink Youth: Elevate Student Voices Into Community Conversations

  On this panel, both students and community leaders will come together to elevate the importance of student voice in community and philanthropic initiatives. This panel will examine how education systems and municipalities can develop and support youth participation and empowerment.

• The West badly needs a restoration economy

  Why not put unemployed miners and drillers back to work reclaiming closed coal mines and plugging up idled or low-producing oil and gas wells?

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Survey Explores Link Between Telehealth and Economic Success

  A new survey of economic development professionals suggests that more telehealth access and local control of broadband-related factors can give cities and counties an economic leg up.

• Broadband bill to allow Montana municipalities to provide service gets hearing in House committee

  “We are falling behind in our economy, and people are feeling it,” Kortum told the House Local Government Committee Tuesday afternoon. “Let’s give our towns the freedom to innovate and design broadband solutions that fit their unique needs.”

• California can finally enforce its landmark net neutrality law, judge rules

  It survived challenges from Trump’s DOJ, and now one from telecom industry too

• Wi-Fi 6: is it really that much faster?

  The next generation brings more than just faster speeds

Senator Jon Tester

• Senator Tester Introduces Bill to Restore Amtrak Furloughed Employees, Full Service to Montana’s Hi-Line

  Senator: “These cuts were an attack on rural America, and my legislation will right that wrong”

Housing

• If Housing is a Human Right…

  Advocates of statutory upzoning can’t point to any substantial empirical evidence that the developer giveaways and corporate welfare they are promoting will actually lead to housing affordability.

Montana Business

• The Hidden Investment Opportunity In Electric Vehicles? Commercial Real Estate

  Drivers waiting to recharge their vehicles are now captive, on-location customers—precisely what physical shopping centers have struggled to attract.

• Montana’s Resilience Engineering Company Zylient – Disaster Technology & Consulting

  It’s our mission to build disaster resilience in communities around the world. No town is too small and no city too large. If the solution doesn’t exist, we build it.

Incubators and R&D

• How a 1960s discovery in Yellowstone National Park made millions of COVID-19 PCR tests possible

  In 1964, the microbiologist was driving out West when he stopped to visit Yellowstone National Park. It was the first time he saw the park’s picturesque hot springs.

Idaho News & Events

• Oregon counties to vote on joining Idaho – and bringing Northern California counties next

  Move Oregon’s Border — an organization promoting the “Greater Idaho” movement of having Oregon’s conservative counties join Idaho — announced Sunday that initiatives to relocate the Oregon-Idaho border “to make both states better” will appear on ballots in five Oregon counties on May 18.

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

• Montana State University students serve on local nonprofit boards

  Eight Montana State University students are serving on the boards of local nonprofit organizations this year through the MSU Leadership Institute’s Boardroom Bobcats mentorship program, which is now in its fifth year.

• Montana Learning Center looking to give young scientists a great summer with camp opportunities

  “It’s huge. I mean just the social and emotional aspect of it alone is huge,” said Hanahoe. “This year it’s just as important because some kids are going to school one day a week or two days a week. Most of them are online and the camps are an important opportunity because they get to be outside spending time with their peers while still being safe.”

University Business Plan Competitions

• Montana State’s $50K Venture Competition to be held virtually April 7-8

  The competition with two tracks, social venture and traditional venture, is open to all MSU undergraduate and graduate students, MSU faculty and staff, and MSU alumni who have graduated within the last 10 years.

2021 Montana Legislature and Politics

• These states are on track to pass data privacy laws this year – Is yours?

  The more states embrace these laws, the more consumers will have a right to know what information has been collected on them and an opportunity to stop it.

Government News & Events

• Berkeley adopts sweeping police reforms including taking cops off routine traffic stops

  The action comes amid calls from the public to reform police departments across the country to end abuses of people of color — a demand driven by the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd last Memorial Day.

Workforce Development

• Bitwise Industries announces $50 million investment to grow tech apprenticeship program

  The tech sector continues to add high-wage jobs, and Bitwise hopes expanding its apprenticeship program will help more BIPOC workers land them.

Connectivity & Communications

• Newly Christened Billionaire David Baszucki’s ‘Addictive’ Roblox Is Equal To YouTube Among Gen-Z

  “It’s as if we’re running ‘American Idol’ for up-and-coming game developers.”

Miscellaneous Ramblings

• Video: 3 mountain lions running along a Montana road

  “Some kitty cats out for a stroll today!”

Transportation

• Flying taxis are coming. Here are 5 ways they’ll differ from air travel as we know it

  This new form of mobility will be very different from our current reality, which provides some unique design opportunities.

• President Biden to order a review of US supply chains for vital goods

  President Joe Biden is preparing to sign an executive order to review U.S. supply chains for large-capacity batteries, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals and semiconductors that power cars, phones, military equipment and other goods.

• Neighborhood Traffic Management Programs in Missoula – 3/10 – 8:30 – Online

  Promoting safety is a priority for neighborhood streets. Traffic calming infrastructure like traffic circles are expensive and cumbersome to install. Learn how the City is addressing the need for slower speeds on neighborhood streets with lighter, quicker, cheaper solutions that rely on community involvement and innovation.

• Electric cars are the future. Here’s how to get American drivers interested in them.

  EVs are key to manufacturing jobs and reducing climate change emissions. The on-ramp to these benefits is exciting drivers the way the Model T did.

Energy and Climate Change

• How To Invest In A Clear Winner From The Texas Power Grid Collapse: Battery Storage

  Along with the plumbers working through their massive backlogs, there will be another big winner that emerges from the ice storm: batteries.

• Should California Link Electricity Bills to Customer Incomes?

  A new report takes aim at regressive volumetric rates and proposes a new way to share the costs of the state’s clean electrification goals.

• Iceland Is Sucking Carbon Dioxide From the Air and Turning It Into Rock

  Engineering fixes for climate change are gaining attention and investments in 2021 as companies such as Microsoft and leaders from China, the United States, and the European Union work on long-term plans to achieve “net zero” emissions goals.

Community

• Boston Leaders Want A Dog Park in Every Neighborhood – How about your community?
  City leaders want to build more off-leash dog parks, partly as a response to the trend of “pandemic puppies” that has led to a sharp spike in urban dog ownership.

Privacy, Hacking and Virus Alerts

• Hackers Tied to Russia’s GRU Targeted the US Grid for Years, Researchers Warn

  A Sandworm-adjacent group has successfully breached US critical infrastructure a handful of times, according to new findings from the security firm Dragos.

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