MATR Newsletter – January 16, 2023
The state with the best education wins!

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

• Dorsey Opens Boise, Idaho Office

  Experienced lawyers establish new office, expanding Dorsey’s Mountain West presence

Great Falls Development Authority

• Great Falls Economic Development Top 10 for 1-15-23

  Here is our Top 22 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.

• Ignite 2023 shares business growth for Great Falls

  The format for the event is pretty simple: speakers delivered a three-minute presentation to over two hundred other presenters, community businesses and local leaders in Great Falls.

Montana Business

• Europe’s snowless ski resorts preview winter in a warming world

  Within the next seven to 17 years, skiing will become impossible “in the medium-altitude mountains, and the snow cover will inexorably decrease in the highest parts of the mountain ranges,” said Magali Reghezza-Zitt, a French geographer.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Hey Montana. Are You Listening! – 121 Colorado Communities Have Opted Out of Anti-Muni Broadband Preemption Law

  Colorado’s SB152, passed in 2005 after lobbying pressure by Comcast and Centurylink, prohibits the use of municipal or county money for broadband infrastructure without first holding a public vote. Deep pocketed monopolies know they can usually outspend municipalities, bombarding voters with misleading marketing to try and shift the vote in their favor.

Housing

• Even grizzly bears are getting priced out as Montana real estate booms

  Driving down highway 93 south of Lolo, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) grizzly bear manager, Jamie Jonkel, points out a large swath of open ranch and farmland he says grizzly bears use to make their way across the Bitterroot Valley.

  “This is the last connectivity available in the Bitterroot Valley,” he says.

• S.F.’s largest landlord defaults on massive loan. What does it mean for the future of city’s real estate?

  Last week, the Fitch Ratings reported that the property owner was in default on a $448 million loan, which is secured by a portfolio of 1,734 rent-controlled units in 62 buildings across San Francisco.

• Montana Emergency Rental Assistance Program Winding Down in Anticipation of Diminished Federal Funding

  “In anticipation of reaching the limits of federal funding for the program, we project that MERA assistance funding will be fully expended this spring.  We will implement a freeze in new applications beginning January 20, 2023, in order to continue serving Montanans currently in the program or those who have already applied.”

Funding and Building your Business

• 7 Benefits You Should Offer Your Employees in 2023

  Here are some of the perks your workers might expect to receive this year and beyond.

• How machine learning can help alleviate the U.S. labor shortage

  In this short article, we’ll step back and take a look at how we got here, the multiple factors that have led to such a disparity, and some of the solutions being implemented to try to fight this problem. Notably, we’ll take a look at machine learning (ML) and how it is being used to alleviate both the causes and the effects of the labor shortage in the U.S.

Non-Profit News

• Montana Nonprofit Association’s 2023 Biennial Nonprofit Economic Impact Report

  Did you know that nonprofits (including hospitals) employed 10.3% of working Montanans in 2021?

American Prairie

• NY Times – 52 Places to Go in 2023 Including Montana’s American Prairie Reserve

  With its wide-open skies and boundless horizons, American Prairie is ideal for visitors seeking a respite from the fast pace of modern life.

Hellgate Venture Network

• Join us for HVN Jan 19th in Missoula to discuss C2M and more! NEW Venue – First Interstate Bank – 6th Floor Boardroom (101 E. Front Street)

  we would love to have you join us January 19th at HVN (Hellgate Venture Network- a local networking group in Missoula) to talk about C2M Beta over the years, chat with a past cohort graduate, to share some memories and make some more! See you there!

Careers

• Green energy has a problem: There aren’t enough electricians. Here’s one solution.

  The Civilian Climate Corps

Transportation

• Tesla’s big price cuts mean ‘a major shift in the EV market’

  Analysts say Tesla’s hitting back hard over demand concerns. But many recent customers aren’t happy about missing out on these deals.

Energy and Climate Change

• Why Electrifying Everything Is A Critical Pathway To Decarbonize The World & Our Lives

  The World Bank summarizes findings from International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) models with required action in four areas: 1. Decarbonize electricity production; 2. Electrify everything and, where not possible, switch to other clean fuels like hydrogen; 3. Improve efficiency and reduce waste; and 4. Preserve and increase natural and artificial carbon removal using forests, other vegetation, and soils.

• Mass Climate Migration Is Coming – Isn’t it already here?

  With rising sea levels  and extreme weather events, the global north needs to prepare to welcome displaced people.

• What the Gas Stove Meltdown Has In Common With the Car Culture Wars

  In a matter of days, environmental and public health advocates have found themselves embroiled in a culture war over whether to increase regulations on a deadly, polluting machine that has become so ubiquitous in American life that owning one feels, to many, like a constitutional right, even though it isn’t.

Community

• What makes a city ‘happiest’? Here’s why Bay Area cities keep ranking No. 1

  In the 2022 “ Where Americans are Happiest ” study, six California cities made the top 10. Four are in Northern California, with the Bay Area city of Sunnyvale topping the list as the “happiest city” in the country.

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