The State of Montana offers bonuses to attract more workers at facilities

TONIGHT

Hellgate Venture Network – Celebrate the remarkable life of Michael Fitzgerald, the visionary CEO of Submittable – 1/18 – Goodworks Ventures Missoula

Come Home Montana

• The State of Montana offers bonuses to attract more workers at facilities

  In an effort to hire more permanent workers and reduce the need for higher-cost traveling employees, Montana is offering bonuses for some positions at state-run facilities, along with pay hikes for some existing employees. The money comes from $300,000 that was part of the federal American Rescue Plan Act. The new Hiring Incentive Program is meant to help facilities deal with budget issues caused by hiring more-expensive traveling staff. Holly Michels Full Story

• Best & Worst States to Start a Business (2024)

  In this study, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 25 key indicators of startup success to determine the most fertile grounds in which to launch and grow an enterprise.

• Butte competing for new battery component manufacturing plant

  Butte is going to have to compete with a city in Washington state if it wants to woo a Norwegian-based company to build a plant south of Butte that will make components for lithium-ion batteries and create many good-paying jobs.

• Thousands of U.S. Cities Could Become Virtual Ghost Towns by 2100

  These projected findings about depopulation in U.S. cities are shaped by a multitude of factors, including the decline of industry, lower birth rates and the impacts of climate change

• Montana Career Opportunity – Website Administrator – Roxy Theater – Missoula

  Roxy Theater seeks a Website Administrator to manage and maintain websites for five signature film festivals housed at the Roxy Theater in Missoula, Montana.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Montana Governor’s housing task force talks challenges, successes in first 2024 meeting

  “We’re drilling down, boots on the ground,” Habeck said. “If I was to use common language, it would be what’s working in Montana and what’s not as far as attainable and affordable housing.”

• Outlook for Home Solar & Battery Systems in 2024

  For those interested, EnergyPal does a great job of providing a ton of free information about pricing, and other aspects of solar installs, and connecting homeowners with high-integrity contractors to get the job done if they want to move forward.

• USDA Awards More than $2.2 Million in Grants to Support Montana Agricultural Producers

  In 2023, USDA Rural Development in Montana awarded more than $2.2 million in direct funds to 10 rural small businesses and agricultural producers through its Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program, which is designed to help generate new products, create and expand marketing opportunities, and increase overall producer income to grow local economies in rural and Tribal areas.

• Lawmakers announce bipartisan agreement to enhance child tax credit

  The proposal would help lift nearly 500,000 children out of poverty as lawmakers are poised to enhance the child tax credit.

• “The donut effect” is reshaping America’s cities

  The most pronounced dynamic shaping U.S. cities heading into 2024 is “the donut effect” — a hollowing of the urban core as people, jobs and retailers flee to the suburbs and exurbs.

• Montana tax payments can be directed to public school systems

  Montana taxpayers have the ability to participate in a dollar-for-dollar tax credit program as tax season begins.

• A Montana first: Yellowstone Club starts using treated wastewater to make snow

  Trout Unlimited, American Rivers, Gallatin River Task Force, Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Association of Gallatin Agricultural Irrigators have all voiced support for the project.

Northwestern Energy

• NorthWestern to Host Year-End 2023 Financial Results Webinar – 2/15 – Online

  NorthWestern Energy provides essential energy infrastructure and valuable services that enrich lives and empower communities while serving as long-term partners to our customers and communities.

Big Sky Commerce

• This Week at Strong Towns – Strong Towns On The Ground – “How Many People Have to Die to Make a Street Safer?”

  “Okay, You Know How To Fix a Deadly Stroad. Now Do It 1,000 Times.” || by Daniel Herriges

Great Falls Development Alliance

• The Food, Fuel, and Fiber Focus: Tools & Resources to Support Your Ag Business

  This newsletter is your monthly check in for all the tools and resources you might need.

• GFDA – Upcoming Trainings: Starting a Business Simplified, Government Contracting and Website Bootcamp!

  The Great Falls Region will be a proud, positive, and vibrant community, which welcomes new people, new investments, and innovative opportunities while celebrating its authentic and diverse Montana culture. Our community will be a safe and inclusive place to raise families and will offer opportunities for individual growth and quality of life, which retains and grows our population.

Montana’s Tech Hub Effort

• Montana State awarded grant to boost high-performance computing capacity

  The upgrade will roughly double current computation capacity and increase computing performance for some workloads tenfold, he said.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Montana begins broadband challenge process – 1/26 – Webinar

  Montanans may take the speed test and survey as many times and in as many locations as they’d like at mtspeedsurvey.com.

Montana Businesses Seeking Investment or For Sale

• Helena print shop and marketing business sells to national brand

  Allegra, a local print shop and marketing company operating in downtown Helena for more than 40 years, was sold at the beginning of 2024 to a national brand.

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte

• If Montana were run like a business, this wouldn’t happen.

  If Montana government were truly run like a business, someone should be getting fired for this mess.

• Montana DOJ puts Virginia-based law firm Consovoy McCarthy PLLC on $500,000 retainer to defend TikTok ban in court

  Department of Justice spokesperson said the Virginia based firm is billing $525 an hour.

Housing

• Supreme Court to Reconsider Martin v. Boise – tent encampments on public property

  The justices agreed to hear an appeal from the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, of a 2022 U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that has the potential to loosen restrictions on how nine Western states deal with tent encampments on public property.

Incubators and R&D

• How can AI bring academic research to the fore?

  A platform recommends relevant research and makes it easier to understand

Regional Business News

• China’s Population Decline Accelerates

  Coupled with this downward-trending birthrate is a rapidly aging workforce, raising concerns over the future productivity of the world’s second-largest economy.

Come Home Idaho

• Why Tech Workers Are Ditching Big Cities for Boise

  Idaho’s capital city is seeing an influx of young people as they apply for tech jobs away from big coastal cities amid massive layoffs and a disillusion with Big Tech.

Come Home Wyoming

• A measure to fund early childhood education is a backdoor attempt at privatizing schools

  There’s no need to stuff preschools into an unconstitutional effort to dismantle public education.

Montana Education/Business Partnerships

• Missoula College Awarded $10K Grant to Support Diesel Technology Students

  The $10,000 award, provided by Modern Machinery and The Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation, will directly support the students enrolled in the Diesel Technology Program at Missoula College’s West Campus.

Careers

• If you want to be happier, you should write a ‘life brief’

  What do you care about most in life? The process of developing a ‘life brief’ might help you find the answer.

• Red Cross volunteer delivery drivers like Wolf Ametsbichler save lives in rural Montana communities

  The Montana Red Cross is currently in need of 34 more transportation specialists across the state, including seven in Missoula.

Transportation

• Could we charge electric cars in just 15 minutes?

  A new system could cut the time, cost, and complexity of installing ultra-fast EV charging stations

• Electric Vehicles work fine in the cold in Norway. Here’s how they do it

  Cold temperatures can affect an EV’s battery. But range issues can be averted if drivers are prepared.

Energy and Climate Change

• Are Ground Source Heat Pumps the Future of Commercial and Residential Heating and Cooling?

  The Department of Energy estimates such ground source heat pumps reduce energy consumption and emissions by up to 44 percent compared to air source heat pumps and 72 percent compared to standard air conditioning equipment. Now do we have your attention?

TED and TEDX Talks

• How to make stress your friend – TED Talk Video

  Stress. It makes your heart pound, your breathing quicken and your forehead sweat. But while stress has been made into a public health enemy, new research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal urges us to see stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others.

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

• What Your VPN Knows About You – And May Not Be Telling You

  In reality, a VPN that logs its users could land your private data on everything from the black web to government watch lists.

Privacy, Hacking and Virus Alerts

• Here’s how to avoid malware, safely charge your phone in public while traveling – Don’t use public USBs – just outlets

  Welcome to the newest phase of juice-jacking. The phenomenon has been around for more than 10 years. Hackers use public phone charging to upload malware to your devices. Then, they ransom your phone or steal your passwords.

MATR Newsletter Supporters: