MATR Newsletter – January 8, 2024
The state with the best education wins!

TODAY!

City Club Missoula – The Montana Constitution: Past and Present – 1/8

Join a Conversation with Mae Nan Ellingson, former delegate to the 1972 Constitutional Convention, regarding the history and current challenges surrounding the Montana State Constitution. Two other experts (awaiting confirmation) will join the panel. After short introductory presentations, the audience will have the opportunity to engage with the panel during our usual Table Talk and Q&A session.

Why Cities Are Turning to Climate Change Dashboards

As the world gets hotter, technology offers governments a fresh way to track emissions and the progress of officials in meeting climate goals. What benefits do these dashboards offer, and how are cities using them?

Today’s MATR Newsletter is sponsored by:

Come Home Montana

More communities support proposed Southern Montana passenger rail plan from Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority
Gathering speed is a new push to expand the way travelers can connect across the state and to major U.S. cities, all through passenger rail.

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Dorsey eUpdate: AI Cannot be an Inventor of a UK Patent
The highly anticipated ruling follows decisions both in the UK and in other jurisdictions (including the Board of Appeals of the European Patent Office) all adopting the same position under the provisions of current legislation in the different jurisdictions.
Esteemed University of Montana grad, Mae Nan Ellingson has earned a lasting legacy – City Club Missoula – The Montana Constitution: Past and Present with Mae Nan Ellingson – 1/8
As bond counsel with Dorsey & Whitney for three decades, Ellingson had a hand in nearly every public financing project across the state.

Eventgroove

Join Us as a Storyteller or Board Member! + Free Tickets Inside!
Share your story! Pitch your “Close to the Edge” story by calling 406-203-4683 If you’d like to share your story on the Tell Us Something stage, the next opportunity to do so is March 26th, 2024. The theme is “Close to the Edge”.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

Why Cities Are Turning to Climate Change Dashboards
As the world gets hotter, technology offers governments a fresh way to track emissions and the progress of officials in meeting climate goals. What benefits do these dashboards offer, and how are cities using them?
Montana Main Street Grant Application Now Open
Grants are available for comprehensive revitalization projects and community planning, as well as to activate spaces and execute concrete ideas. Communities with a currently active MMS grant are not eligible for funding.

Montana Business

Google Just Swallowed the Cookie. That Will Change How Your Company Advertises
Digital cookies were never delicious, thanks to their privacy-invading powers. But when they go, it will force changes on how companies find customers online.
Could this obscure tax idea reshape American housing?
Mayor Duggan, who is spearheading the effort, hopes this land-value tax idea will incentivize development on blighted property as well as offer some tax relief to homeowners, who bear some of the highest rates in the country. The Duggan administration estimates that under his proposal 97 percent of Detroit homeowners will see an average decrease of 17 percent in property tax.

Funding and Building your Business

Foundations of Private Equity and Venture Capital – Harvard Business School – March 3-6 – Harvard, Mass
The Foundations of Private Equity and Venture Capital program delves into the fundamental challenges and best practices for successfully raising a new fund or venture. You will explore the full range of industry models, from venture capital to growth equity to buyouts, as well as the key issues related to investment criteria, management strategies, and decision-making processes.

The Creative and Cultural Economy

Google Arts and Culture – Expand your Horizons
Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world.

Come Home Idaho

Idaho Greenlights $120 Million For 18 Broadband Projects
The Idaho Broadband Advisory Board (BAB) has greenlit $120 million in broadband grants from the Idaho Capital Projects Fund (CPF) to fund 18 different broadband projects across Idaho, delivering affordable fiber access to 30,000 homes and businesses, many for the first time.

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

Transparency project aims to help Montanans navigate their right to know
A group of law students and activists hopes to educate the public and help everyday people with public records requests.
Montana schools prepare to retool early childhood programs
In Bozeman and elsewhere, Montana’s new early childhood literacy law spells change and potential expansion in the education of kids under 5.

2023 Montana Legislature and Politics

Three Steps to Pave the Way for the EV Revolution
The electric vehicle revolution is here, and state (and local) policymakers should act now to ensure that this important shift is as smooth as possible.

Transportation

LaDuke: Warren Buffett has best chance to fix passenger rail
…there’s some scrappy folks in southeastern Montana who want to have Amtrak back. And I am with them. It was canceled in the 1970s.

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

CBS Sunday Morning Video – How artificial intelligence is revamping customer call centers
Correspondent David Pogue talks with the founders of Gridspace, whose artificial intelligence customer service agent, named Grace, fills in for human agents at more than 100 airlines, banks, hospital chains and phone companies.