MATR Newsletter – July 25, 2022
The state with the best education wins!

Greenland’s ice sheet melted 6 billion tons of water daily last weekend

Scientists have warned about the impending fate of Greenland’s ice sheet and say what happened between July 15 and 17 is the latest massive melting event

Come Home Montana

• Flathead Home Sales Dip, Reflecting National Trends

  For the first time since before the pandemic, the valley’s housing market is cooling off. Yet concerns about housing access and market sustainability remain.

Big Sky Economic Development

• Big Sky Economic Development Website Undergoes Creative Refresh

  Big Sky Economic Development’s website underwent a creative refresh this past year! This refresh will now allow website users to easily navigate through the site to find exactly what they are looking for. This website refresh was built out by AD Creative

Great Falls Development Authority

• Great Falls Economic Development Top 10 for 7-24-22

  With our partners from the Montana Department of Commerce and the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, GFDA hosted a visit from an exciting Aerospace company looking for big skies of opportunity. This company has unique needs, which may be best served by partnerships in multiple Montana cities.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• FCC calls 25 Mbps ‘broadband’ speed. The push is on to up it to 100.

  The FCC has been using the same, dated definition since 2015.

• Beyond books: The 21st century public library – CBS Sunday Morning

  No shushing here! The modern library is more than just a repository of books. Correspondent Conor Knighton checks out how today’s libraries are public spaces designed to foster connections while keeping pace with technology and the needs of the community.

Montana Businesses Seeking Investment or For Sale

• City of Missoula to solicit redevelopment proposals for Sleepy Inn

  Because the city owns the Sleepy Inn, it’s likely to be the first property redeveloped in accordance to the master plan. The current vision calls for a five-story building with ground-floor retail and roughly 35 residential units.

Senator Jon Tester

• Montana Senator Jon Tester Pushes for Solutions to Housing Shortages in Montana & Rural America

  Doing the right thing here is important. We don’t want to exacerbate the problem; we want to make it better…Could you give me a little insight into what should be in the long-term plan that would actually result in more houses on the market?”

Housing

• Spokane Prepares To Disband the State’s Largest Community of Unhoused People

  With $24 million in state funding directed to Spokane’s efforts to reduce homelessness, city officials plan to relocate the over 600 residents of Camp Hope. But will services follow?

• Investors Bought a Quarter of Homes Sold Last Year, Driving Up Rents

  The issue is especially acute in some Sun Belt states amid evidence that investors often can outbid other buyers, keeping starter homes out of the hands of would-be owners, especially suburban Black and Hispanic families. Some local officials in those states are pushing for increased regulation of investor purchases, but many Republican lawmakers oppose such controls.

Montana Business

• Big Tech is bracing for a possible recession, spooking other industries

  Google’s CEO warned “sunnier days” are over as tech giants report slowing growth and cut down on hiring.

Funding and Building your Business

• The 15 best tech podcasts you need to listen to right now

  Here are our favorite podcasts on tech news, gadgets, crypto, Web3, startups, Apple, and more.

• So Many Company Gifts Are a Waste. She Found a Way to Make Them Matter — And Built a Successful Business

  Who really needs another tin of popcorn? This mission-driven company is taking corporate social responsibility to a new level.

• 7 smart secrets to help your business grow quickly

  I’m proud to say that I built my own multimillion-dollar enterprise with no debt and no investors. It’s rewarding for me to help the many small business owners who call and need a hand getting their company off the ground or breaking past a big hurdle. I’ve been there myself.

Idaho News & Events

• Solar Roadways – Army’s xTech Clean Tech Competition

  We were recently chosen as one of the Part 2 Finalists, which entitles us to apply for both funding and the opportunity to install a pilot project at an Army Base.

• Bipartisan Innovation Act would help Idaho semiconductor manufacturers be competitive

  Insufficient investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing coupled with the lack of funding for new research has stifled our technology production — both in Idaho and across the country.

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

• Code Girls United incorporating summer programs

  Code Girls United is a statewide after-school program that teaches girls in fourth through eighth grade all about coding, the terms, and how to create their own apps.

Government News & Events

• Don’t Look Now, but Congress Might Pass an Actually Good Privacy Bill

  A bill with bipartisan support might finally give the US a strong federal data protection law.

• New Mexico Submits First Infrastructure Bill EV Charging Plan, Ignorance Breeds Controversy

  The plan wasn’t without controversy, as many in the state and even journalists just don’t understand the complexities of government and the process.

• Meet the state delegates for the inaugural Western Governors’ Leadership Institute 

  The Western Governors’ Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Western Governors’ Association, will host 21 western students from 14 states and tribes at the inaugural Western Governors’ Leadership Institute on July 25.

Transportation

• How Cargo Bikes Can Help Women

  “The bikes’ added capacity for carrying kids, pets, or groceries makes trip chaining by bike easier, especially with newer bikes outfitted with e-motor capabilities. As their use has spread, they’ve proven to be an effective means of closing the gender mobility gap for women.”

• Can Auto Enthusiasts Help Fight Car Dependency?

  A new video about the dangers of car dependency by a popular automotive vlogger is prompting a conversation about how people who love cars can help dismantle a transportation system that privileges autos above all else.

• Missoula bikers, pedestrians confront alarming crash trends

  Between 2019 and 2021, the Missoula Police Department took 172 reports of accidents between vehicles and pedestrians or cyclists. Of those, 95 involved bikes and 77 were between vehicles and pedestrians.

• How Will Road Infrastructure Change In The Next 30 (10 or sooner?) Years? The End of Carcatecture.

  “While people have talked about it, we’re at this moment now — especially with the infrastructure bill — that’s the once-in-a-generation opportunity,”

• We Spent $95 To Drive 2,700 Miles On A Summer Roadtrip. Life With An EV Is Sweet Indeed

  What blew our mind is how little we spent on fuel for our vacation. While the rest of the gas-bound world winces each time they fill up at the gas pump, the electric fuel for the thousands of miles we drove didn’t even come to $100.

Energy and Climate Change

• New Research Says Vertical Solar Panels Have Improved Performance

  Researchers at Leipzig University of Applied Sciences claim that mounting bifacial solar panels with one side facing east and the other facing west would produce more renewable electricity and reduce one of the side effects of traditional solar energy farms — an abundance of electricity at midday and not enough in the morning or afternoon. Their study was published in the August, 2022 edition of the journal Smart Energy.

• 60 Minutes – Storm-ravaged Bahamas rebuilding its power grid with emphasis on solar energy thanks to the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)

  Since this story first aired in 2020, that microgrid we saw being installed on Ragged Island is now operating and supplying all the electricity the island needs. They haven’t had to ship diesel fuel to run that old generator in many months, which is especially welcome news given that the price of fuel has skyrocketed.

• Why the Arctic Is Warming 4 Times as Fast as the Rest of Earth

  The loss of sea ice is exposing darker waters, which absorb more of the sun’s energy. It’s a devastating feedback loop with major consequences for the planet.

• The beginning of the end of wires and power poles? Earthgrid aims to re-wire the USA using super-cheap tunnel tech

  Bay Area startup Earthgrid says it’s developing a plasma boring robot that can dig underground tunnels 100x faster and up to 98% cheaper than existing tech, and it plans to use it to start re-wiring America’s energy, internet and utilities grids.

• Greenland’s ice sheet melted 6 billion tons of water daily last weekend

  Scientists have warned about the impending fate of Greenland’s ice sheet and say what happened between July 15 and 17 is the latest massive melting event contributing to an increase in the global sea level.

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