MATR Newsletter – July 28, 2021
The state with the best education wins!

We’ve been warned:   A Helena, Montana law states that a woman cannot dance on a saloon table unless her clothing weighs more than three pounds, two ounces.

Corona Virus Information

• As more workers fall ill, restaurateurs weigh a dramatic step: banning the unvaccinated

  “It’s hard to turn down money. But is your health worth more than money?” one chef asks.

• Health Officials Urge Precautions as COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations Hit Levels Not Seen Since Spring in Missoula County

  With this news, local health officials are urging the public to start wearing masks again.

• More U.S. employers are saying get a shot or get another job

  “There’s a longstanding precedent to set workplace rules,” said Dorit Reiss, a professor who studies vaccine policy at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. “A safe workplace is important not just for the employer, but also for the employees and for the consumers.”

Come Home Montana

• MATR Launches The Montana Community Map. Would you like to be the “Keeper” of your community?

  What’s great about each Montana community and what’s happening to make it a truly wonderful place to live or visit like career and real estate opportunities, housing and broadband availability, child care facilities, social activities etc.

• Montana Career Opportunity – Chief Financial Officer – Snowy Mountain Development Corporation

  The Chief Financial Officer manages Snowy Mountain Development Corporation’s accounting and financial reporting functions. Specific duties include periodic budgeting, payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, financial statement preparation, state regulatory reporting,…

• Positively Montana Full Episode July 25

  The focus of Positively Montana is to feature people doing good things; people trying to make a difference and good things happening to people who need help.

• Montana Career Opportunities – Executive Director – Lincoln County Port Authority and Kootenai River Development Council

  The Executive Director will coordinate and initiate a hands-on deployment of the community/economic development, business creation/retention efforts and programs in south Lincoln County, Montana Overall responsibility for Kootenai River Development…

Montana Department of Commerce

• Montana Department of Commerce Announces Tourism Grant Program Application Cycle Opens August 1

  “With these grants, the Department of Commerce continues to support the development of tourism and recreation projects, increasing visitors to our state and prompting economic growth and resiliency for many Montana communities,” said Commerce Director Scott Osterman.

Great Falls Development Authority

• August Business Trainings! Great Falls Development Authority

  Whether you’re just getting started, looking for new customers, wanting to grow sales through e-commerce, or focusing on workforce.
  We’re here to help.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Share your stories of our Shared State in Montana

  Shared State is a narrative podcast from Montana’s leading nonprofit newsrooms that examines our current political moment through stories about the complex people and beliefs that shape our state.

• From Destination Marketing to Destination Stewardship – Are Tourists Loving Montana to Much?

  “I know folks are concerned about overcrowding and Glacier has become an extremely popular destination.  We can become a victim of too much success.”

• Bring back corner stores to create a connected, equitable city – Missoula County looking to completely change its zoning code

  A call for zoning reforms that legalize commercial buildings in residential neighborhoods in Seattle—a building type and land use that has fallen out of favor all over the United States.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Six Community Broadband Networks Demonstrate Diversity of Approaches to Connectivity Challenges

  One might think this is the moment for community broadband networks. The truth is, locally-directed networks have been serving their communities for a long, long time.

TechLink

• Why tech transfer brings companies ‘more than innovation’

  Technology transfer is more common than you might think, in part because the government has thousands of available technologies (patents) covering markets where thousands of companies do business.

Funding and Building your Business

• WEBINAR – Virtual and Augmented Reality Training Technologies – 8/19 – 12:00PM – Zoom

  Attend this webinar to explore how advanced visualization training, like virtual and augmented reality, is taking safety training to a new level in the industry.

Come Home Wyoming

• Wyoming Career Opportunity – Principal Planner – City of Laramie – Laramie, WY

  The ideal candidate will be a highly motivated professional eager to put their skills to work in a dynamic, progressive community with a wide array of planning opportunities.

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

• Walmart, the country’s largest private employer, to pay 100% of college tuition for employees

  “We are creating a path of opportunity for our associates to grow their careers at Walmart, so they can continue to build better lives for themselves and their families,” Lorraine Stomski, senior vice president of learning and leadership at Walmart, said in the statement.

2023 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Americans owe at least $140 billion in medical debt – Paying the Bills: The Financial Realities of Health Care and Rural America

  The reason, according to Mahoney’s research, appears to tie into the decision by many states in the South to not expand Medicaid as allowed under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). By comparison, in states that chose to broaden their public health insurance for low-income individuals, total medical debt fell significantly more, and the rates at which their residents—including those who live in the lowest-income areas—accumulated new debt from one year to the next also declined.

Government News & Events

• Missoula City Council adopts pro transgender resolution: ‘You’re all welcome here’

  “To ban someone from having an experience that would help them grow up and become a better person is very damaging. To me, that’s the value of sports. When we talk about it not being fair, that goes to winning. It’s very fun to win in sports, but if that’s all you think sports are about, they’re not.”

Government Technology

• Texas ransomware attack shows what can happen when whole towns are targeted

  It was the start of a steamy Friday two Augusts ago when Jason Whisler settled in for a working breakfast at the Coffee Ranch restaurant in the Texas Panhandle city of Borger. The most pressing agenda item for city officials that morning: planning for a country music concert and anniversary event.

  Then Whisler’s phone rang. Borger’s computer system had been hacked.

Tell Us Something

• Nerd Nite SF returns to Rickshaw Stop with guerilla gardening and lots of cursing – Is Your Community Ready to Host a Nerd Night?

  A typical Nerd Nite includes three experts giving 20-minute lectures. A presenter might speak about why baroque music was the jazz of the 18th century or explain sharks’ ability to detect nearby electricity. In addition to some serious science, there’s typically a lot of cursing and a lot of beer.

Events

• Water emergency declared in Polson, Montana

  Some residents facing water shutoff

Transportation

• Electric Vehicles Growing in Rural Calif. Thanks to Local Partnership

  A partnership between Electrify America and Valley Clean Air Now in California has led to thousands of rural households trading in their gas-powered cars for electric autos. Will other parts of rural America follow suit?

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