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

Corona Virus Information

• What is the Delta variant and how is it altering the course of the pandemic?

  “The delta variant has fundamentally changed the nature of the pandemic,”

Come Home Montana

• Montana Businesses – You can post your job openings in the Come Home Montana section on MATR

  Many companies are facing challenges hiring and retaining employees.   Please take the opportunity to post your openings in the Come Home Montana section here: Register here for access to MATR where you can submit and edit Career Opportunities, Resumes, News Stories, Company Information, Upcoming Events, Receive the Newsletter and more….. Supporting MATR is always appreciated.…

• Montana Career Opportunities – Solution Architect, Change Enablement Specialist – Atrium

  At Atrium, we are always on the lookout for teammates who love solving complex business problems with data. Do you like designing and delivering data-driven solutions that take advantage of today’s cutting-edge technologies? If so, we should talk!

• Bozeman, Montana’s Atrium Included in Inc.’s 429 Best Companies to Work For in America – Career Opportunities

  Bozeman-based Atrium is a consulting services company helping organizations across diverse industries make the best use of analytics and A.I.

• Montana businesses trying out ways to attract new hires amid worker shortage

  Nationwide, a worker shortage is hurting many businesses, including those in Billings.

Northwestern Energy

• NorthWestern Energy joins the Western Energy Imbalance Market

  Since its launch in 2014, the Western EIM has been using advanced technology to find and deliver the lowest-cost energy to utilities.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Hey Montana – Be Sure to Wish Paul Tuss a Happy Birthday Today!

  Happy Birthday Paul.

• Millions in federal money meant to boost Montana’s child care capacity

  The commission voted to approve a recommendation of up to $31.24 million for the state health department to administer in sub-grants to stabilize and expand child care in Montana.

• Meet the Startup Helping Farmers (and Ranchers) Make Money Off Their Land (But Not in the Way You Think)

  Harvest Hosts gives RVers unlimited access to stays at farms and vineyards across the U.S. In exchange, they spend big bucks on tchotchkes and other goods.

• CBS Sunday Morning – Down on the farm: A shortage of agricultural labor

  If you like to eat, you can thank a farm worker, among the hardest-working, lowest-paid, yet most vital workers in America. Correspondent Luke Burbank talks with Shay Myers, a third-generation Oregon farmer who feels it’s important that agricultural workers get their due.

• Economic update: 4 charts that show how the economy is performing in Billings and Montana

  How has unemployment changed recently? Which types of small businesses are generating the most revenue? Find out with these charts, updated weekly.

• Five of Europe’s Most Interesting Urbanism Trends

  Cities around the continent are taking steps to reimagine transportation, housing, and energy use with intriguing projects that could provide useful lessons for American cities.

The Telecommuting and Gig Workforce in Montana

• Remote work won’t save the heartland

  For all the discussion of new work patterns and possible relocations for millions of professional workers, fewer and fewer will be fully footloose in the coming years, as remote work settles into a new level that will be higher than the pre-pandemic norm but lower than now.

• Work friends make life happier. Here’s how to make them when you’re remote

  Having friends at work is a game changer, but it can be tricky to form connections when you’re not sharing the same physical space.

• Businesses tell their workforce to return to offices by Labor Day – or even sooner

  The move could pose a dilemma for workers who largely worked from home during the pandemic and have become accustomed to throwing in a load of laundry or walking the dog in between Zoom meetings during the day.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Louisiana planning $180M broadband internet expansion effort

  To get the grants, firms will have to cover at least 20% of costs and be required to provide high-speed internet at affordable prices for the next five years.

Housing

• We’re Not In A Real Estate Bubble….It’s far worse than that – Rent prices have had the largest gain in nearly 15 years

  What if the newly-redefined value of shelter is the maximum amount of annual rent that can be extracted per unit of housing?

• Looking to escape housing boom in small-town Montana? In Laurel, that’s no easy task

  But, if you think picking up and moving to Laurel will help you escape this crazy home buying market, think again.

Visit Montana

• How the warming climate is threatening the ecosystem of Yellowstone

  There will be dire effects as it becomes too warm for snow to accumulate on the mountains in the park.

Montana West Economic Development

• Montana West Economic Development Names New President

  Current staff member Christy Cummings Dawson has been promoted to president and CEO

Funding and Building your Business

• How to build an emotionally intelligent workplace

  The idea can seem overwhelming to leaders, but this one thing can make a major difference.

Come Home Wyoming

• Horse pasture becomes a growing business in northern Wyoming

  “This had been horse pasture so it was extremely fertile land, and it’s also by Big Goose and in the flood plains,” Berglund said. “There are different soils here than anywhere else in Wyoming, and that’s a good thing. So it’s been really rich and easy to grow, but I just kind of got lucky.”

Energy and Climate Change

• ‘We’re going to have to get used to this’: Pacific Northwest scorched in dangerous, record-breaking heatwave

  “We know from evidence around the world that climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves. We’re going to have to get used to this going forward,” she said.

• Montana cities have carbon-free goals, but it’s not easy being green

  NorthWestern’s customers in these three cities with 100% green energy goals totaled 118,996 in 2020, according to the utility’s own data. That’s 31% of NorthWestern’s total electric customers for Montana.

• These solar, Wi-Fi-connected streetlights are replacing ones that were repossessed by the utility company

  Now, some streets are getting brighter with solar-powered streetlights that also provide public-access Wi-Fi, installed by the nonprofit Soulardarity.

Privacy, Hacking and Virus Alerts

• Hackers are investing in each other’s operations—just like VCs invest in startups

  Ransomware continues to grow more sophisticated and lucrative, and now security firm LIFARS says operators have built a Silicon Valley-like VC ecosystem.

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