MATR Newsletter – June 3, 2022
The state with the best education wins!

Come Home Montana

• Missoula County Commissioner Josh Slotnick: Requiem for dreams, or not

  Coming with a livelihood already intact or money in-hand is now actually a prerequisite for moving to Missoula, or you can’t come at all. The place just costs too much to move here and then figure it out.

• Bitcoin mining company to build data center in Montana

  Mr. Wonderful on the reality TV series “Shark Tank” business mogul Kevin O’Leary touted Montana as a business-friendly state. He compared Montana’s business environment to what he called the “Norway model,” meaning that the European country is friendly to business and has access to renewable energy.

• 10 new nonprofit jobs – Montana Nonprofit Association

  Montana Nonprofit Association’s mission is to provide leadership for Montana’s nonprofit sector and partner with charitable nonprofits to promote a sustainable, networked, and influential sector.

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

• Dorsey – Montana Mid-Year Employment Law Update – 2022 6/14 – Bozeman – 6/15 – Missoula

  In this program, we’ll discuss a number of hot topics for Montana employers, including:

  Changes to wrongful discharge laws in Montana and how to avoid potential liability
  Legal challenges presented by remote workers
  Performance management
  Marijuana legislation and Montana employers

Montana Department of Commerce

• Montana Dept. of Commerce awards $662,500 in job creation grants to 5 local businesses

  The grant funding is provided by the Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund and will go to businesses that generate greater opportunities for local residents.

City of Bozeman Economic Development

• Bozeman looks at new angle to deal with housing

  The city is proposing to retool the PUD process to focus specifically on affordable housing creation, allowing relaxations for developers who are providing affordable housing. At a citizen advisory board meeting this week, senior planner Tom Rogers said the proposed changes were not a silver bullet.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• FCC Commissioner Carr “supply chain issues… stopping progress on access to broadband in rural communities.”

  “Supply chain, workforce, and federal lands permitting issues are some of the bigger issues facing internet builds in Wyoming and Montana,” Carr said via text, “the federal government has appropriated enough dollars to get the job done, but unless we start tackling these other issues, we’re just jumping on the gas and the brakes at the same time.”

• Tribal communities are about to get a $2B broadband funding boost

  The $42.5 billion BEAD program alone accounts for the majority of the $65 billion in broadband funding the IIJA allocated to fuel broadband projects across the country. But tribal communities are set to get their own dedicated influx of broadband funding, with money expected to flow in the coming months.

Montana Business

• Crickets tipped to replace kale, acai, blueberries as mainstream superfoods in 2022 in Australia

  There’s been a buzz about the nutritional benefits of insects for years, but 2022 is the year creepy-crawlies are finally tipped to make it onto mainstream supermarket shelves.

• ‘I exhausted my savings’: Inflation has Americans turning to loans, credit cards to cope. Does it pose big risks?

  Some Americans are relying on credit cards to make ends meet.

• JP Morgan/Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says ‘brace yourself’ for an economic hurricane caused by the Fed and Ukraine war

  “You’d better brace yourself,” Dimon told the roomful of analysts and investors. “JPMorgan is bracing ourselves and we’re going to be very conservative with our balance sheet.”

Funding and Building your Business

• Found In The Rockies Podcast from Next Frontier Capital

  Do you want to hear about when the idea hit the founder? When they took the leap? What keeps them going when what they are doing seems impossible? Join Next Frontier Capital as they interviews founders, funders, and contributors molding the startup landscape. Found in the Rockies is on a mission to build a strong, connected community in the Rocky Mountain region (Montana, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado)

The Creative and Cultural Economy

• Norman Maclean Literary Festival Nets Speakers to Discuss ‘Public Lands and Sacred Ground’ June 25-26 in Missoula

  Maclean said that in his talk he’s decided to fling caution aside and tell the truth. In part, that means naming the people he thinks are standing in the way of protecting the Blackfoot. He said that, though the resonance of his father’s work and its subsequent film adaptation have strained the waterway, the two forces have also helped spur efforts to improve the health of the river, which at one point was so polluted that the younger Maclean refused to fish there.

STARS Montana Early Education Program

• Montana Supreme Court OKs ballot initiative to make pre-K a constitutional right. Montana will have until June 17 to gather more than 60,000 signatures if they want to put the question to voters in November.

  After a ruling by the Montana Supreme Court, proponents of making preschool a constitutional right in Montana will have until June 17 to gather more than 60,000 signatures if they want to put the question to voters in November.

Montana Education/Business Partnerships

• Self-driving vehicle tech company Aurora announces facility to be built on Montana State University Innovation Campus

  The modern, two-story facility will include research and development laboratories, a world-class manufacturing space and clean room facility, and more. In collaboration with MSU, Aurora also plans to open a new, state-of-the-art lidar test range.

Government News & Events

• Montana hires controversial Medicaid director

  “I’m a firm believer in managed care,” Randol told reporters in 2019 as he defended the Iowa program at a news conference announcing an 8.6% annual increase in the rate the state would pay its two management companies.

• Nevada to ditch investments in assault weapon manufacturers in wake of mass shootings

  “As Nevada’s chief investment officer, I have a responsibility to ensure Nevada’s tax dollars are invested with minimal exposure to risk,” Conine added in a statement. “Companies that profit on the manufacture and sale of assault-style weapons present a market risk I’m not willing to take.

Government Technology

• Survey: Government Is Optimistic About Ditching Data Centers

  As government agencies sent workers home and closed offices, many turned to software as a service to perform work remotely, which in turn shifted overall thinking on what the cloud can and can’t be used for in the public sector.

Transportation

• California regulators approve first taxi rides for public in cars with no driver

  Cruise will use a fleet of 30 completely driverless all-electric Chevrolet Bolts – with no safety driver – to ferry passengers around parts of the city.

• FreeWire Shows Us How To Solve US Rural Charging Challenges

  How FreeWire Takes The Stress Off The Grid (& Our Wallets)

• Argo touts driverless operations in Miami and Austin, Texas – Is your city prepared?

  An autonomous vehicle technology company that partners with Ford and Volkswagen says it has started driverless operations in two of eight cities where it is developing its technology

Energy and Climate Change

• L.A. is banning most gas appliances in new homes. Get ready for electric stoves

  More than 50 California cities and counties have adopted similar rules banning or discouraging gas hookups in new homes and other buildings. The nation’s second-largest city was late to the game, said Councilmember Nithya Raman, the policy’s lead author — but no longer.

• NEW ON TED.COM – “We have to stop destroying our future” Nobel laureate Al Gore

  “Do not give up hope,” Gore says. “And remember always that political will is itself a renewable resource.”

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