The FCC Now Says Broadband Speed Should Be at Least 100 Mbps

When I tried to negotiate with agents when selling my house last year- “They laughed at me,”

How Does Paris Stay Paris? By Pouring Billions Into Public Housing

Come Home Montana

• The rural workforce is changing. Colleges are scrambling to keep up. 

  Across America, rural workforces have been stretched beyond recognition in the wake of the pandemic. The sudden move toward telework has shifted housing and labor markets, creating a crisis of affordability for long-time residents plus a growing demand for hands-on labor in health care, construction and other fields. Amid rapid change, colleges are struggling to adapt fast enough to meet their communities’ needs.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Join us for a conversation with one of the greatest CEOs in the world on 3/27

  Beginning March 27, we’re bringing you a monthly opportunity to have genuine conversations with global tech and business leaders.

• In Finland, people get prizes for their unwanted textiles

  In the quest for a more sustainable future, the Finnish city of Lahti has taken a remarkable step with an innovative pilot program called the Textile Deposit scheme. This incentivized recycling program aims to encourage locals to actively sort and recycle their textile waste instead of sending it to the landfill.

• Creating More Gender Equality in the Workplace

  Professor Maurice Schweitzer explains how shifting perspectives on gender are affecting women at work.

• Warren Buffett Says This Is the Single Greatest Skill to Boost Your Career and Improve Your Worth By 50%

  It’s an ‘asset that will last you 50 or 60 years,’ according to Buffett.

• Out and About: New Butte pub offers taste of authentic Irish charm, hospitality

  Butte really embraces its Irish heritage and now, there’s a new pub and restaurant in town that also embraces the charm and hospitality of rural Ireland.

• Turning sawdust into high-value green biochemicals

  A company uses ultrasound to turn low-value bio-waste into useful chemicals for a range of applications

• 2nd Annual CONVERGENCE A Celebration of NTTW Tues-Wed, May 21-22, 2024 – Butte, Montana

  To recognize one of our state’s leading industries, the Montana Chamber of Commerce will once
  again celebrate #NTTW, and tourism’s intersection with the film and outdoor recreation industries
  as vehicles to harness the power of place, #TheLastBestPlace, as an economic driver at the 2nd
  Annual ‘Convergence” event on Tuesday-Wednesday, May 21-22, 2024.

• Montana Festival 2024 Coming to Bozeman – 5/30-6/1

  Montana Festival is bringing together our top entrepreneurs, business leaders, innovators, investors, artists, culture creators, designers, community builders, movers, shakers and policymakers to connect, share ideas, and accelerate Made in Montana ideas, projects, startups, and policy solutions to create good jobs, great towns, and shape a better future.

Northwestern Energy

• NorthWestern CEO talks green energy at economics seminar

  Contrary to depictions in the media, Bird said, NorthWestern Energy has a diverse energy portfolio including about a third of it from natural gas and coal, another third from wind and solar energy and a third from hydroelectric sources.

Great Falls Development Alliance

• GFDA Top Ten for 3-17-24

  Congratulations to Big Sandy Organics in Big Sandy on winning a Organic Market Development Grant to upgrade and expand their processing their food processing line for organic grains and pulses. They will be expanding their processing capacity and increasing the number of offerings with this 3 million dollar award.

Montana Business

• Baseload Power Doesn’t Make Sense Any More

  The compelling complaint about baseload power is that while it did save money in the past, it doesn’t any more. Sun and wind are cheaper than this “cheap” power source, AND backup battery power is cheaper than the backup plants needed for baseload power.

• Global company prepares to take on Montana statewide public assistance contract

  Idaho contracted Maximus to operate employment services in 2016. States Newsroom reported in August Maximus call-center employees protested for better working conditions after hundreds of workers across several states were laid off.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• The FCC Now Says Broadband Speed Should Be at Least 100 Mbps

  The old broadband standard of 25 Mbps wasn’t cutting it anymore.

Housing

• When I tried to negotiate with agents when selling my house last year- “They laughed at me,”

  Americans now spend about $100 billion a year on commissions. That number will probably decline by between $20 billion and $50 billion, Steve Brobeck, the former head of the Consumer Federation of America

• How Does Paris Stay Paris? By Pouring Billions Into Public Housing

  One quarter of residents in the French capital now live in government-owned housing, part of an aggressive effort to keep lower-income Parisians — and their businesses — in the city.

• Five things the Wyoming Legislature did to ease rising property taxes

  During a session largely defined by conflict, lawmakers were mostly united when it came to property tax relief. It’s now up to Gov. Mark Gordon to decide what will become law.

Funding and Building your Business

• Forget Chatbots. AI Agents Are the Future

  Startups and tech giants are trying to move from chatbots that offer help via text, to AI agents that can get stuff done. Recent demos include an AI coder called Devin and agents that play videogames.

Incubators and R&D

• First sleep apnea drug reduces severity in 70% of trial cases

  “Those who had a physiological improvement in their airway function during sleep also had between 25–45% reductions in markers of their OSA severity, including improved oxygen levels as well as a reduction in their blood pressure the next day.”

• Video: 3D images of over 13,000 museum specimens now free to everyone

  More than a research project, oVert was a collaboration between like-minded specialists across 25 institutions whose sole objective was to add value to museum collections by making them more widely available. Importantly, these images provide an insight that would only otherwise be obtained by destructive dissection and tissue sampling.

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

• How a second language can boost the brain

  Being bilingual benefits children as they learn to speak — and adults as they age.

• Student Loans – Are You Kidding Me??? – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

  John Oliver discusses the state of student loans, the House vote to ban TikTok, why House Republicans refused to attend their work retreat, and, of course, Left Shark.

• State lawmakers send letter rebuking Montana OPI Superintendent Elsie Arntzen

  “And an organization depends upon its leadership and at the end of the day the buck stops at the end of the org chart. And for that reason I believe this committee should communicate to the Superintendent of Instruction the view that she has failed to meet her constitutional obligation,” Bedey said.

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang wishes ‘ample doses of pain and suffering’ on Stanford students

  …resilience matters in success,” he said. “I don’t know how to teach it to you except for I hope suffering happens to you.”

Government News & Events

• At Least 10 States Quietly Own Lands Within Indian Reservations — and Profit From Them

  Tribal climate action plans are being stymied by state-owned land within reservation borders.

Government Technology

• State works to educate public about rising threat of cybercrime across Montana

  The FBI reports cybercrimes are up 62% from 2019 levels, and since then, losses from internet scams have more than tripled, coming in at $12.5 billion last year. Montana is not immune to the threat. In 2023, the state ranked No. 7 nationwide for highest losses per capita.

MATR Newsletter Supporters: