MATR Newsletter – March 6, 2023
The state with the best education wins!

Come Home Montana

• City of Helena, Montana Desperate to Fill Job Vacancies

  “The engineering department is empty pretty much, and the planning department is empty,” she said. “It’s really impacted operations, and the demand for those services have not gone away and…

• Glacier National Park looking for nearby residential properties to lease

  The types of properties may be one, two or three-bedroom apartments or houses, they need to have the main appliances and laundry facilities

• There are 24 districts in Montana seeking superintendents for the 2023-2024 school year

  The turnover rate among superintendents, as noted by the same group, has risen from 16.5% in the 2019-2020 school year to about 25.9% last year. “I do think we have…

• Harsh notes on cars, including college students, raise concern in Helena

  Report nasty notes to law enforcement, they may cross the line into illegal behavior.

PFL

• Livingston responds to developer’s lawsuit

  Livingston West LLC and PrintingForLess.com seek to develop 64 acres for residential and commercial use near U.S. Highway 10 and Interstate 90 and had submitted an application and preliminary plat, which was denied by the City Commission in October. The entities filed a lawsuit against the city in December.

Big Sky Economic Development

• Big Sky Economic Development sponsoring creative placemaking microgrants in Billings, searching for artists

  Up to $5K per project available.

• Better Off in Billings Event – Quality of Place for Quality of Force

  Join us for a full day of learning about the importance of quality of place, collaborating on new ideas, and celebrating what Billings has to offer today and the opportunities that lie ahead tomorrow!

Flathead Valley Community College

• Whitefish-born Filmmaker Aims To Get Montanans On Set. The rapid two-day production-assistant training course at FVCC, scheduled for March 11-12 – FVCC and Online

  The rapid two-day production-assistant training course at FVCC, scheduled for March 11-12, has helped prepare attendees for production assistant jobs on the set of “Yellowstone” spin-off show “1923”

Montana Business

• Walgreens will not distribute abortion pill in 20 states

  Walgreens on Friday said it will not distribute abortion medication in 20 states, bowing to pressure from anti-abortion lawmakers and lawsuits targeting the legality of medication abortion.

• Developing Your Food Product for Market – Thursday, March 23rd 9am—2pm 407 Main St. SW, Ronan, MT

  Concept to Consumer is a FREE Mission West workshop designed exclusively for new food businesses and value-added production enterprises to equip them with the necessary tools to take their fledgling business concept to all the way to the consumer with the highest chance of success.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• TDS Fiber to serve Missoula, Butte, Great Falls, Helena and Helena Valley. You Can Reserve Your Service Now

  “It’s some of the fastest fiber internet in the nation,” said Petersen. TDS Fiber’s product is symmetrical, so uploads and downloads run at the same speed. Petersen said customers especially like TDS internet for streaming and gaming.

Senator Jon Tester

• Infrastructure Deal Delivers $7.3M to Glacier Park International Airport Expansion

  Funding is the result of a bill crafted by Montana’s U.S. Sen. Jon Tester that includes nearly $580 billion in new spending

Housing

• You can now buy a fraction of a house. Should you?

  Buying a home is more out of reach than ever. But a new investing trend could spell trouble.

• Hundreds in Billings, Montana face homelessness as pandemic-era housing aid expires

  “The situation is a little bit different in Bozeman,”

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Reasons to be Cheerful is a non-profit editorial project that is tonic for tumultuous times. 

  We tell stories that reveal that there are, in fact, a surprising number of reasons to feel cheerful.

Funding and Building your Business

• 3D Printing Is Becoming Unstoppable

  In the beginning, most items were created with plastics, but that’s no longer the case and other elements can be printed. It is now possible to even print human cells.

• The 2023 University of Montana Community Lecture Series – 3/7, 3/14, 3/28 – University Theater, Missoula and Zoom

  Join us in person or participate online as our presenters tackle topics with the theme of “Research, Inquiry and Ways of Knowing,” to reflect UM’s “R1” research status. Q&A will be available following each presentation.

• Why Smart Leaders Use ChatGPT Ethically And How They Do It

  Let’s look at several ethical questions raised by AI chatbots, including:

The Creative and Cultural Economy

• Two new members of the Gallery of Outstanding Montanans

  People gathered at the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday to recognize two Montanans and celebrate their induction into the Gallery of Outstanding Montanans.

Come Home Idaho

• The MAGA-fication of North Idaho College – “It’s pretty much a dystopian farce”

  G.O.P. activists set out to root out the “deep state” at home. An Idaho community college may never be the same.

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

• USA Today – Montana Proud – She was elected to Congress before women had the right to vote, blazing a trail that continues today

  “I may be the first woman member of Congress,” Rankin said in 1917. “But I won’t be the last.”

2023 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Montana citizens have right to local control

  Here’s the good news: if citizens are dissatisfied with their form of local government, whether they have self-government charters or not, our Montana Constitution and Montana State statutes provide that every 10 years, the people of Montana’s counties and cities and towns will be asked whether they want to study and review their form of local government. The people can change it if they like.

American Prairie

• Bison could soon return to the Great Plains and other areas of the U.S. through new framework

  The framework consists of several steps to reinvigorate the Bison population across the country. The Secretary’s order will bring in over $25 million from the Inflation Reduction Act, creating a network of partners best suited to the task, according to a press release from the Department of Interior.

Transportation

• Global race is on to improve Electric Vehicle range in the cold

  Many electric vehicle batteries lose power when it’s very cold. Thousands are confronting the issue if they own an electric car and have to make a longer trip when temperatures dip

• A new Ford patent imagines a future in which self-driving cars repossess themselves – No more Operation Repo

  Imagine it’s the near future, and you’ve bought a new car with a self-driving mode. But hard times hit and you fall behind on loan payments – then, one day you find your car has driven itself away to the repossession lot.

Social Media, Connectivity & Communications

• Satellite messaging now possible on Android and iPhone with a new $99 Bluetooth accessory

  The Motorola Defy Satellite link can turn any Android or Apple phone into an emergency messaging service using geostationary satellites orbiting 22,300 miles (~36,000 km) above the surface of the Earth.

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