MATR Newsletter – March 9, 2023
The state with the best education wins!

Come Home Montana

• Belgrade, Montana is booming with construction projects popping up around town

  Belgrade is the fastest-growing city in Montana and they’re doing what they can to plan for the future.

• Montana’s American Prairie Welcomes Visitors and Opens 2023 Reservation System

  “Whether you come for one day or one week, we invite you to get off the beaten path and make memories in a truly unique corner of Montana,” said Mike Kautz, Director of Public Access and Recreation at American Prairie. “These prairie grasslands are a great location to explore for anyone who enjoys wildlife watching, hiking, biking, boating, fishing, or hunting.”

• Bullock opens ‘Soapbox’ series at Helena taproom with local leaders – Come Join the Conversation

  Bullock said the speaker series is scheduled to occur every Monday night at 7 p.m. at The Brothers Tapworks at The Confluence, the bar he opened about a month ago with his brother, Bill, on the Last Chance Gulch Walking Mall.

Northwestern Energy

• Nuclear power a possibility for Montana, NorthWestern tells SD regulators

  NorthWestern identifies nuclear power as an option to replace retiring coal-fired power plants, should it be forced to do so by regulators, though In Montana the utility is preparing to double the amount of owned coal power in its portfolio.

Great Falls Development Authority

• ‘The Fire Within’ – April 20 – Great Falls, Montana

  This year features a new venue and a new format. Get business tips from our team of small business advsiors, network with powerful women business owners, and celebrate Inspire and Aspire award winners.

• ‘Fire Within’ preview: Inside look at female entrepreneurship – Great Falls Development Authority

  Every year, the Great Falls Development Authority celebrates female entrepreneurs through an annual event called ‘The Fire Within.’

• Upcoming Trainings: SafetyFest, Food Formulation, Cybersecurity and more! GFDA

  GFDA was the first economic development organization in the Rocky Mountain West to earn accreditation from the International Economic Development Council.

Montana Business

• A Montana movie, 12 years in the making, to have its premiere Saturday night (3/11) in Missoula

  The 160-minute story follows the mishaps and adventures of a man who dreams of one day becoming rich. Unfortunate circumstances thwart him throughout the film until he ultimately has to choose between love and wealth.

• TDS Fiber optic internet coming to Butte

  Petersen said the internet speeds will be “10 to 20 times faster” than incumbent providers.

• Company claims US’s richest rare-earth deposit in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley

  The company bills its Sheep Creek holdings as “one of the highest-grade light rare earth projects in the U.S.,” containing “at least 12 of the critical risk elements as defined by the U.S. Geological Survey.”

• This bill could make the four-day workweek a reality

  The movement for a four-day workweek is gaining ground.

• Why the CEO Must Be the Chief Story Teller

  A Towers Watson report found that organizations with effective communication programs are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their peers.

• Home-Based Care: Fixing the Childcare Drought in Rural America

  Some rural counties are trying an approach to tackle childcare shortages. A new program supports home-based childcare providers with resources, education, and grants.

• Millennials in their 30s have added over $3.8 trillion in debt to their accounts — and are missing their credit card and auto loan payments

  This marks a 27% rise from late 2019 — the biggest jump of any age group — and it’s the fastest they’ve ever accumulated debt since the 2008 financial crisis.

• Want To Electrify Everything? Train More Electricians — Quickly

  The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects growth of electrician jobs will increase by 9.1% from 2020 to 2030.

• Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority – Montana ‘closer than ever’ in restoration of southern rail passenger route – March 8 Board Meeting

  For the first time in its young history, the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority now claims a contiguous block of participating counties stretching from the North Dakota boarder across the state to the western border with Idaho.

• Don’t forget marketing when it comes to renewing business

  Here are a few marketing tactics that you can start using now to help keep customers coming back again and again.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Nothing Performs Like TDS Fiber. Get Fast Internet in Helena, Montana!

  TDS Fiber Delivers Game-Changing Symmetrical Speeds Up to 8Gig

Housing

• Homeowners Lose Millions to ‘We Buy Houses’ Investors

  There are investor purchases that focus on middle-class suburban houses for rent. But there are other investors who seem to prey on lower-income, longtime owner-occupants who might not know what their house is worth. We tried to figure out a way to identify the most parasitic of the investor purchases.

• City leaders evaluate Missoula’s 10-year plan to combat homelessness

  One item touted as a notable achievement — launching a sign-up system that connects people to the help they need.

• Green The World’s Largest 3D-Printed Neighborhood Is Here

  If it can scale, the 3D-printing process promises to deliver energy-efficient and climate-resilient homes that can be built faster, in novel designs and with minimal construction waste.

• Homebuyers again retreat to the sidelines as higher rates crimp affordability

  At today’s rates, home prices would have to fall by 30% for homebuyers who are purchasing the median-priced home to have the same monthly payment they would have had a year ago.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• “Saving For The Day” An Epic Action-Adventure Made In Montana By Montanans – World Premiere – March 11 – Wilma, Missoula

  Joe Bell (Andy Shirtliff) is a penny-pinching hermit saving for the day when his real life will begin. One day he’s given a chest filled with treasure by a cryptic, old man. After the Old-timer “accidentally” locks the chest, Joe must go on a series of adventures to track down the key. Each adventure is a different genre. There are a total of 15 different genres.

• ClearGov Launches ChatGPT Tool for Municipal Budgets
  The feature uses artificial intelligence to help craft budget books, including the text narratives that accompany spending changes. The tool could save time and hassle during the hectic budget process.
• What if Every Business Owner in America Did Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy?

  The mind-blowing journey of magic mushrooms, from underground taboo to founder’s little helper to mental health unicorn.

Biotech

• Mark Zuckerberg And Priscilla Chan On Their New ‘Biohub’ In Chicago And How They Plan To Spend Billions To Help Others Cure Or Manage Disease

  A collaboration among Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Chicago Biohub will work to better understand how human tissues function, using tiny sensors it will develop.

Funding and Building your Business

• 6 mental shifts that’ll make you happier and more successful in your new job

  One of the biggest barriers to success is often mental, these executive coaches say. Here’s how not to make the same mistakes and set yourself up to soar.

• The Secret to Hiring Exceptional Employees

  Look beyond the resume to see where people truly excel.

• GlueCon will occur for the thirteenth time, on May 24th-25th, in Broomfield, Colorado.

  In the interim years, dozens of products and startups have launched or used GlueCon as one of the venues for their early premieres. Twilio, Docker, and Kubernetes all appeared on the GlueCon stage long before they were known by the wider tech community.

Incubators and R&D

• Non-soggy biodegradable drinking straws made from wood waste

  Scientists from South Korea’s Inha University looked to lignin, a type of organic polymer which makes up much of the support tissue in plants – including trees.

• Safe upcycle of pandemic plastics creates lucrative nanotechnology

  A team of researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) has developed a single-step, organic solvent-free, hydrothermal process to convert polyethylene-based plastic bags and polypropylene-based surgical masks into carbon dots.

Come Home Wyoming

• Americans are leaving their homes behind to find a better life — these are the top 5 states being abandoned including Wyoming

  What’s shocking, however, is that it seems many residents who chose to leave hadn’t been there very long.

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

• Missoula College Selected to Co-Lead National Effort to Better Serve Students

  . “It is very different from the traditional philosophy of preparing students for college. It is a tremendous opportunity to improve the social mobility of underserved populations at two-year colleges.”

• Montana’s slow war on the public education system

  These actions by the GOP are an all-out war on public education in Montana, dressed up in the guise of parental rights, something parents have always had at all times.

• UM provost Pardis Mahdavi leaving role to spearhead new multi-state collaboration to expand degree opportunities

  “We’re all better off if we kind of do our things well, but collaborate across disciplines,” Mahdavi said on Monday. “No one up until now had thought about kind of going up in elevation a bit and doing this at the national level. I also think there’s something to be said for this very significant and needed change in higher education to come from the Rocky Mountain West, not the coasts.”

• Destination Imagination helps Montana kids expand their creative problem-solving

  “Teamwork, collaboration, project management. It’s all about creative problem-solving. And a lot of those skills are things that employers are going to be looking for in the future. You know, not just employees that have degrees or experience but, you know, employees that have fresh ideas and, you know, can do innovation,” says Montana DI Affiliate Director and mom at St. Andrew, Alyce Lachney.

Montana Education/Business Partnerships

• Precision agriculture research advancing at Montana State

  “What we’re finding is that a lot of our previous assumptions about animal behavior were wrong,”

2023 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Friends of the Montana Constitution – Multiple Events and Information & Brand MT

  The purposes of Friends of the Montana Constitution shall include but not be limited to promoting and enhancing the public’s understanding and appreciation of the 1972 Montana Constitution; advancing civics education at all levels about the 1972 Montana Constitution; and recognizing and celebrating the 1972 Constitutional Convention and its delegates.

Government News & Events

• Awash in asphalt, cities are rethinking their parking needs

  According to an inventory commissioned in 2018 by the Research Institute for Housing America, part of the Mortgage Bankers Association, the number of parking spaces in some cities may already be exceeding demand. The survey found that there were 19 parking spaces per household in Des Moines and 27 parking spaces for each home in Jackson, Wyo.

Non-Profit News

• Montana Fundraising Summit – April 13 – Helena

  We’ve already told you Michelle Muri of the Ethical Rainmaker is headlining our 2023 Fundraising Summit. But there’s more.

Careers

• TED Talks – 27 Inspiring talks to celebrate International Women’s Day

  This playlist of TED Talks shines a spotlight on 27 women — of all ages and from all over the globe — who lead with ferocity, fortitude and wisdom.

Transportation

• Is Washington state’s goal of moving to all-electric vehicles by 2035 actually achievable?

  Gov. Jay Inslee has now set a goal of phasing out gasoline powered car sales by 2035. It seems like a daunting plan on the surface considering electric vehicle sales and infrastructure are lagging. Inslee said in a January interview with KOMO News, “The problem of electric cars is not that people won’t buy them, we can’t produce enough of them right now.”

• Innovation Will Follow the National Electric Vehicle Network, but Not Overnight

  The infrastructure law that’s helping to build out thousands of chargers will likely usher in the changes needed for a seamless experience regardless of the car or charger it’s plugged into. But this won’t be immediate, experts warn.

• What Did Denverites Do With All Those Free E-Bikes? (Answer: Not Drive So Much)

  According to a new joint report from the city of Denver and a coalition of state and national organizations, a whopping 71 percent of the 4,734 Denverites who received an e-bike subsidy last year reported that their new rides helped them reduce the amount they drove, replacing an average of 3.4 gas-powered vehicle trips every single week.

Energy and Climate Change

• Georgia leads toward a nuclear future with its first operating reactor

  Georgia Power Co. announced one of its two new reactors reached self-sustaining nuclear fission on Monday. The announcement is a key step toward reaching commercial operation of nuclear energy in the United States.

• Revealed: 1,000 super-emitting methane leaks risk triggering climate tipping points

  Vast releases of gas, along with future ‘methane bombs’, represent huge threat – but curbing emissions would rapidly reduce global heating

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