MATR Newsletter – May 1, 2023
The state with the best education wins!

The MDT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program

• Mt Department of Transportation Bidding & Estimating FREE Workshop – Multiple Dates and Locations in Montana

  From 11am to 1pm we will host Small Business Office Hours where you will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with representatives from a variety of small business resources including the
  Procurement Technical Assistance Center, Small Business Development Center, Local Economic Development Centers,
  Women’s Business Center, Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, Small Business Administration, MDT’s Small Business
  Programs, and more!

Great Falls Development Authority

• GFDA’s Top 10

  We need to shoot new photos because Calumet Specialty Products announced this week that Montana Renewables’ sustainable jet fuel production line is fully operational!

• Great Falls Economic Development Top 10 for 4-23-23

  We celebrated 26 Inspire and Aspire Award winners at the annual Fire Within in Great Falls.

• ‘Fire Within’ awards honor female entrepreneurs in Great Falls

  Now in its 12th year, the community nominates and votes on which women are most deserving of the award. This year, 26 winners were announced.

Montana Bioscience Cluster Initiative

• BioScience under the Big Sky Spring 2023 Newsletter

  Gaize announces the launch of their real-time impairment screening device for cannabis and other drugs

Montana Business

• Lee newspapers plans to reduce printing days in Montana impacting The Billings Gazette, the Missoulian, the Ravalli Republic, the Montana Standard and the Helena Independent Record.

  Four people who spoke to the Daily Montanan on condition of anonymity, confirmed the company is planning to reduce its printing schedule in all publications, except for 20 of its largest titles.

• Rural Main Street Program Says Revitalization Starts at Home

  Main Street America is launching an initiative for small towns. One goal is to move from simply recruiting businesses to incubating the business ideas that arise locally.

• Solar Power & Farming: A Win–Win–Win–Win

  Are the crops and the solar panels not going to compete for sunshine? Well, as you can see from the title above, the answers I’ve found indicate that solar power and agriculture are indeed a match made in heaven. Let’s get into the details.

• Emotional Intelligence in the Age of AI – Daniel Goleman

  If you are ready to start or deepen your work in emotional intelligence, you can learn more here.

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte

• Gianforte’s son, David, one of many lobbying Montana Governor Greg Gianforte against trans bills

  David Gianforte has told his father the bills will harm the LGBTQ+ community he’s a part of.

Housing

• Living in a walkable neighborhood makes people healthier and happier.

  Ecological models of human aging propose that the physical or built environment may influence the well-being of people as they develop.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• MEDA is excited to announce that our Spring 2023 Conference will take place in Billings, MT May 22nd – 24th.

  Our conference theme is: What connects us today? What connects us tomorrow?

• College To Start a Rural-Based, Globally-Minded Internship Program

  Culver-Stockton College partners with Tri-State Development to teach students how to create economic development in rural parts of the U.S. and beyond. The program focuses on retaining talent in rural parts of the country.

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

• As ‘Skills-Based Hiring’ Becomes All The Rage, These Education Leaders Want To Overturn A 117-Year-Old Way Of Measuring Students’ Experiences

  “The school system, K-16 system, is letting a lot of people down. It’s preparing a lot of graduates, but those graduates increasingly don’t have the skills the workplace really needs.”

• Video – Why Finland has the Best Education

  Finland is also the happiest country in the world. The US is definitely missing in a LOT of ways. Over testing, under funding of K-12 public schools continues and politicians continue to believe that teachers are the problem. Make the teacher work harder and then ALL children will do well on standardized tests that measure the income, economic level of their parents. Nothing improves in this country and politicians ‘who have all the answers’ are the problem.

STARS Montana Early Education Program

• MIT study finds young children who go to preschool are more likely to go to college

  “ ‘It’s a pretty large effect,’ says Pathak. ‘It’s fairly rare to find school-based interventions that have effects of this magnitude.’ ”

Government News & Events

• Transportation Agencies: Improve Your Models or Hire More Lawyers

  Transportation models are biased in ways that result in inefficient, unfair and environmentally harmful planning decisions. Improve your analysis or prepare to be sued.

• Missoula, Montana flips switch on 545 kW municipal solar facility

  At a “flip the switch” event held in Missoula this week, officials christened a 545 kW municipal solar project, which Ameresco will maintain under a 25-year solar energy agreement which had zero upfront cost to the municipality, the companies said.

City Club Missoula

• City Club Missoula Presents The edge of the desert: Is Montana in danger of losing its local news? Monday, May 15, 2023 11:30AM – 1PM

  Join City Club Missoula to hear a panel of local media experts and journalists discuss the state of news media in 2023. This timely discussion will cover both state and national trends in journalism and news coverage, as well as the growth in nonprofit news outlets, the depleting of local newsrooms, and more.

Transportation

• How To Get A $7,500 Tax Credit On Almost Any EV Lease Thanks To An IRA Loophole

  Leasing electric cars classifies them as commercial vehicles and, as a result, they receive the full tax credit

• Insurmountable Obstacles to Mass EV Adoption? Think Again

  Consumer EV interest is at its beginning point, and initial infrastructure obstacles are being solved methodically. Yes, transportation electrification has a bit of a bumpy road ahead, but its future is, ultimately, bright.

• The Tragedy of Parking

  Parking minimums and other zoning laws have made American cities untenable for any other type of transportation. It’s time we find a new way to zone our cities.

VR/AR, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and The Internet of Things

• NSA Cybersecurity Director Says ‘Buckle Up’ for Generative AI

  The security issues raised by ChatGPT and similar tech are just beginning to emerge, but Rob Joyce says it’s time to prepare for what comes next.

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