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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Nov 7, 2017 |
"Not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender." Keith Ellison
Please take your ballot to your voting station TODAY. It's your future.
Big Sky Economic Development
Montana Politics & Legislature
- Veterans learn that their service can help them succeed in business - There is assistance available for you and your company
"I wish this resource would have been around when we started our business," said Clemons, a 26-year Army veteran, adding that he and his wife drained their savings and maxed out their credit cards establishing their business years ago.
Montana's Outdoor Recreation Economy
- Special session talk hovers over Montana Capitol, GOP says not close on deal
There is hope to have the issue resolved by Thanksgiving, which is Nov. 23.
- Governor Bullock calls Montana lawmakers back for special session, releases list of cuts to state agencies
"I have put forth a set of reasonable and thoughtful proposals to balance Montana's budget for consideration by the Legislature," said Governor Bullock. "It's time Montana leaders fulfill our responsibilities to the people we represent and balance our budget in a way that makes sense for Montana taxpayers, workers, and families."
Great Falls Development Authority
- Techstars and The Nature Conservancy to create the Techstars Sustainability Accelerator
"we can ensure more financial resources go toward conservation by getting the world to fully appreciate the opportunity to invest in nature."
- Montana's Wilderness Study Areas Must Be Cherished and Protected
We're calling on our elected officials to handle these places with the respect they deserve. The lifeblood of our state depends on it.
VR/AR, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and The Internet of Things
- GFDA Top 10 - Here is our Top 17 for this week, celebrating work and successes to grow and strengthen our Great Falls regional economy.
Thank you to our investors and partners for your support. You make what we do possible! We are getting close on some new exciting deals. Now BE SURE TO VOTE!
- GFDA Business Education Calendar: Up Next - The LaunchPoint and Webinar Series: Employee Retention
Here are our upcoming educational events for business owners, managers, and professionals through the end of 2017:
Energy and Climate Change
- Building A.I. That Can Build A.I.
Google and others, fighting for a small pool of researchers, are looking for automated ways to deal with a shortage of artificial intelligence experts.
- 62 Insane Facts About Bitcoin [Infographic - Updated October 2017]
The FBI owns 1/5% of the world's bitcoins
Come Home Montana
- Bill Nye Thinks Science Will Survive the Trump Administration
In the film, Nye confronts famed creationist Ken Ham as he undercuts evolution in a conversation with an elementary school-age child at Kentucky's Creation Museum.
- Free Montana Premier Documentary Film - Bill Nye: Science Guy - 11/9 - Missoula, Montana
With intimate and exclusive access--as well as plenty of wonder and whimsy--this behind-the-scenes portrait of Nye follows him as he takes off his Science Guy lab coat and takes on those who deny climate change, evolution, and a science-based world view.
- Climate science forums set in Miles City 11/8, Havre 11/10, Fort Peck 11/9
Madison Boone, program and communications manager for the institute at MSU, said the forums will also feature panel discussions among local producers who have used climate science data to help them decide how to best to run their operations.
- Report: Developing a wind farm is cheaper than ever
Building a new wind farm is getting cheaper and cheaper, according to an annual study that documents the cost of new power generation.
- House Tax Proposal Unsettles the US Wind Industry
The House bill proposes worrying changes to the Production Tax Credit that could severely curtail the four-year installation forecast for wind power.
- Senator Tester Demands the Forest Service Listen to Montana Scientists
Senator Jon Tester is defending Montana fire experts and calling on the U.S. Forest Service to allow them to present their research at a national wildfire conference.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Missoula tech companies looking to add hundreds of high-paying jobs
"The Department of Commerce is looking at a strategy to get those (economic development programs like BSEDTF) reauthorized," he said. "It may be they all go away. They're in real jeopardy to be going away in the next legislative session, which would severely limit our ability to reward companies.
Montana Business
- New MTPR Podcast Highlights Entrepreneurship in Montana
Host Arnie Sherman engages successful Montana business leaders and shares their insights with listeners.
Montana Economic Development
- From intern to CEO, Blackfoot's top boss takes charge of company's tech growth
"I like to think my story is inspirational," Williams said. "I started at the bottom rung, and now I'm leading a company I love."
MSU Leadership Institute & UM Global Leadership Initiative
- Montana West Economic Development Releases Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for Flathead County Kalispell, Montana
The CEDS is a strategic document that provides a current picture of the status of the Flathead Valley's economy; with designs to strengthen the region's economic outlook by outlining the goals needed to create jobs, cultivate a more diversified economy and to improve quality of life through a five-year strategic plan.
- Anaconda planning board recommends approval of major development permit for slag processing plant - will bring around 700 jobs to Anaconda.
The new facility will turn Anaconda slag into a material used for fracking oil and natural gas.
- Lewistown and Lavina, Montana anticipate new breweries
"Breweries are a great social place, and this has the potential to hep the county prosper. Maybe other businesses will think of creating something here, too."
Careers
- Why Leaders Are Made, Not Born - 'Forged in Crisis'
She learned that true leaders are those who can forge through impossible odds with intelligence, compassion and resilience.
Rural Communities
- Learn how to effectively negotiate so you can get that raise you deserve
Whether you're buying a house, gunning for a raise, or just trying to get your toddler to finish her vegetables, being an effective negotiator can save you money, boost your confidence, and generally make life a lot easier.
- Here's a Useful Exercise That Boosts Brain Power - How good is your brain at this?
Luckily there's a workout that helps us strengthen our cognitive skills.
City Club Missoula
- A New Generation Is Returning to Practice the Small-Town Art of Participation
A new generation of young people is returning to rural areas to immerse themselves in the difficult and rewarding work of being part of a community.
- Foreign-Born Residents Account for Most of Rural Population Growth
In a period of very low population growth, an increase in the number of rural residents who were born in foreign countries helped keep the non-urban population stable from 2010 to 2015.
- Where the Small-Town American Dream Lives On
As America's rural communities stagnate, what can we learn from one that hasn't?
Government
- City Club Missoula Presents: New Neighbors: Refugee Resettlement In Missoula, One Year Later - 11/13
Updating Missoula on refugee resettlement since 2016, covering successes, challenges and partnerships, as well as providing a brief outlook for 2018.
Idaho Business
- Face the Nation - Inside Trump administration's effort to staff the government - Michael Lewis
The folks at the Department of Agriculture laid on a friendly welcome for the Trump transition team, but they soon discovered that most of his appointees were stunningly unqualified.
- Gianforte's chief of staff Charles Robison appointed next rural development director for Montana
Robison was also U.S. Sen. Steve Daines' state director for four years, starting when Daines was in the House. The Republican senator issued a statement congratulating Robison.
- Bozeman to vote on strategic plan at Monday's meeting
"As we continue to grow as a community, it is important for us as an organization to determine what our priorities will be moving forward."
- Millennials aren't satisfied with capitalism -- and might prefer a socialist country, studies find
Ask a millennial if they would rather live under a socialist or capitalist country, and they're likely to give an answer much different than their parents or grandparents would.
- 35 states, including Idaho, support bid to collect online sales taxes
The brief says the jurisdictions all rely on consumption taxes to fund essential government operations.
- Bozeman City Commission tables vote on strategic plan
Mayor Carson Taylor said if the draft document falls to the next commission, he fears it will be years before it becomes a reality.
Oregon Business
- Boise company can sue Idaho over tax incentives that aided its competitor
Employers Resource Management Co. of Boise sued in 2016 after officials gave a tax incentive to Paylocity, an Illinois company and competitor establishing a new office here.
- They broke labor rules. We gave them $8M in farm subsidies and 8,000 foreign workers.
In the decade or so since regulators have caught about five dozen Idaho employers breaking rules -- ranging from unpaid wages to fatal safety lapses -- the federal government has given those employers a green light to hire more than 8,000 foreign workers. Those employers also received at least $7.9 million in subsidies.
- Micron's new CEO makes his mark quickly, but he's still a stranger to Idahoans
Day by day, he spreads his message to Micron's 35,000 employees like an evangelist
Other Economies
- Google will expand Portland office by 40 percent
Google had 40 Portland employees in the spring of 2016 and now employs 60. The company wouldn't say how many more it expects to hire for the expanded office.
Workforce Development
- Meet the specialists - Israel's newest generation of VCs
A new trend in Israeli VC funding sees specialist VCs focusing their shekels on emerging sectors ranging from aging, to social impact, wellness and transportation.
Wyoming Business
- When Internships Don't Pay, Some Colleges Will
Internships have become a necessary credential in a highly competitive job market -- about half of interns are offered a job by a company where they have interned, according to a 2017 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
Education
- Wyoming expected to create Office of Outdoor Recreation
"I think making sure we elevate outdoor recreation into some form within our department is critical -- we are primed for that."
Funding and Building your Business
- How Silicon Valley Plans to Conquer the Classroom
Silicon Valley is going all out to own America's school computer-and-software market, projected to reach $21 billion in sales by 2020.
Connectivity & Communications
- This 28-year-old's company makes millions buying from Walmart and selling on Amazon
Only four years after quitting his accounting job in Minneapolis, Minn., to flip purchases full-time, his business is making well into the six figures in profits per year.
- What can we learn from the successes and failures of Unicorns?
There are 217 companies identified as unicorns including the likes of Uber, Spotify and Pinterest.
- Why Your Best Millennials Will Leave, and How to Keep Them
If you are trying to retain millennials by tracking their "job satisfaction," you might be looking at the issue exactly backward.
- 8 Actions You Can Take Every Morning to Build Your Side Business Faster
When you're working full time while building your business, every minute from the moment you open your eyes has to be used productively.
GIS Technology
- How Verizon and Comcast are working to ensure states don't pass their own net neutrality bills
Some of the nation's biggest Internet providers want to make sure that, once the Federal Communications Commission votes to deregulate the broadband industry, states won't be able to set up their own, new regulations to replace them.
Non-Profit News
- 12 Incredibly Useful Things You Didn't Know Google Maps Could Do
Some of the best features of Google's mapping app are among the hardest to find--until you know where to look.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Soft Landing Missoula gets national attention from Starbucks
Soft Landing Missoula is featured in an online video series created by coffee giant, Starbucks.
- Here's a More Tax-Efficient Way to Give to Charities
What many don't know is they can take advantage of a strategy that allows them to combine those two needs and reduce their taxes.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Harvard study uncovers why fasting can lead to a longer and healthier life
A new study from Harvard researchers has now shown how fasting can increase lifespan, slow aging and improve health by altering the activity of mitochondrial networks inside our cells.
- Guy films brilliant ad to auction off his girlfriend's used car, but it worked too well
The beautifully shot video quickly went viral and reached over three million views -- and ended up pushing up the eBay going price to $150,000, up from Lanman's initial asking price of just $499.
Transportation
- Precision medicine: How an evolving definition has helped advance clinical accuracy - Better healthcare for you
This approach to medicine is quickly emerging as the healthcare approach of tomorrow, and will have important ramifications for the entire healthcare ecosystem, including for clinical laboratories.
Events
- The Next Big Obstacle for Electric Vehicles? Charging Infrastructure
"What people were envisioning would happen three years back by 2030 in a high technology case has already happened."
- Automotive titans join forces to install 400 fast charging stations across Europe
By the year 2020, the IONITY project will comprise of around 400 EV pitstops to make long range travel easier on the electric driver.
- Why These German Researchers Became Self-Driving Cars
This is your taste of life as a self-driving car.
- To Save the Most Lives, Deploy (Imperfect) Self-Driving Cars ASAP
Cars crash a lot: Nearly 37,500 Americans died on the roads last year. Autonomous cars would crash less (for one thing, they don't drink or text or yell at their kids in the backseat). But that doesn't mean drivers are ready to give over the wheel.
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