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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Oct 31, 2014 |
"Start focusing less on what we want kids to know and more on who we want them to become." Sam Chaltain http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Northwestern Energy
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
- NorthWestern Receives FERC Approval to Issue Securities to Finance Pending Hydro Transaction
The issuance of securities will be used to finance the hydroelectric acquisition from PPL Montana.
PrintingForLess
- Dorsey & Whitney LLP - Labor & Employment Seminar, 11/21, Missoula, Montana
Join attorneys from Dorsey & Whitney's Labor and Employment Practice Group as they address some of the most difficult issues that arise during the employee onboarding process
Visit Montana - Montana Dept. of Tourism
- Four Things You Might Not Know About PFL
We are a touchy-feely bunch.
Great Falls Development Authority
- Montana's Triple Creek Ranch: Wild-West Activities Married To Urbane Luxury
"We're here for the cattle drive."
Montana Manufacturing Extension Center
- GFDA Top 16 10/26/14
The Great Falls metro area unemployment rate dropped to 3.5% in September with employers adding 280 jobs in the month. Employment set another historic record for the month of September. We've set monthly employment records every month this year.
- GFDA Seeks Dynamic Agri-Processing Industry Consultant!
The Great Falls Development Authority is accepting proposals for an agri-processing industry consultant to develop market driven business cases funded through U.S. Economic Development Agency.
TechLink
- MMEC hires manufacturing specialist Rob Cook for central Montana
As part of the MMEC team, he will work closely with the Great Falls Economic Development Authority and the Montana Department of Commerce to help Montana's manufacturers grow, become more profitable and more efficient.
Inteneo Systems
- Lunch & Learn: How To Fund Your Startup With The Federal SBIR Program, 11/05, Bozeman
In this free session, you'll learn how you can qualify for hundreds of thousands of dollars of federal funding that does not have to be matched or repaid, and retain intellectual property rights.
Come Home Montana
- Big data trends in 2015 reflect strategic and operational goals
Two of the most prominent real-time big data applications in business are online retail (and consumer buying patterns) and supply chain management that enables managers to respond immediately to supply chain blockages such as a supplier failure or a disaster that impacts supply chain flow in a specific geographical area.
Montana Business
- Montana Career Opportunities - IT Specialist, System Analyst - Biomimicry 3.8
Biomimicry 3.8 is looking to fill 2 part time positions or 1 full time position for an IT Specialist and System Analyst. If you believe you have the skill set to fulfill both positions, or just one, please indicate that on your letter of interest.
Montana Economic Development
- Montana Chamber of Commerce Announces Employers Insurance Company of Nevada as the Workers' Compensation Insurance Provider of Choice
"We're excited to work with EMPLOYERS to emphasize the importance of safety in the workplace," said Webb Brown, president and chief executive officer, MCC. "This program will address a significant expense for Montana's employers, as well as help our members reduce workplace injuries and the expense associated with workplace accidents."
- Triangle Communications Receives National Recognition with Smart Rural Community Award
"We are pleased and excited to accept this award," said Don Bitz, a Triangle Board Member, who received the award on behalf of Triangle. "We have worked hard with our local leaders to ensure that our subscribers have access to advanced communications and the many benefits those services enable. We look forward to building on our success for many years to come."
- Clothes for a cause: Hamilton, Montana startup 'Citizens Threads' donates $8 from each sale to nonprofits
"I landed on the 'social good apparel company' because it seemed like the most logical way to philanthropically engage with nonprofits and causes and be able to donate money to them - and people are always buying clothes," said Ilgenfritz. "It also provides an engaging platform. That was the most inviting part of it - a desire to build something that could be a platform for my generation."
- Technology, teamwork assist blind Fuddruckers employee
Through advances in technology and a team of incredible mentors, one Missoula man isn't letting his lack of eyesight keep him down.
Careers
- Trade mission promotes Montana tourism to Chinese
"We saw an opportunity when Baucus was appointed (U.S.) Ambassador to China and there's been a lot of bullishness on travelers from China, it's the largest and fastest-growing tourism market in the world,"
- Montana-China Connection: Education is key
Education is one of the cornerstones of Governor Steve Bullock's administration, so it's no surprise it played a key role in his recent trade mission to China.
City Club Missoula
- Equal opportunity in Montana
October is National Women's Small Business Month, and many professional women in Helena say that Montana's capital city provides equal opportunity for all young professionals, as long as you're willing to work hard.
Government
- City Club Missoula Presents:Veterans' Issues Featuring Sen. Jon Tester, 11/10, Missoula, Montana
Sen. Jon Tester http://www.tester.senate.gov/will be speaking about Veterans' Issues at the next City Club Missoula Forum. Please note the slightly different time: from 11:15 to 12:45 p.m. Don't miss this forum! It should be a great one!
Idaho Business
- Montana Wildlife Agency Drops Hunter Confidentiality Plan
The state agency tabulates information such as the name and address of the hunter or trapper and the location of the kill. That information is now available under the state's right-to-know laws, with the exception of hunters who take big game.
- City officials: Missoula can run water utility for millions less
Officials from the city of Missoula repeatedly point out that $2.5 million in overhead goes from Mountain Water to its parent company every year, money supporters of condemnation argue should stay in Missoula.
- 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index - Montana Ranked #6
Tax competition is an unpleasant reality for state revenue and budget officials, but it is an effective restraint on state and local taxes.
Utah Economic Development
- Idaho expects 11,000 new annual job openings through 2022
Much of the growth is tied to the influx of aging baby boomers
- Tax breaks lure food company to Idaho
Economists are critical of the type of deal Amy's Kitchen received as part of the state's plans to land jobs.
Workforce Development
- New Utah winter tourism campaign unveiled
The campaign, dubbed "Find Your Greatest," features six Utah individuals, each personalizing their experiences on "the Greatest Snow on Earth."
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- Manufacturers setting a high bar for employee engagement by employing people with disabilities.
Acadia is an employee-centric company. Their company philosophy is "Never settle." This view is evident in the people they hire.
Education
- Pipeline to Prison: Special education too often leads to jail for thousands of American children
When the special education system fails youth and they end up in jail, many stay there for years or decades.
- PhotoMath uses your phone's camera to scan and solve math problems, coming soon to Android [VIDEO]
PhotoMath, a new app for smartphones that will not only help you solve mathematical problems, but show you exactly how it was all done.
- 5 ways to make progress with student data
"Start with the student-the student's well-being and education-before you grab for that shiny new thing," said Joni Lupovitz, vice president of Policy for Common Sense Media. "Outline what we really need to help our kids learn better, while also protecting their privacy and confidentiality. This, she said, can help parents and stakeholders understand that data use can benefit students' learning and overall achievement."
MAPS : Media Arts in the Public Schools
- This University Teaches You No Skills--Just a New Way to Think - The Minerva Project
"Why would you spend a quarter of a million dollars and four years to learn to code in Python?" he says. "If that's the role of universities, you'd have to be insane to go to universities."
- 7 countries where Americans can study at universities, in English, for free (or almost free)
Explaining the change, Dorothee Stapelfeldt, a senator in the northern city of Hamburg, said tuition fees "discourage young people who do not have a traditional academic family background from taking up study. It is a core task of politics to ensure that young women and men can study with a high quality standard free of charge in Germany."
- Will Education Ever Keep Up with Technology?
Educators have a mindset of hiring full-time people to work on campus all the time in expensive buildings, but a whole new network of education is being built.
Missoula Schools Excellence
- After-School Programs Are More Popular, and Necessary, Than Ever
One in five school-age children is left "alone and unsupervised" after classes end. That problem has gone unaddressed, particularly with respect to low-income families, even though there's strong bipartisan, grassroots support for public funding of after-school programs.
- Montana one of worst states for afterschool programs
Montana is one of the five worst states in the nation when it comes to access to afterschool programs, according to a national survey by the nonprofit America After 3 p.m.
Montana Education Excellence
- Demand for welders causes influx at Missoula College program
"This program throws you right into the fire," the second-year welding student said. "You get to weld your first week."
- Missoula County Public Schools and the Public - Is there a "failure to communicate"?
"Why you would advertise a meeting start time and then schedule as the first item something that requires everyone not on the board to leave is another mystery of the school board, I guess. "
Community
- Bozeman schools buy more Chromebooks for kids
Superintendent Rob Watson said since last year's successful pilot program with computers, the School District has a goal of getting at least one set of Chromebooks for every fourth and fifth grade class at every elementary school.
- Billings educators make pitch for 'teacher-leaders'
The idea is to promote collaboration and mentorship, with one another and with school administrators, to improve teaching. While not novel, they run counter to the nature of classroom teaching, and the teachers agreed that Billings and Montana schools are behind the curve in changing the professional culture.
Funding and Building your Business
- Learning to Set the Right Pace is a Key to Digital Development - Gillis Associates
For a local leadership organization seeking to advance their community's economic future, that means taking a careful look at:
Energy and Climate Change
- The First 45 Days are Crucial - Onboarding is Paramount
Turnover is expensive for an organization, for losing an employee in the first year costs at least three times that employee's salary.
- Giving front line employees tools and the data helps make better budgets
If you focus on having more people involved, invested, committed, you're much more likely to budget successfully -- and pivot when needed.
Connectivity & Communications
- Reversing Course on Beavers
"People realize that if we don't have a way to store water that's not so expensive, we're going to be up a creek, a dry creek," said Jeff Burrell, a scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Bozeman, Mont. "We've lost a lot with beavers not on the landscape."
- 38 federal agencies reveal their vulnerabilities to climate change -- and what they're doing about it
"In order to create a clean energy economy that will increase our Nation's prosperity, promote energy security, protect the interests of taxpayers, and safeguard the health of our environment, the Federal Government must lead by example."
- US Solar is getting affordable quicker than expected
Shaw reportedly predicts that solar will reach parity with conventional electricity prices in as many as 47 states by 2016.
Non-Profit News
- USB stick makes any computer anonymous and secure
The ICLOAK Stik is a USB dongle that can be connected to any computer to offer anonymous and secure browsing within a few seconds of loading.
- Hackers Are Using Gmail Drafts to Update Their Malware and Steal Data
"It's stealthily passing messages back and forth without even having to press send. You never see the bullet fired."
- How Facebook Could End Up Controlling Everything You Watch and Read Online
Over the past year especially, "the homepage is dead" has become a standard line among media pundits. And more than anything else, it's Facebook that killed it.
- The Cliff and the Slope of Internet Access in America
Verizon and Comcast, as well as Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, and AT&T, are intentionally squeezing data coming from some incoming networks -- in particular, networks associated with Netflix, which competes with these companies in video entertainment.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Boise's Greenspeed Research developing a faster renewable-energy-fueled racing vehicle while educating young people on the joys of STEM work.
The mission for the nonprofit is to educate and conduct outreach for the STEM disciplines and renewable energy sources through their use in high-performance motorsports.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Drinking A Glass Of Red Wine Is The Same As Getting An HOUR OF EXERCISE
The researchers responsible for the glorious study -- which was published in Journal of Physiology in May -- discovered that resveratrol, a "natural compound" found in certain fruits, nuts, and (you guessed it) red wine, could actually "enhance exercise training and performance."
Transportation
- Google working on pill that searches for illnesses
The pill is packed with tiny magnetic particles, which can travel through a patient's bloodstream, search for malignant cells and report their findings to a sensor on a wearable device.
- The Wonderful Possibilities of Connecting Your Fridge to the Internet
Collective machine intelligence and the benefits it could engender such as fixing model-specific problems and product efficiency are good reasons to enable network connectivity.
- 3.3 Million Electric Cars Expected by 2025
"We are glad Americans are embracing the electric car."
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