News you can use
News you can use
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Have you ever been the victim of an automobile accident and had the other driver’s insurance company partially blame you for the accident and require you to pay part of the claim? Nearly every driver in the United States will submit an insurance claim at some point in their life. We buy auto insurance to protect ourselves and our property in case of an accident. Few insured people realize that if they are involved in an accident, even if the other party was mostly at fault, they can find themselves on the hook for part of the...
Judy and I spent a few days home for the short, long Easter break. Our daughter, family and a friend were down from Cut Bank and Butte for Easter Dinner. It was fun sharing the day with everyone and getting help with a couple projects needing extra hands. The weather allowed us to spend some of the day outside and just wander around the farm visiting about what everyone is up to. We all need days like that. It was great to see farmers out seeding and seeing all the spring activity. We are getting back to Helena and finding...
It’s hard to pretty up a home when you have all the decorating instincts of an average sixth-grader. I have countered this lack of style savvy, though, with all the ambition and focus of that sixth-grader’s twin. Given the state of my character, and the fact that I am sitting here in the deteriorating wasteland of our old trailer house, while we whittle away at finishing building our new home – which is going slowly largely because “design decisions are haaaaaard,” as I like...
Instead of tackling coal revenue and job loss, Montana Republicans tabled HB646, substituting an alternative 2023 “study” about dwindling coal use. The “study” will be too late for coal-impacted communities like Sidney; its Lewis and Clark Power Plant just closed. MDU will employ shuttered plant workers. However, that doesn’t help those who serviced the plant, like Westmoreland’s Savage miners. HB646 would assist them. When helping little ones, we don’t “study” what happened. We change the diaper. Likewise, change now will b...
Editor, My words are addressed to the people of Rocky Boy, who are my brothers and sisters and relatives. Please remember that Rocky Boy and Little Bear worked together to secure a homeland for all of you and all of your descendants. The key words are “worked together,” so all of you must work together to keep the Creator’s gift to you to be a vibrant, healthy community. You must “help each other,” in the same spirit of togetherness. As long as I am able, I will pray to the Creator for you. Gerard Vandeberg Billings...
Editor, The Montana State Senate is considering House Bill 273, with implications that concern all of us. This bill would repeal Initiative 80, which requires developers of nuclear generating facilities built in Montana to post a bond toward insuring against future liabilities, assume full liability for injuries resulting from their operation, show how the radioactive waste produced will be contained with no reasonable chance of escape, and show how similar systems have performed in actual operation. If those provisions are...
I used to have a photo of my Dad in his crisp uniform, just back from Overseas. “Overseas” is a lost word, known to us older folks. Dad was in the Army Air Force in WWII. I was eight months old when he got home. In the picture, Dad held me in one arm, me in my cloth coat with matching winter pants. In his other hand he held a cigarette. I don’t know what happened to the photo. My Dad had smoked since he was eight years old, rolling corn silk out behind the barn. He lived...
It’s amazing that anyone shares a bed. I know there are plenty of married and cohabiting couples who have separate beds, or even separate bedrooms, and I can see the logic in avoiding the snoring, the thrashing, the different sleep schedules, and the need to negotiate the complicated issue of bedding. But since marrying and moving into Peter’s house, we have shared a bed, and it is not a large one. So far, we have negotiated a peaceful settlement. This is because Peter has...
Over the last year, the pandemic has opened our eyes to the reality that high-speed internet is essential for Montanans across the state. The pandemic also reminds us of the painful truth that Montana ranks 50th in the nation when it comes to this vital service. Since the pandemic began, we’ve learned that telehealth services – which are now available through high-speed internet -- can improve health outcomes by helping families with online access to healthcare specialists and other providers. With this technology, pat...
The Montana Legislature is working this week on plans to appropriate the nearly $3 billion American Rescue Plan Act funding package that Montana will receive from the federal government. Unfortunately, the Legislature is entertaining a controversial amendment in the bill to cut federal aid funds by 20 percent to local government entities that have imposed public health directives more stringent than those set by the state. Since the state now has no public health directives, any local directive would be deemed more stringent...
I didn’t study political science in college. I’m a soil scientist. So when people sling political terms around, I have to look them up in Webster’s Dictionary. Webster writes that “socialism is when government takes over the means of production.” Webster’s says that “crony capitalism” occurs when business thrives not because of risk, but because of a cozy nexus between the business and the political class to make money for the corrupt. Communism, like Russia, is a perfect blend of the two. Why do we need to know these defi...
I’ve been around animals enough in my life to know that they can sense when humans are vulnerable, and most of them are perfectly willing to capitalize on our weak moments — apparently they see our habit changes during the pandemic as a chance for an uprising. “No deaths have been reported,” an article on Huffington Post says, but in just one week we’re seeing a lot of activity. CBC News reported Tuesday that a moose “made its way” through a Sherbrooke, Quebec, neighborhood...
I won’t pretend I understand. I won’t say I get it when it comes to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, or the anti-vaxx movement in general. In fact, I don’t really understand any of the pushback against the biggest public health crisis we’ve seen in more than 100 years. I admit, to me, it’s a head scratcher. But, I’m also not interested in arguing or fighting about it either. And I truly don’t expect people to listen to me. I’m not a doctor or a scientist. I’m just somebody who...
There is magic in my world. If I do not see it, it doesn’t matter. If I do see it, it doesn’t matter. Every day is a song. Yesterday’s music fell to earth, gone. Today’s voice is in the wind, the sky. You may listen. Or not hear. This morning I awoke to Cathedral bells, To bird song riding pale green sunrise. The first sight out my window, a western tanager Atop a cluster of new mango leaves, strange fruit. One moment. One moment of attention. I’m granted only moments....
For decades, Montana’s outfitting community provided their services in a fair fashion respecting the shared interests of hunters and landowners. Outfitters were partners in wildlife management, landowner relationships, and the hunting community. That collaboration has been mostly replaced by greedy efforts favoring the commercialization of hunting opportunities. The list of bills the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association — MOGA — is pushing is long, coupled with the appointments to key boards and commissions that will...
Editor, I’m starting with Tuesday legislation House Bill 325. So many bad bills this session, but this one is brought forward by a bitter crying woman who lost her election twice to the Montana Supreme Court and she’s exacting her hate and temper tantrum through the legislature to destroy our legal system in Montana. I’ve witnessed a couple of the past Judicial Nomination Commissions and listened to their questioning of the three to five candidates who wish to fill a judge seat. The last one, the commission gave Gov. Steve...
March is winding down and my sister-in-law, Lori, is going with it. There is too much food and too many flowers because that is what we do when someone is dying, when we don’t know what else to do as, gradually, the unthinkable becomes accepted and even ordinary. We make more food and bring more flowers. But there is too little time. There is always too little time. Lori is spending most of the time she has left sleeping, which means she is not in pain but also that no one c...
Editor, We do not want the federal government placing illegal immigrants in Montana. That’s what Joey Biden is planning. Write, email, tweet your senators, congressman, and the governor and tell them not in Montana. The White House created this mess, and they can uncreate this mess, send them illegal immigrants home. President Trump had the border well in hand, and with the stroke of his feeble pen Biden created a mess, so he can just get get out the mop and bucket and clean it up. Don’t pass the buck to us Kent Shepard Hav...
I have always admired the Montana State flag. It tells a story of Montana’s past and our assets as a state. Currently in the Montana House, there are folks who feel we should either have a vote on whether we should keep what we have or redo the flag and vote on what will be offered. I have also heard the suggestion to just add some guns to what we have. This is what I see when I look at our flag: the Big Sky, our state nickname and what makes us truly unique; mountains, the beautiful skyline attracting adventure-seekers a...
My husband John and I bought a new car. And by new car, I mean we bought a car that is 14 years old, but it has barely over 100,000 miles on it, so it’s definitely new-new to us. In fact, it’s six years newer than the car it’s replacing. A lovely, understated tan car that died in six-vehicle pileup about three years ago. We loved the tan car so much that we shopped and shopped for another one, but they were too popular either to afford, or to stay on sale long enough for us to find and buy before some other lucky devil did....
One year into this pandemic, Montanans are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our vaccines are safe and effective, COVID-19 cases are falling thanks to the tireless efforts of our front line health care workers, and Spring is on the horizon. But even with this good news, we still have work to do before we get through the worst public health and economic crisis in generations. Over the past year I’ve had hundreds of conversations with families, workers, doctors, educators, veterans, farmers, tribes, a...
Martin Luther King Jr once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question, what are you doing for others?” Thanks to you, for 50-plus years Special Olympics Montana has cared for, lifted-up, and empowered people with intellectual disabilities to be all they can be through sports training and competition, health and education initiatives, and leadership opportunities. While we serve more than 3,000 athletes annually, nearly 20,000 Montanans with intellectual disabilities sit on the sidelines waiting for a chance to get in t...
Editor, How can 57 Republican legislators support a bill to privatize schools in Montana, House Bill 329? They agree with this bill, requested by the Governor, who has a big stake in an exclusive private school, and would benefit from school privatization. Montana will become a regulatory nightmare if this bill passes, especially with regard to the education of our children. This bill is likely unconstitutional. Which agency will regulate the giveaway to rich people who want to start their own school? With no regulation of...
True Montanans fully understand Virginia Woolf’s expression that “The future is dark, which is the best thing the future can be, I think.” We are trained from early times to know that sunny days won’t last, that rains likely fall when the hay is down in windrows, that ants infest every picnic. Not necessarily gloomy, but realistic. We are taught thusly. Here’s a different slant, OK. What I have come to believe, and Woolf’s quote fits perfectly, is that if we could see through...
The end of the pandemic in the U.S. is in sight. The COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States have proven to be outstandingly effective at protecting recipients from coronavirus and they are also safe. These vaccines — and the potential of others on the way — have the power to lift us out of the depths of this pandemic and put us on the path forward to rebuilding from COVID-19’s devastating economic, social, and psychological impacts. Put simply, getting America vaccinated is our ticket to halting the death...
