News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 679 - 703 of 5551
Dear Editor, I want to address something that is very personal to me, the American family farm. I grew up on a malt barley farm in Fairfield that has been in my family since the early 1950s and is still worked by my father today. I, like so many others on the Hi-Line and in Montana, cherish the memories and values we learned while living on the family farm. Driving grain trucks, setting dams, moving sprinklers and delivering lunches during harvest are all jobs many Montana farm families can relate to. One of the biggest...
Editor, It’s ironic, but does anyone see it? First, the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, letting states ban abortion, then the Supreme Court rules against the EPA fixing the climate crisis. The first was supposedly “pro-life,” but the second will kill people on an enormous scale. Supreme Court conservatives claim they care deeply about human life, but the ruling against the EPA proves they only pretend. According to the overwhelming majority of the world’s climate scientists, we had a very narrow window to prevent...
I don’t think I’ve been a particular target of the Fates or anything specifically paranoid like that, I’m just saying that they’ve been busy this month testing my human endurance, with casualties and costs still rising. In no particular order, we have had bloodshed, breakage, wastefulness, unprovoked attacks, decay, disarray and pestilence. I sharpened my kitchen knives, which means — contrary to that old adage that you cut yourself worse with a dull knife — I’ve cut my...
Hurricane Estelle blew in lugging a heavy cloud blanket behind her until the sky looked like cry me a river. Day after day after day, darkness reigned and time warped, smudged and dripped down the mountain walls like Dali-esque clocks. If one took the sky and flattened it out like a topographical map, it would be criss-crossed by rivers cascading off the edges in waterfalls. (Flat sky, flat earth, what’s the difference!) Under cover of day as dark as nightfall, somebody sneake...
Argument is a way for people with differing perspectives on an issue, abortion, for example, to test and reshape each other's ideas and, sometimes, even reason out a new idea together. Unfortunately, not much reasoning together happens when everybody insists on the kind of high minded principles that inspire Facebook memes and protest signs, such as Life Begins at Conception versus My Body, My Choice. Arguments on the order of--Abortion is always wrong-- based on grand...
The package arrived last week and, I have to admit, I was surprised. I knew what was in it, of course. It was a painting that my friends Angel, Nora and I co-own. I had it for one year 11 years ago. Then I brought it to Paris, where Angel was living. But Angel had no time to hang the painting. She had just moved to a new condo and was diagnosed with cancer. And so it remained rolled up under her bed for two years. That’s when Nora decided her turn had come — and she was rig...
OK, I tried to stay out of it, I had a whole column planned about the pitfalls of the most adult activity of my life, then a political candidate from Missoula threw out the right bait at the right time and now I’ve been lured into the Roe v. Wade free-for-all debate. A bear can resist only so many garbage cans, and I could not resist the lure of this anti-abortion regulation argument: Rep. Brad Tschida, R-Missoula, who is running for Senate District 49, said in an email to m...
Yes, it’s a great place to live (for me) but you wouldn’t want to visit. I’ve been accused of having a Paradise Complex, but it is not true. I’ve been told Paradise is full of snakes and liars and have no reason to either believe it or not believe it. Nope. I live in a dusty little cow-town, farm village in Mexico and though I often say I live in Paradise, I mean Paradise for me. For me. Amen. And Awomen. When Dr. Landazari, eye specialist, who lives in Mazatlan, the Pearl of...
If there’s one thing that Montanans can agree on, it’s our fondness for wildlife. From eagles and ospreys to bull elk and bighorn sheep, we still have plenty of what so much of the country has lost. These natural riches are partly why we’re known as the Last Best Place. But it wasn’t always this way. By the early decades of the 20th century, market hunting, poaching and habitat loss had driven many species to the brink of extinction. Then, in 1937, hunters asked the federal government to tax the sales of guns and ammunit...
With the primary elections in the rearview mirror, most of us have a good idea who’ll represent us in the Montana Legislature come January. A new legislature means new ideas and, of course, recycled ideas from past sessions. The only thing our citizen legislature is required to do is balance a budget, but darn near every politician has an agenda. Their ideas got them this far and they’re going to go to Helena and create change … or something. It’s in that spirit that I’m writing this letter to all the returning and likely ne...
My mother has found the perfect pet. She just doesn’t realize it yet. A clever little red squirrel has been trying to get my mother’s attention for months. “He’s such a pest!” my mother complains. But the squirrel does not give up. He has become quite tame, hanging out below the bird feeder, waiting for seeds to drop. He would much prefer to get them from the feeder himself, but my father has inconsiderately installed a length of stovepipe on the pole that holds the feeder, a...
Dear Editor, Saturday, June 25-26, the Hi-Line Amateur Radio Club participated in the national American Radio Relay League Field Day event in Havre at the US Bank Park. Our club made over 250 radio contracts in 24 hours with other ham radio operators in 29 states, Canada, and Mexico. Through this event, we combined public service, emergency preparedness practice, community outreach, along with demonstrating our technical skills. We would like to thank Have Daily News for publishing our Field Day news article, New Media...
If it ain’t broke, why fix it? That’s an honest question, and one that can apply to a lot of different things. For me, it applies to Havre’s policy on Fourth of July fireworks in the city limits. I just don’t understand what was wrong with the way we as Havreites did it for so many years. Of course, for so many locals, what I’m about to say won’t be popular, but being a columnist isn’t about winning popularity contests, it’s about offering up an opinion, and here’s mine. I...
Why do memories come to visit, often at inopportune times? I’ve questions but no answers. I distinctly remember once telling a minimalist friend how much I admired her way of life. An entire bare wall with one picture. A vase with one sprig of flower. “But I know me. I couldn’t be minimalist in my surroundings. I like it. I just can’t do it.” My home was never cluttered. But wherever one cast one’s eyes, one would find a vignette of simple beauty. That’s my passion. Maki...
Man oh man, has the Supreme Court of the United States of America, land of the free, really taken it on the chin, from mostly liberals, over some of their home-of-the-brave decisions they’ve made lately. But all this angst is clouding people’s thinking. The most recent SCOTUS decisions have fallen like a one-two punch bellow the belt for separation of church and state, or at least church and state-funded schools. June 27 the justices ruled, 6-3, that a Bremerton, Was...
This Fourth of July will be celebrated by a nation in conflict, more politically divided than it’s been since the Civil War. In virtually every community, the rift has grown wider and more contentious, with less common ground. But while reasonable people may disagree about certain political issues, most genuinely want what’s best for their country. Most, but not all. There is a substantial group of rich Americans who are proud to wrap themselves in the flag and declare their love for the country while at the same time usi...
Dear editor, Since the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on overturning Roe vs Wade on abortion, the liberal Democrats have screamed how their “rights” have been violated. They — the liberals — use terms such as “It’s my body” or pro-choice. Not once have I heard any of them say they have “the right to kill my baby.” You will never hear them say “The constitution says I can murder my baby if I want.” The liberals will tell you it is inhumane to execute convicted killers by capital punishment. Save the killers, kil...
I have been on tenterhooks for a month now, not just about the excitement of having a practical use for a juicy, old-timey word like tenterhooks, but also, and mostly, about science and specifically whether a salt crystal will prove to be Pandora’s box, Spiderman’s arachnid or, like, a dud firecracker where you’re anticipating drama and excitement but get pffft. NPR reported May 24 that large crystals of salt were found in central Australia, and the crystals show signs they...
One day in the far distant future, back when I was God, time is relative, one of my very intelligent earth persons proved that, but more will be revealed, anyway, one day one of my other earth persons requested a visit. Which I granted. I set up times for personal visitation, one hour in the early morning and one hour late at night, since most hours in between, I seem to be out of sight, out of mind. I quite like visitation. No matter whom I am scheduled to see, visitation is...
Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the only active farmer in the U.S. Senate, identified the problem when he said, “I just came off the worst year ever on my farm. We need to do something on climate change. I think we spent $144 billion this year on disasters and I don’t think that included crop insurance. So we need to do something on climate, too.” Agricultural producers are on the front lines of climate change and are experiencing the impacts now. Mega droughts, fire, floods and other extreme weather events cost $145 billion in 2021...
Editor, This June the Havre community played gracious host to the MSU Northern Traffic Education Program, as it has each year for nearly three decades. While here, licensed teachers from around the state work with local high school students from the Havre High School summer traffic education program to cut their teeth as both behind-the-wheel and in-classroom instructors. Our MSU Northern students rely on your students to learn, and the high school’s generosity helps aspiring drivers across the state. This summer highlighted...
At the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Montana’s 1972 Constitution, there were many memorable moments, including the presentation of Jim Rice, Associate Justice of the Montana Supreme Court, during the panel discussion about “The Basic Rule of Law: The Backbone of a Constitution.” Rice, who prior to his 2001 Supreme Court appointment had been a Republican legislator, spoke out boldly and clearly about the role of the judiciary in defending the institutions of our democracy. Rice said, “we live in a time of extremi...
Yesterday, I took a deep breath and offered my services for a job, for which not only am I ill-prepared, but in my deep heart-of-hearts, I know I cannot do. This will seem like nothing to you but to me it is a BIG DEAL. I offered to go to Glendive to fill in as secretary for my daughter until she could hire somebody adequate to her needs. See? I knew you would say, “So what?” Back when I was in high school (early ’60s) the career opportunities for women were sorely limit...
“The damage is catastrophic,” a Red Lodge business owner said. “We’re between a rock and a hard place. And if we don’t get some assistance, we’re not gonna make it.” He speaks for all of us who were hard hit by the flooding last week. We know that there’s a risk of fires and smoke interrupting our summer revenue stream. However, an extreme weather event, like this flooding disaster at the beginning of tourist season, and following on from the coronavirus pandemic, has devastated businesses, infrastructure and households. Man...
My work with children has largely been voluntary over the years, from HELP in the 1980s to CASA this century. Each are programs I heartily recommend. After losing custody of my boys nearly 40 years ago, I also mentored a handful of boys through a program at HRDC. When my sons returned to Havre, we ended up fostering three teenage friends of theirs and took in a disenfranchised foreign exchange student. All of those experiences were gratifying, but nothing has been as challenging and rewarding on a daily basis as driving a...
