News you can use
News you can use
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Our old friend the law of unintended consequences says that actions of people always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended, but basically, it’s just a fancy way of saying “oops.” Like the law of gravity is an explanation used in the science of physics, the law of unintended consequences comes from the social sciences, such as economics and politics (which are frequent bedfellows, though that does not matter for our purposes here today — I’m just sayin’). Historian...
Consider this to be as though you accidentally tuned into the cooking channel. The difference is that I’ll tell you about the mistakes I made along the way. When Uncle Lee retired from being a fireman in Indianapolis, he and Aunt Joanne bought an Airstream trailer in which they spent every winter, lolling in the Florida Keys. This was back when cars were built as sturdily as ocean liners and were almost as big. I picture my aunt and uncle rolling down the highway, in the t...
With enough passion, hard work, and in my case, a little luck, opportunities come about which just can’t be turned down—I’m writing this because today is my last day with Havre Daily News. While I have enjoyed getting the chance to diversify my work beyond sports with Havre Daily, I also freelance because sports are what I love. Now, I will get to mesh my childhood passions. I’m moving on to cover the incredibly unconventional worlds of professional wrestling and combat...
My husband, Peter, and I have matching folding chairs. Every Thursday evening this summer, we have attended the outdoor concert held in a local park. The music is usually good, but the food trucks are undeniably the center of the experience. Our favorite is the “Tot Boss” that sells tasty, hot tater tots out the window of the truck. Peter and I bring our own chairs. We get comfortable in our folding chairs, eat our tater tots, listen to the music, and watch the people and dog...
James W. "Jim" Murry, top Montana labor leader and friend, passed away last October. On the 29th of August, his memory is being celebrated at a Memorial Service at Tizer Botanic Gardens, just outside of Jefferson City. In the period of Montana history from 1965 to 1990, when Montana dramatically changed from being a corporate colony to a citizen-oriented state, nobody played a larger role in that progressive period than Jim Murry. He stood astride those 25 years like a...
It was a pleasure visiting Beaver Creek Park earlier this year and having the opportunity to meet many personally involved with decisions regarding beaver. The public meeting with three experts regarding beaver was helpful, insightful, and consistent with our knowledge and observations. We appreciate, Commissioner Chair Mark Peterson, arranging to have them speak. As decisions again approach for beaver in Beaver Creek Park, we do hope the points and advice presented will be heeded. Since the stream was simplified, beaver are...
“It is water, in every form and at every scale, that saturates the mind. All the water that will ever be is, right now.” — National Geographic, October 1993 Here in north-central Montana this year, we are celebrating every rare tenth of an inch of rain wrung from the sky, not enough to fill our waterways or make dry grasslands green, maybe only enough really to grow mosquitoes to any degree. But in County Kerry, Ireland, which has thus far in 2021 received almost 34 inche...
After all my bragging about all the lovely rain we’ve been having, day after day after day, this past week we’ve been dry as a desiccated bone in the desert. I’ve been floored with a couple wet exceptions. Saturday morning I woke up with puddles on my bathroom floor, around the toilet. Easy to figure out where that water was dripping, from tank to tile. Josue, our resident plumber, electrician, fix-all man, is still in California. Leo looked at the tank and, wisely, said...
“I’m tired of living in exile!” my husband, Peter, exclaimed as, for the second day in a row, we packed up everything we would need to be out of our home long enough for the floor to dry. Michael, the floor sander, is in our apartment now, buffing the penultimate coat of polyurethane while Peter is moaning about his exile status. We have evacuated to the party room in the condominium while we wait to have a floor we can walk on again. There is internet and a refri...
Sometime a brain makes more out of something than is really there. Or maybe it’s just me. We had a little dog yard-slash-pen thing we built out of 5-foot tall welded wire fencing across the 14-foot gap between our little shop and our house. Our yard proper, the people yard if you will, is bigger than this pen, though. We have a simple one-strand electric fence that runs around both of the buildings and the beautiful, large, old cottonwood tree that provides a canopy over t...
As Montana families are preparing to send children back to school, we are confronting the uncomfortable fact that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, much as all of us dearly wish it were. Late spring brought big reductions in COVID-19 case rates from the circulating alpha variant. But what we’re dealing with now, the delta variant, behaves differently. It is two to three times as contagious and may also cause more severe illness in young people. In states with low immunization rates, we are once again seeing overflowing h...
Here I am again, sitting at my computer, staring at a blank page of paper that’s not real paper, waiting for inspiration to write, to share with you, the latest happenings in my real life. And one of the most real things that occurs to me is guilt. I feel guilty. Real good ol’ Catholic guilt. Let’s take the little things first. Every day it rains, here on the high plateau surrounded with mountains in central Mexico. Beginning in June, through July and now into August. The e...
I received my COVID-19 shots last winter when people were standing in line for them. I’ve been increasingly mystified by the vaccine resistance since then. The whole country seemed to be behind “Operation Warp Speed” as the Trump administration raced to get approval of a vaccine. Over 100 million people have now been vaccinated. Without question the stuff works, preventing deaths and serious illness. As a result, small businesses, especially in the struggling restaurant and hospitality industries, have been rescued from...
The renovations to our new home continue. We didn’t expect to be refinishing the floor. But when we tore up the flooring that was buckling and warping in the summer humidity, we discovered the original parquet, spattered with paint, underneath. A man named Michael showed up with the biggest floor sander I have ever seen, looked disapprovingly at the paint sprayed all over the parquet, and declared that it should sand clean without a problem. My husband, Peter, told Michael h...
This past four-and-a-half years representing Senate District 14 has been an honor that I hope to continue. Judy and I have talked at great length about the commitment involved in serving one more term in the Senate. Having had encouragement from many of you and feeling that I continue to have a positive impact at the Legislature for north-central Montana, I’ve decided to commit to run for the Senate seat. With the upcoming redistricting, which will not affect this election, I will be filing after the first of the year. At t...
We do not need to repeat history. In 2020, COVID-19 was the third-leading cause of death in Montana and by the year’s end, more than 1,100 COVID-related deaths occurred. For the first time since 1907, when birth and death reporting began in Montana, we had more reported deaths than births. Now, a year later, key facts seem familiar. COVID is on track to be the third-leading cause of death in Montana for a second-straight year. There have been over 600 COVID-related deaths so far this year in Montana. However, the landscape h...
The trouble with COVID is that it is a public relations nightmare. Where’s the angle? The hook? For starters, the name. COVID-19 hardly strikes fear in the heart of mankind let alone respect for its power. Even when some people were calling it a flu, it was, as the misnomer was intended to do, hard to take it seriously. Black Death, though, now there’s a name a PR person could do something with. Shoot, even the kids’ plague-tribute song “Ring around the Rosie” has lasted ne...
After our mutual agreement last week that Ariel’s car with Four-in-the-Floor and not enough wiggle room would not be a good car for my needs, Ariel went on the search for the “Right” car. Ariel’s morning routine includes a strong coffee, sweet roll, and Guadalajara newspaper at the Oxxo out on the highway. The Oxxo is a convenience store with the usual. You could walk in the door and feel right at home. The sweet roll might be a disappointment because Mexican sweet rolls,...
I have never been a gardener. This makes me feel like a misfit in my family. My mother is a wonderful gardener. She had an enormous vegetable garden in the suburbs before it became fashionable to do so. Her mother was also an avid gardener. She escaped the demands of 11 children by spending time with her flowers. There are photos of my grandma in her garden and she looks as if she is having a wonderful time, but I figure any activity that would allow you to escape the demands...
Editor, The once well-known comic strip hero Pogo wisely proclaimed, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” This wisdom is an appropriate description of today’s American society. Among the millions of independent, Democratic, and Republican voters there are millions of hardworking, honest, patriotic, and loyal Americans. Unfortunately, there are also some bad people in each group. It is also true that the overwhelming majority of local, state, and federal elected officials are dedicated, competent and skilled negot...
Dear Editor, It’s awful … the smoke, wildfires, drought, heat, loss of crops, dead fish, algae blooms -- all impacts exacerbated by our changing climate. Here’s a bipartisan solution that benefits all of us. Plenty of Republicans and Democrats support putting a price on carbon because it boosts businesses while addressing climate change. Please ask senators Daines and Tester to support a price on carbon this summer. Here’s more info: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/senate/ It will take you all of five minutes to contact...
Controversy and conspiracy continue to shadow COVID-19 policies of many organizations. Despite decisions being thoughtfully considered and evidence-driven, the divide witnessed in our community and nation continues to widen. Most recently, hotly debated topics were discussed at our local school board; “Our Children;” “Their future;” and “Their childhoods.” The stresses COVID-19 placed on our children were highlighted, but the decisions of the parents and the adults of our community were somehow left out of the equation. T...
Normally I like baked goods, but when the good being baked day after day after day is me, not cookies or caramel rolls or those little personal-sized quiches, I do not approve. The laughter remaining in me after the grasshoppers got done with it got cooked to an unrecognizable lump then set out on the counter to wither away to a crusty husk of itself. My struggle is so dire that earlier this week I was reduced to cussing out little birds for their crime of being obnoxious. We...
“Mom, are you having a mid-life crisis?” asked my daughter. “I can’t have a mid-life crisis. I’m too old.” “Last week a dog. This week a car. What are you thinking?” It wasn’t really even my own idea. When I first moved to Mexico, I lived in Mazatlan, a large city with excellent public transportation. I soon realized I didn’t need a car. Buses and pulmonias and taxis were easy, cheap to use, and could get me anywhere I wanted to be. It’s not the same here in Etzatlan, but...
The dogs are missing me. My husband, Peter, predicted this after we moved. “All the dogs will miss you!” he said. “They are going to be looking for the Treat Lady. Don’t you think that’s sad?” I did not. First of all, I didn’t believe it. Just because I passed out treats for a couple of years to the dogs didn’t mean they would expect to see me again. Just because they remembered me when they saw me didn’t mean I would ever cross their minds if they didn’t see me. But yesterday...
