News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 995 - 1019 of 5551
“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...
Hill County commissioners, I am in receipt of the letter asking for my resignation from the Great Northern Fair Board. I am disappointed that the commissioners have made the decision based on false allegations. Yet not one commissioner or fair board member have asked me to address the accusations. I am interested in what evidence was used in making your decision? It is for that reason that I’m asking for a show cause public hearing wherein I have an opportunity to give a full account of what actually took place. You state t...
Montanans used to joke that we had two distinct seasons: winter and road construction. Now we have three: winter, road construction and fire season, the latter of which is punctuated by searing temperatures and long dry spells brought on by a never-ending high-pressure system that stokes smoky weather and obscures the iconic Big Sky. Tourists who come here expecting the advertised bluebird skies are quickly disappointed by the amorphous haze that hides the state’s towering peaks and expansive great plains. Now, like w...
It’s astounding. Some people seem to have the attitude that the COVID-19 pandemic is over. It is not. In response to a story published last Friday in Havre Daily News about Hill County Commission approving the county health department making new hires to help with an anticipated surge in COVID-19 in the fall, Facebook posts went up with comments questioning why a surge would occur and hinting that the concerns are fake. While the federal government said earlier this year that due to the effectiveness of vaccinations, r...
When I see people celebrating three multi-billionaires racing to get into space I have that same visceral trigger I get when I watch scary movies and nobody, but nobody, turns the light on when they walk into a dark room. I know it’s an artificial plot device directors overuse to create suspense, and yet, I yell at the screen, “What the what are you doing? The light! Turn on the !@#$ light! Even a toddler knows you have to turn on the light to find the scary monsters, you moron!” So don’t clap when private companies are getti...
My friend Peggy used to ask me, in her booming voice, "What's your motive?" She caused me to examine stuff I'd really rather have left swept into the bulge under the rug. Peggy is gone these many years. But Peggy's big Irish voice lives on, in my head, whenever I make a decision, large or small. "What's your motive?" I hear as if we are sitting at the table, coffee mugs in hand. Voice followed by laughter. Months ago I began thinking about getting a pet. Motive? Not that I nec...
In Montana private land elk hunting is moving toward 11 weeks for people who can pay thousands of dollars for trophy bulls, while others are left to hunt cows in deep snows and bitter cold when they’re struggling to survive the winter. That’s the proposal of the Gianforte administration, one that extends “elk shoulder seasons” through Feb 15 annually, and onto your National Forest in 19 hunting districts. This proposal is ill conceived, premature and not in the interest of elk hunters, landowners and all Montanans who enjoy t...
Years ago, I had trouble with my septic system. If you’ve ever had that kind of trouble, you know what kind of trouble it can be. I was living in my old farmhouse out in the middle of the woods and had no idea where the sewage went until it suddenly went nowhere. That’s when I called the septic guy. The house (and presumably the septic tank) was 100 years old, and I had never had occasion to get overly curious about where the septic tank was or exactly how it worked — until...
I have been a fan of comic books and their movie adaptations since the first “Spider-Man” film featuring Tobey Maguire came out in 2002 I was roughly 7 or 8 years old then, so I understandably lost my mind. Fast-forward to the release of 2008’s “Iron Man” — the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As a fan of comic books in general, I was excited for the MCU. Then, even as a child, I started to notice the trend of quantity over quality with blockbuster superhero m...
