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  • COVID requires community action

    Updated Nov 20, 2020

    The Montana Nurses Association continues to be incredibly proud of the Montana nurses serving our communities during the COVID pandemic. As they have done from the start, nurses are heroically serving at the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis to care for Montanans despite the severe risks to themselves and their families. Nurses working across all health care settings and specialties are essential to combating COVID-19. Unfortunately, nearly 400 nurses in the United States have died due to COVID-19, and many others have been...

  • Looking out my backdoor: I have nothing to say

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Nov 19, 2020

    Some weeks are like this. Nothing happens. My mind is either too restless to settle or too restful to notice. My son Ben and his girlfriend, Kristen, are recovering from the COVID virus. That doesn’t mean I don’t worry. He told me only this much, “We are getting better but have no energy.” I am grateful for all your prayers and best wishes for my kids. Beyond that, I have nothing of importance to impart. This week nothing more obnoxious than silverfish has invaded the intimat...

  • The Postscript: Freshly baked bread

    Carrie Classon|Updated Nov 18, 2020

    “I’m going to bake bread!” my husband, Peter, announced. Inwardly, I said, “Oh, no.” Baking bread is not easy — until it is. Every person I know who bakes bread will agree. If there’s someone out there who tried baking bread for the first time and it was a great success, I would like to hear about it because, in my experience, you have to bake a lot of bad bread before you bake anything close to edible. I was afraid Peter was about to find this out. But what I said was, “Gr...

  • Well done, election officials

    Updated Nov 17, 2020

    First off, I want to congratulate and thank our local county election officials for a job well done. All four of the counties in my district, Cascade, Chouteau, Liberty and Hill, have handled the new rules that were handed down from the state and implemented them in time for election night. Having been directly involved in elections for over 20 years, I have personally seen the strain these folks are put under to make sure our elections are done right. Again, thank you. The national election and Montana elections are over...

  • View from the North 40: The mad, mad world of things and stuff

    Pam Burke|Updated Nov 13, 2020

    A May 31, 2017, headline on NBCNews.com says, “One in Four Americans Has a Clutter Problem.” I know that’s true because my husband and I are related to every last one of ones with the problem, evidence that my point has validity. I don’t know this scientifically, but I have a pretty good hunch that by the time we are of adult age we start having moments when we think about our parents and grandparents getting older, ourselves getting older, too. We intellectually underst...

  • Looking out my Backdoor: The creature from the white lagoon

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Nov 12, 2020

    My son and his fiancé are both sick with the dread coronavirus. I had not heard from him so I hounded him, knowing something was wrong. Ben managed to send me a two line email letting me know they were home in bed with a nurse coming regularly. Aside from that, I know nothing except they are too ill to be in communication with me or with anybody else. I understand all they do is sleep. Sleep is good. Washington State has good health care and I hang onto that as a life line....

  • The Postscript: Dog celebrity

    Carrie Classon|Updated Nov 11, 2020

    I am a celebrity among the neighborhood dogs. By now, I have been giving out dog treats on my daily walk for several months. If you think this has gone unnoticed among my town's dog population, you would be very much mistaken. If Gwyneth Paltrow or Brad Pitt were to walk down the street, I am quite certain the dogs in my town would be completely unimpressed. Their owners might behave foolishly and start jumping up and down and salivating, but for the dogs, it would be a...

  • AARP Montana: AARP Montana thanks those who ensure free and fair elections

    Updated Nov 10, 2020

    AARP Montana wishes to thank all of the County Election Administrators and staff across Montana for their tireless efforts and dedication to ensure the voting process ran smoothly this election season. We appreciate all the hard work and late nights that election staff and their families endured to put Montana voters first as they adjusted to multiple rule changes, counted every ballot, found adequate polling locations, recruited enough poll workers and made sure that voters had accurate information available. Election staff...

  • Connecting globally in a time of pandemic

    Updated Nov 10, 2020

    Mike Mansfield of Montana was a Marine, a miner, and a professor even before he began his political career. He served as Senate majority leader, and later as ambassador to Japan from 1977 to 1988, placing high value on integrity and ethics throughout his career. Even today, his influence can be seen in the strong connection between Montana and Japan. As a Japanese and political science double-major at the University of Montana, I have had the opportunity to witness this connection firsthand. Now is a time when we are made...

  • Chancellor's Update: Northern is making gains

    Updated Nov 10, 2020

    Dear Northern, When I step back and look at all the things we have accomplished this semester, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, I can say with confidence that despite it all, we are making gains. We’ve seen our staff and faculty step up to the plate to provide our students with the quality education they’ve come to expect from us, all while handling the challenges of this unique semester. Despite those challenges, we’ve been able to keep classes on campus, and I couldn’t be prouder of the effort our campus...

  • View from the North 40: Patience is virtually non-existent at this point

    Pam Burke|Updated Nov 6, 2020

    Welcome to Friday, the 136th day of November, 2020, a mere 227 days after Tuesday’s 2020 election, and — as I write this in the wee hours of the morning — we are still waiting and waiting and waiting for election results. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful that the election officials are taking their jobs seriously, and they have my utmost respect for their diligence, but none of that gives me even one ounce, an inkling or a smidge more patience than I already don’t have — espe...

  • Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Nov 5, 2020

    The Governor of Jalisco pushed the Emergency Button. Only food stores and pharmacies are open for business. The numbers for COVID infections and deaths have doubled what they were a couple weeks ago and are rising daily. Like elsewhere, people were getting careless and complacent. Out here in the hinterlands, every day we hear of nearby deaths. Today, five in little San Marcos, just up the road. How is that possible? I feel like Joe Btfsplk from the long-gone comic strip,...

  • Put down your phone

    Kimberly Bolta|Updated Nov 4, 2020

    A question was asked to me recently, "Do you think we miss out on everything because we constantly view it through a lens?" My best friend and I were watching our kids play at the park on an unusually warm autumn day. Like typical moms we were snapping pictures here and there among chatting. Before that moment, I had rolled my eyes at the irony of articles I happened to be reading on my phone telling me the world has become too dependent on our cellular devices. However, in...

  • The Postscript - Early snow

    Carrie Classon|Updated Nov 4, 2020

    This has been a year that defies explanations. I spoke with my parents a week or so ago. We have used Zoom and other types of video to communicate but, more often than not, I just call up my dad, he puts me on speaker, and we chat as we always have. My parents were about to go skiing. They live in the north, but they don’t live on the North Pole. It was much too early to cross-country ski, but they’d had an early snow and my mom decided they should give it a try. “You know...

  • Be team players to stop the spread

    Updated Oct 30, 2020

    COVID-19 cases in Montana are on the rise, with daily cases approaching 1,000. The public health crisis is real and Montana is now one of the most impacted states. In the early days of the pandemic, we enjoyed a false sense of security that Montana, with our wide-open spaces and relatively sparse population, would avoid the worst. Now, the reality of COVID-19, and it’s impacts to local businesses, is staring us in the face. Montanans are community-minded; we are hardworking, generous and we look out for each other. We need t...

  • 2020 - the mildewy wet-blanket of years

    Pam Burke|Updated Oct 30, 2020

    Since 2020 has proven to be about as funny as a pratfall that lands in an actual tiger trap, I’ve felt a little flinchy about humor, like my timing is off just a bit and I can’t quite be confident whether my joke or my whole topic is a helium balloon or one of those doggy doo-doo bags. It seems my weird/funny news sources are having that trouble as well. Take the murder hornets for example. I scoured my weird and funny news sources for some fodder for today’s column and saw l...

  • Looking out my Backdoor - Aging exponentially

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Oct 29, 2020

    A couple weeks ago I wrote Kathy, “I have aged 10 years since I had surgery in January.” Today Kathy wrote me, “I’ve aged 20 years since this coronavirus pandemic.” Since Kathy is close to 10 years younger, that makes us about even. Fears, worries, lack of solutions, illnesses, deaths, feelings of isolation and helplessness — all take their toll, on our bodies, minds and spirits. It was March before most of us realized the dangers which surround us. March when we began to hu...

  • The Postscript: Scary stories

    Carrie Classon|Updated Oct 28, 2020

    It's the season for all things scary, and I found myself wondering how many people are actually looking for more things to frighten them this year. There is a new horror movie about Zoom that is supposed to be terrific ... and I won't be watching it. I've never been a fan of horror movies. On the very few occasions I've tried to watch a scary movie, I end up both covering my eyes and plugging my ears (the ominous music is the worst part of it) and I emerge with a pretty...

  • Vote, and vote no on CI-118 and I-190

    Updated Oct 27, 2020

    Please vote. (I know many of you already have. Thank you!) That said, please vote no on CI-118 and I-190. Proponents of these initiatives receive millions and millions of out-of-Montana dollars. … over two-thirds of it. They say that marijuana is "just like alcohol." It's not ... it's opposite. The classic "Bell-Shaped Curve" exists for alcohol use: a few use none (or very little); most have "moderate" use; only a few are "heavy" users. There is a "U-shaped Curve" for marijuana: there is either no or rare use, or there are he...

  • Montana League of Cities and Towns: LR-130 removes local decision-making

    Updated Oct 27, 2020

    Election ballots hit Montana mailboxes recently and many voters are scratching their heads in confusion over one measure in particular: LR-130. But, as confusing and poorly written as this measure is, the answer on how to vote on it is simple: Montana voters should vote “NO” on LR-130. The bipartisan Montana League of Cities and Towns, which represents all 127 incorporated municipalities in our state, opposes this dangerous measure, and you should, too. LR-130 is the product of lobbyists and politicians in Helena who wan...

  • We are the people of liberty

    Updated Oct 27, 2020

    We are the people of liberty. The family of freedom. In our bloodstream is the inheritance of our common ancestors – men who jump off the pages of human history. Ancestors who, with a terrible fury, consumed the tyrant and built a mighty nation on tyranny’s grave. Imperfect men to be sure. But called by God to change the world. And so they did. On this sacred soil they established a country called America, that would be forever free. We are the people of liberty. The spiritual bloodline of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and...

  • A letter to the Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees

    Updated Oct 26, 2020

    Shutdown of schools I am disappointed in the decisions to close schools. In rural Montana, our students face varying degrees of connectivity and lack of appropriate device issues. This means that not every student has a device or internet connectivity and yet our schools are sending students to remote learning for semesters, quarters, or weeks at a time. The achievement gap is already huge, it is getting bigger by the day, and now, we are going to make it insurmountable by going remote without every child having a device or...

  • Each of us defines our own success in life

    Pam Burke|Updated Oct 24, 2020

    What is it with kids these days? These teenagers have been taking their game up a notch and it doesn’t matter if I compare teen-me or adult-me to them, I’m left nursing my pride. Livescience.com reported this week that 14-year-old Anika Chebrolu from Frisco, Texas, may have just helped to save our lives. No biggy. Whatever. I can flip my tongue over – both directions – so I’m not without skills. Chebrolu identified a molecule that can bind to and potentially disable the SARS-...

  • Thank you for my time here

    Rachel Jamieson|Updated Oct 24, 2020

    Dear Havreites and Montanans, By the time many of you read this, I will be on the road to the next chapter in my journey of life. Thursday was my last day at the Havre Daily News. I just want to thank the community for taking a chance on a girl right out of college to come to a new place, start a new life and a new job. I didn't expect to learn so much about myself, fall in love, go to work in 40-below temperatures, participate in pig wrestling and so much more. I might say,...

  • Looking Out My BackDoor - A shift in perspective

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Oct 22, 2020

    This morning, Leo brought me a box of 24 jumbo Crayola Crayons and a pad with a dozen dry cakes of water colors. Along with the requisite brush. Just like we used back in first grade. Oh, also a tube of school glue. Little girl stuff. Things change. When I was 6, our water paints came in a tin. The crayons smell similar, but I know from coloring with my grandchildren that some essential ingredient is missing because the colors are not as vibrant as they used to be and the cray...

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