News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1520 - 1544 of 3210
Want to fix the high costs of medical provisions and the inherent shortcomings of the Veterans Administration, Public Health Service, military health program, Medicaid, Medicare, Indian Health Service, and Federal Employees Health Benefits? Think collective bargaining — the strength of 325 million customers, paying directly to providers of medical care rather than to insurance companies, and doctors freed up to provide care without a thought of pre-existing conditions or financial limitations of private coverage. Forget about...
Ian Hammond, which sounds like an actual name and not a user name, started as a joke an online petition to sell Montana to Canada for $1 trillion to help pay down the U.S. debt, arguing that: “We have too much debt and Montana is useless. Just tell them it has beavers or something.” As of 11:30 p.m. Thursday the petition had just under 5,000 signers. This is not any kind of real petition with aspirations of getting legislation changes on a ballot. It’s just a whimsical suggest...
For a decade or more, our Montana Legislature has grappled with the increasing need to renovate both Romney Hall on the Montana State University campus in Bozeman and the Montana Historical Society museum facility in Helena. A compelling case has been made for both these projects, but they have repeatedly come up just short of final approval in the complicated legislative process. Romney Hall is a great and imposing old structure constructed in 1922 during the administration of Warren G. Harding. There is nothing wrong with...
When our Rancho gardener comes in the morning, Leo often asks me, “Sondrita, how is your wonderful retired life?” “Yes,” I say. We laugh. We both understand my meaning. “Yes, wonderful.” Wonderful, beyond any plan I might have dreamed. But, each day is filled with distractions. Take today, for instance. I get up, make my bed, drink two mugs of coffee, strong and hot, the way I like it. Order. Precision. On my mind is a vague desire to bake cookies. Oatmeal. Chocolate o...
I’ve been enjoying the recent patch of typical sub-zero Montana winter weather. The colder the snow, the easier it is to shovel. It was lucky that Rocky Creek was frozen over when 39 train cars derailed last week, dumping over 4000 pounds of coal into it, or the whole Gallatin watershed could have been contaminated. When the 49 runaway train cars came down Mullen pass and exploded the cold weather in Helena in 1989 was both a blessing and a curse. At minus 25, the water that firefighters used to attempt to extinguish the f...
This week was a wild one with a couple of committee meeting running over 3 ½ hours, needing to be cut short, and then finished at the next meeting. In my Energy Committee, bills that were closely related, often called companion bills, came to the committee. The first bill was designed to develop a policy for Montana to control greenhouse gas emissions. The idea is to set a standard that would ramp up until the year 2050 and eventually make Montana carbon-free. Or, as I understand what is being said, agriculture as we know it...
When I was in high school we lived in a house that had a metal-covered gambrel roof — aka barn roof — with a shallow slope from the peak to the first angle and a steeper slope to the eve which was actually an 8-foot deep porch roof that was at a very shallow slope You could say it was built like a ski jump. The easy slope at the top to get your legs under you and your direction lined out, then a steep section to build some great speed, and finally the jump that shoots the ski...
Yes, I know, the song says “don’t worry, be happy” and I reversed the order. Which comes first, chicken or egg, or does it matter and who cares? What I noticed is that when I am happy, I tend not to worry. However, it is within the realm of possibilities that worry is a vastly underrated activity. Consider this. Almost without fail, the things I worry about never come to fruition. When bad things happen, it invariably is something of which I never thought to worry. If worry...
We finished up the month of January and the fourth week of the 66th legislative session. This week, one of the things we worked on in Tax Committee was extending the qualified endowment tax credit program. This tax credit has been in place for a number of years and had a sunset that needed to be extended. In our Education Committee a bill was presented that is designed to make a college student aware of the risks and consequences of student loans. It asks the university system to counsel the students on the loan and such...
While the whole country is debating the mary jane, ganja, dank, 420 issue of legalizing marijuana, I’m obsessing over weed of the noxious list kind. I know. I wrote about noxious weeds sometime in the last year or two. I swear I had every intention to consider it a spent topic, to ignore my single-minded obsession with the idea that weeds are my mortal enemy, y’know, just let the obsessive compulsiveness go. But no. Blame my day job. Call my boss. I had to interview the cou...
Yesterday John and Carol, Leo, our gardener, and I took a trip up to the top of the sacred Mountain, Volcan de Tequila. Tequila Mountain dominates a huge section of Jalisco, can be seen from Guadalajara as well as from my own yard. We are aware of its majestic presence whenever we think to notice. John had walked over the day before to ask if I would like to join them. I hesitated a few seconds, shook myself and said yes to a chance to see more of this country I have come to...
It is no secret that Montana has the highest rate of suicide in the country. Compounding this crisis, Montana has a critical shortage of mental health services that has been well documented for the past ten years. At least 68 new psychiatrists would be needed to address this critical shortage (HRSA 2017). There is also a critical shortage of psychiatric nurse practitioners. Given those shortages, the majority of psychiatric medications — 70 percent to 80 percent by some estimates — are prescribed by non-mental health spe...
These words come as no surprise to many of us. It is our lived experience that Native American women are more likely to go missing, more likely to be murdered, and less likely to have justice in our state. It is our lived experience that when we seek justice for Native women and children who go missing, law enforcement may not take action for weeks — if at all. It is devastating. Right now, we are facing an epidemic of missing and murdered women, many of them Native, in the state of Montana. That is why the Indian Caucus i...
The 66th Legislature Senate Tax Committee saw 10 Senate bills coming forth this week and no House bills have crossed yet in any of my committees. We did review a controversial bill, SB 96, that would put vapes — e-cigarettes — in the category with cigarettes. The bill as presented did not accomplish the intent of the sponsor so it ended up being tabled. A workforce housing tax credit bill, which would give a tax credit to investors of affordable housing units, has also been put forward. It seems everyone would like to rev...
Yes, 40 years is a long time to hold a grudge, but I think it’s safe to say, now, that my whole brain can let the resentment go, thanks to some German researchers and a small herd of horses. In 1979 an art teacher named Betty Edwards wrote a book called “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” that quickly became a bestseller. Because I was a young artist with some talent I was given a copy. Because I was a bit of a nerdy studier, I devoured the book — the first two chapter...
Dear Lee and Roy, Imagine my surprise when Leo handed me mail this morning. He climbs the stairs at the Mercado every Monday morning to check my mail box. I suspect the real reason Leo checks mail every Monday morning is his secret penchant for deep-fried stuffed gorditas the Senora makes, just down the hall from the Correo office. Stuffed with cheese and jalapenos. Dripping grease. I came as close to dance as I am capable when I held the envelope, Christmas card size, in my...
With the second week of the Montana Legislature in the books I would like to give you an update on some accomplishments that were made in the House. At this point, more bills are starting to pass out of committees to be discussed on the floor of the House. For some bills, it is incredibly important to pass them to the governor’s desk as soon as possible. One of those bills is HB 159 our K-12 school funding bill, which had a hearing in the House Education Committee this week. This bill was sponsored by Republican Rep. Bruce G...
As week two of the 66th Legislature progressed, the feeling I had was that bills seem to be moving slower than last session. My thought was that maybe I was not seeing the big picture, but visiting with other legislators, it seems we all feel the same. There are 3,001 potential bills either introduced, being written or waiting to be adjusted to suit the legislator who will carry the bill. I am sure things will pick up as these bills are finalized. A highlight this past week was the visit I had with the co-op folks from the...
Snow is starting to fall, cattle are being fed and the Legislature is back in Helena for the 66th Legislative Session. This session 58 Republicans and 42 Democrats have pulled up stakes and moved to Montana’s capitol for the next approximately three-and-a-half months to try and make our state a better place to live. There have not been many bills heard so far over the past two weeks, but what they lack in number, they make up in substance. In the House Judiciary Committee, we have heard bills concerning the board of p...
The other day I was presented this mind-bending analogy by someone attempting to put the government shutdown and border wall into perspective: “Trump is asking for $5.7 billion out of an annual budget of $4.407 trillion … In other words, Trump is asking for $57 out of an annual budget of $44,070.” You see what the author of this tidbit did there? Yeah, removed all those pesky “illion” endings and zeros they represent to put the numbers in amounts the average intellect...
Everyone agrees that the high cost of prescription medications is a huge issue, but there hasn’t been a serious attempt to solve the problem in Montana. We’re changing that by bringing forward legislation we estimate will save Montanans about $8 million in the first year alone. Allow us to explain. Prescriptions make up about 20 percent of health care costs, and they’re one of the fastest-growing cost drivers in health care. While there are many reasons for this, a primary one is the middlemen who control the process between...
Those words came out of my mouth with full exclamation stop. And nobody near with ears to hear. Among other things in this mysterious and strange aging process, things like talking with myself, I have an emerging propensity to use phrases I have not heard since I was a child; phrases I snubbed, vowed never to let pass my more educated, sophisticated lips. Ha. Yesterday, I returned from my week on the beach in Mazatlan. With a severe shortage of gasoline in the state of...
The 66th Montana Legislative Session began Jan. 7 and, based on the 3,101 bills that have been submitted so far, lawmakers will be working in overdrive. For Democrats, top priorities include keeping health care accessible for all Montanans, promoting good-paying jobs by investing in sustainable infrastructure, and passing a viable budget that allows for an adequate rainy-day fund. Democratic leaders urge members of both parties to roll up our sleeves and work across the aisle to solve problems. We will put a premium on bipart...
We finished the first week of the 66th Legislature. The Opening Ceremony was great. Judy was in attendance this session having missed the first day of the 2017 session because of a storm. Our friends and campaign treasurer, Junior Scheuerman and his wife, Karen, were also in attendance for the ceremony. It was great to share the experience. As you may have guessed, over the last week, time was spent getting introduced to folks on our respective committees. It is called “organizing,” though sometimes it almost resembles chaos....
It is strange, after serving 14 years, to be a “freshman” representative in the House. However, as a “senior” freshman, I chair Joint Education Finance and vice-chair Full Appropriations. These familiar committees are where I held leadership positions in the Senate, thus it was a good first week. While the discussion was contentious, the substantial rule reform I strongly advocated for was adopted by the 66th Legislature with overwhelming support of the body (88-12). Key reforms include: 1) A single leader (speaker) can no...
