News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1700 - 1724 of 3225
As Indians growing up in our local communities, we know that Montanans have diverse political values. We understand and appreciate those differences. One of our state’s special attributes is that it is home to seven Indian reservations and 12 tribes. Our culture, traditions and history are interwoven into the fabric of the treasure state and we take pride in calling this place our home. This is what makes Montana unique among the 50 states of our Union and what shapes the issues and direction of our political discourse. On J...
The economy of Montana depends on partners around the world for success. Each year, millions of tourists visit our beautiful state, while at the same time millions of bushels of grain grown by Montana farmers flow out of the Pacific Northwest to consumers overseas. Trade wars and tariffs have been a hot topic of discussion in recent months, and it can be difficult to keep up with the ever-changing dialog. We must not forget in these discussions that the world continues to move forward with trade deals and we may soon find our...
There is nothing like an enforced daily session on a very specific exercise in both patience and urgency to drive a training point home with a young horse and really help you put your own life in perspective. The first point is a good thing, the second point, the one about your own life, is open for debate. Because my horse Myah cut the sole of her foot, I am two weeks into a month’s worth of wrapping her foot to help pad the sole and, more importantly, keep moisture and d...
Remember when the Big Store in Havre was Buttrey’s? What a magnificent place to shop, in the Atrium, with an escalator. That was truly “down town”. And Havre boasted many, many smaller stores, enough to satisfy any shopper’s needs. Then the Mall on the hill was built; things changed. Stores closed in the center of town. The Mall struggled, filled, struggled. Another big store came to town. An independent grocery left. My heart lurched when I read that K-Mart, Sears and Her...
This fall, when farmers will be busy wrapping up their harvest and planning for next year, the current Farm Bill is set to expire. It would be nice to think that the Farm Bill — and its many ways of supporting family farmers and strengthening rural communities — is too essential to get dragged down by the political bickering and gamesmanship that has engulfed Washington, D.C. Sadly, it’s not, because that’s precisely what has unfolded in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Farm Bill is a big deal, especially for rural Mont...
It’s my own fault, of course. I’ve hit the wall. Can’t go any further. A day of rest would do wonders. Two days might put me back to myself. If I’m not myself, who am I? I feel like a brainless blob. A wart on a toad. A knot on a log. For one thing, Jim and Crin and I have been having too much fun. Since both of them are here for only a few weeks, we try to cram the time with explorations and adventures, fun along with our designated projects. Jim alternated building a fountai...
This past week, I attended the Northern Agricultural Research Center tour. All the wagons were loaded and ready to roll when a downpour hit. Everyone ran for the tent and witnessed .6 inches of rain fall in 15 minutes. I have to hand it to the staff, though; they did a rotating presentation in three groups in the offices until 7 p.m. when a steak dinner was served. It was a great meal for around 200 folks. I ran into a number individuals that I’ve either worked with or played with over the past 40 plus years. One encounter w...
Nature is one of Montana’s greatest treasures, and wildfire occurs each summer only because we’re so fortunate to live amid millions of acres of unspoiled forests and prairies. Although wildfire plays a natural role in ecology, there’s no doubt it can also be devastating to our health, safety, property and livelihood. That’s why it’s so important to do everything possible to minimize its impacts. It starts with prevention. We should be aware of fire restrictions before we go camping, and if it’s safe to build a fire, we sh...
When I was ten years old, a tornado came through and wrecked our farm. The three-hundred-year-old Cathedral Pines crashed down all around us, ruining fence lines and clipping the barn. I remember seeing the apple trees my great grandfather planted get uprooted and fly horizontally through the air. No lives were lost, human or livestock, but it took months and months to get back on our feet. Friends and neighbors pitched in all summer long helping with cleanup. That tornado taught me some valuable things about rural, small...
When I was a kid one of the small handful of television networks that our TV would pick up regularly ran reruns of “The Twilight Zone,” and that program really kept us alert because we didn’t know what we were going to get each week — science fiction, fantasy suspense, a good ol’ creepy thriller. The one thing you could rely on, though, was that weird stuff was going to happen, weird and unexpected. Thankfully, this TV program prepared my brain for this week when, apparentl...
Went to the artisans' tianguis (street fair) in Tonala and got me a man. Yep, brought home a genuine Mexican man. Next I wrote to my women friends and you should have heard the response. Oh, my. I had immediate replies expressing everything from shock and outright horror to reluctant caution. They should know me better by now. Not to worry. I'd had my mind on this man from the first time I saw him, three years ago. (Him, or a counterpart.) I even had my picture taken with him...
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that a New Hampshire distillery has created a new bourbon, Eau De Musc, which derives its flavor in part from secretions extracted from a beaver’s castor sacs. Do you remember the coffee bean that became insanely popular (as in costing up to $600 per pound) a few years back because it developed what was reported as a super sweet and complex flavor of plum, tea and rose in a fermentation process? Do you remember this fermentation o...
By the time I got from beneath my covered patio to my front door, a few steps, I was drenched and dripping rain. Already the floor filled with standing water, a shallow lake, half-way across the room. Not even a minute had passed. The sky opened. No warning. Oh, sure, I’d heard a few rumblings from the mountains on the other side of town. Nothing serious. No gentle drops to precede the deluge. Suddenly, the wind whipped in circles and buckets of water fell, whipped in all d...
The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee released its version of the 2018 Farm Bill June 8, presenting an opportunity for the Senate to reaffirm our national commitment to reducing hunger. Montana Food Bank Network applauds Montana’s Sen. Steve Daines and the rest of the Senate Agriculture Committee for developing a bipartisan bill that recognizes the importance and effectiveness of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Unlike the House Farm Bill, which made harsh and indiscriminate cuts to SNAP, the Senate A...
So great is the loss of Steve Browning to our state and its communities, the flags should be lowered to half-staff and a moment of silence observed across Montana. Steve died May 15, 2018, after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis. The legacy he created for Montana, however, will never die. While Steve will be remembered for many things — a brilliant law career, his work in Washington, D.C., and, of course, his love of golf — I will remember him most fondly for his passion and work in philanthropy. A common focus of Ste...
Happy birthday to the Antiquities Act, which turns 112 today. What an illustrious history it has, and what amazing gifts it has given to the American people. What does the Antiquities Act do, and why is it important to you? First, the act made it illegal to destroy or remove historic or prehistoric articles from public lands. Section II of the act says: “That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, a...
At one point in the evolution of the North 40’s motherland, we took down some barbed wire fence and put up a one-wire electric fence to temporarily split our two main pastures. I swear we did this for practical purposes. The pain and torture were just a perk. The first thing my horses did was test what they thought was a very flimsy fence. It was a logical response, even by human standards, because the fence had been three strands of heavy, twisted wire with barbs. It was n...
Paradise. Yes, I live in a garden of Paradise. I suppose there is a snake in every garden. My snake is gray. Pure deep gray with diamond shaped markings like fish scales. I’m told he is harmless. Every woman since Eve has heard those words whispered in her ears. I can live with my gray snake. What can I do? He slithers whither he wills. My hope is that he eats rats. Week before last, a rat infested my bodega. Until the evidence appears, One doesn’t know a rodent has set up hou...
Don’t tell me the people lack power. “We the people” is the powerful phrase opening the U.S. Constitution. We the people have been a powerful force throughout U.S. history — and Montana’s history. The Fraternal Order of Eagles at its 1921 national convention voted to make old-age pensions a national priority. At least 10 Eagles from Montana aeries (chapters) attended that meeting. They helped organize a state campaign for old-age pensions. Lester H. Loble of Helena sponsored the bill in the Montana House of Represent...
About a year ago, I published an update in local papers about the plans by the Montana Department of Transportation to reconstruct the remaining 10 miles of U.S. Highway 2 between Chinook and Havre. This project, known as Lohman East and West, is still on schedule, with a bid letting date in the fall of 2019, and construction expected to begin in calendar year 2020. It remains the most expensive project in Transportation Commission District 3 in a five year period, and will have to be funded in two separate fiscal years....
For all you people who feel like bad things keep happening to you when you’re stressed and overwhelmed by life already, a group of researchers at the University of Liverpool in England offers one more set of data to help prove that it’s not just a feeling, it is a fact and they say you should prepare to get bit. By a dog. To clarify, the study did not say that sad sack, down on your luck, depressed, oppressed or otherwise bluer than blue people were getting bit while they wer...
We didn’t exactly buy it sight unseen. Well, I suppose I did. My half. Unseen. Last winter, Jim, a neighbor here on the rancho, and I began hankering (that word generally precedes a pig in a poke) after a hot tub for pain therapy. We agreed that if we found what we wanted, we’d share the cost, share the use. We made two dread trips into Guadalajara only to find them outrageously expensive. Searches on such sites as craigslist: Mexico, for a second-hand tub yielded no res...
The believers, conspiracy theorists, wanna-bes and want-it-to-be’ers are waiting, as the saying goes, on tenterhooks as a researcher pits modern genome science against the myth of the Loch Ness monster. New Zealand’s University of Otago professor Neil Gemmell told The Associated Press that in June he and a team of researchers will be traveling to Scotland to collect hundreds of water samples from the famed Loch Ness. These samples will come from multiple sites and depths to...
Water rights are the cornerstone of our agricultural economy. Without certainty, protection for existing water right holders, and a plan to define the federally reserved water rights of the tribes, Montana’s water users would be forced to foot the bill for decades of costly litigation and risk losing their existing water rights. That’s why we support the CSKT Water Compact and why we believe it is critical that our Congressional delegation act now to ratify the agreement that was passed by the Montana State Legislature in...
I was a range management specialist for the Malta Bureau of Land Management field office for over thirty years. After retiring in 2007, I was hired by the American Prairie Reserve. As such, I’ve had considerable professional experience managing range land health and closely observing the impacts of bison on range health in Montana. APR has been and will continue to be held to the same required BLM standards and guidelines as other permittees regardless of their type of livestock, season of use, or grazing system. All of t...
