News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1874 - 1898 of 3210
Like Montanans across the state, each month my husband and I sit down at our kitchen table and balance our checkbook. We pay our bills, we look at our bank account, we readjust our budget, and we do our best to put aside money for the months and years ahead. Recently, the state of Montana received some disturbing news: The amount of money coming into our state is not enough to pay our bills. So in order to keep the lights on, the governor has been forced to instruct his cabinet to find 10 percent in possible spending cuts to...
As cooler temperatures and precipitation finally bring a hint of relief to smoke-weary Montanans, the unusual nature of summer 2017 is coming into focus and the influence of climate change is impossible to ignore. Extreme weather has no doubt been the dominant story throughout the country this summer as hurricanes and tropical storms have ravaged the southeastern United States and wildfires have wreaked havoc in the West. A simple Google search will yield hundreds of stories about the impacts of these events, but very few...
Break out the second layer of clothes, dust off the galoshes, turn up the thermostat and take out the parka, we finally got rain, a cold first-of-the-fall dribbling soaker. I couldn’t be happier unless it was snow. I thought I’d go a lifetime without ever longing for early winter snow. And honestly, if I go the rest of my life without having cause to be hopeful about the possibility of snow again, or even quite this happy about a cold fall rain, I’ll be grateful. National Weat...
“Can you name the seven deadly sins?” she asked. I lay on Bonnie’s table, my body full of acupuncture needles. “I hope there is no wrong answer,” I countered, considering my vulnerable position. “At one time, in my youth, I could have rattled them off easily. Why do you ask?” She shrugged. I know Bonnie to be a thoughtful, introspective person, so I don’t accept a shrug but put her motivation on hold as none of my business unless she chose to share. “Pride?” I aske...
Times are changing, people are changing, our education system is changing, but we are learning and growing right along with it. As members of the student body at Big Sandy High School, in a dual-credit education class, we took it upon ourselves to take a closer look at the true climate in Big Sandy High School after a recently published Havre Daily News article provided a nearly negative outlook on our learning environment. In our dual-credit class we are learning the proper ways to shape young minds, create a safe learning...
Montana’s crisis isn’t too much water or hurricanes — it’s fire. It’s smoke filling Big Sky Country and filling our lungs, communities being evacuated, structures lost and tons of fuels just lying on the forest floor waiting for a spark to ignite. In this year alone, over 1,600 fires have burned over 1 million acres in Montana — that’s nearly equivalent to the entirety of the state of Delaware being on fire. We are tired of being told that others know better than us while we watch our forests and grasslands burn every su...
All I’m saying is that it’s a good thing it’s not against the law — legally, biblically or otherwise — to covet thy neighbor’s horse, or I would’ve been busted last week — thrown in the hoosegow, tossed out the pearly gates or otherwise had my birthday taken away. I’d forgotten what it’s like to have broke horses around and, honestly, I’ve never had a really seasoned horse, so towing a couple of no-nonsense campaigners under less than ideal conditions was better than a box of...
Sunshine! After a solid week of all-day, all-night rain, the sun shines. Tropical Storm Lidia whooshed unrelenting rainclouds our way before veering off with a huff into the Pacific, energy dissipated. We nestle in a mountain valley dominated by Volcan de Tequila, or Tequillan, “the place where they cut.” Volcan de Tequila has been inactive for 220,000 years but once spewed obsidian throughout an extensive area. People have mined obsidian here since ancient times. Since she no...
In the face of impending doom, my instinct is to collect up everyone precious to me, like a hen gathering chicks or me filling my plate with my 20 favorite treats in a dessert bar. Mine. Mine. Mine. You are all mine. Come here to me. At the first report of a fire in the Bear Paw Mountains Sunday, my chest went all achy with a heart palpitating need to have every last one of my family members by my side, now. Like, right now. Not just my husband and my four-leggers, not just fa...
From there to here. I’m not sure what sparked my curiosity, but from Havre in Montana to Etzatlan in Jalisco, Mexico, the distance is 2449.9 miles. That mileage does not take into consideration any deviation from the route: no searching for a better hotel or non-franchise-plastic-food eatery, no side-trips to see friends or relatives close to the route. Imagine a human automaton, hands glued to the steering wheel, eyes on the road, single-mindedly moving forward, only f...
Our summer Education Committee meeting began with State Librarian Jennie Stapp laying out how the state cuts are affecting not only the State Library, but also the outlying units. She has had a staff reduction of 25 percent, or 12 employees. Public Computer Access has also been reduced from six to two. The next presenter was Bruce Whittenberg with the Montana Historical Society. Mr. Whittenberg stated that his program also has a staff reduction of 25.2 percent, leaving 15 positions unfilled. One of the programs being cut is...
My dad’s grandmother lived more than 80 years, and never voted for a Democrat. On the porch of her farmhouse near Independence, Iowa, in election year 1928 she told him why: “The Democrats killed two of my brothers.” They were on her porch 63 years after the Civil War, but the emotional wounds of our nation’s costliest conflict were kept fresh by post-war politicians to prolong the divisive hate for political purposes. General Ulysses Grant’s partisans in his 1868 presidential campaign proclaimed: “Behind every rebel rifle...
The debate over net neutrality seems to have died down a bit. Most stakeholders are in agreement on the core principles of an open internet, including internet content providers (like Netflix and Youtube) and internet service providers who deliver that content to consumers. In an attempt to clear up some of the confusion over the issue, here’s what the stakeholders generally agree on when it comes to net neutrality: ISPs should not prioritize internet content, data, or networks. That means that all of these things should b...
I suppose it’s a form of oppositional defiance disorder, a compulsion to both stick it to The Man and not become a The Establishment that makes me shy away from things labeled as “your duty” and “your responsibility.” I see it in statements that include word combinations like “have to” and “need to.” Many times my mouth says “yes,” while my brain is saying “nope.” I’ll do what I agreed to do, while my brain is still at it with “Nopity. No.” It’s a backward and unhealthy w...
What a precious two weeks in Poulsbo, Washington, while I stayed with my son, Ben. Ben and I had always been close; we’d weathered some tough early years together. Ben, at 35, a responsible family man with the best computer job in the world, working for a toy company where he went to work to play games, hit some extremely painful emotional times. He chose to opt out of the pain. At that time, Ben pushed me out of his life and, in retrospect, I’m glad he did so. It took a while...
I certainly never expected to spend an afternoon in the emergency room of the local hospital on my holiday with my son and granddaughter. Just an innocent scratch, I tried to tell myself. Lexi and I, along with Deckard the Dog, had walked the newly-hacked trail to the “Fort” in the woods, constructed by Lexi’s grandpa and father. If you’ve never been around wild blackberries, you need to know, the vines are indestructible. Left to grow uninhibited, blackberry brambles will ev...
This has been a tough week, so to get through it I thought long and hard about what the people I know and respect do to cope with adversity: They play to their strengths — meditation, prayer, binge eating. So I turned to the only thing I have going for me, writing. Sometimes you need that knife’s-edge state of mind to cut out that which is troubling you. Specifically, the so-called alt-right rally of white nationalists, white supremacists and Ku Klux Klan members in Cha...
As members of the American Indian Caucus of the Montana Legislature, we extend our condolences to the family of Heather Heyer, who lost her life protesting hate and bigotry in Charlottesville, Virginia. Our hearts also go out to the families of Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper Berke M.M. Bates of the Virginia State Police, who lost their lives while monitoring the rally. Our thoughts and prayers are with Charlottesville and those across this great country who have been hurt physically and emotionally by the despicable actions...
As governor of Montana it’s my job to responsibly manage the state through everything from a difficult fire season and the challenges posed by increasing drought conditions to making sure we take advantage of the opportunities presented by our growing outdoor recreation economy. This includes making tough decisions during lean budget times. Right now there is an unusual state of affairs in Montana. On one hand, we have one of the strongest economies in the nation, with some of the fastest-growing household incomes, h...
The continued growth of Montana’s government is out of control. If anything, we should be looking for responsible ways to trim bureaucracy and slow new hiring. Since 2008 we have seen huge technological advances, which should have led to more government efficiency. We have instead seen a steady growth in state government hiring. Our state currently employs 12,000 people full time and another 1,000 or more part time. According to a recent report from the University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research there a...
One of the struggles for those who train combat troops is to condition soldiers to run forward, attacking, when ambushed rather than retreat. Experts say fleeing causes chaos which feeds into the effectiveness of the ambush, while attacking forward provides the greatest chance of survival. The question here is whether that theory applies to the scenario in which a lone woman is in the bathroom, sitting (y'know), and then spies a giant spider lurking in the shadows a few feet a...
In lean financial times, families across Montana know that the responsible thing to do is to prioritize spending and, in some cases, cut back on the wants so that the needs of their families can be met. Understandably, Montanans want to see state government take the same actions — prioritize spending, cut back on non-essential government operations and make due with less taxpayer money – until revenues increase. It is worth noting that in the reports of jobs that may be lost due to necessary spending reductions, out of 13,...
“Well, that was a lucky water break.” Trust me, if you have to say you had a water break, it’s best to have a lucky one. Way back in the early days of Pam and John, we had a water break under the trailer house we were living in. It flooded the pit that the water cistern was in under the house. The temperature was 50 degrees below zero. The water break was inside the pit of water. That was not a lucky water break. Last winter we had a water main break somewhere in the 400 f...
My suitcase perches, mouth open, on my sofa, poised to swallow piles of clothing and jumbles of travel essentials: toiletries, Kindle, laptop, gifts. Mine is not a planned trip. The “plan” was for my son, Ben, to visit me, granddaughter Lexi in hand. It’s still a plan, delayed by the IRS. That fearsome entity is auditing my son’s taxes for the year he sent his life veering off the rails. Evidently, they fear he might come to Mexico and never return. Once the audit is finished...
I think this is a good time to share the obvious reality concerning the Lodgepole fire complex. First of all, lightning started the fire in Sandage Coulee, not in Lodgepole Creek. Sandage Coulee is located in the center of a Wilderness Study Area. This Wilderness Study Area only includes a few thousand acres of very rugged Musselshell River breaks. These areas have very strict rules as to how they can be used, including no roads, no motorized use, no improvements or such installments as water pipelines or fire suppression oth...
