News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1467 - 1491 of 3210
I have been struggling with how to broach an indelicate personal subject with the polite words needed in a public platform such as this, but I don’t know if there is a delicate way to say that my cat Tony has fallen deeply, madly and inappropriately in love with me. It’s a bit startling. For both of us, I think. I get it, though, right? This is the first time he’s felt this safe and content with a human. He doesn’t know what to make of this happy feeling. He’s always retained his early lessons for feral cat survival:...
Several weeks or months ago, all the women in the Rancho jumped onto the latest diet-craze roller coaster. One at a time. I’m not sure how or why. Each is beautiful in her own way. I say “all” the women. I mean all but myself. I wasn’t invited. Not that I would have bought the ticket. I once rode that carnival ride and it cost me dearly. I have not dieted since. When I was in high school, several girls attempted the diet of that time. When I make up my mind to do somethi...
When women and girls go missing in our state, it’s not a Democratic problem or a Republican problem — it’s a Montana problem. And it’s an urgent one. Not much research exists on the epidemic of Indigenous women and girls going missing or being murdered. But we do know that in Montana, where human trafficking is on the rise and there are serious flaws in our missing persons reporting system, hundreds of people have gone missing and their families are still left wondering what happened to them. That’s why this legislati...
This past week, I had the pleasure of having my grandson J.R. Seewald not only stay with Judy and me in Helena, but also work with me on the floor of the Montana state Senate as a page. The first week of April, I sponsored Samantha May from Chester as page for the Senate. With all the news coverage and excitement going on in Helena, I think taking a moment to highlight the great work of these high school volunteers is a welcome change of pace. So, thank you to both Samantha...
Earlier this week a friend of mine was puzzling over why English speakers use the word “disgruntled” all the time, but we never drop the “dis” prefix and say “gruntled.” A “disgruntled” customer can file a complaint, but why don’t we ever hear of “gruntled” people being satisfied with, well, anything? “Gruntled” is actually an official word. I think we don’t use “gruntled” because it doesn’t sound like what it means: pleased, contented, satisfied. Words like “dreary” an...
I felt lost the whole week. I had absolutely no sense of direction. How could I tell? I have long been able to orient myself to water. I sense the presence of a body of water. On our last day, luggage packed for return, I stood on the balcony over the Caribbean. “I got it!” I said to myself. Sometimes I am a slow learner. The Caribbean Sea is to the east, not the west. No wonder I have felt so disoriented. I had spent the entire week upside-down, so to speak, heading in the...
On April 2, 2019, Montana Senators Jon Tester, Democrat, and Steve Daines, Republican, announced their bipartisan support of the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support — CARES — Act to fund research, training, and services and supports that improve the lives of people with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental and intellectual disabilities. This includes diagnostic services, training for healthcare providers and family members, and community training events. The reauthorization of...
Polls consistently show that Montanans support public lands and access to them. And yet, the 2019 Montana Legislature consistently opposed bills that improve access and supported bills that reduce it. Of the four bills that would have improved access, three died. Meanwhile, the anti-access bills, HB 550 and HB 265 garnered more support. Luckily, HB 550 died on the Senate floor after massive action was taken by Montana’s hunters and anglers. But sportsmen and sportswomen are deeply disappointed that the Legislature passed H...
The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed. Twenty years later, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in more than 190 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. One example of this movement, Earth Day Network works year...
For the record, I don’t need anyone to applaud me or approve of the way I negotiate life for me to feel validated, but sometimes that kind of support makes me want to laugh like a jerk, “haaaa haaa hah!” while pointing my bust-a-cap fingers in that sort of “middle-aged white woman tryin’ a be all gansta” way. A clean house? Overrated. And now they’re also a waste of taxpayer dollars in Beaverton, Oregon, where a babysitter got several cops, including a canine unit, involve...
Remember a few weeks ago I stayed in the sleaziest hotel in Chacala? Lovelytown. Ugly hotel experience. This week, thanks to the generosity of Kathy and Richard, I am in the most posh hotel in Cancun, which says a lot! Cancun is “Tourist Mecca,” jaw-dropping beauty. Our friends also invited Leo. Leo started as our gardener. Now he is our friend. It is our bonus that he helps us with gardening. Kathy said that this is the Ultimate Blowout Vacation, making use of timeshare point...
As a Montanan, veteran, and state senator, I am proud to sponsor Senate Bill 300 — a bill that protects property rights. The bill would create a grandfather clause for owners in HOAs to keep only their most basic property rights that were permitted when they bought their properties. This grandfather clause is similar to the grandfather clauses in code in 37 states and in Montana’s own zoning laws. Currently in our state, HOAs and condo associations are depriving individual Montanans and families of their constitutional pro...
Americans pay the highest brand-name drug prices in the world. Congress, the administration and importantly, our own Montana state legislators must take action now to lower prescription drug prices, the root cause of this problem. That’s why AARP is launching a national campaign urging federal and state policymakers to Stop Rx Greed by cracking down on price-gouging drug companies. AARP’s goal is to help lower drug prices for all Americans through decisive actions and solutions aimed not only at the Federal level but als...
This past couple of weeks, Judy and I were blessed to have family here to visit and show the grandkids the Montana State Capitol. Mari and kids here from Washington and Maci and kids from Wyoming. It was too bad their spring breaks weren’t at the same time. Judy and I really enjoyed their visits. It was my honor this week to sponsor a CJI student as a Senate page. Samantha May did a great job. Wednesday, myself and a number of other legislators, a lobbyist and staff sat at a luncheon for a brief question and answer forum f...
This past week, the Montana House of Representatives passed both House Bill 652, the Long-Range Bonding bill, and House Bill 658, the Medicaid Expansion bill. The Bonding bill passed the floor with 68 yes votes and 30 no votes, and the Medicaid Expansion bill passed with 61 yes votes and 37 no votes. I opposed House Bill 658, the Medicaid expansion bill, largely because the non-severability clause in the bill was removed and replaced with a severability clause. This means that if a court finds that any portion of the law is...
I attended the Town Hall meetings at Plentywood to discuss hour reduction at the U.S. Port of Raymond-Regway Canadian Port of which is a 24-hour commercial port. The proposed hours of operation would be from 6 a.m. to midnight. Canada — Regway — remains 24-hour. U.S. Customs and Border Protection had proposed the hour reduction in 2015, we resisted, they reconsidered and it has remained a 24-hour commercial port. We can’t rail at CBP, they didn’t create the problem, so its up to “We the People” to work with Montana’s c...
I am a passionate defender of property rights. They are a foundational principle of our U.S. and Montana Constitutions. But as a resident and owner in a Montana community with a homeowners association, or HOA, I am both saddened and outraged that SB 300 is currently being rushed through our state’s Legislature. It is an affront to the principle of protecting property rights, contracts, and local democracy by its almost certain unintended consequences if signed into law. In fact, as even the lawmakers’ own Legislative Ser...
It’s spring, so the annual harassment has begun about my fat horses. It didn’t help that we went to see some friends over the weekend and all their horses looked trim and fit. Apparently the difference between our horses’ physiques was glaring, but I came to our defense. I was, like, “What are those faint ripples on their torsos between their shoulders and hips?” And everyone was, like, “Ribs.” So I was all, “Ribs? I’ve heard of them. Are you sure it’s not some trick of light...
Time flies and the older I get, the faster it fugits. As I contemplate yet another birthday, that mean ol’ tempus is fugiting at the speed of light. To add injury to insult, this weekend we will set the clocks ahead in Mexico. I know, you up north are already over the shock of change. In a few days I will struggle to remember what time it really is, whatever that means, since “time” is but an arbitrary measure. Before I wax too philosophical, let me change directions and n...
Mark Twain is credited with saying, “History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” And so it is with SB 331, which is winding its way through the legislature. This bill authorizes NorthWest-ern Energy to buy more interest in old coal plants and automatically pass the costs, plus profit margin, onto their customers without review by the Public Service Commission. It also puts ratepayers on the hook for more of the decommissioning and cleanup costs in the future. There have been a lot of articles and editorials war...
Editor’s note: This corrects the amount of the proposed opiod flat tax which was changed in Tempel’s letter due to an editing error. One of the things discussed this week in Energy Committee was net neutrality on internet providers. Basically, the bill states that internet providers may not block lawful content, applications or services, on any device. Providers may not throttle, impair, or degrade lawful internet traffic or engage in paid prioritization. Based on testimony in committee, this has not been an issue in Mon...
Last summer, I met a woman in Lewistown who told me she made too much money to qualify for Head Start but couldn’t afford to have her son in the kind of quality program that would give him a great start. I met parents in Wibaux who had to drive 30 miles away to take their kids to the closest childcare provider. It was because of the pilot preschool program Republicans and Democrats funded in the 2017 Montana Legislative Session that allowed that mom in Lewistown to stay in the workforce and the parents in Wibaux to have a pre...
For those people tired of elected officials fighting over trivial matters that have nothing to do with properly governing our country at federal, state and local levels, this saying offers some comfort: Everything must come to an end one day. I am here today to assure you that today is not that day. The New York Times reported Tuesday that on Jan. 14 New York City councilman from Brooklyn Robert Cornegy Jr. was recognized and officially certified by Guinness World Records as...
Editor’s note: This is the second part of an editorial discussing American Prairie Reserve’s stated goal of assembling private land in the Northern Great Plains north of the C.M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge that can be managed with public land to provide wildlife conservation, including re-introduction of bison, and public access. The second action that makes American Prairie Reserve not popular among local communities is their current land acquisition and their future plans to amass 3.5 million acres in order to cre...
We told her. We told her. Never again is she allowed to pick the hotel. “The owner is really nice,” she said. “Yes, the owner is a nice man; his wife is nice, his three-year-old daughter is cute.” The hotel is sleazy. Not sleazy in the way of an immoral business conducted in a hotel on the outer edge of town posting hourly rates, but sleazy in the way of shabby, dirty, sordid, inadequate and unpleasant. In her defense, she didn’t know and none of us checked it out before we...
