News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1881 - 1905 of 3210
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...
Imagine that you were forced to sign a 25 year contract for gas for your car at three to four times the market price. That’s the exact situation NorthWestern Energy customers were facing without the Montana Public Service Commission’s recent action to reduce the contract length and rate available to small renewable projects known as Qualifying Facilities — QFs. As usual with actions that put ratepayers first, those who would have us promote renewables at any cost are hopping mad. The federal law that the Commission must...
Congress is in crisis, and some members of the U.S. Senate suggest fundamental changes that would forever alter the future of that esteemed body. In one dramatic proposal, Montana’s own Sen. Steve Daines has proposed getting rid of the historic Senate filibuster rule: “These are archaic rules from the past that are creating, are going to create barriers for the Senate to act on behalf of the American people. It is time to blow up the filibuster. ... I was pleased to see the president tweet that out,” Daines said July 18. S...
Generations of Montanans have cultivated the land and passed family farms and ranches down to their children. Their work has built Montana’s economy and preserved a way of life that still defines our state today. But with the ground cracking underneath us, we are reminded of how fragile this way of life is. As our number one economic driver, Montana agriculture, has supported our economy through seasons of plenty and seasons of drought, including physical drought and unseasonable rains. In Montana we’ve seen them both and...
Yesterday morning, I thought about options available when solving problems related to eldercare. The more I thought about my reasons for becoming a mediator, the more I thought that the ideas converge. As I see it, there are three doors to resolving a problem. “Door number one” is people solving problems related to seniors and healthcare with the skills that life has taught them. Some people bully/threaten their way into a solution. Some people take on a martyr status and some people give up in frustration. Some people can...
Data analysts say, if you torture the numbers long enough, they’ll tell you anything. I just read that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has compiled the statistics and crunched the numbers, and the official data says more people in the U.S. get killed by cows every year than get killed by sharks. In averages taken from between 2001 and 2013, cows killed 20 people per year and sharks killed only one person per year. In fact, alligators and bears each averaged o...
Ants, those little buggers, are a constant, year-round plague. Mosquitoes don’t irritate me nearly as much. I don’t disdain the power of the mosquito, dastardly carrier of dread diseases, to wreak havoc on people and animals. But after surviving years of Milk River Valley mosquitoes, this inferior breed is a mere inconvenience. Okay, the truth is, I seldom see any. Ants are another beast entirely. A nearly invisible fawn-colored ant likes my house, especially the kitchen and...
I have a response for Greg Jergeson’s Havre Daily News editorial of Tuesday, July 18. Mr. Jergeson’s account of the Highway 2 Association’s mission, “Enhancing Economic Development in the Highway 2 Corridor by Constructing an Adequate Highway, 4 For 2, which is the Prerequisite to Economic Development,” is misleading. Stating it bluntly, in the first place, Greg doesn’t support an adequate highway, which is essential in growing northern Montana’s stagnant economy. Mr. Jergeson is a political appointee by Gov. (Steve) Bullo...
