News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1922 - 1946 of 3210
On Wednesday, June 28, I will host my 17th Telephone Townhall to get your input on the health care draft proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare. The draft bill was released on Thursday, June 22, and I immediately posted the text on my website for all Montanans to read. I am digging into this legislation myself and look forward to hearing the thoughts of Montanans as we consider this important issue together. While there is an effort to move legislation out of the Senate next week, I’ve been urging my colleagues to get t...
Senate Republicans have crafted a plan that will unhinge our nation’s health care system and leave Montana families and the people who care for them scrambling to pick up the pieces. To make matters worse, they’ll vote on the bill next week without public input. This commitment to secrecy is more than concerning. It has clouded what should have been a transparent and collaborative process of strengthening America’s health. And it has set an unnerving tone for future congressional action. GOP leaders rejected the House plan...
Which city, not which town, in Montana can afford to lose its health insurance coverage? In an editorial in March of this year, I encouraged Montanans to act your conscience and contact your legislators. I urged action after consideration of how many of our fellow Montanans would lose health insurance if the Affordable Care Act were repealed without certain considerations. We are talking numbers that parallel whole cities, not towns. So, as things stand, would the loss be as large as Helena, or Missoula, or as large as...
In the last few months there have been several emotional editorials concerning the Montana State Lighted Airway Beacon System. Unfortunately, the reality of the facts seems to have gotten lost in the emotional clutter. I am sure that almost everyone will agree that the very first responsibility of government is public safety. Whether it’s the federal government, the state government or the municipal government, public safety and protection is their first priority. In 2017, there has been considerable controversy over w...
A modern expression warns that “a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into.” I like that and the format applies to many of our specialty splurges. A monster truck is a hole in the mud you throw money into. See what I did there? A craft room full of fabric is a hole in a quilt you sew money into. There I added a new twist. But truth is truth and found even in my own hobby. A horse is a hole in a corral you throw money into. But this is not the whole truth. Not for...
Well, why not? Back in the day, I devoured self-help books. Back in the early 1980s when my life was shattered like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces, in an attempt to put myself back together, I read a raft of self-help, pop-psychology, pull-yourself-up-by-bootstraps, think-your-way-to-success type fluff-and-stuff. I’d finish one, find another, thinking each would have the solution for me. I soon had accumulated an entire bookcase filled with sugar pills, innocuous c...
Recently, the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act. This bill would give billions to big drug and insurance companies while dramatically increasing costs for Montanans over age 50 and those with pre-existing conditions. Under the AHCA, insurance companies can charge older adults five times what other consumers pay for the same health insurance policy. The bill also lets Montana lawmakers get a waiver that would give insurance companies the power to charge older adults even more. The legislation would...
As the Board of the Montana Library Association, it is our responsibility to open a dialogue about the 2017 executive and legislative cuts to state agencies including the Montana State Library. We must also speak out about House Bill 261 reductions to the state’s public libraries, and the real impact to the people in our state and, more specifically, the library patrons in Montana. Libraries are an essential service, an anchor institution in each city with a public library, no matter the size of the town and regardless of t...
In our work with the Montana Food Bank Network, we have the privilege of working with nearly 150 food pantries and other partner agencies throughout the state. We see firsthand the important role that donated food plays in keeping tens of thousands of Montanans from going hungry. We are constantly reminded how important a can of soup, a carton of milk, or a box of cereal can be to those who have fallen on hard times. We are humbled by the important work done every day by our network of partners. However, we also understand...
Once upon a time, when I was young, which was in an era far far away, I wanted to live anywhere except in a little no-account town in Montana where nothing happened, so when I had the chance to live and work in the Los Angeles area for a summer I grabbed it. It was one of the best choices I made as a just-hit-drinking-age adult. It was like stepping into an alternate universe, or hell. Yeah, maybe it was hell. Like I made a conscious decision to walk through a doorway into...
Canada has officially become my first alternate for home country. Sure, Montana will always be the country that calls to my soul, but there’s a push in Canada to “update” their laws by making it not illegal to get in a duel with someone. In Canada. Dueling. How awesome is that? I mean, we’re talking about the land of the nicest people and the country that’s the home of the Canadian standoff: “You go first.” “Oh, no, you go ahead.” “Ah, I wouldn’t hear of it. You go, eh.” “Ple...
June 1, Great Falls was the center of our nation’s agriculture conversation as I hosted the Montana Ag Summit, a conversation about the future of jobs in our state’s number one economic driver: Agriculture. We had two of the nation’s top agricultural leaders at the Montana Ag Summit: the new U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, and the U.S. Senate Ag Committee Chairman, Pat Roberts. The day before the Summit, Secretary Perdue and Sen.Roberts joined me in Cascade, Montana for a listening session at Rick Bogde...
I hate physical therapy. Writing with a computer means you’ll give me no sympathy. If we were talking face-to-face, I’d be able to mumble, “It’s my own fault. I quit too soon. It’s been mumble-mumble-slurred-words since I quit. Arturo told me I should do these few simple movements forever. Sheesh!” And you’d pat my hand and say, “There, there. Poor thing.” And if I were using pencil on depleted rain-forest, I could smear the tell-tale number with my tears of frustration and y...
Greg Gianforte eventually apologized to the reporter he manhandled on election night. For some the apology was late and inadequate. For others Gianforte shouldn’t have apologized to the “liberal” reporter at all. Such is the divided nature of these times. If Gianforte owed an apology, though, it was to the people of Montana for reaching the age of 56 and showing the maturity of a 7 year old. Gianforte was under stress when he attacked the reporter. Political campaigns are stressful. But so is holding public office. In this...
So I lived beyond the summer cold, with some lingering signs, but life just keeps throwing it at me like I’m a fan, and I’m really thinking I should have something like worker’s compensation, but I wouldn’t have to work for it, just live for it — maybe survivor’s compensation. “Oh,” I would say. “I never would’ve lived through it without my survivor’s compensation that paid for the help I needed after, y’know surviving.” As I have battled the last hints of cough and sniffl...
Two weeks ago I had declared, “New window glass all around; new patio roof; I love it all. These are my final projects. My home is complete. My garden is full and lush. No more projects!” This isn’t a full-blown project. Really. Honest. Sorta. It began with a bedraggled hibiscus. She hadn’t flourished since she’d been planted, several months ago. Her sister plants were “blooming healthy,” to borrow a British expression. Leo, my partner in digging dirt, asked if I wanted to g...
Road safety is something that benefits us all and should not be a polarizing political issue. Period. During this recent legislative session road safety, specifically a bicycle safe passing law that died in the Senate, became politically divisive. Why is bicycling such a hot button political issue at the state Legislature? Is it due to the misperceptions and myths about bicycling being spread by anti-bicycling political forces? One myth is that bicyclists don’t pay for the roads. Local and state road maintenance is p...
Dear Summer Cold, I hate to be rude, but I see why nobody likes you. I realize it was unrealistic of me to think you would just go away that first day. But, seriously, all you did was sneak in and annoy my tonsils until they became angry and red. You seemed relatively harmless and I underestimated your determination. I see that now — but you’re no flu bug, Summer Cold. You are definitely not the mighty flu. Yeah, I know. I couldn’t do anything about it when you moved into my s...
Tell me, what is all the foo-foo-rah over being fit and healthy? I have friends who abstained from meat (?Not eat meat?), ran marathons, contorted themselves into pretzels with an hour of daily yoga, no sugar, no dairy, no smokes, no booze. Died young. One in his 40s and one in her 50s, each skinny as a rail. Recently, prior to eye surgery, my doctor insisted I go through a whole-body work-up: blood, lungs, heart, the full-meal-deal of medical tests. The heart man told me my...
Every 23 hours, a person is raped in Montana. Last year, over 800 sexual assaults and 4,000 domestic violence crimes were reported statewide. However, this accounts for only a fraction of the total number of crimes that actually occur, as most go unreported. What these statistics show is clear: We must improve how we address crimes of this nature in Montana. Fortunately, recent changes to state law will go a long way in reducing the frequency of these crimes, as well as provide victims the justice and support they deserve....
Montana is on the verge of a moment when our state can unite. It’s a chance for Montanans, including Native Americans and non-Indians alike, as well as Montanans of different backgrounds, to come together to make a change for the better. Greg Gianforte’s candidacy for Congress offers us a unique opportunity to bridge our divides and create better outcomes for all Montana citizens. I saw Greg in action and paid close attention as he visited all seven Montana Indian reservations over the last two years and I can see that his...
Today, as every day, teachers called the names of more than 140,000 students, as they took attendance in Montana’s 821 public schools. For the thousands of children who file into our classrooms, school is more than a place to learn. In-school programs and practices ensure children across the state stay healthy, well fed, safe and enriched. However, recent efforts by Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act could severely alter our public schools’ ability to foster all students’ development. In Montana, rough...
Public lands have become a major issue in this campaign, and for good reason. Whomever Montanans elects as their next congressman, he will have the opportunity to vote on congressional budgets that will have an enormous impact on our public lands. Budgets are more than numbers; they’re also value statements. And the budget President Trump recently proposed makes clear that he does not value our public lands the same way Montanans do. His budget would cut the Department of the Interior’s budget by 12 percent, representing a d...
Visiting family is like looking at yourself in a funhouse mirror. You know you are seeing yourself reflected back, but everything is skewed, cockeyed and out of proportion. Some of the reflections scare you, but some make you laugh out loud. Half my family tree was lost in the divorce. Not my divorce, but my choice of tree branch to follow. Admittedly, I was young and very much interested in self-preservation of my early teenage psyche, but still I lost touch with half my...
I didn’t want to go. I was still recovering from burning the soles of my feet on the hot sands of Mazatlan. The plan was for Lani, Kathy, Crin and me to go to Tonola for the tianguis, the huge street market, and from there to Best Buy for Kathy to buy a washing machine. It’s hard to pass up a day in Tonola. But the bait that hooked me was Best Buy for a shop vac. My house is all brick walls, tile floors. I really don’t need a vacuum cleaner. But you go around the walls with...
