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News you can use
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I got anxious again today. I think I am getting better at leaving anxiety behind, and then anxiety says, “Not so fast! We have more work to do.” Usually, this has to do with my writing: “Is it good enough? Does she hate it?” But not always. Sometimes I will post something on Facebook, and someone will take offense. Since I make an effort to never post anything controversial or unkind, this always shocks me and makes me wonder if I have any idea how I sound when I write....
Every morning these past few days, when Lola and I take our early morning walk, the clouds are rolling down the mountains. We move through the mist, feet on the ground, heads in the clouds. Another hour and the sun burns the air crisp and brilliant with shadows of orange. As happens, my day turned topsy turvy. I was all self-hyped to go to Dr. Imelda, my dentista, to finally have my last crown set onto my tooth. This crown has been a process and practice in delay and...
Recently, American environmentalists envied the people of Ecuador. In Ecuador, a country where the murder rate is soaring, the economy stagnant and the national government often on the brink, a majority had just voted through a referendum to stop wrecking the Amazon basin for oil profits. For just a moment, it was hard not to fantasize, what if Americans could have a direct say on the big issues — oil drilling in the Alaska wilds, for example? Of course, that’s not the way...
I’m staying “up north” with Mom and Dad, and that is always good. My mom and dad have built a life that is pretty much exactly the way they like it. They have rituals and habits they do almost without thinking. But the amazing thing — to me — is that just about every one of these daily routines ends up giving them a healthier and much happier life. At this point, my dad would snort, and my mom would say I was making them sound like saints, and they’d both shake their heads...
I was excited. I had just signed the papers and prepaid for a cremation plan. It is the sensible thing to do. I live in Mexico. I, no doubt, will die in Mexico. Dying in Mexico is a hassle when one’s family and citizenship are elsewhere. For one thing, the customs are different. If one dies on a Monday, one’s body is washed and dressed for viewing on Tuesday and the funeral and burial are Wednesday. Or even Tuesday. I live in a tiny retirement community. Most of the year, the...
It’s fairly common knowledge that Montana’s legislative branch of government is a citizen legislature that only meets in session for 90 business days every two years. While true, those facts often lead to misconceptions about the real nature of legislators’ work. In reality, the Legislature works year round. Being an effective legislator is much closer to full-time public service than a part-time job. Constituents regularly contact their elected representatives looking for assistance, asking about various laws, and pitch...
Out of touch national politicians are at it again. It was recently announced that the budget being proposed for the 2024 federal fiscal year for Amtrak by the House Appropriations Committee would slash the national passenger rail service’s budget by 64% from the budget that was enacted last year. According to Amtrak’s CEO, Amtrak will have to “radically reduce or suspend” service on its long-distance routes, which includes the Empire Builder, which serves 12 communities along the Hi-Line, including Havre. Amtrak is a critical...
Between sessions this year, I have been placed on the Local Government Interim Committee, not the Education Committee, which I had been on for the last four interims. It has been a new experience, but I am working on determining the goals and where the issues are for this new-to-me committee. That being said, the folks on Local Government seem to be a great group with which to work. This coming week, we will finalize our work plan for the upcoming session. There have been a few disappointments and frustrations after session....
It was time to come back from Mexico. It wasn’t because of the weather. The weather was wonderful. The nights up in the mountains were cool, and the days were warm, and sometimes, in the afternoons, a thunderstorm would roll in, and a refreshing rain would fall, leaving the air clean and sweet. No. It wasn’t the weather. And it wasn’t really my family — although, I do miss them. My parents have been in the thick of summer activities at their cabin by the lake. They had lots to...
After years of depressed prices, we ranchers and cattle feeders are desperate for Congress to do something — do anything! It was in this context that the 50/14 concept was conceived. When the “negotiated spot market” for fat cattle got down to less than 20% of the total, it became a problem that obviously needed correction. Particularly since the prices derived in this very thin market are used by the packer cartel to buy the remaining 80% of cattle — the “captive supply.” Clearly, the cattle industry has a corrupt pri...
While waiting for my daughter to get okayed for an operation at the hospital in Billings, I dumped a puzzle onto my table. Jigsaw puzzles are a good distraction. I had loaned this particular puzzle depicting an antique car show in front of a typical diner to snowbird friends to work last winter. Intact. One thousand pieces in the box. It is a particularly challenging puzzle, fun, so I borrowed it back. When I finished the car puzzle, on the day of Dee Dee’s surgery, I had t...
I grew up, my early childhood, in southern Indiana, on a farm. I spent my free time outdoors, in the yard, the barnyard, the woods. I could name by sight or sound more birds than I can today. I had a cinematic butterfly collection in my mind. Summer nights my cousins and I caught fireflies. We called them lightning bugs, made a Mason jar lantern, made sparkly rings on our fingers with some of the fire, then let them go. A lot of years passed. In the late ’70s, I returned, b...
Usually, just as I am getting close to leaving Mexico, I find some absolutely irresistible treat and have to eat it every single day until I leave. I arrive back in the U.S. a few pounds heavier, wondering how I ever got so carried away. I return to my more or less normal eating habits and more or less normal weight, only to return and discover some new treat across the border. This week, it was apple empanadas. I didn’t know what an empanada was. I thought it was a sort of m...
August is Civility Month, and it is a great time to take a moment to practice disagreeing without being disagreeable. Are you comfortable having conversations with people who disagree with you? Do you know how to find ways to start tricky conversations respectfully? Do you wish you knew how to stay civil without feeling you are giving up your beliefs or opinions? During this past legislative session I heard a lot about civility and decorum. Usually it was someone being aghast that someone else said “that thing” in a leg...
Police raiding a newspaper and confiscating reporting material seems like something one would expect to find in a banana-republic, or in a scene from a dystopian novel. Yet, that is exactly what happened recently to the Marion County Record. The Record is a weekly newspaper in rural Kansas, serving a population of approximately 1,900 and known for its dogged reporting on various issues affecting the community. On Aug. 11, the newspaper office was raided by the Marion Police Department as was the home of its 98-year-old...
In late August, it was reported that Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter had entered their “final days.” The 39th president is 98 and his bride of 77 years is 96. Their grandson, Josh, told People Magazine that they are “still holding hands” and that Jimmy is still eating his favorite peanut butter ice-cream. The former president has been in hospice care since February, declining lifesaving assistance. He recently revealed final plans for his burial near his modest home at Plains, Georgia, and has requested that President Joe Biden d...
It’s seven minutes after 10 p.m., and the usual ruckus ensues. My husband, Peter, is wearing earplugs. He is in the habit of doing this when we’re staying in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, because our little apartment is right in the center of town and, like all the homes in San Miguel, there is no air conditioning because it is cool this high in the mountains. But the last few weeks have been warm, and it’s nice to have fresh air. So we open the sliding door to our littl...
Growing up in Butte, Montana, I remember watching “The Wizard of Oz” in my family’s living room, mesmerized by the fiery, all-powerful Oz and wondering who he really was. His booming voice. His power over the lives of everyday creatures in Oz, all pining for something they needed. And then there was the big reveal. As Oz’s voice booms over Dorothy and her new friends, Toto bites the emerald curtain and pulls it back to reveal … a disheveled man frantically pushing buttons to maintain his oh-so-powerful façade. “Pay no at...
I’ve had several dogs along these many years but never had one get a hot spot. In July, about the time the storms, pitiful as they have been, began blowing and blustering, Lola started chewing at the base of her backbone, right above where her tail attaches. It worried me. Leo helped me corral her between my knees and we sprayed her with the purple stuff, you know, the stuff you use on cows and horses when they get a barbed wire cut or some such. I was wearing white pants that...
Anyone driving Montana’s highways knows the risk of colliding with deer and other wildlife. Hardly a mile goes by without the gruesome reminders of hit animals, broken bumpers, or smashed headlights scattered on the shoulder. According to the Bozeman-based Western Transportation Institute, collisions with wildlife can be reduced by up to 85 percent with the installation of wildlife crossing infrastructure such as fencing and under and overpasses. Such installations have been effective in several western states, including Neva...
Every day, whether here in Mexico or in the U.S., I take a walk. Walking in the morning would be nice, but that’s when I write, and so in the afternoon, I head out to see what the world looks like. I always greet a lot of people on my walk, no matter which country I am in. I talk to dogs if there are dogs involved, or I comment on the weather, or I compliment what someone is wearing, or I simply say, “Hello.” I do pretty much the same thing in either country, and my ability to...
Hundreds of thousands of Montanans count on the Social Security payments that they’ve earned through a lifetime of hard work. Currently, 244,937 Montanans receive Social Security. Those payments inject more than $4 billion into the state’s economy every year. Social Security is a guaranteed source of income. For most older Montanans, Social Security is their only reliable inflation-protected income. It helps them keep up with rising prices. Moreover, they can’t outlive the payments. So it’s no surprise that an overwhe...
This summer, many people around the country experienced extreme weather — heat, drought, thunderstorms, and flooding. After undergoing the hottest July on record, there is a sense of urgency about addressing climate change. The good news is we have an abundance of clean energy resources in this country that don’t emit greenhouse gasses, the primary factor that is causing the climate to change. The problem is that our electrical transmission system is out-of-date and we are unable to move all that clean energy around. We nee...
Life. Huh. It is hard not to label things, situations. Oh, that is bad. Oh, that is good. We don’t really know if what we call bad might not be really good. Hey, voice of experience here. Often, what I thought was the worst decision, the worst situation, in my life, turned out to be my greatest gift. Likewise, the opposite. Uh huh, both ways. Wait and see. Arrgh. Easy for you to say. I can tell you what I think, hope, fear, all conjecture. I think my son has lost his last w...
So, I got a cold. If you catch a cold in the winter, everyone is sympathetic. They tell you to drink hot tea and put on another sweater. A cold in the winter just seems like part of the season, and I can turn the thermostat up and wait it out. A summer cold is totally different. A summer cold seems like an act of idiocy. A summer cold feels like I’m being difficult on purpose. I feel I must have done something really stupid — because who gets sick in the middle of the sum...
