News you can use
News you can use
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I didn’t study political science in college. I’m a soil scientist. So when people sling political terms around, I have to look them up in Webster’s Dictionary. Webster writes that “socialism is when government takes over the means of production.” Webster’s says that “crony capitalism” occurs when business thrives not because of risk, but because of a cozy nexus between the business and the political class to make money for the corrupt. Communism, like Russia, is a perfect blend of the two. Why do we need to know these defi...
I’ve been around animals enough in my life to know that they can sense when humans are vulnerable, and most of them are perfectly willing to capitalize on our weak moments — apparently they see our habit changes during the pandemic as a chance for an uprising. “No deaths have been reported,” an article on Huffington Post says, but in just one week we’re seeing a lot of activity. CBC News reported Tuesday that a moose “made its way” through a Sherbrooke, Quebec, neighborhood...
I won’t pretend I understand. I won’t say I get it when it comes to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, or the anti-vaxx movement in general. In fact, I don’t really understand any of the pushback against the biggest public health crisis we’ve seen in more than 100 years. I admit, to me, it’s a head scratcher. But, I’m also not interested in arguing or fighting about it either. And I truly don’t expect people to listen to me. I’m not a doctor or a scientist. I’m just somebody who...
There is magic in my world. If I do not see it, it doesn’t matter. If I do see it, it doesn’t matter. Every day is a song. Yesterday’s music fell to earth, gone. Today’s voice is in the wind, the sky. You may listen. Or not hear. This morning I awoke to Cathedral bells, To bird song riding pale green sunrise. The first sight out my window, a western tanager Atop a cluster of new mango leaves, strange fruit. One moment. One moment of attention. I’m granted only moments....
For decades, Montana’s outfitting community provided their services in a fair fashion respecting the shared interests of hunters and landowners. Outfitters were partners in wildlife management, landowner relationships, and the hunting community. That collaboration has been mostly replaced by greedy efforts favoring the commercialization of hunting opportunities. The list of bills the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association — MOGA — is pushing is long, coupled with the appointments to key boards and commissions that will...
Editor, I’m starting with Tuesday legislation House Bill 325. So many bad bills this session, but this one is brought forward by a bitter crying woman who lost her election twice to the Montana Supreme Court and she’s exacting her hate and temper tantrum through the legislature to destroy our legal system in Montana. I’ve witnessed a couple of the past Judicial Nomination Commissions and listened to their questioning of the three to five candidates who wish to fill a judge seat. The last one, the commission gave Gov. Steve...
March is winding down and my sister-in-law, Lori, is going with it. There is too much food and too many flowers because that is what we do when someone is dying, when we don’t know what else to do as, gradually, the unthinkable becomes accepted and even ordinary. We make more food and bring more flowers. But there is too little time. There is always too little time. Lori is spending most of the time she has left sleeping, which means she is not in pain but also that no one c...
I have always admired the Montana State flag. It tells a story of Montana’s past and our assets as a state. Currently in the Montana House, there are folks who feel we should either have a vote on whether we should keep what we have or redo the flag and vote on what will be offered. I have also heard the suggestion to just add some guns to what we have. This is what I see when I look at our flag: the Big Sky, our state nickname and what makes us truly unique; mountains, the beautiful skyline attracting adventure-seekers a...
My husband John and I bought a new car. And by new car, I mean we bought a car that is 14 years old, but it has barely over 100,000 miles on it, so it’s definitely new-new to us. In fact, it’s six years newer than the car it’s replacing. A lovely, understated tan car that died in six-vehicle pileup about three years ago. We loved the tan car so much that we shopped and shopped for another one, but they were too popular either to afford, or to stay on sale long enough for us to find and buy before some other lucky devil did....
One year into this pandemic, Montanans are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our vaccines are safe and effective, COVID-19 cases are falling thanks to the tireless efforts of our front line health care workers, and Spring is on the horizon. But even with this good news, we still have work to do before we get through the worst public health and economic crisis in generations. Over the past year I’ve had hundreds of conversations with families, workers, doctors, educators, veterans, farmers, tribes, a...
Martin Luther King Jr once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question, what are you doing for others?” Thanks to you, for 50-plus years Special Olympics Montana has cared for, lifted-up, and empowered people with intellectual disabilities to be all they can be through sports training and competition, health and education initiatives, and leadership opportunities. While we serve more than 3,000 athletes annually, nearly 20,000 Montanans with intellectual disabilities sit on the sidelines waiting for a chance to get in t...
True Montanans fully understand Virginia Woolf’s expression that “The future is dark, which is the best thing the future can be, I think.” We are trained from early times to know that sunny days won’t last, that rains likely fall when the hay is down in windrows, that ants infest every picnic. Not necessarily gloomy, but realistic. We are taught thusly. Here’s a different slant, OK. What I have come to believe, and Woolf’s quote fits perfectly, is that if we could see through...
The end of the pandemic in the U.S. is in sight. The COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States have proven to be outstandingly effective at protecting recipients from coronavirus and they are also safe. These vaccines — and the potential of others on the way — have the power to lift us out of the depths of this pandemic and put us on the path forward to rebuilding from COVID-19’s devastating economic, social, and psychological impacts. Put simply, getting America vaccinated is our ticket to halting the death...
Every election cycle, you can count on Republican candidates promising to reduce the size and cost of government, and in general, getting government out of our businesses and out of our daily lives. Yet as every session of the legislature demonstrates, that pledge — for the majority of Republican lawmakers — has a distinctly hollow ring. Not unlike their Democratic counterparts, the GOP’s commitment to controlling government and reducing welfare dependency is highly selective. For their friends, the free money game conti...
Throughout the past year, my husband, Peter, and I have been seeing no one except Peter’s sister, Lori, and her husband. Lori has Stage 4 cancer and has had a tough fight. She’s been on oxygen all this time. The decision of how careful we needed to be was easy. If we were going to see Lori, we had to be extremely careful. And as a reward, once a week we have heard Lori’s laughter. I’ve been writing fiction for the first time in my life. No one told me in advance that writing...
Week 11 already; just short of three months spent in Helena. Although we have a very nice place to live for the time we are here, it will be good to get back home. That being said, it is an honor to be here and serve you and watch out for what we Montanans believe in. We passed two voter initiatives dealing with marijuana in the last election. Now how to implement those into law is the task of the legislature. At present, a 280+ page bill is being drafted and being “fixed,” as they say, daily. One of the heavy lifts for Mon...
If citizens elect an anti-tax, anti-government legislature— like Montana’s 67th - it is not surprising that they get legislation that undermines government finances and weakens government services. Oklahoma and Kansas are two states that tried an ideological approach to fiscal policy a few years back. The results were disastrous cuts to public services, a fiscal crisis in each state, and near bankruptcy in the case of Oklahoma. They discovered that you cannot continually drain a state’s general fund and expect gover...
As I said in a column a few weeks ago, I’ve taken up archery and am completely enamored with it, largely because it has turned out to be one of those things in life that just hits me on a pretty deep and introspective level. Sure it’s fun — how can you not feel a rush shooting a bow and arrow? I split the tail end of one arrow with a perfect hit from a second arrow. That’s some next-level Annie-Oakley-with-a-bow stuff right there (Robin Hood, who?). Of course it was purely...
I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately, and among the many reasons for that is a question that seems to buzz around in the back of my head before I close my eyes: How will COVID-19 be remembered? To be frank, I fear the answer. The United States has been hit very hard by the pandemic with more deaths than any other nation, including those with larger and more crowded populations and less public health resources. Communities of color, especially Native-American communities, have seen a disproportionately high amount of i...
It’s a paradox. Constancy — firm, steadfast, permanent, consistent, un-changing. We can count on something with the property or nature of constancy. One thing we can count on is change. Saturday I double-masked my face, and with my bottle of sanitizer in hand, went to town, for the second time in a year. The first time was three weeks ago for vaccination. While this later trip was not of ultimate necessity, I let impatience rule and set off for my favorite furniture store wit...
It’s our anniversary, and Peter and I will be celebrating, like everyone has this past year, the best we are able. We have not yet won the vaccine lottery. I recently received a note from the health department that basically said, “Don’t get your hopes up.” Newspaper columnists are not, apparently, considered essential workers and, of course, I am not. Meanwhile, we continue to visit my sister-in-law, Lori, whose health remains precarious. So our anniversary celebra...
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Drop Structure #5 of the St. Mary’s Diversion, the spotlight remains on the unaffordability of critical repairs to the Milk River Project’s aged infrastructure. From Montana’s irrigators and farmers, ranchers, recreationists, and municipalities that span from Tribal Nations to Canada, the call for affordable repairs are continuing to grow. Not only are construction costs into the hundreds of millions of dollars, Montana’s irrigators alone are responsible for 74% of...
Montana hunters are being shut out of major decisions on future access to elk. The new approach in Helena, led by Speaker Wylie Galt and Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Hank Worsech, is to spring legislation on us. Making major wildlife management changes without public input benefits few and hurts Montana hunters. I never thought it would happen here, but we must meet this full-on effort to limit public hunter involvement in wildlife management decisions if we are to maintain the title of the “Last Best Place.” For dec...
Editor, The Montana Legislature is back in session and I was more than a little concerned when I read that Republican Derek Skees introduced HB273. HB273 if passed would overturn Initiative 80, a long-standing initiative that gives the citizens of Montana the right to vote on nuclear power in Montana. I don’t understand why Derek Skees thinks the citizens of Montana would want to give up their right to vote on whether-or-not to produce nuclear power in Montana. I personally have huge reservations about producing nuclear p...
As leaders in the health care, patient advocacy and public health community, we applaud the State House Appropriations Committee vote to retain the Department of Public Health and Human Services’ two positions dedicated to tribal health, the tribal relations manager and director of American Indian health. As statewide health organizations and associations committed to ensuring access to quality healthcare across the state, we rely on and partner closely with Native-led health organizations and tribal health authorities, i...
