News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 649 - 673 of 3214
The stage is now set. Although the general election is still months away, we know who will be on the ballot in November to represent Havre in the Montana House of Representatives. I’ve had the great honor of working for and with the community of Havre and a significant portion of northern Montana for the past 22 years in my role as executive director of Bear Paw Development Corp. During that time, I have worked with a committed team of economic and community development professionals to bring millions of dollars into our c...
With the peer review process complete as of last month, the scientific community has officially announced that they have now completely mapped human DNA, and winging it without any review or guidance whatsoever, I am here to tell you to keep the champagne corked because that doesn’t mean as much as it should. Reuters ran an article Thursday covering a statement from Eric Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute about the March announcement of the a...
Birds: Karen from Floweree reported to our girl-group that she heard her first meadowlark singing from atop a fencepost in her garden. We who no longer live in Montana sighed as the meadowlark’s unmistakable and beautiful song rang in our refreshed memories. Here in Jalisco, as everywhere else in spring, the skies crisscross with bird travel, some heading north, some arriving to build nests in which to plant new baby birdy eggs. Especially in early morning and late afternoon,...
I don’t know if this is an east side of the Mississippi vs. west side thing, or urban vs. rural, or maybe this modern generation of deer just lost its will to be wild, but I do know that I got the raw end of the deal when it comes to deer wrangling. A March 18 article in United Press International reported that a deer in South Bend, Indiana, got trapped in an empty backyard pool, so animal control and police officers responded to rescue the animal. The article says that the o...
I cheated death one day this week. Not in a dramatic or heroic fashion, naturally, but in that way in which you do something sketchy that the Universe normally tries to capitalize on. You walk out of the house wearing a pair of underwear of the likes your mother warned you about and you’re just asking to get into a car wreck. Or maybe that’s just me. Not that the unders in question were dirty, or ratty, or otherwise unsavory or even illicit, it’s just that, OK, they were...
Just like the headline says, friends do not let friends get hooked on Quordle. “What is Quordle?” you might be asking. If you have a good life, a happy and fulfilled life you are definitely asking yourself that. The naive and sympathetic are lamenting, I’m certain. “Have you gone and got yourself hooked on some new gateway drug that the nefarious street dealers are calling Quordle?” And thank you for caring, but no, you have it all wrong. The gateway drug is Wordle a 5-lette...
“What a sweet dog!” I said in Spanish. “She is a sweet dog,” the man walking her answered, in English. He had an Irish accent and was walking the young dog down the street as my husband, Peter, and I made our way home from dinner. “And she has no idea what will happen tomorrow,” he added. “What will happen tomorrow?” I asked. “She will get on a plane and fly to California!” he said. “Really?” “Really.” He sounded a little sad. “Are you going with her?” I asked. “No,” he said,...
If you have opened any messages from either the Democratic or the Republican party lately, you know the state of the nation is parlous, and it's up to you to fix it by making sure the other party, which is actually causing the trouble, doesn't win any more elections. But wait a minute. Saving the country better not be that simple, because the other party is going to win again sometime. The teeter-totter principle of American politics clearly states that, whichever party is up now, is going down again soon. And while we may...
“The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the pieces,” advised wildlife biologist Aldo Leopold. In ecology, that means saving diverse niches, all the habitat types necessary for native species to thrive. That is appropriate for our public lands. But some public land users are taking the best, the highest-grade resources for private uses. When the best is gone, they go after the next-best, and then the next-best. This is the high grading downward spiral. Grazing, for example, had so damaged public lands in the...
Was it Mark Twain who said that any two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead? I have a secret, but it is too good not to share. But I’ll only tell you. So get a mug of coffee and pull up a chair to the table. But before I spill my guts, let me tell you the backstory. In 1966, when my daughter was a baby in diapers, I lived on a small ranch south of Dodson. We had electricity. That is important because a lot of our neighbors were not hooked up to the flick of a switc...
For over a century, passenger rail has been part of Montana’s heritage, culture, and economy. It’s currently a lifeline for Hi-Line communities. And, without a doubt, it is part of Montana’s future. In the fall of 2020, 12 Montana counties, stretching from Sanders to Wibaux, came together to establish the first regional passenger rail authority in the history of Montana — the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority. Over the course of the past year, we’ve added five additional counties to the authority; ex officio represent...
My landlord, Jorge, is a patron of the arts. When I imagine a patron of the arts, I imagine some fabulously wealthy person in the past, supporting the creation of art in Italy or New York — someone with an impossibly luxurious lifestyle, maybe with a couple of designer dogs on diamond leashes standing at attention nearby. None of this sounds much like Jorge. Jorge runs a small hotel in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and spends most days either repotting plants or greeting customers. But I don’t know what else to call him bec...
As the Ukraine invasion entered its third week our gas and diesel prices now eclipse the old record set in 2008. Mindless partisan haranguing on causation and solution play out with hackneyed “Trump did it better” and “Biden has the vision.” Our energy conundrum is best addressed by an educated populace; not political platitudes. XL KEYSTONE Republican candidates and law makers have chortled for 14 years, “We need to build the Keystone.” Anyone still using this is admitting they have no idea what they are talking about. “We...
With food prices and the cost of living on the rise, many Montana families face the threat of hunger and food insecurity. The State of Montana currently has the opportunity to connect thousands of families and children in our state to federal food benefits, but is planning to turn down these funds. Unless Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services acts soon, Montana will miss out on an estimated $36.6 million in federal food assistance for more than 97,500 children. Last week, a diverse group of 60 local food p...
Chances are fair, some day soon you may be asked to sign an Open primaries, Final Four, Ranked Choice ballot initiative. When my curiosity about electoral reform sent me to the Ranked Choice Voting Montana website a few days ago, I knew about the recent call for a top two open primary from former Governor Marc Racicot and former Secretary of State Bob Brown, but I didn't realize the full package of Montana electoral reform might be in play in the near future. Even the Ranked Choice Voting Montana homepage-entirely devoted to...
I just saw the most marvelous little creature clinging to a hand towel out on my clothesline. I’ve no idea what it is, have never seen anything quite like it. Wondering what it could be, I lightly brushed it with my fingertips and it spread out, moved a few steps and settled down again. The body is much like a walking stick, wings closely tucked. Spread out, the wings appeared silvery gray, a lacy, gossamer delicacy. At the tip of each wing was a more defined, darker, s...
“Maybe I’m a little old for this dress?” I suggested tentatively as I made my way to the mirror in the little shop. I was in the artisans’ market in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where they sell everything imaginable — and quite a few things I had never imagined. I was wearing a dress that had been hanging on a rack outside a tiny shop in the market. It was in my favorite colors. I’ve been collecting “my” colors, various shades of blue and green. It started with the bracel...
I was glad to see Marc Racicot and Bob Brown’s proposal for a top two primary in the Havre Daily last week. It is not that I think an open primary system, by itself, is the one thing needed for a more representative and more effective government. It is also not that I share former Republican Gov. Marc Racicot and former Republican Secretary of State Bob Brown’s enthusiasm for the kind of moderate Republican government which, I suspect, might re-emerge in Montana from this particular reform — if it is the only reform. What I d...
U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that they will conduct a survey to find out how much consumers are willing to pay in order for USDA to stop lying. The “Product of USA” label is consumer fraud, and USDA is under pressure from Congress and the President to stop the lying. In response, and apparently in an effort to buy time, USDA proposes instead to do a survey. USDA will ask three questions: 1. Do consumers notice the “Product of USA” labeling claim? 2 Do consumers understand the current “Product of USA” defi...
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 1 in 3 Montanans still lack access to reliable, high-speed broadband, and along with it the wide range of educational, commerce, health, and social opportunities critical to success in the 21st century. Montana’s number of unconnected residents –already three times the national average – is even more dire when we focus on the state’s rural communities, where an astounding 3 in 5 residents still lack connectivity. While Montana’s policymakers and industry leaders h...
My human asked me to write the column today. She begged, pleaded, and to my shame, she groveled. She also gave me a beef bone with tatters of meat from the carniceria in town. I caved. I told her, I am a dog, “The story I tell will be incomprehensible to human kinds.” She said, “That’s OK. Anything I wrote today wouldn’t make sense either.” She then told me that she is feeling way down in the dumps. Lower level. I don’t understand. Isn’t being down in the dumps a good th...
As I watched Russian troops march across the Ukrainian border in an unprovoked war that immediately made the world less safe for our kids and grandkids, I thought about the words of a World War I veteran from Great Falls named Mike Mansfield, spoken in the days after Hitler invaded Poland in 1939: “Democracy — as we know it, understand it, and love it — is today facing a challenge to its continuance. This challenge must be met, met by all who believe fundamentally in the process and [who] love the freedom and the respo...
My husband, Peter, and I were traveling in Mexico when we suddenly found ourselves without a place to stay. Over the years, all our accommodations while traveling have been quirky in one way or another, but they have all been pretty much what we were expecting, and we’ve never had any insurmountable problems. This week, we encountered insurmountable problems. When we arrived at the airport, the caretaker stood us up. That was not a good sign. We found other transportation and, when we finally found the caretaker, we were g...
People in the Havre area have the chance to find out the latest news on the state economy and should try to make it if they can. University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research will be in Havre March 16 presenting its Economic Outlook Seminar for the year. The seminar, the 47th held by the bureau, travels the state making presentations on various issues including this year an overview of three of the biggest issues on people’s minds right now. The seminar typically looks at potential impacts of recent eve...
If you are like me, it is difficult to think of a reason why we would want to make Montana more like California. Nonetheless, this election cycle, there are several ballot initiatives being proposed to adopt California policies here in Montana. One such proposal by former Gov. Marc Racicot and former Secretary of State Bob Brown is to adopt a top two primary election system. A top two system is a bad idea for Montana. Today, Montana uses an open primary system. In an open primary system, unlike a closed system, voters do not...
