News you can use
News you can use
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Week eight was a short, but long week. As transmittal was looming, over 200 bills were dropped in the last two weeks. This led to a crunch last Saturday and again Monday. Saturday was a disappointing day for me. There were around 50 bills that came to the Senate floor and I can’t say any of them put folks to work or brought the state of Montana any money. I went home feeling a bit dismayed. I had waited for something of substance, but it never came. Then Monday was week nine with 93 bills on the agenda. We started at 8:30 a...
Nerds look things up, that’s who we are — sometimes that more for worse than for better. It started with “confab,” as in this simple reply: “That sounds fun, but John and I will have to confab on this before we commit to anything.” And all of a sudden, I realized that I don’t really use the term “confab” in everyday speaking and felt I needed to make sure I was using it correctly. Also, it sounded like an abbreviation of a longer word, like confabulation, so obviously I had t...
Whew! The election’s over. And Hooray! We don’t have to watch thousands of political ads or respond to the all too numerous requests for donations from various candidates running for office... until the next election cycle, which starts in less than a year. We all feel this way. We’re all glad it’s done, whether we’re Republicans, Democrats, independents, Greens, or Libertarians. We have something else in common. We’re trying to stop the flood of money and ads. Do you know that, in 2012, all of our 56 Montana counties pa...
Back in the olden days, in grade school, teachers used low-tech machines which made copies for all manner of school work, from pictures to color (don’t color out of the lines) to test questions. Teacher, most of whom we called Miss: Miss Brown, Miss Naomi, Miss Mary, would snap a stencil onto the drum of the machine. The slick paper, the stencil, and the ink combined to make an unforgettable sensory memory scent, sort of chemical alcohol. If you were Miss Brown, Miss Naomi o...
I know I am not the only one having travel fantasies. My husband, Peter, and I were not planning to do a lot of traveling in the past year. That was our plan, and we certainly made good on it. We didn’t realize at the time that “not a lot of traveling” would mean a bi-weekly trip to the grocery store. Like a lot of folks, we’ve been tracking how many months we’re getting on a gallon of gas. Now, however, traveling is sounding better all the time. My parents are also making tra...
The three of us have known each other dating back a half century when Dorothy Bradley and Bob Brown were young legislators and Marc Racicot was emerging as a top prosecuting attorney. Over the decades we have been fierce competitors as well as staunch allies in the rough and tumble arena of Montana politics. We have maintained our friendship and appreciated our varying commitments, which was once a worthy Montana tradition. Now, we are brought together by a common cause so compelling that we are speaking out together. Our...
Week eight is the lead-up to what is called transmittal. As I mentioned last week, all non-revenue bills must move from one house to the other by transmittal: House bills to the Senate and Senate bills to the House. Our job in committees is to either pass these bills on if they warrant being passed on or vote to table them. Tabling a bill does not mean the bill is dead, it has just hit a roadblock and may not move from that position. That being said, this week was crunch time. Many bills were passed and others, for one...
You know a word that we don’t hear very often? Giddy. And that’s a cryin’ shame. Well, of course, giddy doesn’t mean cryin’ shame. It means happy, joyful, elated, lightheartedly silly, but it’s a cryin’ shame we don’t hear about it happening more often. I was giddy Wednesday, and it took me hours to put a name to that feeling. I just couldn’t stop grinning and saying things like “I just feel all, I don’t know, whoooo!” Then it struck me. “I feel giddy. I mean, like, reee...
Havre’s Art Alley is a reality! Following the completion of the mural project in September of 2019, which culminated in the colorful artwork that adorns the west side of the Hill County Printing building, the work of the local volunteer Havre Main Street Group continued. The next project was developing an art alley in downtown Havre. The chosen alley was between Second and Third streets and Third and Fourth avenues, or the alley behind several downtown businesses, including Havre Home Center and Cavaliers. But why an Art A...
Have you ever felt like you don’t really know what’s happening until it’s over? If I’m not around people to mirror back to me what I’m doing or saying, it is easy to fool myself. When I begin to fool myself, it is easy to slip back into unhealthy behaviors from my past. A few days ago I told my daughter, “I think I’m mildly depressed.” “Ya think!” she replied, with THAT tone of voice. Truth be told, what I was fishing for was sympathy. I’d cast my line in the wrong pond. Dee D...
I remember, a long time ago, when I used to have a social life. My husband, Peter, and I have been visiting his sister, Lori, once a week while she battles cancer. She was in yesterday for another radiation treatment, and we are waiting to hear if she will be feeling well enough for a visit this weekend. And so we stay home, as we have since March of last year. Lately, we have taken to picking up our groceries at the curb. I was skeptical. I’d never had another person c...
Selena Not Afraid. Ashley Heavyrunner Loring. Kaysera Stops Pretty Places. For decades in Montana, Indigenous people — mostly women, like these three — have gone missing, many times murdered and leaving behind families to search desperately for their loved ones. And many times, these families of Native people have had to go it alone, to search for their missing loved ones without the aid of authorities and with limited resources. We’re keenly aware that some of our neighbors are treated differently, invisible and left behin...
The weather has warmed up and so has the legislative process. Up until now, the bills have been trickling into my committees. I picked up a bill, Senate Bill 284, that I am carrying for the counties. It is what folks are calling the Gravel Bill. More on that in a bit. There are now 284 Senate bills picked up and are either moving forward or stopped along the way. Transmittal, which is the deadline when all non-revenue bills must be in and moving, will be a week from this coming Wednesday. We were informed today that it is pos...
I clearly voted against the Board of Health’s mask order last week in our meeting, and I’d like to comment on that meeting. We are in direct opposition to all surrounding counties and the entire Hi-Line with our order. It will be interesting to watch the numbers in those counties and see if there are perilous spikes as is presumed. Mayor Tim Solomon’s comment that we need to be the “bad guys” and not local entities is quite convenient as it will clearly be the county and not the city that is the “bad guy” here. He also clear...
Helena’s contentious debate on the role of taxes has brought Montana to a critical crossroads: Do we follow the path of states like Kansas, which paid for tax cuts for the wealthiest with major cuts to education infrastructure, and more? Or will Montana stand up to wealthy interests and instead invest in our people and the services that will move our state’s economy forward? Supporters of tax cuts for the wealthy disguise those cuts as an economic growth plan. In reality, tax cuts do very little for the average Montanan and...
I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but I almost died of a heart attack Wednesday night and, frankly, I’m too old to be having this kind of heart trouble. Specifically, my heart issue was not of the coronary thrombosis type, but rather the emotional-slash-psychological type seen most in excitable young people who lack years of experience to make them jaded, bitter and numb to random stimuli like a proper adult. The moment, with its unexpected rush of fear-based adrenalin, com...
I love it when Leo comes from the post office with a real letter in hand. Here it is mid-February and I just received your Christmas card. Denise’s arrived last week. I’ll not see Karen’s for a while because she mailed it mid-December! Our post office was closed for weeks; both postal workers were down with the COVID virus. Simultaneously, the lockdown closed government offices. In ordinary times, mail in Mexico is slow. We never get over worrying about our children, do we? I...
Since winning the Legislature in 2011, Republicans have introduced multiple pieces of legislation undermining Montana’s great hunting and fishing. Fortunately, successive Democratic governors vetoed them. The veto pen now belongs to Greg Gianforte. The 2021 Legislature is considering a bevy of legislation changing Montana’s hunting and fishing. Montanans who voted for these legislators and who love to hunt and fish, should contact legislators and let them know you do not support these bills. Senate Bill 143 sets aside big...
I am not exactly a connoisseur of contemporary culture. I haven’t seen the latest series on Netflix or anything else. I don’t follow Twitter or Snapchat or Instagram. But somehow, a TikTok phenomenon came to my attention that I found too delightful to ignore. Sea shanties are all the rage among Generation Z. “Sea shanties?” I thought. “That can’t be right.” But I checked it out and, yes, teens and young 20-somethings are singing sea shanties on TikTok, and listeners add...
We just finished our 30th day of the 67th Legislature, making one third of this biennium session complete. The bills have been coming slower than normal, maybe because of COVID, the fact that two thirds of Democrats are Zooming, or folks are just not introducing polarizing or irrelevant bills. No one knows the “why” to that question; I am hoping it is the decision to focus on the important things, like putting people to work. Also, making sure all opportunities for the best education is available for the type of ins...
Editor, Friday, Feb. 12, was a dark day. On a 30-19 vote, the Montana Senate voted not to confirm Margie Campbell, a former legislative colleague, to complete her four-year term on the Montana Human Rights Commission. She was appointed by Gov. Bullock after the 2019 session adjourned, so required Senate confirmation this session. The sponsor of the resolution to confirm her, SR 17, asked his colleagues, at the hearing, to vote “no,” as requested by Montana’s newly minted Gov. Greg Gianforte. The Senate obliged. At the time...
Maybe this winter is getting long for everyone, but it definitely has been too long for some people aching to get into the Guinness Book of World Records — those folks have been out in droves recently. UPI reported Monday that David Rush of Idaho dramatically recaptured his Guinness World Record for the number of CDs thrown into a bucket with a 12-inch opening. Rush set the new standard for CD-tossing to a record-breaking 50 CDs sunk in one minute. And he did it to help p...
Into every life some rain must fall. Okay. I understand. Go throw up and come back to let me explain. Our particular metaphoric “rainfall,” the whole world over, no humans exempt, the great equalizer, is the COVID 19 coronavirus. Hang in there with me a minute. I get smarmier. Behind every rain lurks a rainbow. Are you still with me? Do I hear the echo of an empty-room? I’m serious. I’m not saying this is a universal truth or anything like that. But a lot of good things...
I would like to inform everyone regarding our Montana State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab that is managed through the Board of Livestock. The Diagnostic Lab is located on the Montana State University campus in Bozeman. The lab is where producers and veterinarians send all the specimens for animal testing of disease in our state. We currently perform all livestock testing, as well as all brucellosis testing of bison in the designated surveillance area around Yellowstone National Park. We perform all rabies testing of both wild...
This week, many of the Governors Board appointees have come to the different committees. In the Energy Committee, we confirmed the new members of the Hard Rock Mining Board, the Coal Board, the Pacific NW Electric Power and Conservation Planning, and the Board of Oil and Gas Conservation, of which a local young man from Shelby was nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. Congratulations go to Mac McDermott; I am looking forward to hearing from him on energy issues. These boards are made up of folks who have...
