News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1012 - 1036 of 3214
The communities of Havre/Hill County are better than our current behavior reflect. I think an apt comparison to our current situation is to compare our response to the Bear Paw/Beaver Creek fires a couple of years ago. This was an emergency situation threatening our area. The response by the communities showed friends and neighbors doing whatever was necessary to save all from the inferno. Not all volunteers could drive a bulldozer or a firetruck, but everyone pitched in with food, drinks, equipment, water trucks, whatever....
In a time when American politics has been all about dueling realities, you’ll be happy — in a misery-loves-company kind of way — to know that it’s not just us. Nepal and China have been arguing since 2005 about the actual height of Mount Everest, which sits on the border between Nepal and Tibet, which is an autonomous region of China (basically, China’s Canada). Here’s the beef, the highest point of the of Mount Everest is the marker for the border between Nepal and Tibet,...
I’m a Sun Bunny. Sun worshipper. Sun seeker. For the past week if or when a tiny patch of sun parts the clouds, I rush out to sit, face raised toward the bounteous warmth, contented. Don’t for a minute think I’m “sun-bathing.” I’m basking in full winter gear, head and hands the only uncovered parts of me. This is winter, even here. It is cold. I live in a house with no heat source. I suspect it is difficult to grow up on a Montana farm and think baring one’s slathered bod...
It is a year of lower expectations. Every year, there is a chorus of folks urging us to lower our expectations for the holidays — buy less, consume less, worry less about having a picture-perfect holiday, and spend more time reflecting on what the holiday means to us. This year, it seems, we will finally get a chance to do that. I was recently asked what my childhood memories of the holidays were, and I had a couple of vivid ones. I saw myself sitting on the wooden stairway o...
I am sitting on a gold mine or, more specifically, I’m fixin’ to hatch me a gold mine. Those stinkin’ pigeons in my barn that I’ve been complaining about for years? They could be worth money, real money, like really real money, according to an article in Reuters. In November, a 2-year-old racing pigeon from Belgium sold at auction for — are you sitting down? You should be sitting down for this because the pigeon sold for $1.89 million. One point eight nine MILLION dollars. For...
Perception is all. I love the Big Sky Country. I like to picture it this way: I stand and slowly turn a whole circle. When I look downward, I see the earth. When I look outward and upward, the sky is a gigantic bowl, covering and visibly encompassing, caressing the earth. I love this new country of mine, the Big Earth Country. That's the wonderful thing about love. There is always room for more. Here I stand and turn a circle and all around me is the earthy world, the fields...
My friend Anita is felting up a storm. Philip is cooking something new and posting a photo of it every day. Megan is reading Shakespeare on video, Jason is doing woodwork projects, Tom and Mary and Katie are sewing thousands of masks, and Peggy is studying Spanish, German and Latin — all at once. Then there are the folks who are just trying to make it through the week, working jobs that demand more and more of them every day. There is no right way to do this. I decided to p...
The Montana Rural Teacher Project is determined to solve Montana’s teacher shortage by paying Montanans to pursue a master’s in teaching and helping them land a job educating Montana’s future leaders. Public schools are the nerve centers of neighborhoods across Montana. In every corner of our great state, our K-12 public schools make the future possible. But this remarkable system of public schools cannot function without remarkable public school teachers. Today, there is a growing teacher shortage in the United State...
Last week, Montana hunters and anglers got our first sense of the direction that Gov.-elect Greg Gianforte wants to take public land, access to critical hunting and sport fishing habitat, state parks and Montana’s $7.1 billion recreation economy. Gianforte offered an unbalanced slate of names of those who will be advising him on new leadership for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and the Fish and Wildlife Commission. Hunters and anglers in Montana better be prepared to speak up and act to protect our s...
That famous movie clip from “Man from Snowy River” showing the epic scene, with the hero launching his horse off the top of a mountain and galloping headlong down the near-vertical mountainside, made its rounds on the internet again this week. I remember when the movie was released and horse people couldn’t get enough of that scene, some out of excitement, some horror, and everyone wanted to own or at least ride in an Aussie stock saddle. That’s all pretty much still true to...
Editor, I respectfully request that Congress pass the Recognizing Motorsports Act, H.R. 5434/S. 2602, in 2020. The bipartisan RPM Act protects the right to convert an automobile or motorcycle into a race car used exclusively at the track. Modifying a vehicle into a race car is an integral part of America’s automotive heritage. Many types of racing, including NASCAR, were founded on the premise that street vehicles, including motorcycles, can be converted into dedicated racing vehicles. Racing events are an economic driver f...
I have always loved Thanksgiving. I love that it is a holiday built around a full table and homemade treats. I love the recipes handed down on index cards that only get made once a year and traditions that bring back childhood memories and the chance to use linen napkins and the idea that sitting around a table — just sitting around a table — is reason enough to celebrate. I think it might be my favorite holiday. I like that expectations are reasonably low and yet the hol...
We the undersigned clergy, representing diverse faith communities across the state of Montana, pledge to do all in our power to keep our congregations and communities healthy and safe in the midst of this pandemic. While we have varying practices and theologies, all our traditions hold life as sacred and believe the imperative to protect and preserve life outweighs all other considerations. Our state and our country are facing a crisis and we must meet this challenge together. As people of faith, we trust in a higher power...
I don’t remember not loving words. I could read and write before I entered school. Granted, it was pretty rudimentary stuff – because, y’know, I’m clever, but I’m not that level brilliant – but still, once you have bat down pat cat, fat and sat aren’t much of a stretch. (See what I did there? Just a wee, little crack-me-up.) I don’t remember it, but I figure my parents must’ve read to me a lot when I was a kid. I do remember asking my dad to spell things for me or tell me wha...
The Montana Nurses Association continues to be incredibly proud of the Montana nurses serving our communities during the COVID pandemic. As they have done from the start, nurses are heroically serving at the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis to care for Montanans despite the severe risks to themselves and their families. Nurses working across all health care settings and specialties are essential to combating COVID-19. Unfortunately, nearly 400 nurses in the United States have died due to COVID-19, and many others have been...
Some weeks are like this. Nothing happens. My mind is either too restless to settle or too restful to notice. My son Ben and his girlfriend, Kristen, are recovering from the COVID virus. That doesn’t mean I don’t worry. He told me only this much, “We are getting better but have no energy.” I am grateful for all your prayers and best wishes for my kids. Beyond that, I have nothing of importance to impart. This week nothing more obnoxious than silverfish has invaded the intimat...
“I’m going to bake bread!” my husband, Peter, announced. Inwardly, I said, “Oh, no.” Baking bread is not easy — until it is. Every person I know who bakes bread will agree. If there’s someone out there who tried baking bread for the first time and it was a great success, I would like to hear about it because, in my experience, you have to bake a lot of bad bread before you bake anything close to edible. I was afraid Peter was about to find this out. But what I said was, “Gr...
First off, I want to congratulate and thank our local county election officials for a job well done. All four of the counties in my district, Cascade, Chouteau, Liberty and Hill, have handled the new rules that were handed down from the state and implemented them in time for election night. Having been directly involved in elections for over 20 years, I have personally seen the strain these folks are put under to make sure our elections are done right. Again, thank you. The national election and Montana elections are over...
A May 31, 2017, headline on NBCNews.com says, “One in Four Americans Has a Clutter Problem.” I know that’s true because my husband and I are related to every last one of ones with the problem, evidence that my point has validity. I don’t know this scientifically, but I have a pretty good hunch that by the time we are of adult age we start having moments when we think about our parents and grandparents getting older, ourselves getting older, too. We intellectually underst...
My son and his fiancé are both sick with the dread coronavirus. I had not heard from him so I hounded him, knowing something was wrong. Ben managed to send me a two line email letting me know they were home in bed with a nurse coming regularly. Aside from that, I know nothing except they are too ill to be in communication with me or with anybody else. I understand all they do is sleep. Sleep is good. Washington State has good health care and I hang onto that as a life line....
I am a celebrity among the neighborhood dogs. By now, I have been giving out dog treats on my daily walk for several months. If you think this has gone unnoticed among my town's dog population, you would be very much mistaken. If Gwyneth Paltrow or Brad Pitt were to walk down the street, I am quite certain the dogs in my town would be completely unimpressed. Their owners might behave foolishly and start jumping up and down and salivating, but for the dogs, it would be a...
AARP Montana wishes to thank all of the County Election Administrators and staff across Montana for their tireless efforts and dedication to ensure the voting process ran smoothly this election season. We appreciate all the hard work and late nights that election staff and their families endured to put Montana voters first as they adjusted to multiple rule changes, counted every ballot, found adequate polling locations, recruited enough poll workers and made sure that voters had accurate information available. Election staff...
Mike Mansfield of Montana was a Marine, a miner, and a professor even before he began his political career. He served as Senate majority leader, and later as ambassador to Japan from 1977 to 1988, placing high value on integrity and ethics throughout his career. Even today, his influence can be seen in the strong connection between Montana and Japan. As a Japanese and political science double-major at the University of Montana, I have had the opportunity to witness this connection firsthand. Now is a time when we are made...
Dear Northern, When I step back and look at all the things we have accomplished this semester, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, I can say with confidence that despite it all, we are making gains. We’ve seen our staff and faculty step up to the plate to provide our students with the quality education they’ve come to expect from us, all while handling the challenges of this unique semester. Despite those challenges, we’ve been able to keep classes on campus, and I couldn’t be prouder of the effort our campus...
Welcome to Friday, the 136th day of November, 2020, a mere 227 days after Tuesday’s 2020 election, and — as I write this in the wee hours of the morning — we are still waiting and waiting and waiting for election results. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful that the election officials are taking their jobs seriously, and they have my utmost respect for their diligence, but none of that gives me even one ounce, an inkling or a smidge more patience than I already don’t have — espe...
