News you can use
News you can use
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I grew up reading Hans and the brothers Grimm and Aesop. I love fairy tales and fables. Back then, we had the unexpurgated versions, full of blood and guts. I’m not saying that was better. I’m simply saying that is how it was. The stories, which I read over and over, never gave me nightmares nor did they leave me pining for the handsome prince to hack his way through the brambles and rescue me from the wicked step-mother. Naïve as I was, I knew that wouldn’t happen. A few mo...
My husband, Peter, and I are staying in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, which is, according to a lot of folks, a tourist town. Sometimes, the person saying this means it is not a place they would want to spend time. This puzzles me. I’m not sure why a town known for meatpacking or manufacturing would be a better place to spend time than a town known for tourism. But I respect anyone’s right to spend time wherever they want, and Peter and I are happy in San Miguel, in large par...
As we come back after the break, we are beginning to see and hear many of the House bills that were moved to the Senate just before the transmittal deadline. I thought it might be helpful to recap just some of the types of bills we see over the course of the session. Many bills are agency requested legislation that cleans or fixes language in existing law. An example of one cleanup bill would be HB 266. An advisory council was set up for a concealed weapon permit back a few years ago. Now a bill has been passed to eliminate...
Montanans have long fought to make sure that hunting is available for all, equitably, and not just reserved for the wealthy and well-connected. This is so important that when many of us agreed to join — and some of us helped start — the Montana Citizens Elk Management Coalition (MCEMC), we made sure that this was paramount to our many goals. The group agreed, to the point that the “Who We Are” page of the website states, succinctly: “we are a diverse group of Montana hunters who seek to improve relations with landowner...
It seems only fitting that a recent push to define and enforce some kind of time zone system on the moon has a link to the word lunacy. The Associate Press reported Feb. 28 the European Space Agency requested that the moon to have its own time zone. In response, a joint international effort, with all the countries participating in the race back to the moon, is being launched to create what one navigation system engineer called “a common lunar reference time.” The current spa...
Every student of government learns about the three independent branches of government. Succinctly put, the legislative branch writes the law; the executive branch administers the law; and the judicial branch interprets the law. The key word is “independent.” I have been fortunate to work for both the legislative and judicial branches. My 15 years in the judicial branch — as a law clerk, mediator, and court administrator — put me in the circle of a number of outstanding state district court judges including the Honorab...
Lola is a dog. See Lola run. Lola barks. Hear Lola bark. Lola is a working dog. She takes her duties seriously. She makes sure her master (Mistress? Mattress? Whatever.) goes outside her garden gate for regularly scheduled walks along with frequent unscheduled walks. Lola sees that I get regular doses of cool wet nose on my knee. She assures that I sink my fingers into her thick neck hair with great regularity. Lola keeps me safe. As Lola became acquainted with my friends and...
Montana state legislators are grappling with what to do with the state’s historic $2.5 billion budget surplus. This surplus is a result of higher-than-predicted income tax revenues as well as federal legislation that provided billions in funds to states over the last year. Many good options have been put forth by both political parties on how to best spend the surplus, but another tax break for the wealthiest folks in the state is not one of them. Senate Bill 121, Gov. Greg Gianforte’s tax cut proposal, aims to lower the tax...
I spent last week trying to be useful. I volunteered for a writers’ conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where my husband, Peter, and I stay. I love writers’ conferences. I love that people will travel from far away just to talk about writing, to meet other writers, to learn about writing, to listen to established writers, and to eat. It was a terrific week, although it was tiring because I ended up as the designated conference sheepdog. Every event of this kind nee...
I’ve spent considerable time pondering the Montana Republican Party’s rebuke and excommunication of Marc Racicot. It’s clear to me and other conservatives who know Marc well that it’s the party’s leaders—not him—who have abandoned principle. My family has called Montana home for six generations. I served in Republican Gov. Judy Martz’s cabinet and as chief of staff for Republican Attorney General Tim Fox. I’ve spent plenty of time living in the Helena political world, and I can’t recall anything quite as embarrassing for my...
State lawmakers are considering two bills that would put at risk the lives of the most vulnerable Montanans. Bills moving forward in both the Montana House and Senate would allow parents to send an unvaccinated child to a daycare or school simply with a signed letter saying they have a personal objection to the vaccination. If either SB450 or HB715 becomes law, Montana will become home to one of the nation’s most lax policies when it comes to bypassing school vaccinations. Montana already allows parents to opt out of s...
Really, Canada? Super pigs? What were you thinking? I mean, of all the countries in all the world we might’ve imagined would bring about the end of mankind in some manner, did any of us pick Canada? Russia? Absolutely. China? 100 percent. The U.S.? Be honest. France even? You’ve seen them riot, right? But Canada orchestrating events that will make the world uninhabitable for mankind — using pigs? It all started in the 1990s when the Canadian government and some pig farme...
“The pain ran from the outer edges of my rib cage, across my diaphragm, here to here,” I told Kathy. “It started right after I got out of bed and got worse during the morning. It hurt to move.” “Sondra, you had a heart attack!” she said. “Did you go in to the hospital? What did you do?” “Funny, that’s what Dee Dee said, too, but I didn’t tell her about it until yesterday evening when it was all over.” “What happened? Do you still hurt?” “I figured it was a pulled muscl...
We just completed the first half of Montana’s 68th legislative session. This week had a few long days as we made our way to transmittal. Wednesday and Thursday were particularly stressful days as they were both right at 12 hours on the floor taking action on over 150 bills that had to get to the House before transmittal or die. At times, it can become a bit tense during marathon sessions like we had. I would say that some good things have come this session thus far. We passed legislation to get more money to schools. When w...
My husband, Peter, is learning Spanish his own way. I do Duolingo online. It is free. It is easy to do. The whole thing is designed like a game, and dancing animated creatures hop up and down and celebrate every time I get five answers in a row correct. This shouldn’t matter to me — yet I find it deeply satisfying. Peter doesn’t do any of this. Peter learns Spanish by talking with the sandwich shop staff. Since we started staying in our little apartment in Mexico, Jorge, the resourceful owner, has converted what used to be...
What if the losing candidate went away after a presidential election? Suppose the nation had heard nothing from Donald Trump these last two years, except, perhaps report of the day he scored the greatest golf tournament triumph ever? Many lament the ferocity of presidential campaigns, but the after-campaign season has become pretty nasty too. A few months after her 2016 loss to Trump, Hillary Clinton found plenty of people to blame in her book on the lost cause, from Barack Obama to James Comey to the media, but a recurrent t...
It’s not that the Constitution does not contemplate dynamic tension precipitated by differences of view. It is that it also, simultaneously, calls for self-restraint, sincere consideration of contrary views, a willingness to compromise, a mutual promise to serve the common good, opposition without oppression, rivalry without vilification, and disagreement without contempt. These are the values infused into every line and verse of the Constitution. They are an inseparable component of the Rule of Law, which the Republican P...
I sound bonkers, even to myself, when I talk about how this whole kitchen sink project has affected me. I mean, it’s a sink — houses have them in 21st century U.S.A. They do. Except mine didn’t, and it didn’t for 106 days. Give or take a few hours. Sure, there was a reason. The place is under construction and we weren’t meant to be moved in right now but life happens, as it will. And certainly, in the larger scheme of life it’s not the worst thing to happen to either my h...
“The Democrats killed two of my brothers.” That was the reply my 9-year-old father received from his great grandmother on her rural Iowa front porch when he asked her why she was such a strong Republican. Her comment reflected the bitter legacy of the Civil War. As it left the American South solidly Democratic for decades, it also made the Union upper Midwest just as solidly Republican. My father couldn’t remember ever knowing a Democrat until moving to Montana in his early teens. My mother’s family, on the other hand, was gr... Full story
Is this the last time we’ll get to call Montana the “Last Best Place?” It seems that it could be the case if some Montana lawmakers get their way. As of this writing, more than 60 constitutional referenda have been drafted, some of which would change Montanans’ right to “a clean and healthful environment.” In 1972, I was one of 100 Constitutional Convention Delegates that enshrined this groundbreaking, first-in-the-nation right to protect Montana’s land, air, and water for future generations. Like others, as a candidate for...
Back when the earth was still cooling, back when I was a student at Harlem High, algebra was a high school subject. Now they start the kids learning simple equations in pre-school. Or near enough. Up until algebra, I’d made A’s in math. Our algebra teacher was an aerospace engineer the year the field was overbooked, clogged, with aerospace engineers and those who could not follow that path, taught math. Class consisted of Mr. X, or was it Y, ordering us to memorize the equ...
As the executive director of the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence — MCADSV — for 17 years and lobbyist for the coalition for 19 years, I cannot tell you how many bills I’ve heard claiming to protect children but are poorly disguised attempts to outcast people in our communities. These types of legislation often hurt children in the process. The Drag Story Hour bill at the Legislature is a prime example. First, let’s be clear. Child sexual abuse is a problem in our state. I know because it’s an issue MCA...
Last week was the last week to get bills transferred over to the opposite legislative house in time to beat the bill cutoff known as transmittal. If the bill hasn’t moved by this week, unless it is a revenue bill, it is likely dead. With that deadline looming, it seems votes on certain bills are being leveraged for votes on other bills. This is too bad, as, in some cases, good bills can get lost in the fray. In order to meet transmittal cutoff, many Senate and House committees are running long in order to get public h...
The Montana Republican Party’s Executive Committee recently approved a resolution rebuking former Montana Republican Gov. Marc Racicot, saying Racicot’s actions in recent years disqualify him from saying he’s a “REPUBLICAN.” In a true over-reach, the resolution from this 13-member clique tries to order the news media to no longer refer to Racicot as a Republican. The news media knows, as most of the mainstream Republican voters in Montana know, that Marc Racicot represents the thinking of hundreds of thousands of Montana G...
Did you hear about the climate rally at the state capital? Nobody desecrated any paintings, but it was about what you’d expect: a chorus of progressives calling for “climate justice.” Except, we were there too. We were there: • Knowing greenhouse gas emissions threaten our natural landscape and economy • Rejecting the false dilemma of the Green New Deal vs. climate denial • Trusting free markets more than big government to solve problems • Understanding that industrial problems need industrial solutions • Believing in th...
