News you can use
News you can use
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When I looked up “food security,” this definition made the most sense to me: “Food security incorporates a measure of resilience to future disruption or unavailability of critical food supply due to various risk factors including droughts, shipping disruptions, fuel shortages, economic instability and wars.” COVID-19 has revealed that we do not have food security in the USA. It does not make sense that our local grocery stores are rationing dairy and meat products while family farms are being forced to dump milk and euthani...
I know a lot of people have been upset lately about the fact that regular events are being canceled in the name of social distancing for a pandemic that hasn’t hit our state very hard. So, whether “misery loves company” is your thing or “I hate to say I told you so” is more your go-to saying, I’ve got some news for you. If, in fact, your misery does enjoy company, your favorite event isn’t the only one canceled this summer. The annual Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Contest has b...
What hasn’t COVID-19 changed? What life hasn’t the coronavirus altered in some way, shape or form? The answers to those questions are simple. We know, it has changed everything. We know the virus has touched us all in some way. And that is especially true for the high school class of 2020 all over the world. Just try to imagine what the last three months have been like for our Havre High graduates, who will have an altered commencement ceremony on Sunday at Blue Pony Stadium. Back on March 1, these seniors lives were goi...
Dear Graduates, Congratulations on your graduation. This is one of life’s great milestones and I would like to express how proud I am of your accomplishment. George Washington once said, “The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.” I know the last part of your senior year was not what you had planned or anticipated. Life has tossed you a curve. Having handled the past two months with grace and gusto, I know you are well on your way to triumph over all curves to come. By walking across that virtual stage, you will...
As soon as I heard the smoke-belching diesel truck rumble off the highway into the Rancho, I grabbed pruning shears and artfully poked around in a pot of lavender on the front patio. Well, I haven’t been off the ranch in two months. I don’t get to see many people. There are generally three men, sometimes four, swinging our garbage cans or lawn bags into the maw of the beast. They are friendly. They are young and strong. They wave. They greet me, “Buenos dias.” I wave and gri...
Every day I look down the trail in either direction, checking to see if anyone is coming. I’d just as soon no one knew I was talking to a tree. I take the same hike every day. There are a lot of trails and most folks try different trails on different days. I don’t. I do my best thinking on my daily walk. I am not seeking variety. Some days I am seeking inspiration. Some days I’m looking for answers. Some days I just want a little escape. More and more lately, I’ve been lo...
The study of history allows us the luxury of 20-20 hindsight. Looking back, we can see the little events that led up to the big moments, and we can wonder “how could they not have seen it coming?” Of course, it’s much harder to see clearly when you’re living through history in real time. I was reminded of this while reading a newspaper column by Andrew McKean, the former editor of Outdoor Life who lives in Glasgow. McKean very capably highlighted the choice voters face in the Republican primary for Montana governor, and he...
Gov. Steve Bullock has led Montana with a steady hand and disciplined fiscal management for the past seven and a half years. This continues to ring true as he helps navigate our state through this unprecedented crisis. It is clear to me that he is managing our response to the pandemic and our state budget in the way he always has: on the basis of data, informed projections and facts. Not politics. As the vice chair of the Committee on Taxation in the state Senate, I have worked with the governor and my colleagues on both...
If a tree falls in a forest … does it make a sound?” While an interesting philosophical query about perception, in the real world it doesn’t take the sound to know that trees have fallen. The fact that they are laying on the ground should be evidence enough. These thoughts came to mind this morning when I listened to President Trump’s irrational nonsense about COVID-19 testing and its relationship to the number of documented coronavirus cases and deaths in the United States. The president is calling for the American people...
I don’t want to be that person who doesn’t count her blessings — gratitude, after all, has been scientifically proven to be practically a cure-all for what ails your attitude — and yet, here we are with a great big “but” blocking my path to enlightenment-level grace. After a rocky start to the pandemic when I didn’t have disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer, three weeks ago I managed to procure a container of wipes, though I was limited to one item. That was OK because it wa...
We’ve learned a lot about coronavirus in the last couple of months, including how to slow it down, even. But, perhaps the most important thing we’ve learned thus far is, it’s not going away. So, given that, the virus is here to stay for the foreseeable future, anyway, it only complicates how we, as a society, move forward. In fact, in just about every single choice we have to make, COVID-19 is complicating those choices. And the same holds true for the re-opening of our two great national parks here in Montana. It’s complicat...
“I want to be 14 again and ruin my life differently,” Kathy told me. After that surprising statement Kathy wriggled past elaborating further than a mumble about kisses with a fellow cellist at music camp. Harkening back to when I was 14, all I could think was “Ewww.” Way back then, “He looked at me,” would have put me, a late bloomer, in a dreamy swoon. Kathy a long-time friend, is stuck in Canada, as we all are stuck-in-place for an indeterminate while. I’d say her life is i...
On Friday, March 13, we experienced our first exposure to the COVID-19 virus here in Hill County. Our chief medical officer, our Administrative Council and our directors met and made the decision to limit access to Northern Montana Hospital and the Northern Montana Care Center to protect our patients and this community. Over the following weekend we expanded our precautions to include our clinics. We also reached the conclusion that we would need to temporarily eliminate elective surgeries at NMH, as other hospitals have...
We’re at the stage where everyone is complaining about their hair. I am not complaining. As I have frequently bragged, my husband, Peter, cuts my hair and this has continued while the beauty parlors are closed and everyone is growing increasingly cranky. We were talking to our friends, Mary and Wolfgang, about this and Mary was expressing a bit of envy that I had gotten a haircut the previous day. I let her think that getting a haircut from Peter was like getting a haircut i...
As I stepped outside this morning, the green grass and blue sky made me smile in a time where the current mood feels overcast and gloomy. Life is moving forward and I am seeing many of the changes. High school seniors are coming up with new ways to hold graduation ceremonies, while us senior citizens are being cautious with the way we travel and socialize. Seniors, be you a high school senior or a senior citizen, all will have to adjust to the new normal. I don’t pretend to have all the answers. Have things been opened up t...
Every day, sworn law enforcement officers, deputies, agents and troopers across Montana put their lives at risk, often while the rest of us are sleeping. They don’t do it for recognition or money, they do it to protect us and our way of life. Along the way, some sacrifice their bodies … and some give up their lives. Last year, 128 federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement officers died in the line of duty across America. In Montana, we lost Gallatin County Deputy Jake Allmendinger in a tragic accident while trying to s...
Without a doubt, we want to see our community thrive. Along with our friends and neighbors, we want to succeed and prosper. Now more than ever we need to consider all avenues to improve the economy, especially with our small businesses, bars and restaurants. While the world today has limitations, we must look ahead and be ready to maximize all avenues to encourage people to spend money, and more pointedly, spend it in our region. We need to make this area a destination. Montana’s top industry is tourism. Yet, I constantly m...
In times of emergency, misperceptions can prove deadly. That’s certainly the case today, amid widespread belief that COVID-19 mainly threatens older Americans. In reality, those of any age suffering from an underlying health condition are at significant risk of complications from COVID-19. And when these patients fail to take proper precautions, they put their own lives — and the health of millions of people — in jeopardy. By and large, younger Americans have been the slowest to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many in th...
Teacher Appreciation Week. It’s always one I try to remember. After all, I have a lot of teachers in the family, and, being a coach for the last 18 years, I not only know about every teacher in our district, but I pretty much feel like one too. And in my humble opinion, teachers don’t ever get enough credit for what they do. Simply put, they work their butts off every day for nine months, a year or more to ensure that our young people not only get the best education they possibly can, but to also help ensure that our fut...
At some point in my adult life I took a moment to contemplate my small circle of friends and realized that somehow, instinctively, I had assembled an awesome apocalypse team. It’s held true since then that the people I make a personal connection with are do-ers with a wide array of life-saving and survival skills, and together we would dominate any apocalypse, even one of a zombie nature. All that said, at another point not too long ago I came to the realization that I was t...
Though not the least bit dangerous, Argentine Ants win the grand prize for pesky, irritating, prolific and impossible to be squashed with any permanence. You in the North Country don’t have to worry about them. So far they have learned to inhabit only tropical and sub-tropical climes. I say ‘so far’. Adaptable little creatures they are. They neither bite with fire nor leave welts. They don’t strip entire trees overnight. They don’t chew the furniture. However, one this mome...
Every Mother’s Day, I have a terrible time finding a card that remotely reflects the relationship I have with my mother. My mom is in her 80s now, and we have always had a good relationship, free of drama and never short of love. My mother has always been a wonderful role model. But the cards available all have paragraphs of gooey prose that in no way communicate what I want to say to my mother. I want a card that says my mother has good habits. This sounds a little dull — and...
After being closed for over a month, the Havre-Hill County library is again ready to check out books to the public. For the time being, the process will be more involved than we’d like it to be, for you and for us, but we have figured out a way to make the printed collection available while adhering to safety guidelines. We are carefully sanitizing all items as they are returned to us, but the best protection that we can provide is time. With that in mind, all items are quarantined for two weeks after they have been returned...
Beyond restarting POW-MIA recovery operations, we must heal our country and adapt to our earth. Healing means building trust and ending graft, the unscrupulous use of public office for personal advantage. By disqualifying candidates who accept donations larger than the $1,740 filing fee, I hope to unburden officials from seeking financial benefactors. Healing requires building bridges of mutual respect with my fellow U.S. senators. As an Abraham Lincoln Republican, I look forward to serving with the Honorable Jon Tester as...
While Americans focus on the coronavirus pandemic and the mounting economic crisis, top Republicans in Washington are taking advantage of this situation to attack one of the constitutional pillars of American democracy: our free press. America’s founders knew freedom of the press was so important that they enshrined it in the very first amendment to the United States Constitution as part of the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791. Since then, our nation’s free press has defended and strengthened America’s constitution and our d...
