News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1183 - 1207 of 3210
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...
In less than two weeks, ballots will be mailed to voters throughout Montana, and Republicans will have an important choice to make. After 16 years of single-party control of the governor’s office, we can win in November and put Montana back on the right track. I support Greg Gianforte for governor because he offers a positive, hopeful vision for what we can achieve and where he will lead our state. I’m disappointed, though, by some of the outrageous, false charges I’ve seen against Greg Gianforte — particularly by fellow...
Allow me to sound like broken record for a few minutes. But, I promise, it’s for a good cause. Last week, I wrote a column imploring residents of Havre and Hill County, and really, residents of humanity, to continue following the basic guidelines that help stop the spread of COVID-19, so that we can protect our health care workers. The timing of that column came as Montana Gov. Steve Bullock announced his plan for beginning to re-open our great state of Montana. Now I’m asking for the same thing, but with an added mis...
Whether you are still trying to fill the void of things canceled or postponed because the the pandemic, you are still being strict about self-isolating, or you just long for those weird and wacky stay-at-home days of yore, I have a list of activities to fill the need. Are you a horse racing or betting nut suffering withdrawals over the loss of this spring’s Kentucky Horse Derby which should have been running this weekend? Well, dust off your big bonnet and whip up some mint j...
We have numerous ways of fooling ourselves; at least I have. Little things, like “A change is as good as a rest” for when I get bogged down on a project. Or, “If I take a walk, I will no longer want to piggy the rest of the liter of ice cream.” Good luck with that one. In the interest of changing up my daily routine, this morning I put on my green dress. This is not just any green dress. This is an elegant green dress. It flows in simple lines all the way to my feet. The fab...
The ravens are back. Last year, they had a nest right on my hiking trail but I didn’t notice them making it. I didn’t notice when they started guarding it or when the female laid eggs. I didn’t notice a thing. I never saw the nest—which is almost five feet across—and I’m not feeling too stupid about that because the nest is more than 100 feet in the air. I didn’t notice a thing until the chicks were hatched. Then I noticed. A baby raven is a lot closer to a baby pterodactyl th...
In the April 2, 2020, Community News (a Roosevelt County publication), Austin Knudsen, one of the two Republican candidates for Montana attorney general, gave some advice on dealing with the COVID-19 crisis and boiled it down to one thing: “Basically, be a decent neighbor.” It’s a good perspective, but I wish he would take his own advice. You see, Austin Knudsen and his family, Knudsen Limited Family Partnership (KLFP), have not been decent neighbors when it comes to their own home town and a park that is owned by the Ameri...
Easter Sunday, 11 years ago, I was in a bad car accident on Highway 93 in the Swan Valley. True story: A pastor’s son was running late to his family’s Easter celebration. He was passing my truck on the left. Unfortunately, I was turning left at the time. I wasn’t injured, but I had to find help for the others. I ran four miles up the road to get to the nearest cell service. This isn’t an unusual story for Montanans. We live in rough terrain, and we’re used to taking care of each other. This year, I spent Easter packing F...
Over the past several weeks, Montanans have faced unprecedented challenges. Our way of life has changed rapidly. Like every corner of our country, our once thriving economy is ailing. We’ve lost family members and friends. As we have aggressively managed the virus over the past five weeks, we have bought time for our health care workers to prepare and respond, we have protected those most vulnerable to illness from this disease particularly in our nursing homes, and we have been able to increase our testing capacity and secur...
When the Great Recession happened in 2008-09, resulting in double-digit unemployment and the destruction of trillions of dollars of wealth, few economists, including Nobel Prize-winning laureates, had seen it coming. And, those who had, like the University of Chicago’s Raghuram Rajan, had been widely mocked by their fellow economists for being alarmist. Of course, just as a good doctor can’t always predict her or his patient’s deep illness and a good mechanic can’t always anticipate a spun rod bearing in a car engine,...
