News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1217 - 1241 of 3218
So, we’re going to start to open back up. That’s the announcement by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock Wednesday, though, Bullock did ultimately leave all decisions on opening, or not opening, the services in his Phase I up to counties and cities and school districts. So now the question becomes, is Montana ready? That’s not for me to say, and that’s not what I’m debating. Instead, my question is, are we, as residents of Havre, ready to open back up, but still do our part to keep coronavirus under control in our neck of the woods...
As a Montana physician practicing in a rural community I feel it is timely to share my thoughts and feelings with all my neighbors as our state prepares to transition from shelter-in-place to the next phase of our battle against COVID-19. My strongest feeling is one of gratitude. I am grateful for all my fellow citizens who did their very best to follow the guidelines laid out by Gov. Steve Bullock. I am grateful for my fellow healthcare workers. Many have put themselves on the front line to identify and treat the illness...
Earth Day 2020 was April 22 — that date marked 50 years since the first Earth Day in 1970. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans — 10 percent of the U.S. population at the time — took to the streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way forward for our planet. The first Earth Day is credited with launching the modern environmental movement and is now recognized as the planet’s largest civic event. This led to passage of landmark environmental laws in the United Stat...
I am unhinged. This morning my daughter sent me a picture of a lap blanket she bought me. I am in tears. The blanket, purple and turquoise, with feathers and butterflies and such, is beautiful. Beautiful. You know who uses lap blankets? Old women, that’s who! Old women! A few days ago I had another birthday. The good news is that this morning I woke up still alive and grateful. The other side of that coin feels like a slap in the face. These last couple weeks have been hard. I...
It’s safe to say everyone is getting a bit tired of it. My parents, both in their 80s, were going a little stir-crazy in Florida. They missed their house in the woods and so they filled the RV with food and water and drove 2,000 miles north. I was worried about them, naturally, but they only left their RV to fill up with gas and they are now in their home up north and a lot happier. My mom explained how they were able to make it in record time. “Usually, your father would wan...
Last week Legislative Council met virtually to discuss COVID-19 and the fiscal situation for Montana. Administrative committee chairs from finance, audit and revenue were also invited for information purposes. Todd Everts, chief legal counsel for the Legislature, briefed members on the powers of the governor and the legislative body when there is an emergency. Throughout the years, the Legislature has delegated broad authority to the governor in dealing with emergencies such as fire, flooding, drought and energy issues....
We all know spring weather can be rough around these parts. And April has been exactly that. This month has been rough. Because it can be so bad, often times, we want to “kill the messenger” so to speak when it comes to meteorologists and forecasters telling us “don’t put your shovels away just yet.” Yeah, how often do we hear that here in Montana during the months of March, April and May? Of course, deep down, we understand that the folks who tell us what the weather may or may not do, don’t create the weather, they just r...
I am very pleased to announce that despite, and sometimes even because of, the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is still generating odd news. This fact alone made getting up and putting clean clothes on this morning worthwhile. My intent today, then is simply to cram as much of the latest pandemic-related news as possible in to my column and see how far it takes us. People around the world have been sharing photos of how wildlife has moved back into their mostly abandoned city...
President Donald Trump has rightly described the national effort to defeat the coronavirus epidemic as a war. Many have already died, and many more will die in this war, but we may be confident that we will ultimately prevail. Unfortunately, as we battle the invisible enemy, Asian Americans across the country have been subjected to a wave of hate crimes, bigotry, and physical and verbal aggression by not a few of our fellow citizens. Asian Americans have been physically assaulted, spat upon, cursed in public and treated as if...
Occasionally I pick up one of the classics in literature for a re-reading. I don’t recall what prompted me; it wasn’t the virus. Several weeks ago, in the interests of perusing a translation I’d not read, I chose the Ignatius Bible. The Bible is a daunting big book. I begin at the beginning. Granted, I skim the genealogies and speed through pages of dietary laws and building codes. But otherwise, I read a few pages at a time, slowly, pondering. That Moses is quite the dude....
“I love seeing all the people in the park,” my sister told me on the phone the other night. “I can tell who is together because they are walking in little clumps!” I love that idea: Little satellites orbiting the park — usually with a dog — keeping a safe distance from the other orbiting clumps nearby. My sister is in a clump consisting of herself, her husband, their two children, a dog and a cat. (I’m not sure if the cat considers himself part of the clump or not. Possibly...
Montanans are doing our part in this very difficult time to help each other out and curb the spread of the COVID 19 virus. We come together and look out for each other, as we always have in times of crisis, and in this case that means practicing social distancing to slow the spread of this disease. It is times like this that we as Montanans are even more appreciative of our public mountains and foothills, forests and prairies, and rivers and streams. Montanans recreate in the outdoors at as high of a rate as any state, and...
Knowledge gives me comfort — but I think that’s true of everyone. Think about parents with their first child. Everything the child does is interesting or worrisome, and studied for understanding. The second child is a lot more boring, and if they get up to, say, six children then that last one can be running feral in the street with grapes stuffed in its nostrils and pencil firmly grasped in one hand, and the parents are, like, “Meh, it’s OK. Kids are resilient. Remarka...
It must have been the winter of ’65-’66. I was pregnant with Dee Dee, who was born in April. Harvey and I lived on the ranch south of Dodson. A mile-long dirt drive with three “farmer gates” of barbed wire strung onto diamond willow sticks separated us from the highway, only three more miles from town. That grim winter we were snowed in for 90 days straight. Every day of that time our thermometer on the post registered below zero. Wind drifted each snowfall until packed...
People of the Hi-Line, As of today, 1.3 million people around the world have contracted COVID-19. Over 73,000 of those patients lost their battle against this virus. Montana has 298 cases and 6 fatalities. Still, Hill and Liberty counties have only one confirmed case apiece. So why “Shelter in Place?” Because, to quote your parents on a long road trip, “We’re not there yet.” COVID-19 came into our country on people who had traveled to other affected areas. Although the Centers for Disease Control does try to locate what are...
Stress is something we all deal with. But, the type of stress we’re going through right now is unprecedented. So, with that in mind, I promise that what I’m about to say is not coming from any place other than that of genuine concern for all of us in Havre, Hill County and the Hi-Line. We all live here, so we’re all in this coronavirus world together. And what I’m going to say is actually a question, and my question is this: Can we please just tough this quarantine, or stay-at-home-order or whatever we want to call it, out...
My desk faces the window and that is where I spend most of my time. I spend about as much time at my desk as I do in my bed which is, conveniently located about 30 feet away. It’s a pretty short commute and there’s rarely traffic. Occasionally, my husband Peter might be coming or going from the bathroom, but that’s about it. Once a day, I take a walk in the woods but the rest of my time is spent sitting at my window. My life used to seem kind of odd — and sometimes a little...
I am one of the least likely people to participate in what I normally call “Rah-Rah” stuff — those spirit-lifting, come-together, team-building exercises to rally the crowd — so this op-ed is going to come as a shock to everyone who knows me. The people of Havre and Hill County have done an amazing job of coming together during this pandemic crisis, supporting one another and not only finding the good in others, but also expressing gratitude publicly — all while still followin...
For those of us old enough to remember or to watch reruns of the 1950s classic “Dragnet,” we can easily recall Sgt. Friday’s quote, “Just the facts, ma’am.” That quote became locked into America’s lexicon, highlighting a simple ask of all of us to be honest with each other. The facts unfolding before us regarding COVID-19 are no different. The risks are real. Epidemiologists have estimated the virus will attack 30 to 40 percent of us, and five percent of those cases will be severe enough to require hospitalizati...
COVID-19 has upended lives across Montana, making many of us rethink the future of our world. One uncharted territory is education. Montana has closed schools to families physically while maintaining education and nutrition services. Many are tackling distance learning. Some Montana students do not have internet access, and at the same time, many schools are completely closed and can’t distribute or collect paper packets. Montana is as diverse as its teachers’ approaches to this issue, but this diversity is sharply con...
This week’s recurring theme in my life is the thought experiment called Schrodinger’s cat. I’m going to do my best to explain the background of Schrodinger’s cat, but right off the bat, I want to make it clear that it’s called a thought experiment because no one actually did anything to an actual cat. So here’s the deal, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger was trying to illustrate the difference between classical physics and some new-age level, mind-blowing physics that said...
COVID-19 continues to be at the forefront of our current health battles and plans. We have one documented case of COVID-19 in Havre, but almost assuredly there are more. We still do not have the testing capabilities to test everyone with symptoms. Our Flu Clinic continues to provide services for people with acute illnesses and provide appropriate screening for COVID-19. This allows semi-normal operations for our ambulatory clinics. We continue to manage and see those who are in need of an in-person visit, but are also...
Now that I gained your attention, I confess, I have not a clue. Neither to survival nor to sanity. I’m fishing for answers. I figured if I cast out a line, I might hook you and you could tell me! Self-quarantine and social distance. You’d think they would be my old normal since that is pretty much my life during the summer months when my snow-bird neighbors return to the north-country. Yet I went through the same patterns of ups and downs as my friends reported. We found the...
Joe’s red truck is parked behind his house. It hasn’t moved in days. Joe gets in his red truck every morning and drives around. He’s a member of every fraternal organization, a regular at the brewpub and has friends in every corner of town. Joe picks up a coffee and spends most mornings greeting people out the window of his red pickup. But Joe hasn’t been feeling well and his truck has been parked behind his house. He’s been sick and there’s nowhere to go. Normally, I would be...
We are in a new day, legislating and politics as we knew it has become learn-as-we-go. The face-to-face meetings are no more, web-based conference is the new meeting protocol. Webex, Zoom, Skype, Conference Call and Facetime are my new norm. It seems everyone has a difference preference as to what is the best. Oh, did I mention Snap Chat and Messenger, all have a learning curve and I am being tested. The good news is, most work can and is being done in this fashion. The law does allow school boards the latitude to do what...
