News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1582 - 1606 of 3191
We Montanans are facing a choice of who would best represent us in the United States Senate for the next six years. While this choice is critical for everyone, it is absolutely foundational for Montana Indians. The federal government has a legal trust responsibility to Indian people, and congressional acts are the primary way of fulfilling this responsibility. Sen. Jon Tester, a third generation farmer from Big Sandy, Montana, deeply understands this and has a strong record in this regard. This is why we support Jon Tester...
I don’t know what to call the last seven days, but they just might be the death of me. Technically, I can claim vacation for Monday through today, but applying the word vacation to these days is not just a stretch of the imagination, it’s flat out wrong. Vacation means travel. The closest I’ve come to that is driving to another side of town. Twice. But it’s not one of those dubiously named “stay-cations,” either, because, whether your “cation” is “stay” or “vay,” it means some level of recreating is being done. That hasn’t be...
Ballot Initiative 185 is a bad deal for Montana that voters should reject. The winners of this bad deal would be the hospital corporations and their wealthy executives. The losers would be the rest of us — veterans, the middle-class, tobacco consumers and most of all, people who want to quit smoking. It’s a costly idea with almost no upside. Like most bad deals, you have to read the fine print to understand the Initiative doesn’t deliver on its promises. For example, read the fine print about big promises to veterans. The p...
I was sold on voting yes I 185 early on just to prevent 100,000 Montanans from losing their health care coverage. But I was significantly more convinced when I recently was shown a Juul, a small little nicotine-ingesting gadget that looks like a USB thumb drive, which would be easily disguised on any computer desk. Tobacco companies have engaged their superior marketing techniques to address the decline in cigarette use and find a way to appeal to youth. And, I’m sad to say, they’ve succeeded. As a father of five, three of wh...
I should have a good ten years of health ahead of me, since the last time I was this sick with a head cold was a good ten years ago. The prevailing wisdom is, if you don’t medicate a cold, it will wear itself out in two weeks. If you do medicate a cold, it will hang on fourteen days. In these two miserable weeks, I’ve hardly left my bed. Medical advice from the young men on the Rancho; Tequila. Medical advice from my cousin Jim; Whiskey. My Medicine Cabinet is empty. My fri...
We are a group of pastors and faith leaders from many different perspectives across our great state of Montana writing to express our strong support for Initiative I-186 which is called Yes for Responsible Mining. The purpose of this initiative is to give our state the power to deny any new hardrock metal mining (eg. gold/silver/copper) permits that would create permanent water pollution. This does not apply to coal, oil or gas operations. This initiative is important and necessary because our waterways and landscape are at r...
As a physician who specializes in pediatric psychiatry, it became clear to me in my medical training that barriers to mental health care needed to be reduced to ensure access to care and treatment for all patients. Voting yes on I 185 is an important step in reducing barriers and improving health and access to treatment for all Montanans. Misleading statements by the tobacco industry purposely confuse the facts about I 185. So far, tobacco companies have invested almost $12 million in an attempt to defeat I 185. Here is what...
Health care providers strongly back I 185. Doctors wish to see their patients smoke less and enjoy better health care. I 185 does both things. It makes cigarettes less affordable through a hefty tax. It also ensures health care for 100,000 working Montanans. As a doctor, I share those sentiments. However, I am also a conservative voter. I have spent years fighting to oppose government-run health care. Why as a voter, do I support I 185? When we tally up other government funded programs including Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, wo...
Don’t let the tobacco companies win in November. Make your vote count. In every state that has significantly raised cigarette taxes, smoking rates have gone down and the U.S. surgeon general says this is especially true among kids. The tobacco industry wants to deceive you with glossy TV ads. Don’t buy into their lies. I 185 will reduce the number of kids who take up smoking, increase funds for our state tobacco prevention program and help people quit. Revenue will also go to treating Medicaid patients, veterans and sen...
The American political environment has been a boiling pot for the past half century which began as a gradual overthrow of the Founding Fathers’ historic system of government. George Soros has infused millions of dollars into our present political process in an aggressive push on behalf of internationally based socialism — foundation of communism — to overthrow this Christian-based nation. The current Democrat Party’s operational plan is obvious to me as based on Saul Alinsky’s program as he outlined in “Rules for Radicals.” T...
Take it from me, the job of state auditor is not always easy. The job requires high ethical standards, an ability to understand complicated regulatory rules and a strong sense of duty and service to the consumers you are sworn to protect. As someone who served two terms as Montana’s state auditor, I have first-hand experience about how to navigate these sometimes-difficult waters and the responsibilities of the job. Current State Auditor Matt Rosendale has failed to uphold the ethical standards of the office. Montanans l...
Montana voters are being asked to make a major policy decision this year that will have long-term effects on the state budget and the tax burden of all Montanans. I’m referring to I 185, the ballot initiative that would make permanent an expensive entitlement program called Medicaid Expansion. As voters prepare to make this serious choice about the direction of state spending, it’s important to understand exactly which programs, and people, are affected. One major program not impacted by I 185 is Medicare, which covers hea...
The top executives of seven tobacco companies testified at a Congressional hearing in 1994 under oath that they didn’t believe nicotine was addictive. None of them ever went to jail for lying. The major opponents to I-185 are RJ Reynolds, owned by a foreign company, British American Tobacco, and Altria. The tobacco industry can legally addict people, make them pay for their addiction and they make a profit from their customers’ addictions. Tobacco is the only consumer product that eventually kills half of its regular use...
Like many of my friends, I’ve worked hard, paid my fair share and volunteered to serve our country. I was recently asked whether I know anyone affected by tobacco-related diseases. Just about my whole Marine Corps League from Billings. My Dad was a World War II veteran who served on Guadalcanal, was also a smoker. Even though he survived the war, emphysema was one of the things that took him at an early age. It’s ironic that the very people who served this country in all corners of the globe are dying of preventable dea...
Of all the news items that could be trending this week, I never would have expected one of the top topics to be squirrels. Not squirrel cartoons, which we love and hate, and not squirrelly politicians, which would seem to be the most likely scenario, but actual bushy-tailed, chatterbox squirrels. The first bit is squirrel-science news from New York City. The Associated Press picked up the story that researchers are taking a census of squirrels in the city’s 840-acre Central Park, to track the “squirrels’ activities, such...
Being sick gives new meaning to the much overworked cliché, “There is no place like home.” Home to warm sunshine. Home to my own bed. Home. The rainy season is nearing the end. The “boys” tell me that while I was shivering up north, down here, 40 days and 40 nights, storms of Biblical proportions dumped rain and wreaked havoc. I feel like I have been away a very long time. All I cared about was my own bed. My house still had a roof. If it floated away with me in it, so be it. Being home this soon had not been my intentio...
It’s important to know where Montana tax dollars are going, especially when you’re asked to vote to raise taxes. Ballot Initiative 185 would raise tax revenues in Montana by $74 million per year. How that money is distributed, though, is even more problematic than the alarming price tag. I 185 would bypass the Legislature to make the Medicaid Expansion program permanent. This expansion program, keep in mind, is different from Medicare and traditional Medicaid. Medicare provides health insurance for adults 65 years and old...
As $12 million of misleading negative ads roll out over Montana’s airwaves, we could be watching the health care of 100,000 Montanans go up in smoke. Big Tobacco is trying to buy Montana in a cynical, immoral attempt to bolster their market and profits to the detriment of Montana families. Health care for 100,000 Montanans is on the ballot. The Healthy Montana initiative, I 185, retains health care for 100,000 who likely include someone in your family or a friend, a co-worker or a neighbor — someone with cancer or a chi...
Montana has not raised the state tobacco tax in 13 years because big, out-of-state tobacco corporations have spent millions lobbying politicians to vote no in an effort to protect their profits at our expense. I am a fourth-generation Montanan. I think it is outrageous that Big Tobacco has poured more than $12 million into our state in an attempt to deceive voters this November. When you see the “no on I 185” ads and signs in our community, know that the activity is paid for by multinational tobacco corporations that off...
Our ranch is just downstream from the Kendall Mine. Our family has raised cattle, grain and hay on this land since my husband’s grandfather purchased the place in the 40s. In the 80s, Kendall, a gold mine, was permitted on the edge of our property. Today they call it an “old mine.” But I have children older than this mine — children who went on to get advanced degrees in things like chemistry and environmental engineering and landscape design because they saw what happened to our family and wanted to do something about i...
Montanans have the opportunity to continue their tradition of common sense investment to support education this election year as we see Legislative Referendum 128 on the November election ballot. The Six-Mill Levy supports all students in higher education and the state of Montana. In my position as president of the Associated Students of the University of Montana, I have had the honor and privilege to meet some amazing students at the University of Montana that value the education they seek and the state they live in. Not...
If you watch any television you can’t help seeing advertisements for and against I 185. It’s pretty confusing. I have decided to speak out against the initiate for several important reasons. Before explaining those I also want to affirm my view that we ought to be willing to help those who aren’t able to help themselves. Montanans have always been generous and caring about their neighbors. So why should we oppose this initiative? First, because it’s a self-serving proposal advanced by certain providers who want to bypass...
Tobacco companies are dumping millions of dollars into Montana to deceive voters by filling our mailboxes and cluttering our TV screens. It’s time to clear the smoke around Ballot Initiative I-185. Let’s look at the facts: In addition to fully funding Medicaid coverage for 100,000 Montanans and ensuring healthcare access for our veterans, seniors and people with disabilities, I-185 will also fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs and services, support funding for veteran suicide prevention and prevent our rural hospit...
I wish to unread a news article I found this week but, apparently, until my hereditary Alzheimer’s sets in I’m stuck with it in my brain. The Associated Press reported that a bowling alley owner got stuck in his pin setting machine Sunday and died there. For real. It’s the kind of tragedy you expect to see in a movie — a dark comedy or a horror movie — not something you expect to happen in real life. Many years ago, now, two friends and I were watching a video of horse and...
I would like to tell you it is all about the weather. I would be lying. Even though it seems like rain has followed me from Washington to Glacier to Harlem to Glendive, I am simply not that powerful. I do not make the rain. Much as I would like to think it is all about me, it is not. Nor is it all about the weather. Weather is weather, variable. Today weather is rain. This is Montana. Tomorrow might bring a heat wave or it might snow. This week and a half is all about family....
