News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1657 - 1681 of 3191
I woke from my dream with that southern hill-country woman’s voice in my ear. The voice, the memory, from past years, was triggered in that non-linear way of memories, by a phone conversation with my daughter the previous day. My oldest granddaughter is in a precarious place in her life. A baby with babies. Jessica is young, alone with two babies, lonely, no job, no direction and thinking biologically instead of using her logical brain. I remember those feelings; I was young once. Harper’s father sent her train tickets for a...
This past week I had the opportunity to spend time with weed control folks from all four of the counties I represent. The Marias River runs though Liberty County to Hill County then on to Chouteau County before entering the Missouri just below Loma. Therefore, weeds migrate down stream, this is the focus of the annual Week Float. Noxious weeds were an issue I dealt with when I was with Liberty County as commissioner, then as your senator I voted for weed control bills. Many of the weed team members from the four counties are...
On the surface, catfish, a German crisis, baby ducks, the American Old West, modern American Southeast and a sport that sounds like pasta making, but isn’t, don’t seem to have much in common, but I think we can get there from here. News reports started coming out in the fall of 2012 that the wels catfish, a type of catfish common across Europe, were taking over rivers in Germany, including the famous Rhine. This is pretty important stuff, especially since 1) the bio...
That morning, while eating a plata de fruta on the patio, ten feet from the incoming tide, a family of Tenates, Grackles to you and me, swooped onto my table. They look like ill-groomed clowns, like they got up on the wrong side of bed and forgot to comb their hair. While I believe sharing food is good and honorable, these birds are of the crow family, and like their northern relations, are unrepentant scavengers. I invited them to leave. They grinned, all six of them, and...
A funny thing happened to Montana voters on their way to the ballot box a few years back. Once an obscure issue, public access to public land — land ordinary citizens actually own — began to become an important matter. This November, it will be more important than ever before. Montanans have always enjoyed a rich heritage of outdoor recreation on lands owned by the public and managed by state and federal agencies. As the privilege of recreating on private lands began to fall victim to outfitter leasing and out of state “tr...
Donald Trump is the 19th president to visit Montana. Our people have welcomed each of them, Republican and Democrat, since 1883 when our 21st President, Chester A. Arthur, a Republican from New York City, rode a horse out of Yellowstone Park and into Montana. Since that first presidential arrival by horseback, our chief executives have waved at us from convertibles, spoken from the rear of a train, met us at airports, walked across Eighth Avenue South in Great Falls to shake our hands, and greeted us while riding shotgun on...
Tobacco addiction has taken too many lives in Montana. The Healthy Montana initiative, I-185, will raise the tax on tobacco products, keeping kids from starting a deadly addiction and helping adults who smoke quit. As organizations focused on health, the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids are united in our support for I-185 because we know that raising the tobacco tax will help reduce smoking — the No. 1 cause of preventab...
On days we feel the world has too much conflict, it’s good to remember that literary-minded folks, who are rarely good for practical things, remind us that conflict is good because it inspires passion about ideas, people and things. A story without conflict is just a boring list of details — and then everybody dies. The following news stories illustrate the literary nerds’ five types of conflict. Man vs. Self An 82-year-old man in India had his record-length finge...
I like to mix my metaphors. Images impossible evolve. In partnership with Jim I bought a pig-in-a-poke, a hot tub that wasn’t working when we bought it. Between Jim’s persistence and Josue’s electrical knowledge, said pig works like a hot-diggity-dog. To me, it’s a gift of finest sensibilities. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Our horse on pig’s trotters didn’t have a full set of teeth; no matter, easily (cheaply) resolved. With tub fully functioning, precipitati...
As Indians growing up in our local communities, we know that Montanans have diverse political values. We understand and appreciate those differences. One of our state’s special attributes is that it is home to seven Indian reservations and 12 tribes. Our culture, traditions and history are interwoven into the fabric of the treasure state and we take pride in calling this place our home. This is what makes Montana unique among the 50 states of our Union and what shapes the issues and direction of our political discourse. On J...
The economy of Montana depends on partners around the world for success. Each year, millions of tourists visit our beautiful state, while at the same time millions of bushels of grain grown by Montana farmers flow out of the Pacific Northwest to consumers overseas. Trade wars and tariffs have been a hot topic of discussion in recent months, and it can be difficult to keep up with the ever-changing dialog. We must not forget in these discussions that the world continues to move forward with trade deals and we may soon find our...
There is nothing like an enforced daily session on a very specific exercise in both patience and urgency to drive a training point home with a young horse and really help you put your own life in perspective. The first point is a good thing, the second point, the one about your own life, is open for debate. Because my horse Myah cut the sole of her foot, I am two weeks into a month’s worth of wrapping her foot to help pad the sole and, more importantly, keep moisture and d...
Remember when the Big Store in Havre was Buttrey’s? What a magnificent place to shop, in the Atrium, with an escalator. That was truly “down town”. And Havre boasted many, many smaller stores, enough to satisfy any shopper’s needs. Then the Mall on the hill was built; things changed. Stores closed in the center of town. The Mall struggled, filled, struggled. Another big store came to town. An independent grocery left. My heart lurched when I read that K-Mart, Sears and Her...
This fall, when farmers will be busy wrapping up their harvest and planning for next year, the current Farm Bill is set to expire. It would be nice to think that the Farm Bill — and its many ways of supporting family farmers and strengthening rural communities — is too essential to get dragged down by the political bickering and gamesmanship that has engulfed Washington, D.C. Sadly, it’s not, because that’s precisely what has unfolded in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Farm Bill is a big deal, especially for rural Mont...
It’s my own fault, of course. I’ve hit the wall. Can’t go any further. A day of rest would do wonders. Two days might put me back to myself. If I’m not myself, who am I? I feel like a brainless blob. A wart on a toad. A knot on a log. For one thing, Jim and Crin and I have been having too much fun. Since both of them are here for only a few weeks, we try to cram the time with explorations and adventures, fun along with our designated projects. Jim alternated building a fountai...
This past week, I attended the Northern Agricultural Research Center tour. All the wagons were loaded and ready to roll when a downpour hit. Everyone ran for the tent and witnessed .6 inches of rain fall in 15 minutes. I have to hand it to the staff, though; they did a rotating presentation in three groups in the offices until 7 p.m. when a steak dinner was served. It was a great meal for around 200 folks. I ran into a number individuals that I’ve either worked with or played with over the past 40 plus years. One encounter w...
Nature is one of Montana’s greatest treasures, and wildfire occurs each summer only because we’re so fortunate to live amid millions of acres of unspoiled forests and prairies. Although wildfire plays a natural role in ecology, there’s no doubt it can also be devastating to our health, safety, property and livelihood. That’s why it’s so important to do everything possible to minimize its impacts. It starts with prevention. We should be aware of fire restrictions before we go camping, and if it’s safe to build a fire, we sh...
When I was ten years old, a tornado came through and wrecked our farm. The three-hundred-year-old Cathedral Pines crashed down all around us, ruining fence lines and clipping the barn. I remember seeing the apple trees my great grandfather planted get uprooted and fly horizontally through the air. No lives were lost, human or livestock, but it took months and months to get back on our feet. Friends and neighbors pitched in all summer long helping with cleanup. That tornado taught me some valuable things about rural, small...
When I was a kid one of the small handful of television networks that our TV would pick up regularly ran reruns of “The Twilight Zone,” and that program really kept us alert because we didn’t know what we were going to get each week — science fiction, fantasy suspense, a good ol’ creepy thriller. The one thing you could rely on, though, was that weird stuff was going to happen, weird and unexpected. Thankfully, this TV program prepared my brain for this week when, apparentl...
Went to the artisans' tianguis (street fair) in Tonala and got me a man. Yep, brought home a genuine Mexican man. Next I wrote to my women friends and you should have heard the response. Oh, my. I had immediate replies expressing everything from shock and outright horror to reluctant caution. They should know me better by now. Not to worry. I'd had my mind on this man from the first time I saw him, three years ago. (Him, or a counterpart.) I even had my picture taken with him...
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that a New Hampshire distillery has created a new bourbon, Eau De Musc, which derives its flavor in part from secretions extracted from a beaver’s castor sacs. Do you remember the coffee bean that became insanely popular (as in costing up to $600 per pound) a few years back because it developed what was reported as a super sweet and complex flavor of plum, tea and rose in a fermentation process? Do you remember this fermentation o...
By the time I got from beneath my covered patio to my front door, a few steps, I was drenched and dripping rain. Already the floor filled with standing water, a shallow lake, half-way across the room. Not even a minute had passed. The sky opened. No warning. Oh, sure, I’d heard a few rumblings from the mountains on the other side of town. Nothing serious. No gentle drops to precede the deluge. Suddenly, the wind whipped in circles and buckets of water fell, whipped in all d...
The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee released its version of the 2018 Farm Bill June 8, presenting an opportunity for the Senate to reaffirm our national commitment to reducing hunger. Montana Food Bank Network applauds Montana’s Sen. Steve Daines and the rest of the Senate Agriculture Committee for developing a bipartisan bill that recognizes the importance and effectiveness of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Unlike the House Farm Bill, which made harsh and indiscriminate cuts to SNAP, the Senate A...
Happy birthday to the Antiquities Act, which turns 112 today. What an illustrious history it has, and what amazing gifts it has given to the American people. What does the Antiquities Act do, and why is it important to you? First, the act made it illegal to destroy or remove historic or prehistoric articles from public lands. Section II of the act says: “That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, a...
At one point in the evolution of the North 40’s motherland, we took down some barbed wire fence and put up a one-wire electric fence to temporarily split our two main pastures. I swear we did this for practical purposes. The pain and torture were just a perk. The first thing my horses did was test what they thought was a very flimsy fence. It was a logical response, even by human standards, because the fence had been three strands of heavy, twisted wire with barbs. It was n...
