News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1670 - 1694 of 3210
Skip political races and cultural wars, Egypt and Mexico have officially gone toe to toe for the title of most outrageous jackassery literally involving a jackass of the four-legged variety, and Egypt has kicked Mexico’s jackass in the brawl. My one trip into Mexico, roughly one hundred years ago, was a quick jaunt across the border to Tijuana, which, it might be argued, isn’t real Mexico, but the touristy side-show is technically within the borders of the country, so technica...
Promises are important, at least that’s what we tell our kids. In Montana and around the country, there are groups advocating that we break the promises made to our American Indian friends and neighbors. These groups, which form the anti-Indian movement, represent a systematic effort to deny legally-established rights by terminating American Indian sovereignty and culture. They feed on the public’s lack of knowledge regarding treaty rights and the negative stereotypes directed at American Indians. They strive to create fear a...
I live at #3 Nopales on a small piece of the Rancho Esperanza set aside for a dozen or so retirement homes. That’s the sum total of any pretense to an Americano community in this still traditional small village of Etzatlan. It’s not an official government-recognized address. No mail delivery. Jane emailed me that a woman she knows, a woman without benefit of email (how quickly we believe if we do it, everybody does it.) would like to correspond with me. This is not my fir...
If you pop open a cold Corona this summer, there’s a good chance you’re drinking one of Montana’s most important commodities. Though Corona is brewed in Mexico, much of it is made from barley imported from the Big Sky State. But today this important market is at risk because of the irresponsible trade war threatening Montana agriculture. Because of tariffs and all the uncertainty in American trade, Mexican breweries are now turning elsewhere for their barley. For decades, Montana farmers and ranchers worked tirelessly to ga...
Having not forgotten the lessons I learned as your Public Service Commissioner for eight years, I always read with interest the reports on what the two current candidates for PSC District #1 are saying to the voters in their campaign. I was startled and appalled at the complete disregard for the facts demonstrated by one of those two candidates when he promised a heavenly nirvana of low cost electricity and high government revenues by building coal-fired plants on the Hi-Line...
A man walked into a Planet Fitness in Plaistow, New Hampshire, last weekend, stripped to his nothings at the front door, paced a few laps in the exercise area naked, checked himself out in the mirror naked, then staked a claim on a yoga mat where officers found him still buck naked in a "yoga-type position," Plaistow police Capt. Brett Morgan told several news outlets. Morgan also said that the guy's only comment to officers who came to arrest him was to say that he thought...
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...
