News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1995 - 2019 of 3210
As home to some of our nation’s largest coal reserves, Montana plays a key role in the future of our nation’s energy economy. Unfortunately, Montana coal production has declined significantly in recent years — by as much as a third. This decline took a toll not only on jobs across the state but on essential state tax revenue too. On the campaign trail, President Trump guaranteed he would “bring the coal industry back 100 percent.” Montanans, and people across America who depend on the reliable and affordable energy produced...
From the beginning of the 2017 session, House Republicans committed to supporting essential infrastructure which would not place an undue burden on Montana taxpayers. The Legislature is currently moving more than $1.1 billion worth of infrastructure projects directly to Montana communities. You read that right — billion. This is an important piece of the puzzle that some in Helena don’t want the public to hear about. The Helena crowd has an agenda based on their own self-interest, not the well-being of families across the...
I started the week spending a bit of time and sharing information with some of the Fort Benton junior and senior classes, along with their bus driver and teachers. I understand some students had to travel to D.C. and the rest got to come to Helena. It was a nice group that seemed to enjoy hearing about session and its bill-making processes. We did pass the Marijuana Bill, Senate Bill 333, out of Senate on Friday. This was after two more informational meetings held Monday and Wednesday. In all, both parties came up with 25...
Colstrip’s old coal-fired power units are losing money and that means their days are numbered. Units 1 and 2 are closing by 2022 at the latest and maybe sooner. We need to make sure Colstrip’s operators fulfill their responsibilities in helping the state deal with the economic loss to workers, the community, and the environment. But, we have another problem. Legislation has been proposed that doesn’t just hold Colstrip’s operators accountable — it punishes them. And, as good as retribution may feel, the problem is that it w...
Recently, it was discovered that Rob Quist had tax liens filed against him by the state of Montana and it was turned into political fodder. I am not going to condemn Mr. Quist. Like many working Montanan’s not everything has gone as planned in his life. Sometimes no matter how you plan, the world just doesn’t cooperate. Unexpected bills can happen at any time and expected payments usually are farther away than anticipated. Welcome to the real world, folks. This is where most working Montana families live all the time. It als...
I realized quickly after moving to Montana people here talked about the weather a lot. It was sort of strange, funny, and a little lame. History is not exactly replete with titans of their time known for their passion of cumulus clouds and chinook winds. Like air and fingerprints, weather just is. Aside from farmers, whose livelihood depends on the weather, I thought anyone else who loves to ramble on about the weather does so because their lives are so eventless, so uninteresting, that they entertain their sad selves by...
We interrupt our previously scheduled column to bring you the latest news on the possible defection of a high-ranking Republican to the Democratic Party. Several national and international news outlets reported this week that former chair of the Colorado Republican Party Steve Curtis appeared in Colorado’s Weld County District Court charged with misdemeanor voter fraud and forgery, a felony. Curtis is accused of filling out, signing and mailing in his ex-wife, Kelly C...
This morning at Qi Gong, a practice which requires focus, every bird in the tree, wisp of cloud, skittering lizard robbed my attention. Where’s my focus? I have a bad case, not fatal, of “I want it all.” Crin left this morning. We shared café con leche before she took off for the airport. Nancie left a couple days ago. As long as I’m wanting that which I cannot have, I want all my friends here with me all the time. When they are here, I want, please, just a few minutes...
Forty years ago, the Montana Legislature enshrined renter’s rights in the state code by passing the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act of 1977. Now, those rights are being threatened. A group of bills have been introduced in the Montana Legislature that, if passed, would erode renter’s rights and swing the carefully erected balance of power between renters and landlords towards the landlords. Taken separately, these bills have varying effects. Some are fairly innocuous — HB 350 allows for the use of electronic fund transfer...
The pace is picking up in the Montana Senate. Tax Committee is still wrestling with the medical cannabis (marijuana) issue. The committee had two extra fact-finding meetings trying to determine quality and safety standardized testing requirements needed to ensure best practice for the patients. Amendments will be coming in. I know there will be more work to get it right, but I am looking forward to the whole thing coming to a close. The other big tax bill is the Local Option Sales Tax, which would allow communities the option...
As the president of the Associated Students of the University of Montana, it is my privilege and responsibility to represent over 11,000 students of the University of Montana. Unfortunately, the fight for affordable, accessible higher education for Montana’s families is becoming more challenging. The Legislature has proposed an $11.8 million cut to the Montana University System that our students and our campuses simply cannot afford. Whether you attend UM or Dawson Community College, Montana State University or Montana T...
Montana agriculture provides abundance all year As the days get longer and the weather warms, many of us begin to plan and dream of the upcoming growing season. Warmer seasons for many mean connecting with the land and enjoying the fresh produce from our efforts. This connection to our food and how it is produced is a fundamental aspect of our nature. For those in Montana on the nearly 25,000 family farms and ranches, their connection is year-round. Whether they are feeding their livestock or protecting newly born calves...
Obamacare is in a death spiral. Insurance premiums increased yet again by an average of 25 to 50 percent this year in Montana. As more insurers abandon the Affordable Care Act’s exchange, costs continue to skyrocket across the nation. These trends are unsustainable, and the system is collapsing under its own weight. As I’ve traveled across the state, Montanans have told me that reform is necessary. My role as commissioner of securities and insurance is to advocate for the interests of average Montana insurance customers. I’m...
Despite the obvious changes that come with the passing of time and the evolution of technology, the connection between buffalo, buffalo hunting and Native peoples remains a vital part of tribal identity in Montana. The relationship between tribal people and buffalo is one that is both spiritual and distinct. The buffalo provided for the daily needs of our people for millennia. In return, tribes honor the buffalo in their commitment to sustainability and celebration of this incredible resource. That’s why the Native peoples o...
It’s one thing to know something about yourself that is, let’s say, not a plus, like “I’m not awesome at geography,” but it’s another thing to have it demonstrated, repeatedly, to truly make you understand that you should be humiliated. I, in fact, am not perfectly awesome about where countries lay on the globe, but hey, I thought, I’m OK at it. Then I took a little online name-those-countries-in-15-minutes quiz on Sporcle.com and found out just how badly I have failed all th...
“I love to hear the thunder; watch the lightning when it lights up the sky.” Eddie Rabbit sang it true. This week I determined to be a time of easing back into my “normal” routine. Ha! Not even the weather in this, the dry season, has cooperated. It seldom rains in March. Yet, here it is, rain in bucketsful. “It’s such a beautiful sight. I love to feel the rain on my face; taste the rain on my lips. In the moonlight shadows, showers wash all my cares away.” Routine has slipped my grip. While I’ve managed to spend several o...
By Shelby DeMars , Montana Business Leadership Council Executive Director With just over half of the legislative session completed, there have been over $280 million in tax hikes proposed thus far. Most of that revenue would come from sales taxes on products Montanans use every day. For instance, there is one proposal from Democratic legislators to impose a general sales tax on all Internet transactions, like the products you buy from Amazon or Ebay. The thing is, over the long term the state doesn’t need to impose those sale...
The week started with the Democrats nominating Rob Quist for their delegate to the U.S. House seat Sunday. I returned to Helena Monday and took in the Republican meetings to see Greg Gianforte’s nomination by the Republican party. In the Education Committee, appointees by the governor for Board of Regents of Higher Education were interviewed for confirmation by the Senate. The four very qualified candidates visited about many subjects ranging from infrastructure to tuition and everything else to do with higher education in M...
The special election to select a new Congressman for Montana is less than 80 days away and the process for conducting the election has been turned into a political football. First, Gov. Steve Bullock scheduled the election at the earliest possible time, 85 days after Ryan Zinke resigned to serve as President Trump’s secretary of the interior. This puts the election on Thursday, May 25, just before Memorial Day weekend. This date will interfere with graduation plans, family vacations, and other weekend activities. June 6, (...
Every two years, when the Legislature meets to weigh and discuss the many issues that affect Montanans, the Senate Energy committee, which we serve on, has to shape the policies that will determine Montana’s energy future. It’s disheartening to report that this session the Senate Energy Committee has decided that energy future should rely on outdated resources that could leave a legacy of polluted water and air. The delegates to the 1972 state constitutional convention had the foresight to establish that Montanans have a con...
Montana is blessed with vast landscapes of public lands. Our great outdoors attracts millions of visitors each year and is part of why I love Montana so much. And in Montana, conversations about our public land often go hand in hand with talking about the federal government. The federal government owns 28.9 percent of Montana. A robust public discourse about access to our public lands is healthy and more important than ever. There exist serious concerns that I would like to share with you. The Property and Environment...
“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.” — Robin Williams Words and ideas are the stock in trade in Pamville this week. • Let’s start with the Environmental Protection Association vs. words. The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, a group of scientists and academics who track changes to about 25,000 federal government webpages in their nerdy free time, reported Tuesday that the EPA’s Office of Science and Technology Policy no longer l...
In Havre we have Montana Actors’ Theatre, and for a town with a 100-mile buffer zone from the side effects of civilization, we’re fortunate to have any theater, much less good theater. If someone — anyone — would open a restaurant that serves something other than sandwiches and pizza, we’d be in prairie paradise. In high school, I took one semester of theater. I can’t tell you the horrors of standing on a stage — in front of other people, saying words and stuff. Once, long ago, someone pointed a gun and threatened to...
It was with both amusement and embarrassment that I read the article printed in the Havre Daily News on Feb. 28, 2017, regarding the new Hill County attorney, Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson. Let me be up front — as is my habit — that I work for the Hill County Personnel Office, which is supervised by the Hill County attorney. I have served the Hill County community as Personnel Clerk for 14 years, pioneering the position under the expert tutelage of former Hill County Attorney and District Judge Dave Rice and former Hill County Att...
Typically, I go into a three-day slump — depression, the doldrums, call it what you will — when a friend leaves. Karen flies back to Floweree (a few houses perched at the end of that gravel road on the way to Great Falls) tomorrow. Ten days later my cousin Nancie leaves for Sedro Woolley in Washington, but she’ll return in June. I’ll barely have recovered from Nancie abandoning me, when Crin, who arrived last Monday, goes back to Victoria. Jim plans to drive back to Missouri that same week. Carol said she probably will be...
