News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1849 - 1873 of 3214
Many of us are keeping an eye on tax reform legislation and considering how federal changes could impact our livelihoods here at home. I want to help make Montanans aware of one federal program that has been working under the radar for the past 10 years to improve local economies, create good jobs and stimulate growth in large and small communities across our state. The tax bill’s proposed repeal of this program would deprive our communities — and the hardworking people who live here — of crucial funds needed to revitalize an...
In recent years, how we deliver and receive health care in Montana has been transformed. You may not see this if you don’t use a lot of medical care, but, it is happening every day in hospitals and doctors’ offices around our state. As a result, the quality of the medical care we receive, the safety of the patients we serve and the value of the health care dollars we spend are all much improved. One major reason for this was legislative action in 2015. Until then, far too many Montanans went to work every day with the kno...
In this troublesome era of anger, violence and blame, it's well to look back to a kinder time, and the good and heart-warming story of a remarkable Montana character. Dorothy Johnson grew up in poverty in Whitefish, and despite a life of crushing adversity, her achievement as a writer has been compared by some critics to that of Ernest Hemmingway, Mark Twain, Mary Austin, Willa Cather and Mari Sandoz. She has been described as possibly the greatest writer of western fiction...
The benefits promised by technology have always lagged a bit behind in rural America. While most urban areas have a profusion of choices for broadband access, people in many parts of Montana are lucky if they have even a single option for high-speed internet. It doesn’t have to be this way — the technology exists that would open up new opportunities to rural Americans who now have limited broadband access. But as often happens, technology moves at a much faster pace than regulators. Today, one of the biggest impediments to...
One of the greatest privileges of serving Montana in Washington, D.C., has been hearing the most admirable stories of Montanans who have fought for our nation all across the globe. Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow served as an Army scout during WWII and fulfilled the requirements to become a war chief. Ben Steele served in the U.S. Army Air Corps and was captured by the Japanese — he was a prisoner of war for 1,244 days during WWII. David Thatcher took part in the Doolittle Raid and was awarded the Silver Star. If you’ve ever seen th...
The Montana Economic Developers Association, representing professional economic and community development practitioners across Montana, is deeply concerned about Montana’s biennial budget situation. Our concerns are diverse, but center around the adverse impact that proposed budget cuts would have on the communities we serve. Economically vibrant communities, be they large or small, depend on a genuine, reliable partnership with state government. This partnership is essential to assure that adequate investment in public r...
I am drawn to useful people, and somewhere along the line I realized that it’s as if — on some subconscious level — my brain is working to assemble a zombie apocalypse team. A team that could save the world. If it comes that we survive fire and ice, gale-force winds, floods and earth-shattering quakes only to be overrun by gruesome, brain-crazed half-humans gone overripe, I have this crisis covered with my peeps by my side. Sure, our collective skills set includes plent...
With a looming budget crisis, state leaders are proposing deep budget cuts, which could result in a significant loss of funding for senior services. Not only are programs like hospice and home care services in jeopardy, but Big Sky Rx is on the chopping block as well. In a time of skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs, now is not the time to eliminate Big Sky Rx. We need Montanans from across the state to send a message to Gov. Bullock and their legislators that this is not a good idea. Prices for brand name drugs are...
Back when I was young and filled with angst and drama, certain my life would end if I didn’t get what I wanted or if the heartache of the day didn’t cease or if I thought you looked at me critically, I had a good friend who didn’t mince words. Gino laughed at me, a lot. He often said, “Don’t worry. Tomorrow will be different. It may not be better but it will be different.” Generally he told me this over gallons of coffee, sitting around a table in a restaurant that didn’t...
I would like to give an update on what has been happening in my life. As you know, I was appointed to the Senate last December and spent the next four months in Helena at session. A retirement trip for January that I planned had to be put on hold. After my commissioner retirement, my plan was to go south to visit my brothers in Nevada and Oklahoma. So, Judy and I skipped the going south idea and decided instead to plan a trip to visit friends and family in south Germany in September. In the past, my German family and a...
As Montanans, American Indians, and members of the Montana Legislature, we share the frustration of people all across Montana. As the potentially devastating effects of these cuts have become clear over the past few weeks, Montana’s elected leaders must continue working to ensure that critical government services remain available and effective, eliminate unnecessary spending, and discuss ways to increase revenue. We stand ready to join our colleagues from both parties to do our job. However, some of our colleagues in the R...
Sugar is evil, the article said. Give up the nectar of Satan, the research told me. Feel like you have an alert, newly minted brain, the health food zealots said. What fresh level of hell is this, my body is asking. I’m old enough to be born in the day when no advertising bragged that a product contained all-natural sugar because everything had sugar, or you added sugar. Sugar advertisements targeted children, moms wanted to have those toothsome, smiling, singing children f...
Many years ago, I took oil painting classes with Julanne Campbell in Suquamish, Washington. I like everything about painting. Oil painting, water colors, painting the walls of my house. I like the smells of paints and turpentine. I like the feel of the brush stroke against a blank surface. I’m a tactile painter; my fingers often ignore the brush and create a smooth stroke here or a smudge there. I don’t spend enough time drawing to be good. But in any endeavor, there are the...
Dear Montana Head Start Programs: I am pleased to recognize October 2017 as “Head Start Awareness Month” in the state of Montana. I believe it takes a village to raise a child and we should recognize Head Start’s critically important work for nearly 5,000 Montana children and their families not just this month but every month. Head Start not only provides preschool for 3-5 year old children, they also prepare families for newborns and help those just beginning their journey as parents to access the resources needed to assis...
I didn’t expect to become obsessed with glass-making videos, yet here I am spending several hours a week watching Youtube videos of the folks at the Corning Museum of Glass make the most beautiful glassworks. Just this morning I watched one of their glass artists, called gaffers, and his team of three or four students make one and a half elaborate blue-glass goblets in one hour and 14 minutes — like it was nothing. They took metal rods, stuck them in a vat of molten gla...
It is dangerous to invite a stranger into one’s home, one’s sanctuary. Can the guest be trusted to display simple rudimentary manners? What if we’re not compatible? What if our schedules don’t mesh? Will there be food issues? What if we end up eye-balling one another with death wishes? A thousand considerations must be addressed. Yet, on impulse, I invited Cat Ballou into my home a mere month ago. Fortunately, she is bi-lingual. Unfortunately, within a couple days I found m...
As communities across the nation work to recover from recent natural disasters, many are discovering that while they have plenty of rebuilding to do, they lack the manpower to do it. This circumstance comes as no surprise to the Montana Contractors’ Association, which has been considering the nationwide shortage of skilled trade workers with trepidation. A survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America revealed that 70 percent of contractors have a hard time finding qualified workers. In Montana, the s...
Three decades ago, the U.S. Supreme Court probably settled the current controversy involving protests within the National Football League about freedom of speech. The recent public shakeup with some players “taking a knee” or “linking arms” may be somewhat different than protest directly involving the American flag but many judicial experts would bet that “taking a knee” is protected speech under the First Amendment and is now settled law. Like it or not, the U. S. Constitution protects the right of Americans to protest the...
Last Monday, the Havre Daily News published an article reporting a driver killed by a collision with a deer. As unfortunate as this death was, the article was a grim reminder of what is not published — the unreported causes of death in the Havre community. The Havre Daily News does not appear to hesitate to report deaths related to traffic accidents, but in my daily reading and in a search of the online archives there is very little mention of the other top causes of death in our younger population. Inspection of the r...
The universe is getting a jump start on Halloween this year, and it’s doing a pretty good job of setting up a good creepy vibe. Let’s just jump right in with the spiders, the biting spiders. Huntsville, Alabama’s Fire and Rescue Station 17 firefighters had to abandon their post last week after two firefighters were bit by spiders, brown recluse spiders, the spiders who have the flesh-eating bacteria equivalent of spider bites, the bite like the bad apple in the bunch that...
When I was in my 20s I never thought about getting old. When you are young you will never be old. It’s not that I thought my edgy, action-packed, high-risk life would lead to early death. Although I had some close calls in my youth, I knew I couldn’t be killed. When you are young you will never die. These days, my life may be a few things, but risky is not one of them. The most perilous thing I can do is trip on the cracked sidewalks of Havre when I run, or choke on one of Dottie’s maple bacon donuts. I have learned a few t...
Every day should be my best day! There I go, thinking I “should” be grateful and, truly, I am. However, “should” can take a hike into the out beyond and stay there. But my reality is that I feel shaky, in pain, and morbidly fixated on possibilities: broken bones, concussion, blood spatters. None of which happened. My day started with pleasure. I woke to the musical prayers of the procession of thousands from Etzatlan marching with the Statue of the Virgin from here to San Jau...
Technology is the great equalizer. There’s no reason Missoula can’t compete with Silicon Valley and that’s the message we heard at the Montana High Tech Jobs Summit. On Monday, close to 700 Montanans came out to the University of Montana to talk about the growth of high tech jobs in our state. Technology has removed geography as a constraint to doing business and the opportunities are endless. Our big sky and Montana way of life are our greatest recruiting tools as Montana takes hold of the future – a future we know lies in t...
After nine months of debate over repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, it’s time to start a new chapter in the history of access to high quality and affordable health care. The ACA certainly isn’t perfect. A bipartisan Senate effort to address some of its imperfections was underway until Republican leaders pulled the plug to devote more attention to the latest – and hopefully final – attempt to repeal and replace the 2010 law. It’s time to reignite that bipartisan discussion and affect some immediate changes. Most...
A total of 44 hours without power starts out all fun and games, but after a while things get real, and nothing spoils the mood like real. The great winter storm of early autumn 2017 kicked into gear Monday, overwhelming our electricity with its hard-driven slushiness, just after sundown. On the first day of my week off. No big deal. I had just finished supper. The temperature was still above freezing. My husband, John, and I just hunkered down with some warm blankets and did...
