News you can use
News you can use
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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...
“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...
The qualify of life we enjoy in Montana is directly connected to the public investments we make in our communities — modern schools and quality education for our children, safe roads, updated water and sewer systems, and an affordable college education for our future workforce. However, with the Montana legislative session halfway complete, legislative leaders have made deep and devastating cuts to the state budget that impede our state’s ability to continue to prosper and will impact some of our most vulnerable families and...
I’m gravely concerned about President Trump’s nominee for the United States Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch. When it comes to checking extreme politicians’ overreach into our most personal health care decisions, I hope both of Montana’s senators will prioritize women and strongly oppose his confirmation. Judge Gorsuch’s record on women’s rights is deeply disturbing. Ruling in the original Hobby Lobby decision, the case that undermined the Affordable Care Act’s birth control insurance mandate, Gorsuch joined the majority,...
Many letters and opinions have been written about running the upcoming May 25th special congressional election by mail. I have been running elections for our county for going on 19 years now. When I first started, elections were much different than they are today. We had very few absentee voters. In fact I can remember when sending 300 absentee ballots was a huge number in our county. Now we send out 13,000. We no longer really run poll elections. They are more of hybrid between mailing absentees and poll locations, except...
As Montana ranchers, we have considered ourselves to be good stewards of the rich natural resources we are blessed to have. However, the EPA’s so-called Waters of the United States Rule has the potential to undermine our ability to work our land and has trampled on our private property rights. We were pleased to see that President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order on directing the EPA to reconsider an Obama-era rule that expanded federal jurisdiction over streams and wetlands. This rule has caused excessive e...
This week was a catch-up week at home completing all the farm-type things like oil changes and moving equipment. When spring hits, things need to be in the right place; and I need to make sure Judy’s car is ready for the next two months that I will not be home full-time. I was in Havre Tuesday for the regular noon meeting, but this time I was in person and not on video. Members of the public were present, along with different agencies. Havre High School was represented by staff, the student Leadership High School, their p...
In 1929, just 26 years after the Wright Brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk, a transcontinental airway beacon system was christened to safely guide pilots across America in all kinds of weather. This modest but practical network blazed the trail for today’s sophisticated modern airliners that almost fly themselves with previously unheard-of levels of safety. Today, that system exists in only one place in the entire United States: Montana. Seventeen beacons stand silent sentry on craggy passes from Bozeman to Great Falls, from Hel...
Growing up an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, I was always comfortable with the idea of reality not being what we expect it to be and even looked for signs that I was living in or had slipped into an alternate reality. Well, folks, I think I have arrived. In 2008 a majority of Americans and the Electoral College voted into the office of President of the United States the first African American president in the U.S. Barack Obama was a young, inexperienced...
When my wife Barb and her partner opened their restaurant in 1985, money was tight — both for the business and at home. They started with lunches only, and then as income allowed, they hired more employees and offered dinners and catering services. In 32 years since, they’ve been successful by always finding the right balance between income and expenses. When I look at the state budget, the same principles that drive business success come to mind: when money is tight, take a hard look at expenses and adjust. The good new...
For a group of classmates from Harlem, Montana, none of whom grew up with “advantages” with Harlem being not exactly the cultural center of the world, what an amazing opportunity for us. Here we are, Class of ’63, in a foreign country, soaking up life like the sponges we always have been. What did we know but hard work and vagaries of weather? Our recreation consisted of school sports (boys’ only), a summer swim in the Milk River, ice-skating in the winter. Most of us knew a touch of poverty, even if we weren’t aware at...
I’m sorry it has been so long since I have written. As we pass the halfway point for the Legislature, I wanted to take a few minutes to share some of the work I’m doing on behalf of our community. One of the most important issues I have about heard about both back home and at the Legislature is out-of-control air ambulance bills. This is critical in our rural community because of our limited hospital facilities. After dealing with air ambulance flights, people have been stuck with $20,000 or more in bills — and that’s after i...
This week marks the halfway point of the 90-day legislative session and the beginning of a weeklong break, called transmittal. On Friday, Feb. 21, the Senate cleared all bills presented for consideration. The Montana House agreed to let the Senate release early to transmittal. With the House in session, days are still counted as “in session” until next Wednesday, when the House is released for transmittal. There have been just over 1000 bills introduced during this session, which is actually below average. The budget sho...
The Hi-Line has done it again. I am smitten. Some more. I’ve savored the charms of sparsely populated, quiet, no traffic, low crime Montana for more than a year now since my cross-country move. But one thing I never thought would give me warm fuzzy feelings here, one thing I never thought would find a way to measure up — sports is that one thing. I’m talking mainly about football and basketball, two of the greatest American inventions, right up there with sliced bread and Maxim magazine. I’m not much into wrestling, which a...
Dec. 31, 2016: 30-year-old female allegedly stabbed by a 28-year-old male outside of Glasgow, resulting in the woman’s death. The man admitted to consuming meth prior to the stabbing. Jan. 25, 2017: 31-year-old male shot and killed in a Helena motel parking lot. A pound of meth was found at the scene. Feb. 19, 2017: Two men lead law enforcement on a two-day manhunt near Big Timber following a traffic stop that resulted in the assault of a Highway Patrol Trooper. The men are suspected of trafficking meth. Stories like these a...
