News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 2006 - 2030 of 3191
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...
This morning, Ricardo, our waiter, kept track of us by name. Lu became, forevermore, “Hello, Mary Lou, Goodbye Heart,” accompanied by Ricardo not-Nelson, with Spanish accent, embedding the song in our minds for the rest of the day. Ha! Now try to get the tune out of your head! The two couples were Jerry and “Jerry’s wife” and Jesse and “Jesse’s wife.” Lola threatened to stab Ricardo in the leg with a fork. Sharon just laughed. I began calling Jerry Lola’s husband just to keep things even. Karen, he renamed Carmen and she im...
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...
A highlight this week during session was visiting with administration and staff from Montana State University-Northern and Montana State University in Bozeman. We were presented with their past accomplishments, future goals, and building ideas. A number of Northern Stock Growers Club members also were in to visit with the senators from north-central Montana. I’m proud to see how far Northern has advanced since my college days, but so have many other things. This week was Montana Association of Counties’ time in Helena for...
Jan. 30, more than 1,000 Montanans squeezed into the Capitol building to tell our elected officials in Helena and Washington, D.C., "Keep public lands in public hands." Sportsmen and women, conservationists, outdoor recreationists, kids and families traveled from as far as Fort Peck, Miles City and Thompson Falls. We blew the roof off the Capitol in defense of our shared outdoor heritage, making clear that we won’t stand for any legislation that even considers transferring, selling or otherwise divesting citizens of our publi...
Our own Sen. Jon Tester recently said the Senate should “have a hearing and a vote” on President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch of the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Sen. Tester should go one step further by supporting Judge Gorsuch’s confirmation without any unnecessary delay. Judge Gorsuch has both the personal and professional experience that will suit him well on the nation’s highest court. Born in Denver, Colorado, Judge Gorsuch comes from similar Western roots as many of us. An avid o...
I’ve spent three decades involved in improving public safety. The people that know me recognize it remains one of the great passions in my life. It’s that passion that’s driven me in my life as a police officer, as a community volunteer and in my role in our legislature. It is why after seeing the information in the TRIP report I recognized we have to change the rate at which we are funding road and bridge work in this state. The TRIP report is an independent study commissioned by the Infrastructure Coalition that paint...
Great, a Russian spy ship is sitting off our East Coast and we are so far removed from the Cold War era that the internet, our goddess of all information, has us better prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse than a real life Red Dawn. By now you’ve heard from multiple news sources that the Russian spy ship Viktor Leonov has been cruising the Atlantic Coast waters off Delaware, Connecticut and now Virginia since Tuesday. The ship has stayed in international waters about 30 miles off the coast, but this incident has come hot on t...
Montana is broke. As subcommittee chairs of House Appropriations, we are the first stop for spending bills in the Montana Legislature. We are responsible for hearing testimony in our area of focus, then making decisions and moving bills to the full Appropriations Committee. In a low budget situation, like we are currently experiencing, we are responsible for making spending cuts and doing the difficult work of prioritizing needs in order to create a balanced budget. We recognize that there is a need for us to do a better job...
Rich? Poor? By which stick do we measure? It is no secret I chose to play house in a small village in the mountains of Jalisco because I can do so and live well on my bare minimum pension. I live quietly, unobtrusively. By diligently shuffling pesos into my bottom drawer savings bank, similar to under the mattress, I can spend a week now and then on the beach. I am rich. Sometimes I lose sight of how wealthy I am. The other day I was walking down Calle Del Pulpo, the street where I used to live in Mazatlan, turned the corner...
The congressional death in 1945 and the appointment of a federal judgeship appointment in 1969 triggered two Montana special congressional elections like the one we’ll have in 2017 once Rep. Ryan Zinke is sworn in as Interior Secretary. On Jan. 15, 1945, beginning his fifth term, Montana Congressman James F. O’Connor of Livingston, 66, passed away in Washington, D.C. O’Connor had been a Montana District Judge, served one term in the Montana Legislature, and unsuccessfully tried three times in Democratic primaries to get t...
In 2014, a large majority of Montana voters cast their votes for Steve Daines to be our U.S. Senator. That was done primarily with the belief that he embodied and promised to protect the things that we in Montana held dear. This was mart of his message to the people of Montana as he marched around our great state asking for our vote. It worked and Sen. Daines won easily in all but a few of our large cities. In the two years he has served as our junior senator, he has served his conservative base in a fashion that one could ex...
The office of the Commissioner of Political Practices is a hot topic at the Montana Legislature. Montana has had 11 commissioners of political practices since 1975, when the current model for the office was created by a group charged with de-politicizing the COPP. Ask anyone who has run for office in Montana about the services they received from the office of Political Practices, and every one of them will say that the office and its staff are knowledgeable and helpful to an extreme. When legislative candidates call to ask...
Week 6 has seen more House bills moving from the House to the Senate. Things, in general, seem to be moving a little bit faster as we move into the full swing of session. Elsie Arntzen, superintendent of the Office of Public Instruction, gave a presentation to the Senate this week. She stated that, in her opinion, more funds need to be assigned to education from the General Fund, even as her department currently uses around 40 percent of the general fund. Her budget calls for $3 million in cuts from education, while the...
I was 33 years old, walking from the house to the shop on a warm spring day, the moment when I realized that I knew my parents when they were my age. I stopped mid-stride and calculated the years while the sun warmed my back and the profoundness of my thought altered reality and possibly opened a portal in the space-time continuum. I turned 10 the year Dad turned 33. My parents were building a house across town. My older brother was one year away from becoming a teen-aged...
A hundred frigate birds dip and soar overhead. Sun glints off the waves. Sailboats provide suitable backdrop in front of Bird Island. A beautiful bride and groom, surrounded by family, repeat vows of matrimony on the beach. Three young flower girls, adorable in frothy white dresses with long pink sashes roll on the lawn. Nobody yanks them on their feet to “behave.” The bride’s train will be filled with sand so, in the bigger picture, what’s a few grass stains? It’s a typical day at the Luna Palace. Kids splashing. Volley ba...
Nov. 8, 2016, the voters of House District 28 gave me a chance and sent me to Helena. During the campaign, my team and I knocked over 19,000 doors. We shared laughs and heartaches, but above all, we heard the stories of everyday Montanans. By the end of my campaign, it was clear that a few issues stood out. I was elected to champion public education, mental health, public lands, and the development of our infrastructure. We are rapidly approaching midsession. I’m proud to report that my voting record has and will continue t...
There are several Democrats who represent coal states in the United States Senate. Clair McCaskil of Michigan, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and, of course, Montana’s own Jon Tester. But Tester is unique among this group. While those other coal-state Democrats have established a track record of working to protect coal jobs, Tester has consistently voted to support every Obama-era regulation designed to kill the coal industry. Case in point is the Senate’s vote on the Orw...
Editor’s note: Due to a misunderstanding on the part of the Havre Daily News, regular submissions from state Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, have not been printed. —— I hope this article gets into the paper this week in Havre. Each week I sent an update on what is happening in the Legislature to my District 14 newspapers. The Liberty County Times and the River Press Paper had been publishing the articles but I recently discovered that the Havre Daily News didn’t understand my intention. It’s too bad that the articles didn’t ma...
