News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 2860 - 2884 of 3208
Barb Fournier was at the fifth annual Festival of Trees Friday night, laughing and having a good time, greeting friends and passersby at Holiday Village Mall. It was quite a contrast to the time I saw her at the second Festival of Trees, then held at the Great Northern Fairgrounds. Barb was chair of the event, and she was uptight, nervous and sure that something would go terribly wrong and ruin the evening. John Kelleher Of course, nothing went wrong, everyone had a good time and the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line made a...
My friends, David and Vidya from Port Townsend, Wash., drove to Harlem to stay the week with me and attend the Montana Seed Show. We covered every event. Every breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sondra Ashton "Sondra told us so much about the Seed Show. We just had to come see it." Our first event Thursday was the wool judging. Vidya knits, so she was particularly interested. "I was surprised to see so many varieties of wool on display, to get to talk to the judge about the wool. I...
All in all, the first three months of this winter weren't too bad, so even if the next three months of winter are harsh, we really have nothing to complain about. But I will anyway. It's not a secret; I'm no fan of winter. If I had my way, we'd have a month of it and a month of high-summer and the rest would be spring and fall. This time of year I imagine a Shangri-La exists, possibly somewhere in the mountains of New Mexico, where the weather is like this all year. Pam Burke...
I knew that somebody was going to cling to the underside of app data to sneak past the blinded cyclops that control the nation's/world's airwaves, but I didn't expect Facebook to be the first ones out. Facebook announced last week their Facebook Messenger iPhone app, which is separate from regular Facebook app, is now capable of making phone calls. The calls are free and don't use any cellphone plan minutes. And you don't need to use anyone's phone number, just add them on Facebook. Zach White It has been an inevitability,...
Every two years, our citizen legislature meets for 90 days. As your state senator, I wanted to update you on the start of the legislative session, share some perspective on the first days, and let you know how we can stay in touch and engaged over the upcoming months. So far, legislators have maintained a civil approach to one another and with the new governor, Steve Bullock. Even when differences emerge, I hope that civility continues to prevail. Over the upcoming months, you'll be hearing a lot from me about making sure we...
This week, the Office of Public Instruction released its annual Graduation and Dropout Report. For the fourth year in a row, graduation rates were up and dropout rates were down. The credit for this improvement belongs to the school leaders, teachers, students, community members and parents who have put in the work at the local level to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of students who may not have made it to graduation without their efforts. Denise Juneau While we can celebrate this success, we also know that 1,841...
People always say "I'd like to be a fly on that wall," when they're talking about being able to get the inside scoop on the real goings on among people. Reporters, they're always hunting the inside story, the dirt, the scoop, the skinny, the REAL story, but they can't be the secret fly on the wall. They have to declare themselves and their intentions to observe, record and interview. Pam Burke In my expanded capacity at the paper (the one where I'm asked to overcome all my...
Aaron Swartz, a 26-year-old Internet activist facing $1 million in fines and 35 years in federal prison, hanged himself in his New York apartment on Friday. The legal woes that led to him preferring a noose around his neck began in a Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office in July 2011, when he was charged with "wire fraud, computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, and recklessly damaging a protected computer." The charges were later upgraded from four to 13 felony charges. Zach White He faced t...
Pam Burke My 4-year-old horse has super powers: He is naturally impervious to electrical shock. That's a bit of a problem when he lives on a place where electric fencing is used to keep horses out of danger. I know that seems like a bit of a contradiction: deliberate electrocution will keep him out of danger. But it's not like the jolt is powerful enough to stop his heart or anything — if it were I'd be dead several times over by now. It just, y'know, gets your attention a...
It's easy to become downcast in winter, even as mild a winter as this has been thus far, knock on wood, salt over shoulder, sign of the cross. I try to keep an upbeat attitude, but sometimes ... . One seemingly ordinary day last week, I had a fright. The day started as usual: snow fall in the morning filled in my footprints and cat tracks of the day previous, a shout of afternoon sunshine, a bit of breeze. A good day, a good mild winter's day, a day to bless and fill with murm...
The obituary had already been written. ——— Pamville Recliner, age at least 20, died of natural causes Sunday, Feb. 3. He had remained firm-seated and hardy until the very end. Recliner's manufacture date is unknown, but his first years after the showroom floor were spent with a nice retired lady. When she decided that he wasn't a good fit for her after all, he came to Pamville in the North 40 and became the beloved companion of Pam Burke. Pam Burke Recliner and Pam spent...
The Montana Legislature opens its session this week with lawmakers on all sides promising that this will be a productive session with people working across the aisle to find solutions to problems. We'll see. The Montana constitution mandates that lawmakers meet for 90 days every two years. As the session began Monday, the oft-heard joke was repeated: Montanans would be better off if the Legislature meet for two days every 90 years. John Kelleher It wouldn't be better for the news media that covers the session. Lawmakers this...
More than a decade ago, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld famously summarized a quandary we face in national security: there are things we know, things we know we don't know, and things we don't know we don't know. Rumsfeld took flak in the media for his wordplay, but the concept he tried to express is one that we face both in and out of the national security arena. In health insurance, for example, we know the cost of insurance and the cost of health care are out of control. Chalk that one up in the "things we know"...
About a month ago, after a hiatus of several years, I began painting. I hadn't meant to give it up for so long. I missed the feel of the wooden brush between my fingers. I love to grab globs of oil paint and smear the paint onto stretched canvas. I like the sound the brush makes, the soft sweep. I like the smell of turpentine. It is thrilling to watch the first lines form into recognizable shapes and objects. Sondra Ashton When I am painting, something magical happens. The...
Once again, the Montana Legislature is considering bills that would block tribes from restoring wild bison to our own tribal lands. By generally banning wild bison from Montana, House Bill 249 and Senate Bill 143 represent an astounding level of disrespect to the tribes of this state. We call on the Legislature to defeat these offensive bills and on the governor to veto any that make it through. Mark Azure After the great bison slaughter of the 1800s, fewer than 25 wild bison remained in Yellowstone. Their descendants are...
It's not fair to complain about problems, but then never acknowledge or admit when decent solutions are offered. So here I am, after months of writing about the stubborn inertia of industries who fear the mysteries of the future, to say, "good job, movie industry." Zach White There have been numerous steps taken by several movie studios that have caused me to take a step back from the front and say that's pretty cool. One of the biggest changes recently has been the release of several big movies online, through places like...
"If a(n insurance) mandate was the solution, we could try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody buy a house." — Sen. Barack Obama, 2007. Growing up in a Montana family of 14, my parents taught us most important life lessons. One lesson driven home repeatedly: If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Such is the Obamacare deal. Everybody will be forced to buy health insurance … and that will magically mean better health care. Obamacare's Medicaid component is particularly egregious for Montanans. The...
Bill Thackeray's recent view expressed in the Opinion Page of the Havre Daily News brought up some interesting points. The article inspired me to bring them to print. First of all I know every one of the farmers and ranchers who have closed their land to hunting over this issue. They are all good neighborly people who had views on this sale. They were not jealous of the price, and the ones I know just want to make a living doing what they love to do. They tried to exercise their rights as residents of this state in voicing...
This is my last column. By the time the next would have run, I will have begun my next job, doing what I started doing here last April, which I would not have gotten without these columns. It's been a good year. It's been a good two-and-a-half years. And I have enjoyed working with and talking with you. Zach White As I've been getting ready to leave Havre, I've thought about the positive feeling I have about the direction this community is headed. I have written before about the admiration I hold for the dedication of the...
The highlight of this week's proceedings was the traditional State of the State address delivered by our new governor, Steve Bullock. His address was followed by the response delivered by Rep. Austin Knudsen from Culbertson. Legislators from both parties, including me, listened carefully and respectfully to both speeches. As a frequent judge at high school speech meets, I would give both high marks for delivery and message. I believe that Gov. Bullock succeeded in offering a positive way forward for Montana, growing jobs,...
Pam Burke We here at Pamville News — employees, interns, volunteers, hangers-on and laze-abouts — in no way condone, excuse or otherwise support violence in any form. That said, though, when you hear that a man in the UK was beat up by two guys dressed like Oompa Loompas — orange skin, green hair, hoop pants and all — ya just gotta laugh. It may be the law. It really could be. The UK's Daily Mail Online reports that the Norfolk police said two men dressed like the fiction...
While in politics, I allowed myself to be bullied by the NRA. No more. I cannot help but feel like there is something I could have done to prevent this calamity. But I will no longer allow myself to be intimidated by groups like the NRA. I don't need an assault weapon to go hunting with my son. Ed Tinsley I am a lifelong hunter, a veteran of the United States Army, and a former elected official here in my home of Yellowstone County. But above all I consider myself a parent, and so I will be forever haunted by the slaughter of...
Winter's plunging temperatures do not make me yearn to frolic in the vast outdoors. In fact, last week I huddled impatiently in wait for the red line to climb. While brilliant sun danced atop the icy-flaked blanket of snow, I ventured to walk the mere five blocks to the post office to pick up a week's worth of mail. I dragged home a bag of letters, bills, newspapers and six books that I had ordered in a moment of pre-Christmas insanity. I couldn't help it. Santa made me do...
My daughter Dee Dee sent me pictures of my granddaughter Toni, now 7 years old, with her new horse, Jill. Toni's grandfather thinks Jill is still his horse. From the evidence of the photograph, a girl and her horse, cheek to cheek, eyes closed in blissful rapture, this horse belongs to Toni, no question. Back in October my daughter and her family moved "home" to Montana. Dee Dee had lived in Washington several years. Toni was born in Japan and the family ended up back in...
Pam Burke As strange at it may seem to read about me, I had an interesting conversation with a health professional about fitness a while back — of course, it wasn't like I was setting up an exercise regimen or something crazy like that, so no worries. We were actually talking about motivation, and the pro told me about adopting the inspiring motto of a competitor he'd met; she'd had it tattooed on her arm: "Never Weaken." "I've been doing more cardio," he said, "and when I'm ready to quit, but know I need to go a few more m...
