News you can use
News you can use
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Inaugurating a new era in American politics, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are set to star in the 2024 presidential election show. In an exclusive interview with the Havre Daily News, Committee to Preserve Democratic/Republican Rule Forever Co-Chairs Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Lauren Boebert stressed that leaders from both parties had agreed on the rematch in an effort to temper unrealistic voter expectations. “One thing about old Joe, you know he’s never going to rock the boa...
“Freedom isn’t free.” It surely was not for those who fought and died for America’s freedom in the beginning. Following the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and through the eight brutal and bloody years of the Revolutionary War thereafter, winning and securing America’s freedom from a tyrannical foreign power was the cause for which genuine American patriots willingly and knowingly gave their lives. While the American forces prevailed, the military success of George Washington’s beleaguered Continental Army might not h...
Usually I sit down to write with something specific on my mind. Today I have a scrap of this and a scrap of that. What does one do with scraps? One makes a quilt. Michelle called. “Let’s go to the Plaza for cake.” In the Mercado a teeny coffee shop recently opened, fancy drinks and baked goods. They make the best carrot cake. Michelle, Ana and I found a bench in the shade in the Plaza, where we enjoyed our drinks and cakes put our worlds in order. During this time, I had a...
He was sitting outside his home on a tiny patio, wearing a fedora and smoking a cigar. He had a portable music player sitting beside him, and he looked as if he was enjoying the September sunshine about as much as anyone could. “Good afternoon!” I said as I passed. “Good afternoon!” he agreed. I don’t smoke, but I like the smell of cigars. My grandpa smoked a cigar occasionally, and the smell of cigar smoke reminds me of my childhood. In fact, all of September reminds m...
I just love the first day of school. Watching my son walk to the bus stop on his first day of high school this year, I reflected on the optimism and excitement a new school year brings to both parents and children. When we run into one of his teachers at the grocery store or at a local park, my boy’s face lights up and mine does too. We know his teachers care about him and are invested in his learning. Every parent in Montana should be able to take their child to school confident that they will be safe and will be taught b...
Some stories should stay hidden and this might be one of that kind. It is ridiculous, embarrassing and impossible. I have three lime trees in my yard. In the backyard, I first planted a key lime. After three naked years and lots of talks, including veiled threats, she began producing limes in profusion. So I planted a regular-type lime in the front yard. It made limes a mere toddler and hasn’t paused yet. So I planted another regular-style lime in back next to the key lime. I...
My name is Andrea Melle. When I turned 18, I went to Havre’s City Hall to cast my first vote. But other than voting in every election, I wasn’t very involved with politics. Over the years, that sure changed. Having two kids with needs in public schools without adequate funding, going through a divorce, being a 24/7 unpaid caregiver, and seeing rights being taken away has made me get involved. I have fought for special ed bills in our public schools, Medicaid Expansion, justice bills, and was lucky enough to have the sup...
It’s no secret that I don’t look like most of my colleagues in Washington, D.C. They don’t run a farm when they’re back home, you won’t find them swapping out duck foot shovels or greasing a combine, and to my knowledge no one else is missing a few fingers from an unlucky childhood run-in with a meat grinder while butchering meat on my family farm. But beyond our differences in appearance, I’m always focused on bringing a healthy dose of Montana common sense and a lifetime of experience living in rural America with me to...
I got anxious again today. I think I am getting better at leaving anxiety behind, and then anxiety says, “Not so fast! We have more work to do.” Usually, this has to do with my writing: “Is it good enough? Does she hate it?” But not always. Sometimes I will post something on Facebook, and someone will take offense. Since I make an effort to never post anything controversial or unkind, this always shocks me and makes me wonder if I have any idea how I sound when I write....
Every morning these past few days, when Lola and I take our early morning walk, the clouds are rolling down the mountains. We move through the mist, feet on the ground, heads in the clouds. Another hour and the sun burns the air crisp and brilliant with shadows of orange. As happens, my day turned topsy turvy. I was all self-hyped to go to Dr. Imelda, my dentista, to finally have my last crown set onto my tooth. This crown has been a process and practice in delay and...
Recently, American environmentalists envied the people of Ecuador. In Ecuador, a country where the murder rate is soaring, the economy stagnant and the national government often on the brink, a majority had just voted through a referendum to stop wrecking the Amazon basin for oil profits. For just a moment, it was hard not to fantasize, what if Americans could have a direct say on the big issues — oil drilling in the Alaska wilds, for example? Of course, that’s not the way...
I’m staying “up north” with Mom and Dad, and that is always good. My mom and dad have built a life that is pretty much exactly the way they like it. They have rituals and habits they do almost without thinking. But the amazing thing — to me — is that just about every one of these daily routines ends up giving them a healthier and much happier life. At this point, my dad would snort, and my mom would say I was making them sound like saints, and they’d both shake their heads...
I was excited. I had just signed the papers and prepaid for a cremation plan. It is the sensible thing to do. I live in Mexico. I, no doubt, will die in Mexico. Dying in Mexico is a hassle when one’s family and citizenship are elsewhere. For one thing, the customs are different. If one dies on a Monday, one’s body is washed and dressed for viewing on Tuesday and the funeral and burial are Wednesday. Or even Tuesday. I live in a tiny retirement community. Most of the year, the...
It’s fairly common knowledge that Montana’s legislative branch of government is a citizen legislature that only meets in session for 90 business days every two years. While true, those facts often lead to misconceptions about the real nature of legislators’ work. In reality, the Legislature works year round. Being an effective legislator is much closer to full-time public service than a part-time job. Constituents regularly contact their elected representatives looking for assistance, asking about various laws, and pitch...
Out of touch national politicians are at it again. It was recently announced that the budget being proposed for the 2024 federal fiscal year for Amtrak by the House Appropriations Committee would slash the national passenger rail service’s budget by 64% from the budget that was enacted last year. According to Amtrak’s CEO, Amtrak will have to “radically reduce or suspend” service on its long-distance routes, which includes the Empire Builder, which serves 12 communities along the Hi-Line, including Havre. Amtrak is a critical...
Between sessions this year, I have been placed on the Local Government Interim Committee, not the Education Committee, which I had been on for the last four interims. It has been a new experience, but I am working on determining the goals and where the issues are for this new-to-me committee. That being said, the folks on Local Government seem to be a great group with which to work. This coming week, we will finalize our work plan for the upcoming session. There have been a few disappointments and frustrations after session....
It was time to come back from Mexico. It wasn’t because of the weather. The weather was wonderful. The nights up in the mountains were cool, and the days were warm, and sometimes, in the afternoons, a thunderstorm would roll in, and a refreshing rain would fall, leaving the air clean and sweet. No. It wasn’t the weather. And it wasn’t really my family — although, I do miss them. My parents have been in the thick of summer activities at their cabin by the lake. They had lots to...
After years of depressed prices, we ranchers and cattle feeders are desperate for Congress to do something — do anything! It was in this context that the 50/14 concept was conceived. When the “negotiated spot market” for fat cattle got down to less than 20% of the total, it became a problem that obviously needed correction. Particularly since the prices derived in this very thin market are used by the packer cartel to buy the remaining 80% of cattle — the “captive supply.” Clearly, the cattle industry has a corrupt pri...
While waiting for my daughter to get okayed for an operation at the hospital in Billings, I dumped a puzzle onto my table. Jigsaw puzzles are a good distraction. I had loaned this particular puzzle depicting an antique car show in front of a typical diner to snowbird friends to work last winter. Intact. One thousand pieces in the box. It is a particularly challenging puzzle, fun, so I borrowed it back. When I finished the car puzzle, on the day of Dee Dee’s surgery, I had t...
I grew up, my early childhood, in southern Indiana, on a farm. I spent my free time outdoors, in the yard, the barnyard, the woods. I could name by sight or sound more birds than I can today. I had a cinematic butterfly collection in my mind. Summer nights my cousins and I caught fireflies. We called them lightning bugs, made a Mason jar lantern, made sparkly rings on our fingers with some of the fire, then let them go. A lot of years passed. In the late ’70s, I returned, b...
Usually, just as I am getting close to leaving Mexico, I find some absolutely irresistible treat and have to eat it every single day until I leave. I arrive back in the U.S. a few pounds heavier, wondering how I ever got so carried away. I return to my more or less normal eating habits and more or less normal weight, only to return and discover some new treat across the border. This week, it was apple empanadas. I didn’t know what an empanada was. I thought it was a sort of m...
August is Civility Month, and it is a great time to take a moment to practice disagreeing without being disagreeable. Are you comfortable having conversations with people who disagree with you? Do you know how to find ways to start tricky conversations respectfully? Do you wish you knew how to stay civil without feeling you are giving up your beliefs or opinions? During this past legislative session I heard a lot about civility and decorum. Usually it was someone being aghast that someone else said “that thing” in a leg...
Police raiding a newspaper and confiscating reporting material seems like something one would expect to find in a banana-republic, or in a scene from a dystopian novel. Yet, that is exactly what happened recently to the Marion County Record. The Record is a weekly newspaper in rural Kansas, serving a population of approximately 1,900 and known for its dogged reporting on various issues affecting the community. On Aug. 11, the newspaper office was raided by the Marion Police Department as was the home of its 98-year-old...
In late August, it was reported that Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter had entered their “final days.” The 39th president is 98 and his bride of 77 years is 96. Their grandson, Josh, told People Magazine that they are “still holding hands” and that Jimmy is still eating his favorite peanut butter ice-cream. The former president has been in hospice care since February, declining lifesaving assistance. He recently revealed final plans for his burial near his modest home at Plains, Georgia, and has requested that President Joe Biden d...
It’s seven minutes after 10 p.m., and the usual ruckus ensues. My husband, Peter, is wearing earplugs. He is in the habit of doing this when we’re staying in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, because our little apartment is right in the center of town and, like all the homes in San Miguel, there is no air conditioning because it is cool this high in the mountains. But the last few weeks have been warm, and it’s nice to have fresh air. So we open the sliding door to our littl...
