News you can use
News you can use
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Joe Balyeat "There is no respect in which inhabitants of a low-income neighborhood are so disadvantaged as in the kind of schooling they can get for their children." — Economist Milton Friedman Given the fact that Montana continuously ranks near dead last in the country in average wages and our "low-income neighborhoods" arguably encompass our whole state, it should not go unnoticed that Montana also ranks dead last nationally in educational choice reforms as well. The Center for Education Reform ranks Montana 51st (even b...
While sluggish job growth continues to cloud the post-recession recovery, Montana offers a bright spot. Approximately 22,000 of Montana's lowest-paid workers got a raise this January, as the state's minimum wage increased by 15 cents to $7.80. Thanks to a ballot initiative supported by labor and approved by more than 70 percent of Montana voters in 2006, the state's minimum wage automatically adjusts every year to keep pace with the rising cost of living — this key policy reform, known as "indexing," has already been a...
I was watching Mayor Michael Bloomberg on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" recently, and he and Kimmel talked about an app that New York City has launched under his watch: NYC 311. The way they described it on the show, anyone with the app can press a button to report graffiti or a pothole or a crime. You send along your position, and the city will send someone to try and solve the problem. Zach White I know some people in Havre would love to have such a direct line into City Hall, but I'm not sure how easy it is to send a...
Norman Bernstein Last month, after the fire and explosion in West, Texas, and shortly after one of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's business recruiting trips to California, to lure companies to relocate in "business friendly" Texas, a cartoon appeared in the Sacramento Bee, showing the governor making one of his pitches for businesses to come to Texas where there are "Low Taxes" and "Low Regulations" and where "Business is booming in Texas!" The next panel of the cartoon shows the blast at West Fertilizer, exclaiming a large "BOOM!"...
Little Chazlie Cripps, 4 1/2, and Tristan Riggle, 6, gave me a lot of hope Monday morning. They were standing on the sidewalk awaiting the start of the annual Memorial Day services at the Hill County Courthouse. John Kelleher Tristan was in his little car, and Chazlie was passing out poppies to the crowd, a fundraising event to help area veterans. Chazlie's grandma, Kim Cripps, and Tristan's grandpa, Keith Doll, were talking about how they can explain Memorial Day to kids that young. It's not easy to talk about death to...
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...
When the Public Service Commission first proposed the repeal of its rule which mandates the disclosure of utility executives' salaries, commissioners proposing the repeal argued that executives have a constitutional right to privacy and that the PSC has no business being a clearinghouse for information like this. I disagree with those points, and voted against the repeal of a good, pro-consumer rule at the PSC. Travis Kavulla It is obvious that a vast majority of Montanans...
Everything is relative. That's what I always say. Sure it's no Albert Einstein's theory of relativity that my "Dictionary of Theories" explains as: "In non-inertial (accelerated) systems, certain fictitious forces make their appearance while also having a connection with the forces due to gravity, where the acceleration produced is independent of the mass." (I swear I didn't make that up.) Pam Burke But, really who all is smart enough to imagine something like that. I'm no...
The IRS tempest in a teapot should not be about how the IRS investigates political organizations that file for 501(c)4 tax-exempt status. Rather, it should be about why we have thousands, or, for that matter, any, tax-exempt political non-profits in the first place. This tax-exempt status, especially the 501(c)4 organizations, rather than the usual 501(c)3 nonprofits, is rightly subjected to more than the usual IRS scrutiny because these are the organizations most likely to misuse their status. They are not required to make...
Some members of Congress in Washington, D.C., have begun suggesting that coal companies are not paying the full amount of taxes they owe to the federal government; all in the name of helping shore up revenues for the struggling federal budget, of course. Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead and former Gov. Brian Schweitzer have disputed the accusations, and this appears to be more a part of the concerted campaign aimed at harming the coal industry than anything else. Congress has one simple solution if they are serious about increasing...
The focus of Havre Daily News is local news. We are a complete newspaper, but our emphasis — and our heart — is in Havre, the Hi-Line and north-central Montana. We love covering and being in the middle of the news developments, the sports stories, the interesting features and the commentary of our area. John Kelleher And we think that's what our readers are interested in. Our readers have a host of way of getting national and world news and ESPN and numerous other sources to keep track of the sports world. But, if we may be...
Volunteer — a person who is willing to undertake a service. This is a short definition for a word that profoundly affects an individual. I believe that volunteerism is actually a distinctive part of our being. Debbie Vandeberg Volunteering demonstrates who we are. Volunteering gives you an opportunity to change lives, including your own. If you'd like to support a cause but can't afford to donate money, you can donate your time instead. So how do you go about it? Find what's right for you. With volunteering you get to pick w...
Frequently, any legislative session is compared to a chess match. There are a huge number of moving parts. There are numerous players, with skill levels ranging from master to no skills at all. The challenge isn't so much whether one party or the other can secure checkmate against the other, but that the elusive goal of finishing our business within the allotted 90 days, balancing the budget and making sure that the services provided by government are done with value to the taxpayers who foot the bills. Sen. Greg Jergeson It...
We are now a few weeks into the Major League Baseball season, with the same, predictable steroid-laden lack of baseball, which is supposed to be a team sport, but has become a race for individual statistics, above all else. With so much money at stake, the game, itself, takes a back seat to the marketing of new records and new "superstars," and new products, designed to take more money out of your pockets and put it into the pockets of the billionaire owners and the millionaire players. The club owners were finally forced,...
This letter is in response to "The public has the right to know," in Norman Bernstein's column "Consider This," published in the Havre Daily News Wednesday, May 15, on page A4. What the public has a right to know is that the library is under very capable management. I respond in defense of the library and library board. I do not have any official position and no one has asked me to write this letter to the editor. Mr. Bernstein no longer lives in our community. Therefore he should not be judging decisions made in our communit...
Havre and Hill County are celebrating Historic Preservation Month, an especially meaningful commemoration because the Hi-Line is so rich in history. Havre and Hill County are relatively new on the scene. Most of the country was pretty well settled when Havre became a reality. But we have a rich and intriguing history. In the early days, it was a pretty wild town, and Havre Beneath the Streets tells the story of those crazy days. One of the nation's largest forts was located just south of town, and its remnants remain. Fort...
One of the most serious threats facing Montana's seniors and veterans is an acronym you've probably heard recently: Chained CPI. It's a policy you're going to be hearing a lot more of as the budget debate continues to heat up in Washington. Mary Williams In his most recent budget, President Barack Obama proposed changing the formula used for determining annual cost-of-living adjustments, called COLAs, that seniors, veterans and those with disabilities receive in benefits, including Social Security, federal and military...
I have to laugh every time scientists come up with another study about the intellect and emotions of animals. "Pet dogs show signs of empathy when owners are sad," they say. Shocker. And "Animals show signs of deductive reasoning." Y'think? I never would've figured out why my horse was pawing at the empty water trough while staring at my house, without that study. Pam Burke But nothing makes me laugh more than scientific studies which conclude that men don't understand women....
If talk is cheap, political talk is even cheaper. We can thank our governor for reminding us of this, when he vetoed two bills, unanimously endorsed by the PSC, that would have provided consumers with well-deserved protection against rising energy costs. Steve Bullock won the election by convincing enough people that his brand of Big Government would somehow help working folks and people on fixed incomes. But the game is over, the crowd went home, and the scoreboard reads: Radical Environmentalists: 2. Working Stiffs: 0....
On April 24, at 9 a.m., in a crowded suburb of the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka, the eight-story Rana Plaza building, completed in 2010, collapsed, killing more than 800 workers trapped in the rubble, with more still missing. In 2007, the local mayor had illegally issued a building permit for a five-story building. The owner, Muhammed Sohel Rana, a wealthy member of the ruling national Awami Party, had added another three stories, without adequate foundation, and without any permit. According to the building's architects,...
One thing you have to learn when you live in the country with pets, livestock and all manner of wild critters doing their call-of-nature things, you have to harden your heart to handle this life's realities. My husband, John, grew up on a farm and ranch operation so he knows this well, yet somehow he's managed to preserve this big, soft-hearted, squishy, I-don't-wanna-be-mean center where his toughened-up heart is supposed to be. Pam Burke Of course, you know who has to be...
There are several factors that make Beaver Creek Park a unique and special place. Ecological diversity The Bear Paw Mountains are one of the island mountain ranges of Montana. Each of our sister island mountain ranges have their own character. The Bear Paws were thrust up by volcanic activity and carved around by glaciers. Beaver Creek Park extends from a mountain topographic and vegetation communities to foothills and prairie environments in a short distance making it an interesting place for enjoyment and study of...
A few evenings ago, we were sitting in Vic's Place, on 1st Street, talking with Kurt Johnson, who, with his wife Candy, owns Vic's, the classiest joint in Havre. The "we" is my wife, Marged, the famous Havre poet, who inspires me in all things. Normasn Bernstein Vic's is named after Vic Spinler, of Hingham, who has kept the Park Hotel running for more than 50 years. He's 84 years old and can still tell you about every little quirk and oddity in the building, that was built in 1910, just across from the park in front of the...
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. — P.J. O'Rourke The dust hasn't totally settled on the legislative session ... we don't yet have the final fiscal results of Gov. Steve Bullock's vetoes. But the picture's beginning to take shape, and for those who believe in limited government and slower bureaucracy growth, that picture isn't pretty. Starting with almost half a billion surplus, a coalition of Democrats and swing-vote, squishy Republicans blew through that surplus p...
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...
