News you can use
News you can use
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Last week, 24 U.S. senators, including Montana's Tester and Baucus, sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging the members to take "the necessary actions to protect consumers and ensure that the widespread and frequent occurrence of undelivered calls to rural areas is addressed." Rural telecom networks, which consistently provide superior voice and data services to their customers, are getting blamed for the failure of telephone calls to reach their customers. In fact, the calls are blocked "upstream;"...
Through the past year I have learned to largely ignore a majority of the emails that have clogged my inbox. There's only so many ways I can read that Jon Tester cares about farmers and veterans and Montanans and Rehberg doesn't, and vice versa, before the gray TV static that we have lost to digital televisions resurrects itself in my mind. But I received an interesting email recently, in my junk box no less, about a website, the non-profit ProCon.org, and its debate over the merits of traditional textbooks over the new...
E.B. Pearson On Election Day, Montana voters strongly endorsed I-166, the Prohibition on Corporate Contributions and Expenditures in Montana Elections Act, giving the citizen initiative a vote of 75 percent. Montanans of all stripes — independents, Libertarians, Republicans and Democrats — want fair elections, free of the corrupting influence of big money and campaign money from corporations. Unfortunately, the 2012 election was marked by unprecedented amounts of big money and secret money. Montanans, and our country, nee...
C,B. PEARSON On Election Day, Montana voters strongly endorsed I-166, the Prohibition on Corporate Contributions and Expenditures in Montana Elections Act, giving the citizen initiative a vote of 75 percent. Montanans of all stripes — independents, Libertarians, Republicans and Democrats — want fair elections, free of the corrupting influence of big money and campaign money from corporations. Unfortunately, the 2012 election was marked by unprecedented amounts of big money and secret money. Montanans, and our country, nee...
Contrary to what's happening in newsrooms across the country, we here at Pamville News feel the country's pain this election season; we just want it to be over, too. We want an end to the bickering, the mud slinging and the money flashing. We think that two years of campaigning for office and the new limitless campaign spending are an embarrassment to our country and to our democratic process. Pam Burke But we here at Pamville News are not whiners, we are complainers. More...
My human calls me Penguina for my alleged resemblance to a penguin. That silly name is not my true name but, never mind. I write this with keyboard assistance from Dee Dee, Sondra's daughter. We cats have a superior means of communication. But that is another story. Sonddra Ashton The first clue I had that something was up was when my servant, Sondra, was late coming home from work. Work, hmmm, something I don't really understand. But she smells so delicious when she comes...
With the new session of Congress about to begin, the U.S. Senate has an opportunity to reform its filibuster rule, an arcane parliamentary device which has paralyzed the proceedings of the entire legislative branch of our government and crippled our nation's ability to meaningfully address the issues of our time. Anders Blewett Long before cable television, 24-7 news cycles and Super PACs, the filibuster was created via gentleman's agreement and enshrined in the rules of the U.S. Senate. The filibuster allows the minority...
Just because St. Nicholas is hundred of years old doesn't mean the old guy isn't up on the latest technology. Back in 1955, a Sears promotion in Colorado Springs, Colo., allowing children to call Santa up directly, accidently misprinted the number, redirecting calls to the Continental Air Defense Command Center, or CONAD, the main base of Cold War nuke tracking that has since become North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD. Zach White The typo led to an annual tradition, in which the U.S. military, besides looking f...
Newsweek announced last week that this year will be their last printing physical magazines, moving entirely to their website and apps. "We have reached a tipping point in the industry at which we can most efficiently and effectively reach ... readers in an all-digital format," Newsweek spokesman Andrew Kirk said. There has been a lot of Monday-morning quarterbacking on the announcement, with many "industry" folks using the announcement to insult Newsweek and predict it's imminent demise. Even the commenters on a Yahoo news...
In 1920, KDKA Pittsburgh became the first commercial radio station in the country. It's first broadcast was on election night, and it told the country, or at least the dozens of people listening, that Warren Harding had been elected president of the United States. Almost immediately, pundits started talking about the pending demise of newspapers. Why would people go to the bother of reading the news when the guy on the radio would read it for you? John Kelleher Twenty-five years later, WGY television in upstate New York went...
There is no get-out-of-jail-free card for America's small business owners—when times are tight they have to find new ways to stretch their resources in order to keep their doors open and stay competitive. That is why it is so disappointing to see how our leadership in Washington is handling our current financial situation Rep. Mike Mille Instead of addressing the fiscal cliff by ratcheting back unnecessary spending and making government more accountable, some of our elected officials are looking to the taxpayers to provide t...
I generally accept what is rather than focus on what isn't. But every now and then I get a hankering to have a man around the house. The way I figure it, it's like a disease, neither all pervasive nor life threatening. It's more like a nebulous yearning for someone with whom to share experiences, someone to whom I could hand a "honey-do" list. My wanting comes and goes, doesn't stick around long; often months pass between attacks. Sondra Ashton Maybe the approaching holiday season is a factor; another could be that I...
(Ila McClenahan, the director of pastoral care and activities at Northern Montana Care Center, talked to some care center residents about the Christmas that brings back the best memories. Join in the conversation. Send stories of your most memorable Christmas to [email protected]. ) Jim F.: It was Christmas Pageant Night at the Faber school. We were getting all cleaned up for the evening event. I slipped on a bar of soap and split my chin open on an old laundry tub that we used for bathing. My most remembered present...
I've been in the news business for decades, and prior to last week, two reporters I worked with have been subpoenaed to testify about stories they wrote. In both cases, the newspapers fought the subpoenas and won, Last week, Havre Daily News reporter Zach White doubled that number. He was ordered to testify in two cases pending in Hill County courts. John Kelleher In the most immediate case, Zach was ordered by the prosecution to testify against City Councilman Rick Dow, who was later found not guilty in Havre City Court...
Despite President Obama's best attempts to stimulate the economy through massive government spending programs and corporate bailouts, our economy remains in a slump. Unemployment is stubbornly high, business and consumer confidence has lagged, and growing public debt problems at home and abroad have complicated prospects of a recovery. The pundits are quick to point to the occasional economic indicator that hints that things are getting better, but that type of optimism isn't shared by many of the business owners and workers...
Living in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains and there's no end in sight I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights. — the Arcade Fire An image has been circulating around the Facebook timelines of my Montana friends. It's a satellite photograph of North America at night, a deep navy blue blanketed with a spiderweb of pale yellow lights. The east coast is almost completely lit up — science fiction author William Gibson named this "The Sprawl, " a densely populated mass of human suburb...
Winter sports do not excite me. In my daydreams I do not yearn to plunge down ski slopes, roar astride a bucking machine through snow-clad hills, or etch figure eights over the frozen river. As the daylight hours diminish, I harbor no nostalgia for mounting winter tires, finding the window scrapers or digging out the snow shovels. A roaring fire in the fire place, a pile of books in front of me, a steaming mug of hot chocolate at my side — that's a picture to paint a smile o...
The average adult takes 15 to 20 breaths a minute — more than 20,000 per day, according to the American Lung Association. Healthy lungs are important to deliver clean air to our bodies' organs and tissues, which convert oxygen into fuel to support vital body functions. When a smoker lights up, it affects not only the health of the lungs, but also the body structures that depend on the lungs for oxygen. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death, claiming the lives of more than 440,000 adults in America e...
Yesterday was Veterans Day, where people remember their friends and relatives, alive and deceased, who put their lives on the line for their country. Many organizations are observing it today. Vets from every war and skirmish should get their due respect Veterans Day, even if they are like a friend of mine who served during the Vietnam era at Fort Dix and other New Jersey locations. He laughed about fighting the Battle of Bayonne. Still, he and all other vets took time out of their lives to contribute to our safety, and we...
When we're lucky, we receive signs from the cosmos that we are where we are supposed to be, doing what we are meant to do. For instance, there are reasons why I did not join the armed forces or become an emergency responder-type person in my post-adolescent, pre-middle age days. Pam Burke Sure, I have my issues with taking orders (let's just leave it at that) and I have a problem with the whole running into action thing (if the running is farther than 50 yards and the action i...
As the debate in Washington rages over how to avoid the fiscal cliff before the Jan. 1 deadline, some lawmakers are using Social Security and Medicare as bargaining chips. Among the proposals under consideration by legislative leaders is an effort to reduce the Cost of Living Adjustment or COLA that is regularly made to Social Security benefits. Joy Bruck The proposal on the table would change the way the COLA is calculated by moving to a chained consumer price index, or chained CPI. The proposal is complex, but the result...
A few months ago I wrote about the MyFitnessPal.com app that I had started using "to preserve my orangutan-like figure." I've been happy with the results. I'm down to chimpanzee-like, and appear on track to hit lemur-like sometime in the spring. Seeing how well having a plan, and empirically and simply following that plan, worked for physical problems, I wanted to see how the approach might work with another problem of mine, finances. Zach White When I first started working here, my college-student mind was blown by the idea...
While the Democrats will spend election night at the Eagles Club, Hill County Republican Chair Andrew Brekke last week was advising the party faithful of the election night plans. Republicans will gather at the party headquarters on 1st Street starting early in the night "until it's all over," Brekke said. John Kelleher Glancing at polls and talking to polls on both sides of the political aisle, I wonder of Brekke might want to come up with a different choice of words. Given the number of close races, from president of the...
I've been a bit down in the dumps this last week, entertained by garbage mind. Well, maybe not crouched in the absolute bottom of the pit. More like I stood on the edge of the dump, toes hanging over, wondering if I should just go ahead, jump in and wallow around a bit. Maybe emerge sprinkled with coffee grounds, decorated with potato peels, a rotten cantaloupe shell for a hat. In the movie, Scarlet O'Hara said, "I'll think about it tomorrow." I decided I would think about it today. I generally don't get too upset when today...
As I write this, it is a year to the date and almost the very hour that I received a phone call from Jim Donovan, Havre Public Schools director of operations, informing me that our high school roof had collapsed. I would like to say that was a distant memory, but the emotions stirred by that thought are still quite fresh. I do not imagine that is something that will change for quite some time. The positive memory that remains with me from that day was the manner in which our high school staff and students reacted to the unexp...
