News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 2928 - 2952 of 3212
My needs were simple enough. From time to time I make custom lamp shades. Recently two different people brought me two sets of lamps for new shades. Unfortunately, the old shades were missing. Most lamps come to me with their old shades, ragged and pitiful, but the frames are usable once I strip them down. I have a generous collection of my own vintage frames, but as I sorted through them I discovered that I had none that could be used for these jobs. Sondra Ashton So I fired...
While working on the "Voters on the Hi-Line" series Havre Daily News ran last week, I thought it was interesting that pretty much every person I talked to, no matter who they supported or what they believed, began by saying that they are sick of all of the political advertising and that they couldn't wait for the election to be over. Well it appears that this is in no way particular to the Hi-Line. The folks behind picture- and article-sharing website Buzzfeed and Unbaby.me, which removes all pictures and posts about your...
I would first like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season from the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Chamber staff. During this time of year, many people give unselfishly of their time to make the holidays a little more special for all of us. And we are very grateful to their efforts and time. Those who volunteer during the holidays and throughout the year are community members who are willing to step up and undertake a service and give back unselfishly to something they believe in and support. W...
When Rep. Denny Rehberg visited the Havre Daily News earlier this year, he predicted that by October, a lot of people would be so sick of political commercials, they would want to shoot their television. He was wrong. Most Montanans don't want to wait until October. But, while people may not like the commercials, they do talk about them, especially the one where Republicans, with the miracle of Photoshop, gave back to Sen. Jon Tester the fingers he lost in a farm accident years ago. At least television viewers don't have to...
I don't even have television and I'm counting down the days until Election Day ... or rather, the day after. Election Day is like Christmas Eve and the next day is the day off, the day of peace, the day of tranquility and togetherness. I'm so tired of the senseless, election-politics bickering that the day-after-Election-Day politics-as-usual will seem peaceful by comparison. Mostly, I'm tired of all the negative, nasty spin doctoring of everyone's words. When one group is...
Where does one begin to say thank you for making Havre Festival Days such a great weekend. The weekend's success would not have happened without the continued support from the many volunteers and the willingness of many different community organizations coming together on this third weekend in September to throw a community celebration for all to enjoy. It truly takes a community to make Havre Festival Days. Debbie Vandeberg It takes partners such as Montana State University-Northern who was our Festival Days sponsor again...
This is a poem. A poem that was pushing at me to be written. I sat down to write it. This is what came out. A prose poem. I ask myself, "Why did I move back to Montana?" I fish the waters for an answer. Sometimes I haul in a trout or a salmon. Often my line hooks seaweed or a sucker. I would like a rational answer. Even to my mind, decisions based on the smell of bruised sage, the open bowl of forever sky, the gathering of elk at Slippery Ann or the first crocus at Snake...
Despite my best intentions to follow this wisdom, I lapse into performing the occasional good deed, as if I didn't know better. As if I didn't know it would circle back to bite me in the back pocket … or the finger or something. When Part One of new-cat's story ended last week, he and I were enjoying a good laugh at my expense over my failed and, ultimately, unneeded rescue attempt. Turned out he actually could get himself out of the shop's wall through the kitty escape h...
In Montana, a teenager under age 18 can't get a tattoo or a body piercing without a parent's permission. Yet most people are stunned to learn that a girl of any age — even 12 or 13 — can be taken for an abortion without her parents even knowing about it. This is totally legal under current Montana law. There are 37 states that require parental notification or permission before a minor can get an abortion. Sadly, Montana is one of just 13 states without this common-sense policy. Legislative Referendum 120, on this year's bal...
A couple weeks ago I went to Floweree to spend the weekend with Karen. Our friend Luana joined us for lunch. After we ate, we piled into Karen's car and explored the back roads, down to the Missouri and the Carter Ferry. If black clouds had not been roiling over the mountains, we would have crossed the river on the ferry, driven dirt roads to Highwood and circled into Great Falls. Instead, we back-tracked through Carter, dug out a yucca plant we spotted along the roadside for...
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...
If Public Policy Polling is right, Montanans will see a lot of close elections this year. The poll showed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Bullock with a slight lead over former U.S. Rep. Rick Hill, 44 to 39 percent, and Sen. Jon Tester with a slight lead, 45 to 43 percent. Libertarian Dan Cox is third with 8 percent. John Kelleher Steve Daines, the GOP hopeful for the state's lone congressional seat, leads Democrat Kim Gillan 40 to 37 percent, a closer race than many had thought. Mitt Romney leads President Barack...
I've written a few columns about a recurring bond between the Internet and space exploration, as several Internet billionaires look to use their resources to explore the cosmos. And while there haven't been any new rockets launched or asteroids mined since those last columns I wrote on the subject, the Internet did just return one of the main reasons I have been so interested in space travel, and science in general. Zach White Last Thursday morning, Bill Nye, the Science Guy, hosted a live streaming science show at...
That morning when I checked the NOAA weather map, the entire northern tier of Montana blazed scarlet for "Blizzard," poised to pounce mid-afternoon. I walked to coffee and the post office, knowing I would not see my friends or my mail for days. The heady wine scent of fallen leaves dominated the air. Negative ions foretold the approaching storm, shifted and danced to the slightest breeze, kissed me with an overwhelming feeling of well-being. Back home, I watched as the red...
"Are humans becoming less intelligent?" That's how the Monday headline from LiveScience.com read, and I said what everyone is thinking, "Well, duh." This was an election campaign year, what more evidence do you want? We all felt our brains getting sucker punched every day, what other result could come of it? Pam Burke But writer Tia Ghose reported that researcher Gerald Crabtree isn't looking at evidence from just this year. He made genetic studies of mankind through the ages...
Although election season is over, citizens and elected representatives will continue to discuss many serious economic issues. One critical topic on the 2013 legislative agenda is funding of the Montana Teachers' Retirement System; a defined benefit pension plan. Views on the retirement system vary widely — from solid support to severe criticism. A crucial role of the TRS Board and staff is to ensure legislators and the public have accurate data and information about Montana's pension systems. We want to support policy d...
The tone of the 2012 election scene has hit a new low throughout much of the United States. Maybe that has to do with the introduction of so much negative television commercials because of the Citizens United decision. John Kelleher Maybe it has been prompted by the number of divisive issues facing voters this year. Or perhaps it is just a growing incivility and the growing belief that if you disagree with someone, the other person must be evil. It isn't the first time that the political discourse has taken a turn for the...
In a year when most state legislatures were engaged in budgetary belt-tightening, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and public employee union representatives agreed to a pay plan package that would make any private sector worker envious. According to the agreement, each of the next two years state workers would receive both a 5 percent raise in pay and a 10 percent increase in the state contribution toward health insurance premiums. The price tag is estimated at $138 million After the pay plan agreement was reached, a local...
One of the most divisive debates at the center of this year's election is the role and value of government. How much regulation is too much? Have we crossed the line? Would our economy benefit from a few cuts? You could probably find someone for every possible answer to those questions who would insist that they are right and everyone else is trying to ruin the world. And I would say that all of them are probably right, except for the last part. Zach White It's like our entire nation is caught up in an argument over whether...
Currently before Congress is the Parental Rights Amendment which would explicitly define the liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education and care of their children as a fundamental right. Believe it or not, this right is not expressly stated in our Constitution, but is only an implied right. This shortcoming in our Constitution has led to the erosion of parental rights by court decisions and international law. Historically, the Supreme Court consistently maintained that parents possess a "fundamental right to...
Recently I have been rethinking my personal war against kochia, a common noxious weed, otherwise known as tumbleweed, romanced in song by the Sons of the Pioneers, engraved in our western history by Zane Gray. One day the thought tumbled into my head, at that moment vacant and dreamy, that nobody ever wins a war. How true, I thought. So why do I stand out in the blazing sun, my hands encased in protective gloves, ripping kochia up by the roots? Oh, my aching back! Sondra...
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...
When taking a young, green-broke horse out on his first big trail ride, the time for adventure is not now. Now, in fact, is the time for great success at modest tasks to lay a strong foundation for all adventures, and misadventures, of the future. With that in mind last weekend, I planned ahead clever ways to avoid adventure on my trail ride on this little green-broke horse. Pam Burke Because, yes, the odds were favorable that unsuitably high adventure would find us. First of all, the terrain in the pasture is nice except...
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...
Last week saw one of the greatest demonstrations of the power of the Internet, and the strength behind the threats it faces, of all time. From the beginning of the Arab Spring uprisings, the Internet has been an invaluable tool in toppling the dictators who, once they lost their control over information, lost control of their countries. Facebook and Twitter became central means of coordination among demonstrators, with information, encouragement and warnings. YouTube became a way for the entire world to see up close the bruta...
