News you can use
News you can use
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“Here” being Jalisco, the Garden State of Mexico, it seems to be either feast or feast. One day it is too many tomatoes. Another day presents a splurge of tomatillos. On to a glut of papaya. Today’s feast consists of a mess of mango. I must have been out of my mind. Weeks ago I made the decision that the only mangos I would see this summer would be the few I bought at the tienda for eating. No mermelada, which is jam in English. Every year I make mango jam. Every year I give...
“They put in a new sidewalk,” my neighbor said, “and the first thing that happened was, a cat walked across the cement and left little footprints!” My neighbor was amused. “I hope they leave them. They’re so cute!” I thought those prints would probably survive. No one was going to take the trouble to cover up a few cat prints on the sidewalk with concrete. A few years back, they started putting poetry on the sidewalk, laid right into the cement. I stop and read the poetry on...
In honor of 14-year-old Dev Shah of Florida, who won the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday, this week’s column is about official words. Scripps uses the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary as its official word source, but here in the news world we consult The Associated Press Stylebook, first, and the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary, second — for spelling and usage of words that the AP stylebook does not cover. Or, as I like to say, only for words that AP...
The dust seems to be settling on the 68th session of the Montana Legislature, and I want to thank the residents of House District 28 for allowing me the privilege of serving Havre and northern Montana in the House of Representatives. My time in Helena was, as expected, both very rewarding and at times frustrating. But by focusing my time and energy on the common-sense priorities for which I campaigned, and by working cooperatively across the partisan divide that is all-too prevalent these days, I was able to have good...
An acquaintance stopped by the other day for a visit. Most people would have said, a friend. Another man, a close friend from years ago, whom I miss terribly but can visit only in memory, used to say, we have few friends. Most people we know are business acquaintances. I’ve thought about his saying often. My visitor definitely fits into the transactional group. I’ve known him for several years now but I so easily forget the rules. (His.) I expect a visit to be an int...
My new friend, Betty Lou, started a book club, and she asked me to join. I was delighted. I hadn’t been in a book club for a long time. Because she is a librarian, Betty Lou knows better than most the importance of reading a variety of things and so, at the very first meeting, we read a graphic novel. None of the members of this group are young, and this was the first graphic novel most of us had read. We weren’t sure what to say about it. “This book is very heavy!” one member...
In April, the Belgian coastal town of De Panne crowned the top seagull screecher in the closing ceremony of its European seagull immitation championship. Reuters reported in an April 23 article that the contest attracted to the stage 50 participants, many dressed in seagull costumes. They were each judged by a professional jury which awarded up to 15 points for the contestant’s ability to mimic a seagull call and up to five points for mimicking their behavior. The contest, w...
With the weather finally warming up here for spring time, I’ve been spending a lot of time out on my tractor finishing up planting. Every year, I plant my fields with crops like wheat, barley, peas and millet. The days are long — Sharla and I start early in the morning and work late until the job is done — but as Montanans know, hard work is rewarding and always reminds us how lucky we are to live here in Montana. Our Montana way of life is what makes us The Last Best Place, and it’s worth defending for our kids and grandki...
Dear Kathy and Richard, Thank you for sending the amazing photos that you take on your walking tours throughout the mountains of France. They are truly beautiful glimpses into the countryside you traverse. I suppose you think I envy you the pleasures you experience these days. Oh, far from envy, my dear friends. While you trudge through the rain and the mud, or sunshine, on toward the next village or city where you stay the night in luxurious hotels, explore the neighborhoods...
My new friend, Betty Lou, started a book club, and she asked me to join. I was delighted. I hadn’t been in a book club for a long time. Because she is a librarian, Betty Lou knows better than most the importance of reading a variety of things and so, at the very first meeting, we read a graphic novel. None of the members of this group are young, and this was the first graphic novel most of us had read. We weren’t sure what to say about it. “This book is very heavy!” one member...
Though this is not the year of the goat, one goat’s demands for attention were recently met with an official response that two officers may learn to regret. An Enid, Oklahoma goat in the throes of an existential crisis elicited a 911 call on behalf of its distressed cries for “help” bringing a visit from two Enid officers that is creating international headlines for the would-be rescuers. The headlines about a goat screaming for help sound like clickbait, but when they were...
If you are an elderly Montana veteran on Social Security in a mobile home park, Gov. Greg Gianforte does not have your back! Montana’s manufactured homeowners had just two minutes to defend their homes in hearings on HB 889 sponsored by Rep. Jonathan Karlen of Missoula, yet they persuaded the House and the Senate to adopt a modest package of protections for park residents confronting large out-of-state private equity firms buying up the parks on which their homes rest. The well-heeled lobbyists for out-of-state private e...
Up at 6:30 and out the door to walk Lola. The sun is almost up, the sky spread cool with night clouds. These days, when Lola and I go walk-about, I have an entourage. A few months ago Josue and family adopted a pup, named him Hunter. He is mild-mannered. Most of the time. He thinks I am his. When he hears my belled gate open, Hunter bounds like Tigger, meets me with wet tongue greetings. Lola takes lead. Hunter races between me and Lola. Hunter does not walk. Pup, remember. A...
I have a sticker that says “My Happy Place,” and I kept it for a while, wondering where to put it. In the end, I stuck it near my desk so I could see it while I write. I am usually happy when I’m writing. On Monday, however, I was not happy. I had a major technology breakdown, and I had no idea what I had done wrong. As it turned out, I had done nothing wrong (which is rare, when it comes to technology). Microsoft had a failure that lasted for almost two hours. During the t...
Americans have always commonly agreed that taxes are the price of a civilized society. Only relatively recently has the idea that “taxation is theft” been seriously suggested in the public discourse. People who claim not to believe in government use that belief as justification to not pay taxes to support it. While tax protesters make up a small minority, few taxpayers probably see supporting government services as a patriotic duty. Part of the reason for this is that many don’t believe they are getting their money’s worth....
I love living where we have four seasons, even if only two of the four are really likable — and with all due respect to fall, spring is my favorite time of year. If I continue with the ranking system, summer is third, admittedly a distant third, but not just an also-ran. It’s, like, “Thank you for participating in our event. You gave it your all and were a true inspiration to everyone here. Wear this white ribbon with pride.” Summer has some good days, but mostly it’s ju...
Thank you, Ram Dass. I confess, I’ve not read his book of above title. But I understand the concept, some. I do be, and I be where I am planted, and I be where I am right at this moment, glorying in the beauty (even when mixed with pain) I am given, every day. I often say, I am the luckiest woman. However … An unusual thought-want-desire-plan sprang nearly whole into my mind the other night while my eyeballs ran over the first paragraph in a new book I’d just sat down to read....
I like taking photos when I’m out of the country. Photographing things in Mexico is effortless. I’ll never understand the nuances of every festival or ritual, but I can enjoy the pageantry and the color and the incredible effort and artistry that goes in to creating so much beauty. Then I come back up north and look at the mud. It’s a big change. The skies were overcast for the first five days after my return from Mexico. The temperatures were unseasonably low. There was s...
It is hard to describe our last two days of the 68th Legislative session before we closed session last Tuesday. It was a whirlwind with many bills going to conference committees with last-minute alterations. In the end, HB 2 and a couple other bills that set up a balanced budget were passed. A motion was made by the Senate to close the session, which passed with a vote of 26-24. With that in mind, a number of bills ended up dying on the vine, so to speak. Some of the bills are what are called study resolutions, 34 of which...
The 68th Session of the Montana Legislature is one that every Montanan can be proud of. Voters sent a Republican supermajority to Helena and the first thing we did was return overpaid tax dollars to you as well as providing the largest tax cut in Montana state history. As Republicans, our primary constitutional duty is to pass a balanced state budget. We crafted a conservative budget by keeping state spending below record inflation and population growth while responsibly funding government operations that had been neglected...
As truisms go, it’s not very catchy, and it’s pretty unsavory, but after last week, I can vouch for its truthfulness: The night isn’t really dark until your horse starts vomiting. Since I’ve already given away the gripping plot twist, I might as well tell you — in case you’re too tenderhearted for the suspense — that everyone survived the equine medical emergency. Myself included. Now with the ending out of the way, we can roll back to beginning when I found one of my horses...
I served 26 years in the Montana House of Representatives, initially as a Republican, then as a Democrat, including two terms as majority leader and one term as speaker before I was “termed out” in 2000. My father, the Rev. George Harper, was an Independent Delegate to the 1972 Constitutional Convention, where “power-sharing” by majority Democrats helped unite the delegates in the mission of crafting a modern state Constitution that unshackled Montana from 83 years under the “Copper Collar.” I always advocated for my beliefs,...
Our gardener, Leo, was gone for a week, off to the beaches of Cabo San Lucas with a group of friends. "No worries, Leo. I can water my own plants. I'll do a section every day. Go have fun. All will be well." Easy to say, yes? Harder to live the reality. I figured three sections: front of house, back and sides of house, back yard. One, two, three. Easy, peasy. Plants, however, are not logical. If a plant is gasping, pleading, "Feed me, feed me," what is a woman to do. I...
The TSA agent looked stern — as they usually do. “I’d like to look inside this bag, ma’am,” he said. “No problem!” I always sound a little too eager when being questioned by an authority figure. I’m trying so hard to prove I have nothing to hide that I sound like I must have something to hide. The agent proceeded to open my carry-on bag. “It’s a bowl!” I told him, with a little too much enthusiasm. My husband, Peter, was supposed to have put the bowl in his checked luggage,...
June 12, Montana will be in the national spotlight as the first ever constitutional climate trial — Held v. the State of Montana — takes place in Helena. National attention to our state is increasing, as 16 youth, representing different rural and urban communities in Montana, assert that the government is violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment and their opportunity to seek safety, health, happiness, and equal protection of the law. The case builds on years of legal work culminating in a fed...
