News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 3167 - 3191 of 3210
Regarding the Nov. 25, Havre Daily News story headlined "Baucus asks businesses how to boost border trade:" Rick Dow Senator Baucus is chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which has sole jurisdiction on international trade and border protections. Numerous studies, testimonies and questionnaires over the past decade have confirmed that making Wild Horse a 24-hour commercial port would have a positive economic impact on our local economy. Throughout the history of our country, increasing international trade rather than...
The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a dangerous bill that should have all of us in Montana — and especially those of us in the northern tier — on high alert. It's called the National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act (House Resolution 1505 if you want to look it up yourself), and it gives the federal government sweeping new power to shut down our public lands. The National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act is co-sponsored by Rep. Denny Rehberg, and it is exactly the kind of Big Government Mon...
"I read the dictionary once. I thought it was a poem about everything." — Steven Wright, comedian. When my parents retired early, sold off most of their stuff and went on the road in their fifth-wheel trailer and pickup, I said fine, good riddance, but I want my inheritance now: The 6-inch thick tome of a dictionary that they'd had since I was a toddler. I have loved that book since my earliest memories. When I was too young to read, but asking my dad what words meant, he'd s...
While our nation's capital is embroiled in the debate over the federal budget, new poverty data shows just how vulnerable our children and communities are in these tough economic times. Three million more American children have joined the ranks of the impoverished in the last decade, according to the latest census data. More than one out of every five children now lives in poverty. Here in Montana, kids are among those losing ground in their standard of living, health care, and nutrition. Montana's child poverty rate rose...
Seems like everywhere I go these days somebody remarks, "Have you seen what it says in the Old Farmers' Almanac? This winter will be colder, dump more snow and hang around longer than last year." Do you know the Old Farmer's Almanac? The pages are filled with solid country wisdom that I trust. It might not be scientific but generally it is more useful than the National Weather Service. Heck, anybody can tell you what the weather is while it is happening. We who live out here i...
I don't like secrets. The whole point of a secret isn't to keep information from people; the point is to let them know that you know something they don't know, usually for some ulterior motive. If someone really wants to keep information confidential, they simply don't say anything, right? You don't know they know something worth knowing because they know how to keep their pie hole shut. Y'know? Pam Burke If, for example, you walked into your neighbor Darwin's home office and...
I have moved many times over the years; it is the price you pay when you decide early on that you want a career in newspapers. However, it never gets easy saying goodbye to friends and relationships that developed over this time. This Saturday, the movers will roll up to my house and by the end of the day I will be leaving Havre for Ottumwa, Iowa. I have accepted the position as president and publisher of the Ottumwa Courier. Martin Cody Yes, I will be leaving, but I will be taking with me the memories of the two years I...
I planted chokecherry bushes in my yard. I don't know what I was thinking. Certainly I had not intended to create a chokecherry plantation. They were given to me, those desiccated branches. I stuck the dozen bare-naked sticks into the gumbo. I wasn't sure any would survive. I hoped one chokecherry might live which I would keep pruned into a bush. Each August I would be able to go out into my back yard, fight off the birds with flailing arms and pick enough of the puny little...
"There is a certain stoic quality to the people of the Hi-Line, definitely rugged self-reliant individualism up here. A lot of traits in the character of the people up here that used to exist in America. That, perhaps, no longer exist, a culture of no complaints; it's old-school up here no doubt" — Michael Cole Set Photographer in an advertisement for the recently shot movie, 'Winter in the Blood.' — September 2011 Rick Dow "And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each suc...
As of this week, 4,475 American servicemen and women have paid the ultimate price in Iraq. Among them: 28 Montanans who died as heroes. More than 32,000 other U.S. troops have returned home wounded. And we may never be able to fully count those who struggle with injuries we cannot see. Our nation has been at war in Iraq for nearly nine years — longer than our involvement in both world wars combined. In addition to the sacrifice of thousands of Americans, the price tag is approaching $1 trillion — as much as $60 billion of...
I believe we have two choices in life: try or do nothing. For more than two months, I have been meeting with a bipartisan group of 12 members of Congress trying to address our mounting debt. I'm working day in and day out, facing this task with the determination Montanans deserve. Sen. Max Baucus This group has been called the "Super Committee," perhaps because of the unprecedented opportunity and challenge before us. But, in fact, we're simply a group of hired hands. Any authority we have comes directly, and only, from the...
The last thing landowners operating in the shadow of the Missouri Breaks Monument wanted to hear is that Gov. Brian Schweitzer and BLM Director Bob Abbey are reportedly in lock step over plans to swap out all the state land in the Monument. Landowners are aware that monuments have a way of morphing into national parks and the removal of state and private land holdings could be a step toward that end. At present, there is little chance a national park in the Breaks would be approved because parks cost money to run and our...
I got into a squabble with UPS this week. Not with our local driver, Dale. He's great and always takes time for a friendly word. No, my squabble was with an anonymous cipher at UPS dispatch headquarters. It all started with my new job. Several times while he was growing up and later as a young adult, my son Ben worked for me. Now our roles have reversed and I am doing a menial sort of job for his new business. When Ben asked me if I would like to help, he warned me the tasks...
Recently, we suffered the loss of two very fine American politicians: Hugh Carey, a former U.S. congressman and governor of New York, and former U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield of Oregon. First, Gov. Carey. He was elected in 1975, and, like our current President Barrack Obama, inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression. Carey's predecessors in both the state and New York City — both Republicans — had so mismanaged the New York economy that New York went bankrupt. Gov. Carey, an unabashed liberal, righted the economic ship...
On July 21, Gov. Schweitzer was in Fort Hood, Texas, where he suggested by phone to a Montana reporter that ExxonMobil was concealing the presence of "heavy" crude in its Yellowstone Pipeline. "How could we ever sign off on a cleanup if we don't know what we're cleaning up?" asked the governor, accusing the company outright of impeding the cleanup effort. The next morning, a prominently placed headline in the Billings Gazette read, "ExxonMobil not cooperating, Schweitzer says." Sen. Ed Walker There was only one problem: The...
The president's "second stimulus" jobs bill and deficit reduction plan both include measures to increase taxes on domestic oil and gas production, which by extension will penalize consumers, workers and shareholders. The administration's continued pursuit of these controversial tax increases — which have been routinely rejected by Congress — amounts to simple political posturing. But the economic fallout is even less appealing. In 2009, President Barack Obama stood before Congress to present his first $787 billion sti...
Recent media accounts paint a dire outlook for the Montana Teachers Retirement System. The facts, however, tell a different story. Far from needing an immediate and staggering infusion of taxpayer dollars, the fund can be righted with more prudent, gradual and relatively small adjustments. The sooner we make those adjustments, the better the outcome will be for everyone — teachers, retirees, employers and taxpayers. Clearly, the 2008-2009 market plunge and ongoing turbulence have given investors a bumpy ride. When the m...
Sondra Ashton Without trying to eavesdrop, it is funny what one overhears. A couple weeks ago, on my way to Washington, I stopped for a fish sandwich at a diner in Ritzville. As my order to-go was being prepared, I stood back out of the way. I wasn't really paying attention to anything, when I overheard a conversation from behind the counter. The pony-tailed manager harangued his youthful employee. "The orders are backing up. Ya gotta work harder. How ya gonna get anywhere in...
The recent fouling of Montana's Yellowstone River is a warning alarm that we must be more diligent to secure the integrity of our priceless waterways. Yesterday's farmers, ranchers, miners and honyockers needed the rivers. Now, under increasing industrial and population pressures, the rivers need us. As with other states, Montana once mistreated many of our rivers, using them as public sewage dumps and mine waste depositories. Early-day farmers and ranchers dewatered the springs and creeks, grazers ruined the riparian...
Sondra Ashton A friend and I were having lunch. "Listen, I've got to show you this." From his pocket he extracted a slim rectangle, about the size of five credit cards clumped together. "My new smart phone," he bragged. "I've joined the brave new world of multiple communications. I can know immediately what goes on anywhere in the world. Let me show you the things it can do. The only thing I haven't figured out is how to get it to serve me breakfast in bed." "With your job that makes sense. But I'm not that important," I...
I consider myself to be a somewhat mystical person. Some days I am opti-mystic and other times I revert to pessi-mystic. Last Friday I drove to Conrad to visit friends. It was a Friday much like any other Friday. I had not even crossed the county line when a gull flew at me, skirted my windshield and flew on. I thought it looked me in the eye as it flew across the hood. Sondra Ashton I have long had a special relationship to many birds, but especially crows. Once when I had been having a rough day and was driving along in a...
Think the war against workers is only about union members? Think again. One of the story lines that the anti-worker, corporate agenda is trying to sell is the idea that unions did a lot of good a long time ago but they are no longer needed because now we have laws. Well across this nation, anti-worker forces are not only trying to destroy collective bargaining rights, they have launched an all-out assault on the laws that protect all workers and their children. As a result, the political climate is worse now for working...
It is safe to say that the reason we love Montana and choose to live here are the same reasons that 10.5 million people choose to visit our state for a long weekend or their vacation. While research from the UM's Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research shows that non-residents visiting our state are certainly attracted to our two national parks, many enjoy our open spaces, friendly faces and small towns. Nearly 8 percent of Montana's non-resident visitors are from Canada, with 57 percent coming from Alberta and 13...
A friend commented to me the other day that she'd seen someone she knew in town who looked like he'd lost weight, but my friend was embarrassed to ask about any weight loss because she didn't want the guy to feel uncomfortable. Obviously, my friend is socially inept. Who wouldn't want to be asked if they've lost weight? Because "Hey, have you lost weight?" sounds a lot like "You look hot, babe." Even if they say no, they've gained weight, you could say: "Well, you must be...
Alvin "Bud" Christopherson, 86, last week was back in the town where he spent much of his youth. Bud came to Havre from his home in Salem, Ore. to attend his younger brother's funeral. Hank Christopherson, 85, died Oct. 22, marking the passing of another from the Greatest Generation that won World War II for the United States and for civilization. The Christophersons were born and raised in Montana, following their father, who work for the Burlington Northern Railway, up and down the Hi-Line. Havre Daily News/Nikki Carlson...
