News you can use
News you can use
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“Ba ba ba ba boom. Take me in your lovin’ arms and never let me go. Whisper to me softly while the moon is low.” I woke in the night with the inimitable voice of Jo Stafford as she swayed in her chiffon dress, singing at the mike, complete with the “Ba ba ba ba booms,” the band members behind her, all in handsome suits, well, handsome for that nugget in time. “Hold me close and tell me what I wanna know; Say it to me gently, let the sweet talk flow.” Remember when all the...
A cousin of mine reportedly said, “I can’t imagine living in a house where other people have lived!” I don’t know if she really said this, as I heard the story secondhand. But it stuck in my mind because every home I’ve owned has been lived in by other people, and a few people have died in them as well. So far, this has not bothered me in the least. I’m used to living in the homes of dead people. The first house I bought was owned by a woman named Ruby. She was still living th...
I hope that this communication finds you enjoying the summer! We are busy preparing for the return to school in August. It is exciting to see so many students involved in our Summer Learning Program under the direction of many of our highly-qualified teachers and paraprofessionals in the district. Additionally, our summer driver’s education program and Extended School Year programs are providing essential instruction and preparing students for the 2021-2022 school year. As a reminder, our summer meal program is available a...
We at the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in the inaugural Bear Paw Marathon this last weekend. With both in-person and virtual events we had a combined 306 registrants! We could not have put this amazing event together without the help of our supporters. Thank you to our sponsors that gave both monetarily and in the form of donations: Enell, Havre/Hill County Tourism Business Improvement District, BNSF, Treasure State Title Company, NorthWestern Energy,...
You know I love a good nature article, one that will amaze, amuse or confuse me, even startle, horrify or repulse a little bit. I look for these articles in the news, but I didn’t expect to live them this week. Who would, really. It started Monday with the call of a new bird and the sound of a strange cat among the chattering of birds in the jungle of our yard. I quickly spotted a little gray bird flitting among the chokecherry branches and grasses, blathering on with some s...
Funny how some things never change. Remember back in school days when you had a big test coming up? Perhaps you went to bed worried and woke queasy, not wanting breakfast? I’m sure we all approached tests differently yet we each felt tinges of apprehension, dreadlocks of fear? I did well on tests, especially essay tests. I disliked multiple choice, gambler’s choice, because I had a tendency to overthink the possibilities. I could generally reason out how A, B, C and D cou...
“Do you have time for this?” my husband, Peter, asked. Peter almost never questions what I’m doing unless I’m doing something particularly stupid. Yesterday, I had a meeting on Zoom. I figured I could finish my work, take my walk early, then run downtown and get my errands done all in time for my meeting. “Sure!” I assured him. Peter looked skeptical. “Maybe I’ll skip the stop at the hardware store,” I added, to pacify him. But the hardware store was right on the way, as I...
I’ll ease you into things with a light-hearted science story, but I’m wrapping it up with some serious monkey business, so you might want to sit down. Scientists have figured out that bees can tell time, but the results are not the most interesting thing about this research. A scientist put a container of sugar water outside a beehive every day at 4 p.m. and one day he didn’t put the sugar water out, but the bees showed up anyway. Ta-dah, the researcher said, they tell time....
Spring in Montana has brought hopeful signs that the pandemic is loosening its grip. And with summer arriving, we can start to focus on recovery. For Montana’s school-aged youth, recovery may mean making up for lost learning, regaining stability and enjoying more fun, carefree moments with their peers. Despite the heroic efforts of educators & community partners across our state, many students lost ground over the past year, struggling with lost instruction time, social isolation, hunger and mental health challenges. W...
During the 2021 Legislative Session, our legislators worked to find bipartisan solutions to some of Montana’s most challenging issues. Problems with no silver-bullet solutions, like increasing access to affordable childcare, housing that everyday Montanans can afford, and food security – something as basic as knowing where your next meal might come from. One in 10 Montanans lives in a food insecure household, including 35,500 children. Double SNAP Dollars is a nutrition program that stretches the dollars of SNAP cus...
A couple thousand years ago, somebody famous, broadly paraphrased, said, we do things we know aren’t good for us (or for others) and don’t do the things we know to be good. Well, what can I say? The shoe fits. Oh, I can always say more. Not only do I do what’s not good for me, but I lie to myself and convince myself that it doesn’t really matter. I’ve worked hard at catching myself and changing my mind before rip-roaring into action. About 40 years of hard work. And it is hard...
I just learned that my ex-husband has remarried. I learned this as we learn about all important life milestones these days: on Facebook. There were photos taken in the Caribbean. My ex-husband and his new bride were walking barefoot on the beach. She was carrying her shoes and their feet were wet and probably the most surprising thing to me was how sincerely I wished them well. It is common practice to offer our best wishes when we are actually wishing nothing of the kind....
This past week brought some much-needed good news for the folks who live and work in Havre and across the Hi-Line. On May 24th, full, daily Amtrak service returned to the Northern tier of our state after painful, short-sighted cuts imposed last year furloughed employees and reduced service to just three days a week. The cuts to Amtrak were a punch in the gut, and an attack on Montana’s frontier communities. Folks from Wolf Point to Libby and everywhere in between depend on reliable, frequent Amtrak service—and the Empire Bui...
There is something about a barn that speaks to the soul, and I’m not just saying that because I have one — or rather I have both — a barn and a soul. I’ve been working on my barn recently, and it’s given me a lot of time to think on the topic. Barns are kind of the poster children of rural living, literally the image of rural living. I googled it. Actually, I did an image search for the term bucolic. The word means “relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside...
When I moved to Mexico, one of the first things I learned was to check inside my shoes before inserting feet. Evidently that is a popular hiding place, nesting site, attack barricade for scorpions. Next, I was told, never go barefoot. Not outside. Not inside. Thus, my night sandals live at bedside. One thing I can tell you for sure, if you’ve never in your life seen a scorpion, when you first see one, you will know exactly what it is, no doubts. Same as when you first hear a...
The old wooden folding table belonged to my grandma. I don’t remember her ever using it. After she moved out of her house and into a retirement home, my sister inherited the table, but she didn’t use it much, either. The table has four wooden folding chairs that tuck beneath it and the whole thing rolls on casters. My husband, Peter, and I are moving to be closer to family and we don’t have a serviceable table for our new place. “Bring the folding table when you come,” I told...
After session adjourned, Judy and I took a few days for ourselves. We have six grandkids in Wyoming from ages 4 to 17. So, we went south and celebrated two birthdays and attended both a track meet and soccer game while visiting two of our kids and both their families. Seems, “Let’s go, Papa” was the word for the visit. The youth do step out at a brisker pace than I most often use. That being said, it was good to get home just in time for 8-plus inches of snow following about a half inch of rain. As I mentioned in my last...
With one headline, Live Science promised me an epic tale of adventure, heroism and more than just a little absurdity: “After a Chinese zoo covered up a leopard escape, 100 chickens are searching for the big cat.” My gaaaawd! The chickens in China are forming a hunting party to track down an actual leopard? One hundred chickens, all focused on one objective against a fierce predator? Chickens? Hunting leopards? Imagine that if you will, if you can. Maybe they’re hunting in pa...
How many ways are there for illegal migrants to die crossing or trying to cross our border? The list keeps growing, encouraged by policies and messaging from the Biden administration. Three people were recently killed, and dozens hospitalized, after a smuggling boat overturned and broke apart off the San Diego coast. The Border Patrol said there has been a 92 percent increase in maritime apprehensions of smugglers in 2020 as compared with the previous year. In March, 13 people died when an SUV, filled with 25 illegal...
I am a blade of grass. When I don’t have water I turn brown, crisp, wither into the ground. I lie dormant until such time as rains come. I am the same as a blade of grass — except that I can reach for water. My cousin, that blade of withered grass, can send its roots only so far into the ground until it hits bedrock or can grow no further. On second thought, I am a blade of grass. It rained. You would have thought Christmas, Easter, the Fourth of July, and my birthday all cam...
Love them or hate them, most Americans pay their fair share of taxes into the government’s coffers as a basic duty. In return, we get roads, schools, law enforcement, health services, clean air and water, and other public goods that benefit everyone. But for too long, the rules that apply to most of us have been shirked by the richest households and corporations — those who can afford to pay their fair share, but thanks to loopholes, lobbying and preferential treatment, seldom do. Every year, dozens of Fortune 500 cor...
Everyone knows that I am attached to my desk. I would argue I have good reason. My desk is an extension of myself. Whereas other people are attached to their phones, I frequently lose track of mine. (Just writing this made me wonder where it was. Don’t worry; I found it.) My desk is my home inside my home. I hear about people working from their couch or from their kitchen table or even from their bed and I cannot imagine it. My desk is always tidy. I always have fresh f...
At the May Park Board meeting we were told that the park will continue to lethally trap beavers until the “population is under control.” When questioned “what will be the standard for the population being under control,” other than a comment about activity, there was not an explanation of what the standard and or measure of population will be. When further pressed about the consensus of the board considering wildlife or wildlife habitat in decisions for the park, the response from the chairman was: It will be conside...
Superintendent of Public Instruction Arntzen, as an elected official, has the responsibility to serve all Montanans — not just some. Instead, she needlessly and recklessly chose to place Montana’s public education system in the crosshairs of a national political debate. Her recent opinion piece undermines long-established critical race theory that recognizes slavery, segregation, redlining, and other oppressive policies and laws are part of America’s history. When we do not acknowledge and examine how those things impac...
Today’s students are tomorrow’s citizens. We need all Montanans to understand, and care about, the future of our state and nation. We need them to study our founding documents, and understand what makes the United States so exceptional. And we need them to comprehend when our country has fallen short of its lofty goals, and how ordinary citizens and leaders alike have come together to enact change to guarantee we learn from our history and that the same mistakes are not repeated. In order for that to happen, we must ens...
