News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 739 - 763 of 3210
I used to have a friend who lived in Paris. Paris is expensive. Angel bought the largest apartment she could afford, and it was tiny. But, because it was in Paris, she had a lot of visitors. Friends and family came to see her and in order to get to her place and back they would take the subway. In the subway are photo booths; they have been there for many years. Angel loved the photo booths, and she would drag every person who visited into one to have their photo taken with...
For as long as I can remember, my brain has been wired to notice those moments in life when two things that are entirely not connected to one another occur at the same time, like when the furnace turns on at the same moment a train whistle blows. Why, with so many elements that govern when a furnace might turn on and when a train whistle might blow and none of the elements having any ties whatsoever, why in all the world would those two things occur at the exact same time?...
Growing up in tiny Harlem, Montana, local shopping — and there was no other kind — consisted of small individual stores for every need. A monthly trip to town and women could stock up on groceries and perhaps check out what’s new at the clothing store. For breakdowns and tractor parts, back in the day, we had a plumber, an electrician, a couple hardware-variety stores, three farm equipment places, two car dealers and an insurance agent. For all things cowboy, we had a saddle s...
I have been studying up on frightening holiday rumors and found some surprises. There is apparently no evidence that any child has ever been poisoned by a Halloween treat. This is according to The New York Times, which investigated it. There was one case of a dentist in California who handed out laxative pills as Halloween candy. That was certainly a terrible thing to do, but not life-threatening. There was a single case of a razor blade found in Halloween candy, but it was la...
Sometimes it feels good to know that in a variety of odd little ways people are doing the best they can with whatever resources they have available. A bus tour business in Hong Kong called ulu travel needed to ramp up income hit hard by lack of tourism. In response the company’s marketing and business development manager, Kenneth Kong capitalized on an idea from a social media post by a friend who said he was stressed out and couldn’t sleep at night, but he could always fal...
Changes happen whether we want them or not, don’t they? It’s just the way it is. This week we in Mexico fell back, time, the clock. Since I’m not tied to a schedule, my body works by the sun. Sunshine, wake up. Sundown, yawn. You’d think the clock change wouldn’t bother me a bit, but it always does, puts me on edge for a few days. I find myself thinking, whether spring or fall, the clock says “seven,” but, the “real” time is “eight.” I was blathering on to my son Ben about i...
November 15th is America Recycles Day; let’s do it properly, America! You think you recycle? Maybe not. Let’s look at a number one reason your recyclables aren’t being recycled. Contamination. Your recyclables must be rinsed out; can’t be dirty- no cigarette butts in your plastic bottles, don’t recycle your spit cans, no diapers and no pizza boxes please! Soiled recyclables are garbage! And…don’t mix your plastics 1 through 7 together unless your recycler has blanket collections. Here’s why you generally don’t mix plast...
I spent yesterday with old friends. It used to be that I would follow the use of “old friends” with the disclaimer that they were “not really old!” This no longer feels necessary. If they are old friends of mine, I now have to say, objectively, they are pretty old. The “occasion” (if you want to call it that) was finally driving my oldest friend, Andrew, to his colonoscopy — which certainly sounds like an old person’s activity. I had been badgering him for months. After h...
I am a 68-year-old retired farmer, fourth generation Montanan and a lifelong avid hunter, angler and conservationist with a degree in wildlife biology and research experience on large predators. I started farming in 1977. Now I own Circle S Ranch in eastern Montana and pay property taxes in five counties. I have always shared the bounty of the ranch with sportsmen and conservationists for free. No one has ever paid a dime for access. My wife and I have been engaged in conservation, habitat improvement, and fish and wildlife...
It is no secret that family farms and ranches face tremendous challenges right now. Corporate monopolies, a changing climate, rising health care costs and a lack of capital are just a few of the obstacles that today’s farmers and ranchers have to navigate to stay on the farm. While the organizations I am proud to be a member of are all focused on the challenges farmers face right now, we also have to keep our eye on emerging perils that could threaten the family farmers of tomorrow. One of these perils is a series of tax p...
The governor’s office called last week and asked if I was interested in visiting a couple of locations in my Senate district. It is hard to tell the governor of Montana “no.” Plus, it seemed like a great opportunity to show off our district. This past Wednesday, I met with the governor and his staff at the Liberty County Medical facility. COVID-19 protocol was in place, as a staff person had just been confirmed positive with the virus. The governor asked questions about staffing challenges. The response from the CEO was a nee...
Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm round of applause as we officially welcome into the human species, and perhaps an election near you, the 80-some hippopotamuses affectionately known as the “cocaine hippos,” and if you are confused, just wait until the end, where I make none of this clear. For those who haven’t heard or read in the news about these hippos and their legal case, the recap of the situation is that in the 1980s four hippos were illegally imported to Colom...
Years ago, when I was in the hospital in India getting a new knee, I walked the corridors as part of my therapy. At the end of the hallway I stood at the window and watched the construction activity across an empty lot. A new building was going up the old-fashioned way, with men’s muscles, not machinery. The empty lot was not really empty. The men’s families were camped in the lot. I’m making an assumption here. Perhaps they were homeless people, but as I watched, they seemed to be the families of the construction worke...
Editor, Sen. Steve Daines is holding the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act — BSCA — hostage. The BCSA, a bill introduced by Sen. Jon Tester, intends to strengthen public land protection while ensuring public access to outdoor recreation and the economic advantages to the Montana economy that follow from it. The BCSA is an outstanding example of what can happen when Montanans work together, because the act stems from collaborative conversations between recreationists, timber companies and conservation advocates that beg...
When I was 8 or 9, I played a game that I invented with my friends. On index cards, alphabetized in a recipe box, were written descriptions of fictional ailments, each with a ridiculous name and an equally ridiculous cure. In order to diagnose what illness my playmates suffered from, I would ask them a list of questions, including, “Do you worry about being late?” “Do you have time to do what you like?” and “Are your shoes or boots uncomfortable?” Then I would just watch them for telltale symptoms, like moving more than t...
My one brief experience with presidential politics occurred in 1995. My candidate was Colin Powell. The great historian Stephen Ambrose had emerged as a leader in the movement to win the 1996 Republican presidential nomination for Powell, and I was able to make contact with him in Helena where he shared a part-time home with his daughter and son-in-law. Ambrose, probably best known in Montana for his authorship of his biographical work on the tragic life of explorer Meriwether Lewis, was also the biographer of Eisenhower,...
Havre lost a great man yesterday, and I would like to personally take this opportunity to recognize what an amazing person Steve Helmbrecht was. First and foremost, if you went to school in Havre, or on the Hi-Line, played a sport, or had just about any other reason to get your picture taken, Steve was usually the guy. As a professional photographer, Steve did incredible work. Not just from an artistic standpoint, but what amazed me more is just how hard he worked. Steve seemed to be everywhere, from team photos, to school...
When a person benefits in some way from the tragic misfortune of another, I think it behooves that person to honor the sacrifice with a moment or two of reflection on life lesson take-aways. Or maybe I just feel guilty about getting official credit for identifying a bird that is a rare find in Montana, when really I only “found” it because my killer-assassin cat offed the bird and dumped its still-warm carcass on my doorstep (as if I would use the bird as his contribution to...
This morning, a friend whom I’ve not yet met sent a photo of foliage turned colors in Maine. Everywhere the season is turning a corner. Maine. Montana. Mexico. Everywhere. Rains are tucked back into their rain locker until next rainy season. We’ve a week with nary a drop of moisture, nary a cloud in the sky-blue sky. Immediately the daytime temperatures ramped up fifteen degrees. I put away the rain towels, draped across my windowsills since June. Just like that, I’m out dragg...
I am a person of generally good habits, which is why it is puzzling when I acquire a bad one. Habits are probably the most important thing when it comes to having a happy life. I eat things that make me feel good and are good for me. I take my long walk every day. I do daily push-ups (even though I hate them). I go to the doctor on a regular schedule, sleep a good amount every night. I haven’t smoked a cigarette since I was in my 20s, when it seemed like fun. I stopped drinkin...
Democrats, led by President Biden, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi, are rushing a reckless $3.5 trillion tax and spending spree bill through Congress that would reshape the very foundation of America and push the U.S. down the path of socialism. The Democrats’ massive bill is the largest spending bill in our nation’s history and will create all sorts of new entitlement programs. To pay for it, Democrats plan to hike taxes across the board, making this bill the largest tax increase in over 50 years. In fac...
Editor: Too often in the world today there is truth in the statement, “These are wild animals, yes, but they are not free animals.” That is case with the American bison in Yellowstone National Park. The bison are wild animals but not free to roam beyond the park’s borders for just beyond those borders are hunters and quarantines waiting to determine their fates. Wild but not free is also descriptive of the big horn sheep in the Absaroka Mountains, mountain goats in the Beartooths, bobcats in the Bridgers, black bears in th...
This is back to normal? 510 Montanans hospitalized with COVID-19 is normal? If that’s the case, all I can say is, yikes. But, normal is exactly what Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said Montana was back to late last spring. And while I admit, at the time, things did start to seem that way, this summer, they took a drastic turn for the worse once again — and now, at least strictly from a data standpoint, Montana is experiencing its worst COVID surge yet. And it’s not even close...
For a very brief period in my youth, I wanted to be famous, which was a very stereotypical urge but strongly at odds with my natural inclination to stay home and not be noticed. If I were going to pull up a couch and have a session about this, I would say that my neurotic teen-self thought being the exact opposite of who I was would be a loftier goal. Fortunately, my practical little heart won that tug of war and I’m all the better for it. Though, if I harbor some desire for a...
Honest to Pete, sometimes I’m blind as a bat. Yes, I know; let the clichés roll on. These last six years that I’ve lived in my Etzatlan house, I thought my bodega roof drained frontward. My neighbor Janet asked if I knew what that large pipe was about on the other side of our shared wall. What pipe? We asked “the boys.” Yes, that pipe drains the gutter from my bodega roof onto the other property and makes a right mess. Joe and Yvonne used to own both houses. They were her...
