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News you can use
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By Ryan Busse After backing out of two traditional debates, Gov. Greg Gianforte agreed to meet me for only one smaller debate this fall. We’ve posted the full debate, which he doesn’t want you to see, online at busseformontana.com. By Gary Busse I invite all Montanans to watch. See for yourself how Gov. Gianforte refused to explain why he jacked up our property taxes by as much as 111%, or why he gave tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires like himself. Gov. Gianforte also refused to explain why, under his watch, Montana...
Published Oct. 3, 2024 Montana has never been more expensive, and Governor Greg Gianforte is pouring gas on the fire. Gianforte raised property taxes by as much as 111%. That’s the largest increase in Montana history. What’s worse, he’s handed out tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires like himself, while pricing hardworking Montanans and seniors out of their homes. One of the most important decisions we face this election year is who we should ask to be our next governor. My name is Ryan Busse. I’m asking for your vo...
Published Oct. 17, 2024 By Ryan Busse I’ve put more than 100,000 miles on Montana’s highways over the past year, listening to people in every corner of our state. There are two issues that come up everywhere I go: The first is Gov. Greg Gianforte’s record high property taxes and the sky-high cost of living here. The second is the governor’s dangerous war on access to our public land and wildlife. While the cost of living in Montana has skyrocketed, Gov. Gianforte made the problem worse by raising property taxes by as much as...
Published Oct. 10, 2024 By Ryan Busse If you live in Montana, there’s no doubt you feel the sting of this sobering fact: Montana just surpassed California to become the most unaffordable state in the nation. That’s not political hype; that’s according to the National Association of Realtors. Out-of-state millionaires and billionaires are flooding into our state, buying up property and jacking up our prices, turning Montana into their own personal playground. Many of our small schools can’t afford to hire teachers or have five...
You may not have had occasion to know what the Clerk of the Montana Supreme does, or how important the office and this election are. The present Clerk is Bowen Greenwood, a Republican and former political director. His opponent, Erin Farris-Olsen, is an experienced attorney with an impeccable reputation for hard work, honesty and integrity. Based on the facts that follow, permit me to recommend, to every Montana voter, that you cast your vote for Erin Farris-Olsen. The duties of the Clerk are administrative and ministerial....
The Montana Supreme Court and Montana Constitution might seem foreign to most Big Sky citizens. But it plays a huge role in our lives. The 1972 state Constitution gives Montanans strong rights to privacy, freedom, a quality education, and ensures we keep our environment clean and healthy so we can enjoy our clean air and water and hold polluters accountable. Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court — one chief justice and six associate justices — ensures we have a fair and impartial justice system to provide a check on our par...
As a former Republican State Legislator here in Montana, a young woman, and a proud fifth-generation Montanan, I find Tim Sheehy’s most recently uncovered comments incredibly dismissive and offensive to young voters across Montana. Sheehy has been on record stating that women under the age of 30 are “indoctrinated” and “single-issue voters” for caring about reproductive rights this election. The issue of reproductive freedom may not be necessary to him, but it is an essential issue to many young Montana women. Sheehy’s...
At a time when climate change has barely been acknowledged in the Presidential debates and most political conversations leading up to this consequential election season, it can be hard to believe we have the collective will to address our shared predicament. When we’re not feeling hopeful, it can be hard to muster the resolve to keep fighting. Ecophilosopher Joanna Macy and her colleague Chris Johnstone have coined the term “active hope” as a way to address this challenge. They explain that “hope” is not a noun but a verb, s...
Property taxes aren’t red/blue or political; the state writes the rules on property taxes, counties follow the rules. And everyone — no matter what your political stripe — pays. It’s no secret that Missoula County and Beaverhead County are opposite in terms of politics, but we’re aligned when it comes to current property tax issues. The governor sent another letter to all Montana homeowners about property taxes, which has likely hit your mailboxes. The letter asserts that 1.) Property taxes are high because some local gov...
We have seen a lot of changes at the Havre paper in the past few months, and I want to thank our readers and all the businesses, organizations and departments in the area for their patience and support as we work through turning into a weekly instead of a daily newspaper. It is my goal to continue to produce a high-quality paper for our area. That being said, I apologize if anything has been falling through the cracks. We are getting more and more used to doing things differently, and I hope things just keep getting better...
Change is never easy and yet it is the only constant in life. This week, we close the chapter on the Havre Daily News and open a new one as the Havre Weekly Chronicle. Before we go into what this change will mean, we would like to explain what this change does not mean. It does not mean this newspaper is close to closing. Switching from a daily to a weekly means giving your community newspaper an opportunity for long-term sustainability and viability. A newspaper is no different than any other main street business. It needs c...
It’s 2024, but it feels like we’re back in 1991 this Women’s History Month. Back then, President George H.W. Bush was following in the footsteps of his predecessor Ronald Reagan by continuing to appoint conservative judges to the federal bench, and Roe v. Wade was expected to fall. Radical anti-abortion activism had gained prominence and strength. Popular media was awash with stories pushing the myth that women were dissatisfied and unhappy — and feminist ideals of women’s empowerment were to blame. Then a blockbust...
In a few short years, Montana State University-Northern will be celebrating the 100th year of its founding. Over the course of the near-century it has been in existence, thousands upon thousands of Montana’s sons and daughters have been educated here in Havre at an institution that is one of the most rural universities in the nation. Our local university thrives because of support from policymakers, community members, business leaders and others who are committed to its success and understand the value of a robust higher e...
Americans have a history of coming together — even if only briefly — during times of crisis. World War I, World War II, the terrorist attacks on Sept, 11, 2001, those times brought Americans together to oppose a common enemy. Republicans and Democrats in Congress alike supported presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s call to protect Americans and the world in global wars, and the nation came together to stand against terrorism in September 2001. Another was when America joined allies from around the world...
Though a lifelong Democrat, lately I’ve been spending time working actively with Republican friends I have known and respected for decades. My friend Mick Ringsak and I have been conducting joint interviews and meetings advancing the cause of political civility in this age of tribalism. My most recent column about my Republican friend Wade Dahood, Delegate to Montana’s Constitutional Convention, also focused on civility and respect. I’m working with my GOP friend Bob Brown, former president of the Senate and secretary of stat...
It seems sort of simple. Hill County received money from the federal government to help cover expenses of dealing with a worldwide pandemic and national emergency. The Hill County Health Department has incurred major extra expenses dealing with that national emergency and global pandemic, including hiring additional staff members, incurring overtime by department staff members and getting additional equipment and supplies. Therefore, the Hill County Commission should provide the health department with the American Recovery...
The Hill County Commission apparently has appointed a new Hill County attorney. It also apparently, and ironically, broke state law in its appointment of the highest legal officer in the county. The commission’s weekly calendar for next week reports the oath of office will be administered Monday to the new county attorney, who will take the place of Karen Alley, who resigned to take a position out of the area. Appointing a county attorney to fill the term is not the problem, in fact, it is the duty of the county commission t...
With numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths continuing to go up in this region and across Montana and the nation, people need to follow Gov. Greg Gianforte’s request and use personal responsibility to deal with this pandemic. And the numbers are going up faster than they did a year ago despite people being vaccinated and many people already having had the disease, which also increases resistance, although not as much as vaccination, health experts say. Hill County is reported to have 6,914 people fully vaccinated, 52 percent o...
Havre Daily News offers its deepest condolences to the families of the people who died and to the people injured in the derailment Saturday near Joplin. And we offer our deepest thanks to the people who responded to help. The situation is tragic, with three people killed, several hospitalized and dozens or more injured of the 141 people traveling on or 16 working on the train. We cannot express how sorry the tragedy makes us feel. And thanks to the dozens, likely hundreds, of people who responded to help. Emergency...
Twenty years ago Saturday, the world changed. People in the United States and around the world watched in shock and horror as terrorists hijacked airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington and a fourth plane, believed to be targeting the White House or U.S. Capitol, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew heroically overcame the hijackers. And people watched the bravery and selflessness of the emergency responders who worked to fight...
The situation in Rural Fire District 1 is mind-boggling. It seems fairly simple. Havre Fire Department has had an agreement to put out fires in the district, a ring that runs around the outside edge of Havre. Havre’s government said violations on fire codes have been found in the district, putting residents and firefighters at risk when fires occur. That includes the Havre Fire Department responding to a fire at a location where large amounts of flammable liquid were stored that the firefighters didn’t know about. They wou...
Here I am again, sitting at my computer, staring at a blank page of paper that’s not real paper, waiting for inspiration to write, to share with you, the latest happenings in my real life. And one of the most real things that occurs to me is guilt. I feel guilty. Real good ol’ Catholic guilt. Let’s take the little things first. Every day it rains, here on the high plateau surrounded with mountains in central Mexico. Beginning in June, through July and now into August. The e...
I have never been a gardener. This makes me feel like a misfit in my family. My mother is a wonderful gardener. She had an enormous vegetable garden in the suburbs before it became fashionable to do so. Her mother was also an avid gardener. She escaped the demands of 11 children by spending time with her flowers. There are photos of my grandma in her garden and she looks as if she is having a wonderful time, but I figure any activity that would allow you to escape the demands...
Management of natural resources needs to be a long-view and long-term proposition. This is not to say that some short-term issues cannot be addressed with temporary short-term action. In managing uses, economic opportunity and values of natural resources, there are and needs to be multiple “tools” available. Limiting ourselves to one tool is not in natural resource values or our best interest. Rarely do natural resource management challenges have single “silver bullet” solutions. In practice managing natural resourc...
Watching the county commission handle whether Hill County should have a mask mandate has been like watching The Keystone Cops. Except it isn’t funny. The chair of the Hill County Board of Health, Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson, said Monday the mask mandate is over. Whether he had the authority to do that is another question, but more on that later. After COVID-19 numbers and deaths shot through the roof in the state and in Hill County last fall and early winter, the county issued a mask mandate and shortly afterward G...
