Columns

Of all of the work we have accomplished at the Department of the Interior under the Biden-Harris administration, one of the most significant has been the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. In October at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, I listened as President Joe Biden issued a historic apology for the U.S. government’s role in creating and perpetuating the federal Indian boarding school system. As I listened, I remembered my grandma Helen recount the story of when she was taken away to St. Catherine’s Indian Boarding School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She told me about the day a priest from the Pueblo of Laguna came to our village of Mesita, “gathered u...

I’ve written much on grief. In writing class they tell you to write what you know, but this isn’t why I’ve written about the subject. I’ve felt compelled. Driven to do so, in an attempt to share my hard-fought knowledge and maybe, perhaps, help others to understand a non-understandabl...

An effort to honor a young man from Libby who heroically died on the battlefield in Vietnam prompted the creation of one of the first bills coming before the 69th Legislative Session in Helena. SB59 is poised to unite various political personalities behind a tribute to all Vietnam veterans, but particular...

I believe in Santa Claus. When you critically examine the whole narrative, what’s not to believe? Logic is logic and should dictate our beliefs, or lack thereof.  Let’s start with the big guy’s attire. We’re asked to accept the legitimacy of an elderly gentleman in a furry red...

Catastrophic cuts are in the offing for Medicaid, the nation’s largest single source of health coverage, serving primarily low-income Americans. But catastrophe isn’t inevitable.  For some time, Republican lawmakers and allies in conservative think tanks have formulated plans to shrink Me...

Here’s a rhetorical question for Montanans: would you rather state government spend public money on things like billboards in Chicago to attract more tourists, or use that money to lower your property taxes?  I know exactly how my constituents in the Flathead Valley would answer that question a...

Old things are often valued.  An old house is called mid-century modern. Old cheese is aged. Old furniture is antique. Old dishes are Depression glass. Old cars are classic. And we all know wine only gets better with age.  But old people? They are just old (Or seniors, at best.) So w...

Passing family farms and ranches on to the next generation is challenging, and future changes to federal inheritance tax could make this process even more difficult and expensive. Many Montana producers have had to deal with paying the “death tax” for a business that is simply being passed down t...

My journey through grief has been a public one, laid out for you here on these pages. Many of you have walked with me through the healing process, and for that I’m thankful. It’s funny (in a not so funny way) the things that help us heal. For me, much of the healing process has been lead by cr...

There are three words many of us agonize over. I know I spent much of my lifetime doing so. They are words with great meaning and connotations and one shouldn’t take them lightly. “I love you.”  It’s an easy sentence to utter out loud. Eight letters in total. Three simple s...