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As you know by now, Montana boasts a unique and expansive constitutional guarantee to public information. But Montana law allows agencies to charge Montanans a fee for completing Right to Know requests, if the agency chooses to do so. Understanding why different fees are being assessed in different circumstances can be hard. In an effort to better advise Montanans with their information requests and to encourage transparency across state agencies, MTP requested all state executive agencies for their current information request fee policies.  After reviewing the agencies’ fee policies, we found what we’d expected: state agencies do not have a common understanding of ho...

How can it be? Summer has flown by and here we are getting ready to celebrate the end of our Summer Reading Program with a big block party on Thursday, Aug. 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. We’ll have live music, food and drinks available for purchase, another Paper Pie book sale, our prize drawings and of course, ...

We all started out in the same way. As babies. But what would it be like to go back? Imagine being a baby. I’ve thought about this a few times, while watching my grands navigate their way through this world. I imagine myself in their tiny tottering shoes - or bodies, so to speak. And I realize...

We are the Area IV Governing Board and Advisory Council, which oversees older adult services in Broadwater, Gallatin, Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, Meagher, and Park Counties. We write to implore Governor Gianforte’s administration to prioritize improved resources to deliver Older Americans Act services ...

We are all broken. Some have just a dent in the fender; others need a whole new transmission.  We are dinged, bent, damaged, hurt, cracked, confused, crushed and cut to the quick. Because life will sometimes do that to you - to me - to all of us.  It changes us. It challenges us. It tosses...

When my kids were little, they often came to me with “what ifs.” What if the school bus starts to fly? What if we ate dessert first? What if God never invented rabbits? Or ice cream? Or trees? Or bikes? Or the rain? What if my hair turned into spaghetti noodles? What if all the gra...

As a parent, grandparent, and advocate for public education, I am urging you to support Shannon O’Brien for Superintendent of Schools. Shannon is the only candidate who can bring the change we desperately need to support our teachers, parents, and students. Under Elsie Arntzen’s leadership, Mo...

As hard as I try, in the privacy of my own being, not to get caught up in the scathing absurdities of the moment — e.g., the presidential election, America’ looming fascism, our love of money and war (to name a few) — yikes, here I am, caught up in it all. And all I can do is reach for a...

My grand daughter likes to watch a certain movie - over and over again. In it, the protagonist belts out a message in song: Let it go. There’s lots to be learned from Elsa. We should all be better at simply letting it go. Letting things go. Letting the past go.  Forgive. Forget. Lik...

When my kids were babies, I took lots of photos – always hoping to get the one perfect shot. This was during the prehistoric, pre-digital age, when cameras required film and film required developing. You couldn’t take a million pictures and preview them on your screen. You had to send them away a...