Columns

The yearly calendar tells us (or at the very least gives us clues) as to what we should dwell on - a.k.a. think about at any given time. We just passed the back-to-school, number-two pencil, don’t wear white after Labor Day stage and are entering the spooky, scary movie, costumized, pumpkinized, trick or treat, break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar month. After that comes November, and we all know what November brings - well, besides turkeys. I’m talking about thankfulness. It’s never too early, or too late to be thankful. In this vein, this year, I’m getting a jump on gratitude. Here’s my list, but please, please put together one of your own. (I...

It’s no secret that I don’t look like most of my colleagues in Washington DC. They don’t run a farm when they’re back home, you won’t find them swapping out duck foot shovels or greasing a combine, and to my knowledge no one else is missing a few fingers from an unlucky childhoo...

Montana is again being recognized as a leader on protecting our citizens’ privacy in the age of technology. The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently ran an article with the headline “Montana’s New Genetic Privacy Law Caps Off Ten Years of Innovative State Privacy Protections.” ...

October 1st is the deadline to claim your $675 property tax rebate for this year. Tens of thousands of Montana property owners have already claimed theirs. If you’re a Montana resident who pays property taxes on your primary residence, head to: getmyrebate.mt.gov as soon as possible to claim yours.&nbs...

I write as a concerned tax payer in Lake County. I’ve learned the Ronan City Planning Board is reviewing a proposed major subdivision (as defined by Montana law). The proposal is to create a 221 lot subdivision, with allowance to have duplexes for a total of 442 units (w/additional lots in a future rev...

Wow, what a busy summer. We have had so much happening at the library both in our temporary space and with our building renovation. We wrapped up our annual Summer Reading Program Aug. 17 with ice cream, prize giveaways and children’s book author Valerie Bolling. What a treat! Valerie read to over 100 ...

We are currently facing three inter-related existential crises: —Climate change causing droughts, storms, floods, killer heatwaves, wildfires and rapidly approaching global tipping points. In addition to the death and destruction resulting from these natural disasters, some experts predict more than...

The 2023 legislative session wrapped up less than five months ago. Many bills don’t go into effect until Oct. 1 of this year, Jan. 1 of next year, or later. But several of the bills that became law this spring and summer are already having a noticeable impact in Montana.  Perhaps the most stark...

After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Oppenheimer saw immediately that any nation with adequate resources would be eventually able to build a weapon, and that something as gargantuan as an H-bomb had no possible military function. It could only be a mechanism for genocide. As he tried to use his immense s...

I just finished a visit with my littles, aka grands. They are five dollars, nearly three dollars and 25 cents, if we are counting in years. It was a giggly, playful, cuddly, I’m not hungry, I’m so hungry, I’m not tired, I just fell asleep sitting up, I don’t have to go, I have to g...