Columns

1.   The signing of my bipartisan infrastructure package into law. My top highlight is the bipartisan infrastructure package, which delivers urgently-needed investments to Montana that will support our small businesses, lower costs for working families, and grow our economy—all without raising taxes on Montana families. 2.   Combatting consolidation and boosting competition in the Ag industry. To level the playing field and increase market transparency—bills like our American Beef Labeling Act, our Meatpacking Special Investigator Act, our New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act, one on spot pricing, and recent legislation to suspend foreign impor...

With the unrelenting talk about election fraud, I’ve decided now to clear my conscience and disclose that I voted twice for President in 1996. No, it wasn’t an act of voter fraud. As a delegate to the Republican convention that year, I voted to nominate Bob Dole as the Republican candidate. I vot...

There is a board-game called Pandemic that has been around for years before Covid 19 circled the globe. In Pandemic, you and your fellow players are members of a disease control team. You must work together to develop cures and prevent disease outbreaks, for Pandemic is a cooperative game. The players all wi...

Montana families across the state are feeling the pain in their pocketbooks from inflation and higher prices on everything from gas to groceries to heating their homes. What’s causing this? President Biden and Congressional Democrats’ wasteful spending problems, and their multitrillion dollar rec...

The idea that America is a Christian Nation is a modern myth. The founding documents do not mention Christ or scripture. While the word “God” appears in the opening of the Declaration of Independence, it refers to “Nature’s God,” the god of Deism.  The phrase “IN G...

The winds of change are moving through the ponderosas. The faces and skylines of our towns are fluctuating, growing in ways many Montanans have not seen. The secret has gotten out, and it seems more and more people are flocking to the Last Best Place. What does this mean, though, for the Montana experience? ...

I was an early proponent of online shopping. I lived in a rural community without much access to retail, so it was a natural fit. I even experimented with grocery purchases when it was a new and novel thing. I wrote about the crazy packaging practices of my delivery orders back in 2017. Yes, I was that cutti...

A portion of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act (LJSA) was included in the recent Build Back Better bill that was passed in the House. The LJSA, which has bipartisan support in the House, provides needed support for local journalists across the U.S. and is now being considered in the Senate. While th...

    To be honest, I never expected to be here. Though I’m certainly glad to be. Born and raised in Helena, I went to the University of Montana in Missoula for a degree in classics. For those who might not know, that’s the study of ancient civilizations and cultures, primarily Greek a...

We live in a world full of colors. As an artist and designer, I am fascinated by the way our interpretations and connotations associated with color shape our perception. For example, did you know exposure to bright red or yellow has been shown to increase people’s appetites? That is the reason many res...