Columns
I have been studying HB 102, the new bill which was just passed in the MT House. The bill would expand places where guns are permitted, namely universities, bars and restaurants. I would like to start by revisiting the conversation about guns in public spaces. I feel we need to have an honest discussion about the future and how we can bring together gun owners and non-gun owners – a space where both sides feel they have a voice. Having grown up with my dad as a hunter, and now my sister and he both needing a gun since they work with animals on her farm, I’m OK with everyone having their own guns at home. But, when did we start to accept having guns in public spaces without li...
If the past year’s challenges posed by the pandemic have taught us anything, it’s that Montanans in all corners of the state need increased, more affordable access to healthcare, and my bill moving through the state legislature will do just that. I’m sponsoring Senate Bill 101 to authori...
In 2015, the City of Polson asked local citizens to volunteer for the Economic Development Council. As a business owner on Main Street since 1994, I thought I might have something to offer and volunteered. Our first task was to review and advise the city council on the use of a resort tax. The Monta...
As we finish up the second week of the legislative session, it is not business as usual in Helena due to COVID–19. One of our first duties was to change our operating rules that allow the public and legislators to participate in person, via videoconference or telephone. This is our first session t...
This budget is a good starting point and continues to fund the state agencies and outdoor programs that support wildlife protection, enhance public access, and conserve our working lands. Previous legislatures and administrations have made incredible progress to make Montana the world-class sporting and recr...
By Heather O’Loughlin, co-director, Montana Budget & Policy Center Imagine someone gave you a million dollars and told you to spend $1,000 every day and come back when you ran out of money. You would return in less than three years. If someone then gave you a billion dollars and you spen...
Montana, along with the rest of the U.S., has suffered through almost an entire year filled with the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. The impact on our health can be quantified by infection rates, the number of hospitalizations, and COVID-19 related deaths. Quantifying the effects on our economy is mu...
POLSON — January has finally arrived and with it has brought us our new Youth Services Librarian, Felicia Gill. We are very excited to have Felicia join our team here at the library and she is already thinking up ideas for children’s programming. We will continue to do virtual programs for a whil...
“In a clear betrayal of our state and of President Trump, Senator Daines slipped the CSKT Water Compact into the coronavirus relief bill, despite his legislation having nothing to do with coronavirus. With a less than 5 percent chance of being enacted, the deceptively-named “Montana Water Rights ...
Imagine if you would – without warning, and quite against your freewill – you find yourself traveling to another dimension. It is a dimension of sight and sound and mind. It lies between the pit of our fears and the summit of our knowledge. It came quietly and is invisible, yet deadly. It knows n...
