Opinion

This column deals with a subject steeped in controversy, and we all know sometimes that can surround the most simplest of tasks, habits or preferences. Which way to hang the toilet paper – over or under? Ketchup as a dipping sauce for pickles and potato chips  - yes or no? Wearing pajamas to the grocery store. Socks with sandals. Pineapple on pizza. Fried eggs on burgers.  And don’t even get me started on the proper way to load a dishwasher.  I understand there’s more than one way to skin a cat, but since I’m a fan of cats we won’t go there. Instead, let’s stick to a controversial topic that doesn’t involve any household p...

During Montana’s 69th Legislative Session, HB 153 was enacted directing the School Funding Interim Commission (SFIC) to update laws focusing on our educational structure and funding. The seated SFIC membership consists of six Senators, six Representatives, and eight individuals representing expertise a...

Emotions are powerful forces within each of us. They can impact our day, our year - perhaps even our life. How we feel about something influences our reactions to it. How we feel dictates our response to the world, the environment. And by and large all of this is beyond our control, correct? Maybe so, may...

Now that wildfire season is here, the elk rut is only two months away and the Big Beautiful Bill has been signed into law by President Trump without any public land sales. What needs to happen with our federal public lands in Montana is active management.  Unmanaged, dying, and fire-prone forests cre...

Editor, Several years ago, I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washinton DC. Upon exiting the museum there was a poem on the wall that brought me to tears. I want to share that poem with you. But first let me tell you about the man who wrote that poem. Martin Niemoller, the author of the poem was a Luthe...

President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill is a tremendous win for Montana. It will spur economic growth, strengthen border security as well as expand Montana’s energy sector and provide much-needed funding for our military. And thanks to the diligent work of the entire Montana congressional delegation...

I write to inform Montanans about the real impact of House Bill 231, the property tax bill that recently became law. While marketed as “property tax relief,” this legislation creates a massive tax shift that will significantly increase the burden on our agricultural community. During legislati...

Gaza is being starved – deliberately, with cruel intention and shocking inhumanity. The photos of skeletal children haunt me. At night when I close my eyes. At dawn when I rise. They should haunt us all – along with the unfathomable suffering the families of Gaza have endured over nearly two y...

WASHINGTON — With unprecedented record-breaking heat waves hitting earlier and earlier for Montana residents, many folks have debilitating heat, wildfires, drought, and soaring energy costs on their minds. For Kalispell residents Jaden Woeppel and Mady Rigg (Miss Montana USA 2023) there’s an o...

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) passed by Congress and signed by President Trump is a game changer that will benefit middle-income, working-class Montanans. Yet Montana Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers (Montana’s top Democrat) said “I just think it is a betrayal of working Monta...