Opinion
Editor, If you are a customer of Mission Valley Power (MVP) you have no doubt noticed a huge increase in your electric bills the last two years, and another increase is coming in 2026. You have also noticed there is a 3-tier rate system, where the more you use the higher the per KWH rate is. My family has rented an all-electric house (including heat) for 10 years and the last bill my landlord presented me with for January was twice as what it was two years ago. I just checked Missoula Electric Co-Op (MEC). They have a flat rate of 6.99 cents whereas MVP has a rate of 8.8 cents under 1000 KWH used, 9.83 cents for over 1000 KWH, and 12.19 cents per KWH for over 2000 KWH used...
I grew up poor, that is, American poor. I fantasized about food at night–mashed potatoes, buttery dinner rolls, raspberry cheesecake. I would wake up and imagine a breakfast–strawberry waffles with whipped cream, cold orange juice–then, talk myself toward accepting what I knew was there&nda...
Over the last four-plus years I’ve given a lot of time thinking about emotions - joy, bliss, sorrow, anger and everything in-between. I’ve struggled. I’ve failed. I’ve crawled out of the rubble. I’ve found glimmers of sunlight. I’ve had moments of success, amidst the...
Editor, Two acres of landscaping was too much for my mom to handle, so she hired a gardener. A high schooler, I had never seen anyone work so hard; planting, weeding and raking. My mom took him iced tea mid-morning and homemade cookies at lunchtime. The sweat on his brow glistened as I practiced my Spanis...
The Sun is approximately 93 million miles from the Earth, yet we receive its warmth from the photons it sends across the void of space. We depend on Sun’s energy to survive, but currently our planet is warming too much. Sunlight is a form of electromagnetic radiation. The Sun releases photons carryi...
“[Political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying af...
Dear Chair Kaltschmidt and Chair Wittich: This letter serves as a written protest to appeal the failure to recognize the voting rights of Senators Ellsworth, Gillespie, Hunter, Kassmier, Lammers, Loge, McKamey, Temple, and Vance and/or their proxies at the Montana Republican State Central Committee ...
I never met Pat Williams but I believe he was a good person and a good congressman. I also have a personal story to share about Pat. Not so much tribute, it’s more admonishment for Democratic leaders during these dark times. Following the 2000 election, Pat shared his opinion on local public radio t...
Editor, By the slimmest of majorities, Republicans of the 119th Congress just rammed through their Big Ugly Bill, a regressive tax-and-spending blueprint that redistributes wealth from the poorest to the richest Americans over the next decade. Montana’s entire GOP delegation voted for this atrocity....
I just finished a two week visit with the three grands. (And two with the three ‘aint bad.) Their house is undergoing a refinement and they needed a place to stay. (Me, the effervescent grammy, with hand in the air) “Oh, pick me, pick me!!” They needed a place to stay. I needed the...
