Opinion
The Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission is responsible for redrawing state legislative districts to reflect every community in Montana. Voters need to be able to elect legislators who represent different viewpoints and can come together to solve the problems our state faces. This responsibility requires the Commission to ensure voices are heard in every part of our state, and no one is left behind. That is why it was so unfortunate that when the Commission proposed maps earlier this month, the Republican Commissioners put forward two proposals that would both eliminate majority-minority districts and quash the possibility for Native Montanans to elect the candidates of their ch...
“Your bloodwork shows your Vitamin D levels are low,” my doctor admonished me. “Start taking supplements.” Not even sure what vitamin D was for, I followed her advice. Within a week, the pain in my knees had gone away. Amazing, I thought. How often can you solve a problem by simply...
Editor, Tuesday night at the County Community center in Ronan, a meeting was called by the Flathead Irrigation District with the Mission Jocko District attending and our Lake County Commissioners present. Subject in discussion was the collection of irrigation taxes levied twice a year on fee landowners. O...
Editor, Whose interests does Ryan Zinke support? Communities? Businesses? Apparently big businesses. A report from the Dept. of Interior Inspector General office revealed that he intentionally misled investigators (who work under a Trump-appointed Inspector General) while he was the Secretary of the In...
Editor, The season is upon us, and misinformation campaigns are stepping up. As voters, we should check the facts with a variety of reliable sources and take it to heart when people who are asking for our votes lie to us. The popular Inflation Reduction Act has triggered lies from high places: ...
As I helped my 83-year-old grandfather set up his new VR headset recently, I thought about how much technology has changed in the last 30 years alone. As a ‘90s kid, I was a child of the “Tech Boom,” exposed to constantly and rapidly changing technology at a key time in my developm...
Ever heard the common superlative that something can be “The best thing since sliced bread?” While, I will admit to using this phrase on occasion, my opinion has begun to change since moving to Europe. Perhaps this commonly held wisdom isn’t so accurate. Let me explain. Bread is one of t...
Editor, I want to thank the two gentleman employees of Salish and Kootanai Housing Sewer division for their prompt response to my concern of a drainage problem. I appreciated their professional and friendly manner. They assisted me in locating the problem even though it was not the fault of S&K ...
Editor, When I was a boy back in the 1930s and ‘40s, my brother and my way of responding to the adults telling us what to do or what not to do was to speak in Pig Latin. The words “Pig Latin” become “igpay atinlay.” They would often hear “Easeplay ebay iotquay,” o...
As primaries roll out around the country, we’re tracking voter turnout. Raised on Schoolhouse Rock’s cartoon civics lessons, I know that being a good American means voting. Those 1970’s cartoons weren’t wrong. Voting is the most fundamental act of democratic citizenship. That&rsquo...
