News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 5750
Editor, Recently a professor at MSUN wrote critical comments after the shooting of Charlie Kirk. The right wing MAGA crowd complained to Chancellor Greg Kegel and instead of defending the professor's right of free speech, he suspended her from her teaching duties. This is the act of a coward. Free speech and critical inquiry are essential to a university. Now any faculty member or staff will have to be careful not to offend the MAGA lynch mob lest they lose their jobs. I demand Kegel immediately resign. He has no business...
Dear editor, Montana's 20-year-old Clean Indoor Act just got an upgrade. The Montana Legislature, earlier this year, passed a bill that adds e-cigarettes (vape) to our long-standing smokefree law. It’s now illegal to vape in public indoor spaces, including all places of employment, bars, casinos, and restaurants. This law protects people from second-hand exposure to e-cigarette aerosol, which can include cancer-causing chemicals, heavy metals, and ultrafine particles that can lodge deep in the lungs. It also sends a clear m...
I never had a mom but there was a woman who birthed me and with whom I had a strained and tenuous relationship, that mom. I was four when my Mom was committed to the State Hospital in Madison, Indiana. She never left the institution until the late 60s or early 70s when those institutions were pretty much shut down and residents parceled out into group homes, each with a shopping bag of medicines. Yeah, I’m biased. I remember almost nothing of my early childhood except the “last straw” in which there were threats and viole...
I am going to New York. I have not been to New York since before the pandemic. I bought a half-price ticket to see a show on Broadway before catching my flight home. I was very glad I went, since it was such a long time before I could see another play. But now I am going back because the publisher of my book is having an open house for the authors with books coming out in 2025 and 2026, and I think that sounds like a lot of fun. They are serving snacks and beverages, and all...
Editor, This past Festival Days weekend did not disappoint: beautiful weather, family activities galore, exceptional parade, vendors for miles, demolition derby, sales at local merchants, special events at museums, and music, music, music! The community was abuzz with activity and events were run smoothly and efficiently by teams of volunteers doing work behind the scenes for months to make each event seem effortless. To each of you, from those of us who participated and enjoyed these events, we say THANK YOU and GREAT JOB!...
Editor, I’m writing this letter to the citizens of Havre. Serena Dawson is running for City Court Judge, and I wanted to share some information in support of Serena and why I believe she is a good candidate for Havre’s City Judge. Serena is from Simms, Montana, and is the daughter of two schoolteachers, her father also being a Veteran for the U.S. Army. She started her college education here in Havre at MSU-Northern, graduating with a bachelor’s degree and settling down to make Havre her home with her husband, Scott Dawso...
My daughter and I were talking about a favorite author, Louise Penny, and about the village life she created. Dee Dee said, “I want to live in Three Pines.” “I do too,” I responded. The phone was quiet for a minute. A minute can be a long time. “Mom, I think you already live there.” Another quiet minute. “You are right. I do.” Back in 2018 I wrote a blurb or a blathering, depending on you point of view. Yesterday I pulled it up because my stubborn printer needed a test page. I...
It is the time of year for vegetable gluttony. The truth is, I am a vegetable glutton all year round. I blame my mother. My mom grew up on a farm, and when my sister and I were growing up, my mother was one of the first moms in our suburb to plant a big vegetable garden. We had beans and tomatoes and zucchini, and I don't remember what else. I loved vegetables from a very early age. My mother would serve whatever we were eating in a large serving bowl, and if there was...
A mistake is not always a mistake. I have a bit different attitude toward making mistakes than some of my good friends. I’ve learned. I’ve learned that mistakes lead to more learning. Mistakes lead to understanding that which I might have missed if I thought I always had to be right. Any gardener knows mistakes are made. Ha! Garden mistakes are often not under our control. Correction. Garden mistakes are never under our control. We put ourselves and our planting into the han...
I am the inaugural Mansfield Chair of Japan and Indo-Pacific Affairs at the University of Montana. This position, named for former ambassador to Japan and longtime Montana Senator Mike Mansfield was made possible through a generous donation from the Japanese government to the university. Along with educating a new generation in international affairs and conducting research, I will also work with the Mansfield Center at the university to promote international exchange and bring Montana to the world and the world to Montana. Re...
My mother told me she was worried that her cat, Katy, needed to lose weight. Privately, I agreed. My sister and I spent the weekend with my parents up at their cabin in the woods. Their cat, Katy, is now middle-aged and not as active as she used to be. She is no longer allowed outside because she is an excellent bird killer. So Katy spends a lot of her time napping — something cats are very good at (and something I think is a good idea for people as well). But over the years,...
The courts keep finding that a whole lot of what President Trump does is illegal, so why does he keep on playing the role of the outlaw? The courts recently struck down tariffs, Harvard funding cuts, National Guard deployment to L.A., Alien Enemies Act deportations, and ending the protected legal status of Haitians and Venezuelans. Here is my top ten list of reasons why the Commander-in-Chief keeps going back to the same old playbook even after getting his knuckles rapped. 10. His base only cares what he says and not what he...
On March 22, 1972, after 54 days of working together, all 100 Constitutional Convention (ConCon) delegates (58 Democrats, 36 Republicans and 6 Independents) walked up the center aisle and affixed their signatures to Montana’s new Constitution. Such unanimity surprised the delegates, who did not know if some might withhold their signatures. For there had been vigorous discussion and debate among the 100 delegates as the ConCon proceeded. But those discussions and arguments were carried on without rancor. The 100 seemed to s...
I fell off the wagon big time this morning, first thing too, with nary a thought for the consequences. A year ago, when I moved to Oconahua, I sold or gifted about 100 of my pots, all because my new patio was too small to hold more than a few herbs and a half dozen geraniums. When I moved back, I took the Pledge that I would not buy any more new pots or plants, other than replacements, when necessary, for those which died of natural causes, but nothing new that required more...
In a recent Frontier Institute piece on Montana’s budget growth, Kendall Cotton argued that we need clear, fair ways to measure state spending. I agree — because transparency builds trust. While I align with Kendall’s advocacy for limited government, his analysis here misses the mark. By treating transfers between state accounts as direct spending, it inflates the numbers and overlooks real fiscal stewardship. Let’s break it down with some Montana common sense. Imagine you’re a farmer setting aside part of your wheat che...
Elk don’t like roads. That’s the overwhelming conclusion from numerous studies conducted by multiple researchers and funded by organizations such as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. They’re particularly reticent to reside around roads during hunting seasons. Cut a road into prime elk habitat and it doesn’t make the hunting better. To the contrary, it pushes elk into less accessible areas. Where public lands adjoin private, new roads may cause elk to flee to private land and become off-limits to public harvest. I’ve seen the...
This weekend’s Montana Democratic Party convention in Livingston may be three days of handwringing over commas and word definitions. Still, it could also be the most consequential convention in party history. At a time when Democrats are weighed down by criminal investigations, infighting, and leadership frozen in the headlights, county committees are joining forces to propose a slate of reforms to keep insiders honest and lobbyists at bay. That is, if we can get out of our own way first. The first motion on the agenda is a...
The 2025 Havre Fossil Festival was a fantastic event, and we are indebted to our classmates who planned it so superbly. It brought us back to our foundational roots at a time when we needed it. It reminded me of the French approach to describing area excellence. They call the environment of a vineyard “terroir”, which includes soil composition, sunlight exposure, climate, and rainfall. “Terroir” virtually defines the grapes produced by a particular vineyard and the resultant wine. Some would describe the Havre “terroi...
Years ago, a friend, I don’t remember who, told me that every day we have a million-dollar idea but that they skim by so quickly that we seldom catch one. I don’t remember which long-ago friend posited this preposterous notion. I do remember that I said, “Hmmm. Um hmmm,” while nodding my head, wide-eyed. I never forgot the notion. Now and then I catch a nodding acquaintance with one of my million-dollar ideas. Hence, the following. Nostalgia is big these days. Grossly misplac...
School is up and moving here at Havre Public Schools. As our Ponies are now filling up the classrooms, we reflect upon where we want to go this year. The 2025-26 school year has high expectations from our staff when it comes to meeting the needs of all children attending our district. Over the summer, Havre Public Schools has updated carpet in the middle school band and choir rooms. Roof updates have occurred at Sunnyside Intermediate, along with siding updates to the west side of Lincoln McKinley. All route transportation...
My niece Isabelle is leaving for Argentina, and I don't know how I'm going to stand it. Isabelle is an adult, although I don't know how that is possible, because I remember clearly the day she was born, on an extraordinarily cold day 22 years ago, and surely, I can't be that old. I arrived at the hospital with a bouquet of flowers and a Mylar balloon that had gone flat because it could not stay inflated at below-zero temperatures. But Isabelle thrived. I like to think that I h...
My niece Isabelle is leaving for Argentina, and I don't know how I'm going to stand it. Isabelle is an adult, although I don't know how that is possible, because I remember clearly the day she was born, on an extraordinarily cold day 22 years ago, and surely, I can't be that old. I arrived at the hospital with a bouquet of flowers and a Mylar balloon that had gone flat because it could not stay inflated at below-zero temperatures. But Isabelle thrived. I like to think that I h...
