Opinion / Column
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View from the North 40: This should be National Word Appreciation week
In honor of 14-year-old Dev Shah of Florida, who won the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday, this week’s column is about official words. Scripps uses the Merriam-Webster... — Updated 6/2/2023
Common Sense Investments for Havre and the Hi-Line
The dust seems to be settling on the 68th session of the Montana Legislature, and I want to thank the residents of House District 28 for allowing me the privilege of serving Havre and northern Montana in the House of... — Updated 6/2/2023
Looking out my Backdoor: Looking through a flawed lens
An acquaintance stopped by the other day for a visit. Most people would have said, a friend. Another man, a close friend from years ago, whom I miss terribly but can visit only in... — Updated 6/2/2023
The Postscript: Too old
My new friend, Betty Lou, started a book club, and she asked me to join. I was delighted. I hadn’t been in a book club for a long time. Because she is a librarian, Betty Lou knows... — Updated 5/30/2023
View from the North 40: It's the news you most likely can't use
In April, the Belgian coastal town of De Panne crowned the top seagull screecher in the closing ceremony of its European seagull immitation championship. Reuters reported in an... — Updated 5/26/2023
Guest Opinion: Taking on China to defend our Montana way of life
With the weather finally warming up here for spring time, I’ve been spending a lot of time out on my tractor finishing up planting. Every year, I plant my fields with crops like wheat, barley, peas and millet. The days are... — Updated 5/26/2023
Looking out my Backdoor: Translations
Dear Kathy and Richard, Thank you for sending the amazing photos that you take on your walking tours throughout the mountains of France. They are truly beautiful glimpses into the... — Updated 5/26/2023
The Postscript: Too old
My new friend, Betty Lou, started a book club, and she asked me to join. I was delighted. I hadn’t been in a book club for a long time. Because she is a librarian, Betty Lou knows... — Updated 5/23/2023
View from the North 40: I recommend you don't goat there
Though this is not the year of the goat, one goat’s demands for attention were recently met with an official response that two officers may learn to regret. An Enid, Oklahoma... — Updated 5/19/2023
Governor hurt mobile home residents with veto
If you are an elderly Montana veteran on Social Security in a mobile home park, Gov. Greg Gianforte does not have your back! Montana’s manufactured homeowners had just two minutes to defend their homes in hearings on HB 889... — Updated 5/19/2023
Looking out my Backdoor: Sometimes a shadow
Up at 6:30 and out the door to walk Lola. The sun is almost up, the sky spread cool with night clouds. These days, when Lola and I go walk-about, I have an entourage. A few months... — Updated 5/19/2023
The Postscript: Happy place
I have a sticker that says “My Happy Place,” and I kept it for a while, wondering where to put it. In the end, I stuck it near my desk so I could see it while I write. I am... — Updated 5/16/2023
Tax cheats and the debt dilemma
Americans have always commonly agreed that taxes are the price of a civilized society. Only relatively recently has the idea that “taxation is theft” been seriously suggested in the public discourse. People who claim not to... — Updated 5/16/2023
View from the North 40: It is easy being green, right now
I love living where we have four seasons, even if only two of the four are really likable — and with all due respect to fall, spring is my favorite time of year. If I continue... — Updated 5/12/2023
Looking out my Backdoor: 'Be Here Now' (Travel later)
Thank you, Ram Dass. I confess, I’ve not read his book of above title. But I understand the concept, some. I do be, and I be where I am planted, and I be where I am right at this... — Updated 5/12/2023
The Postscript: Taking pictures
I like taking photos when I’m out of the country. Photographing things in Mexico is effortless. I’ll never understand the nuances of every festival or ritual, but I can enjoy... — Updated 5/9/2023
Final days of 68th Legislative Session
It is hard to describe our last two days of the 68th Legislative session before we closed session last Tuesday. It was a whirlwind with many bills going to conference committees with last-minute alterations. In the end, HB 2 and a... — Updated 5/9/2023
Protecting Montana's next generation
The 68th Session of the Montana Legislature is one that every Montanan can be proud of. Voters sent a Republican supermajority to Helena and the first thing we did was return overpaid tax dollars to you as well as providing the... — Updated 5/9/2023
View from the North 40: When tragedy stalks the house
As truisms go, it’s not very catchy, and it’s pretty unsavory, but after last week, I can vouch for its truthfulness: The night isn’t really dark until your horse starts... — Updated 5/5/2023
GOP power grab will be a disaster
I served 26 years in the Montana House of Representatives, initially as a Republican, then as a Democrat, including two terms as majority leader and one term as speaker before I was “termed out” in 2000. My father, the Rev. Geo... — Updated 5/5/2023
Looking out my Backdoor:
Our gardener, Leo, was gone for a week, off to the beaches of Cabo San Lucas with a group of friends. "No worries, Leo. I can water my own plants. I'll do a section every day. Go... — Updated 5/5/2023
The Postscript: Bunny food
The TSA agent looked stern — as they usually do. “I’d like to look inside this bag, ma’am,” he said. “No problem!” I always sound a little too eager when being... — Updated 5/2/2023
Spotlight on Montana constitutional climate trial
June 12, Montana will be in the national spotlight as the first ever constitutional climate trial — Held v. the State of Montana — takes place in Helena. National attention to our state is increasing, as 16 youth, representing... — Updated 5/2/2023
Let her speak
When Americans think of Montana, they picture snow-capped peaks, rolling prairies, and rainbow trout darting through the crystal-clear rivers that run through it. Or they simply think of America’s first national park,... — Updated 5/2/2023
View from the North 40: Pasture fencing as a mixed metaphor
At the point my friend, Kerri, asked me last weekend what I was doing, I was at the tipping point into the realm of too tired to make words happen, so I let my cellphone camera do... — Updated 4/28/2023
