By TOM WOODS Guest columnist Unlike many other bills being excreted by the Legislature these days, Senate Bill 110 is very subtle in the way it reveals the dysfunction in our legislative body. This bill directs the university system to stop payments to its employee health care plan for two month periods when the health […]

Last November, Montana citizens approved Initiative-190 and Constitutional Initiative-118 which legalizes recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21. These initiatives also create a new source of revenue that provides funds to protect underfunded state parks and trails, wildlife habitat, and recreational land. Now with the 2021 Legislature in session, the governor and legislators […]

The law in Montana now mandates that its citizens, including children, walk amongst carriers of concealed firearms. Here are a few anecdotes from the true West for those MAGA cowboys: In 1883 the editor of The Black Hills Journal lamented, “Concealed weapons are still carried in Deadwood in defiance of the city ordinance imposing a […]

Our governor has a well-known propensity for limiting or eliminating government interference in citizens’ daily affairs. Thus he has freed us from the tyranny of mask wearing despite medical and scientific hat these simple procedures save lives. On the other hand, it has been reported that he favors new legislation that will allow concealed carrying […]

A recent report on Congressman Rosendale’s attempts to block the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act reveals once again his ignorance about public lands, or his unwillingness to learn the facts. The Act would protect about 2.7 million acres with about half of it going into wilderness status. Rosendale claims wilderness status would completely […]

As a mother, artist, and wildlife advocate, I experience a lot of grief over biodiversity loss. The thought of living through the sixth mass extinction feels like too much to bear. That is why the National Biodiversity Strategy Resolution recently reintroduced by Rep. Neguse D-Colorado, was music to my ears. If we are to learn […]

By KATHY HADLEY Guest columnist In Montana, we are fortunate to have access to some of the most iconic public lands in the country. As a lifelong hunter and angler, I rely on these rivers, streams, and forests to pursue my passions. Public lands sustain the Montanan way of life, and we deserve policies that […]

Tax cut bill does nothing for entrepreneurs Work for a living? Then you want to read this, and remember, a skunk by any other name still smells like a skunk. The Entrepreneur Magnet Act is a skunk. Full disclosure, I am an entrepreneur. I own a small manufacturing business in Gallatin. I work with my […]

More than 100 families have invested their life savings in homes in the Little Bear Creek area between Gallatin Gateway and the Gallatin Canyon. We move or built lives here because of the rural residential and agricultural landscape set before the magnificent mountains and Spanish Peaks. All our hopes and dreams are about to be […]

By JO ANNE TROXEL, ROXANNE KLINGENSMITH, JESSIE CLOSE, GLENN CLOSE, BETH SIRR Guest columnists For centuries, hospitals, physicians and communities shared a common moral compass that aligned with the best interests of patients. Those running hospitals provided the patient care, and knowing the suffering kept priorities clear: What do patients need? How can we help […]