By MARK REYNOLDS AND KRISTEN WALSER Guest columnists A few weeks into the new administration, the federal government is off to a roaring start on climate change. Democrats have indicated climate change is a priority issue they intend to tackle. President Biden signed a raft of executive orders related to climate change, elevating the issue […]

GOP gives daily displays of hypocrisy in Helena “I want to support Montana’s values!” “We can’t have Washington DC telling us what is right for Montana!” I have heard these statements during every election cycle since I have lived in Montana for over 40 years. So, it is interesting to note that the current Republicans […]

By BECKY EDWARDS Guest columnist This week, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced Congresswoman Deb Haaland’s nomination as Secretary of the Interior to the Senate floor for a final vote with bipartisan support. Rep. Haaland would be the very first Native American to hold this position. We have just two words to sum […]

The radical, short sighted Senate Bill 140 grants in a Montana governor — whether Republican or Democrat — the power to single handedly appoint judges to the district courts of Montana without the oversight of the people. It eliminates the judicial oversight committee composed of Montana citizens from all walks, poisons the judiciary with the […]

Making ranked choices is easy — we do it every day. When the store runs out of our first choice of candy, we choose our second. We also have third and fourth preferences, giving us a range of options that make us happy. With ranked choice voting, we can apply the same preference based advantage […]

The 1099’s have been coming in and I have been working on taxes. The “former guy’s” avoidance, disdain, and possibly criminal evasion of taxes troubles me greatly. True, in order to have food, shelter, clothing, communications, and other essentials, I need to have money in my bank account. I need it there because occasionally I […]

My wife and I are 82 years old and are in the process of placing a solar array on our home. We will never see the return on our investment, but know that the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels is overwhelming and this is the right thing to do. According to new […]

By MARC RACICOT, DOROTHY BRADLEY and BOB BROWN Guest columnists The three of us have known each other dating back a half century when Dorothy Bradley and Bob Brown were young legislators and Marc Racicot was emerging as a top prosecuting attorney. Over the decades we have been fierce competitors as well as staunch allies […]

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Fighting chronic wasting disease (CWD) by sending hunters afield to reduce deer concentrations was tried in spades in Wisconsin, where they spent $27 million for sharpshooters to depopulate their whitetails, with no effect on CWD. A decade ago, Wild […]

There are several bills in the Montana legislature that will create extra bureaucracy and tie the hands of our public health officials and local elected officials to implement public health measures. It is true that in Montana, public health authority in many counties lies in the hands of unelected boards of health. However, it is […]