I am incensed at Gov. Gianforte signing and our Republican legislators passing the election laws restricting voter access in Montana. All the restrictive election bills being passed in Montana and other states are predicated on the “big lie,” pure and simple. Former president Trump and his minions and supporters are corrupt in their insistence that […]

Concealed carry law will lead to deaths on campus The Montana University System is fully justified in its opposition to House Bill 102, enabling and budgeting for open and concealed carry gun use on Montana state campuses. The prefrontal cortex in human brains is responsible for organizing behavior, including consideration, ordering and timing of behaviors, […]

I almost fell out of my chair when I heard Sen. Daines question Sec. Deb Haaland on grizzly bear science. Relying on criteria in a nearly 30-year-old recovery plan (that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now concedes is outdated), he insisted grizzlies in the Yellowstone region are now fully recovered since the population is […]

An open letter to Northwestern Energy: Climate change is upon us, in part because of energy companies like you. I am terrified that our house and neighborhood will burn down this year or the next or the next because of climate change. I am not an idiot and understand that wildfires happened before climate change […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, April 27, 2021 CONTACT Nathan Stein, House Minority Communications Director; nathan.stein@mtleg.gov Democrats Send Two Child Care Bills to Governor’s Desk Rep. Alice Buckley’s HB 221 and HB 624 Clear the Legislature Helena – Montana faces a significant shortage of affordable, accessible child care; more than half of children in Montana who […]

The only real question that popped into my head as I read the letter, “Dems only care about gaining complete power,” by William Pound on Sunday was, “I wonder what kind of a hallucinogen this man is on?” The word limit does not allow me to go through his article point by point and while […]

By KRISTIN SMITH Guest columnist This is a pivotal moment for Montana’s local governments. In March 2021 President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). ARPA included $350 billion in direct payments for state and local governments. In Montana, counties will collectively receive $207 million. Montana municipalities will receive $133 million. How […]

Mass shootings by deranged gunmen are becoming far too common. According to CNN there have been 45 mass shooting this year. Concert goers have been killed in Las Vegas, worshiping Jews in a Cincinnati synagogue, praying Christians in a Texas Baptist Church, Unitarians in Kentucky, Asians in Georgia, school children. Most recently, Sikhs working for […]

Time to get serious about regulating gun ownership Is anyone else tired? I am. Including the murder of 8 people in Georgia spas on March 16, there have been 45 mass shootings—defined as shootings in which 4 or more people were killed or injured—in the United States. Whoops. Make that 46; since I started writing […]

When I read U.S. Senator Daines’ op-ed seeking to justify his knee-jerk vote against the American Rescue /COVID-19 Relief Act (which is supported by more than 70% of Americans), he reminds me of the sage who once observed that a certain politician “would try to make you believe that an elephant was really just a […]