In the People's Interest

Share opportunities with disadvantaged Americans

Posted on

White displacement is slow but real. White folk can either fight it or welcome our non-white successors with trust and optimism. Rather than filling integrated swimming pools with dirt, deliberately breaking up minority families, denying broad swathes of citizens their constitutional rights, throwing up barriers to education, health care and justice and perversely deploying our […]

In the People's Interest

Legislature should protect economy, defeat utility bill

Posted on

By GARY BUCHANAN Guest Columnist Senate Bill 379 is a bill that is anti-jobs and anti-economic development. For a legislature supposedly focused on the governor’s rightful concerns for entrepreneurship, it’s a real step backward. Higher electricity bills will harm efforts to attract businesses to Montana. I support helping Colstrip, but not at the expense of […]

In the People's Interest

Dems not ones embracing delusion and ignorance

Posted on

Unlike the current administration, the Trump people (still around we hear) are indeed responsible for the four year “totalitarian nightmare” mentioned in a beyond belief recent letter. They are for sure those who recently embraced “the matrix of delusion and blissful ignorance.” Senate Majority Leader Schumer rightly said that President Biden “inherited a mess on […]

In the People's Interest

We need local inpatient mental health care services

Posted on

Bozeman Health is a nonprofit tax exempt hospital and is required to conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) every three years to identify major health problems and gaps in services. In 2020, the CHNA again identified mental health as the number one priority health need locally. The lack of inpatient psychiatric care at the […]

In the People's Interest

Bills put tobacco companies ahead of the voters

Posted on

By AMANDA CAHILL and KRISTIN PAGE-NEI Guest columnists An overwhelming number of Montana voters are concerned about tobacco use. So why do some members of the Montana Legislature continue to push bills on behalf of tobacco companies and against the wishes and health of Montanans? For example, Senate Bill 398, sponsored by Sen. Jason Ellsworth, actually […]

In the People's Interest

Equal Rights Amendment is deserving of support

Posted on

The United States House of Representatives recently voted to remove the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The ERA simply states that, “Equality of Rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any other state on account of sex.” The House passed this bill 222 […]

In the People's Interest

Creating conservation solutions that work for all

Posted on

By ALISON FOX Guest columnist The Montana State House Agriculture Committee earlier this month voted unanimously to table HB 677, a bill that would have prohibited certain nonprofit organizations from buying agricultural land. This proposed legislation would have been a brazen violation of private property rights. It would have inserted government in between willing buyers […]

In the People's Interest

Forest Service continues to act out old paradigm

Posted on

I applaud President Biden for issuing an Executive Order that commits the United States to a “30 by 30” goal, which commits to conserving 30% of the nation’s lands and waters in a “natural state” by 2030. Deja vu. Five years ago, Edward O. Wilson, Harvard Professor Emeritus wrote Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life. […]

In the People's Interest

Trapping doesn’t belong in the Montana Constitution

Posted on

By ZACK STRONG Guest columnist Gov. Greg Gianforte made national headlines recently after it was revealed that he illegally trapped and killed a radio-collared Yellowstone National Park wolf in February just 10 miles north of the park’s boundary, after failing to take a mandatory trapping class. Meanwhile, Montana legislators are clamoring to advance a series […]