Columns

From Aug. 14 to 18, 2023, I attended a Parliament of the World Religions in Chicago. The gathering drew together more than 7,000 people representing about 100 countries and more than 200 different religious groups. Focused on the theme of “A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom and Human Rights,” it was a very impressive event. The first time that many religious representatives met with each other was at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Three of the goals of that gathering were to show “what and how many important truths the various Religions hold and teach in common,” to discover “what light Religion has to throw on the great problems ...

        Sometimes it’s good (and fun) to just be silly. I guess today is one of those days for me. So here goes. Words are weird: We all have that one friend who can only answer one question or address one topic per text. I’ve dubbed them a unitexter.  ...

The state legislature passed $384 million in property tax rebates, the first half of which is currently available to Montanans. The window to claim your rebate—up to $675 on your primary residence—is Aug. 15, 2023, to Oct. 1, 2023. Go to: getmyrebate.mt.gov to claim your rebate. The second rou...

A few weeks ago, I submitted a list of universal truths that I think we can all recognize and maybe even agree with. In today’s culture of division, isn’t it a pleasant and nice truth to simply agree? I concur and couldn’t agree more. When writing that first list of truths, I found I had...

Montanans have worked for decades to restore our state animal, the grizzly bear. We’ve come a long way in recovering grizzlies in their core habitats, the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems, and beyond. That’s happened because of hard work by landowners, conservationis...

On Sunday, June 25th I awoke to the smell of a smoldering campfire, a scent most people associate with our earliest, often happiest, experiences out in the natural world. Upon going outside, I found the entire city of Montreal was blanketed by a smoky haze and realized that the wildfires raging throughout th...

The 2023 Montana wildfire season was slow to start. Average snowpack combined with rain in much of the state, spared an early fire season. Recent hot days and dry fuels, however, have now put Montana into active fire season with over 40,000 acres burned by early August. Montana’s average annual tempera...

Montana Democrats are out in full force trying to convince Montanans that they want to reduce your taxes. This is far from the truth as their actions in the legislative session speak much louder than their words now.  When they had the opportunity to support giving Montana resident taxpayers $900 mil...

Nineteen years ago a group of six journalists and entrepreneurs sat on a deck brainstorming ideas for a new, homegrown newspaper. I was one of those six people. So was my husband, Boone. So were Linda Sappington, Chuck Lewis and Bernie Azure. And of course, so was Jim Blow. It was his deck. It was his idea.&...

As a proud defender and lover of public land, I have cast deciding votes for Montanans to hike, fish, and hunt some of the largest expansions of public land in decades—while keeping Montana farmers and ranchers on the landscape. I was recently made aware of a social media campaign soliciting money c...