Opinion
This holiday season, more Montanans will be navigating the annual open enrollment period for health insurance, seeking quality and affordable health insurance plans for their families. Cover Montana has a team of health insurance navigators who can help Montanans make sense of their options during this crucial period, which runs from Nov. 1, 2023, to Jan. 15, 2024. But this year stands out because more than 100,000 Montanans are no longer covered by Medicaid or Healthy Montana Kids (HMK). Like all states, Montana’s DPHHS is reviewing its entire Medicaid caseload after a three-year redetermination “pause” during the pandemic. This “unwinding” is a once-...
Editor, I appreciated my time spent on this 95-mill property tax issue with you, the Department of Revenue and the lobbyist for the school organizations. I am disappointed with the Supreme Court ruling but will abide with it. The educational value of researching and understanding how the school, local gov...
Editor, Here’s a novel idea on the subject of abortion. Don’t get pregnant. I’m 80 years old and grew up in an era void of legal abortion or birth control. If we got pregnant, we had the little darlings. Then a miracle. The birth control pill was developed. It was control fin...
In the quiet corners of rural Montana, credit unions and community banks offer a unique ability to focus on bringing value to Main Street rather than Wall Street. These institutions have a vested interest in the success of their communities and often serve as economic anchors, supporting local businesses, fa...
Montana is a northern border state with a southern border crisis. After visiting the southern border this fall, my third trip in five years, I can say with certainty that the catastrophe at our southern border is now a serious threat to our national security and the result of the failed policies of President...
Editor, Imagine this: feeling deep, soul-filling joy amongst mostly strangers, two evenings in a row. That’s what happened to me. Curious? Friday night, Mission Valley Live presented a concert highlighting Robin Layne and the Rhythm Makers. It was a knee-bouncing, energy-filled evening of incredi...
Editor, I am not vermin. I am not a thug. I am not radical. Yet in his Veteran’s Day speech that is literally what Donald Trump called me and other voters who oppose him. I am your constituent and I expect you to stand up for me and other Montanans who don’t support treating anyone like ver...
For much of my life, I’ve been the inviter. I enjoyed planning and inviting people to those plans. But in the last few years I haven’t invited much of anyone anywhere. I didn’t have the heart for it. I lacked momentum and (to be honest) felt broken so I took on a rather new role. I fo...
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Remember those words? What if they’re right, what if all people are created equal and have...
The most important global issue of the day is that of the middle east conflict. The barbaric evil of Hamas was in full display Oct. 7. The reports are undeniable; “The IDF told CNN that women, children, toddlers and elderly were brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action.” (CNN, Oct. 13) LA Time...
