Opinion
Editor, Thunder boomed as a deluge of rain fell outside, setting the stage for a powerful presentation by Ryan Busse at a gathering of Montanans. Running for governor, he painted a positive picture of the future with articulate skill, humor and warmth. If elected, this future includes Ryan’s honoring Montana’s constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment,” the right to privacy and freedom of choice, and our right as citizens to vote freely without harassment or confusion. Upset about property taxes? Busse would work to undo the disastrous rise placed on us by the Gianforte administration. Taxes on the governor’s mansion went down while al...
We all started out in the same way. As babies. But what would it be like to go back? Imagine being a baby. I’ve thought about this a few times, while watching my grands navigate their way through this world. I imagine myself in their tiny tottering shoes - or bodies, so to speak. And I realize...
We are the Area IV Governing Board and Advisory Council, which oversees older adult services in Broadwater, Gallatin, Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, Meagher, and Park Counties. We write to implore Governor Gianforte’s administration to prioritize improved resources to deliver Older Americans Act services ...
We are all broken. Some have just a dent in the fender; others need a whole new transmission. We are dinged, bent, damaged, hurt, cracked, confused, crushed and cut to the quick. Because life will sometimes do that to you - to me - to all of us. It changes us. It challenges us. It tosses...
When my kids were little, they often came to me with “what ifs.” What if the school bus starts to fly? What if we ate dessert first? What if God never invented rabbits? Or ice cream? Or trees? Or bikes? Or the rain? What if my hair turned into spaghetti noodles? What if all the gra...
Editor, Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s been rather hot of late. True, not record-breaking heat as in California and Nevada, but still, unusual for its tenacity. This is pretty much what scientists have been telling us to expect as we continue to emit carbon-trapping gasses into t...
Editor, Paper maps are passe. Or are they? The Heritage Foundation, under head Kevin Roberts, produced a 920-page road map outlining a radical agenda for Christian nationalism. Far from “conservative,” it calls for the dismantling of our institutions by the mass firing of civil servants, repla...
As a parent, grandparent, and advocate for public education, I am urging you to support Shannon O’Brien for Superintendent of Schools. Shannon is the only candidate who can bring the change we desperately need to support our teachers, parents, and students. Under Elsie Arntzen’s leadership, Mo...
As hard as I try, in the privacy of my own being, not to get caught up in the scathing absurdities of the moment — e.g., the presidential election, America’ looming fascism, our love of money and war (to name a few) — yikes, here I am, caught up in it all. And all I can do is reach for a...
Editor, Our nation is at a point of desperation. We could be losing our democracy, our personal freedoms, and our country’s values. We are facing the possibility of falling under a dictatorial form of government. As I write this, Donald Trump seems to be the Republican candidate for president who...
