Opinion

One of the most pressing issues facing healthcare today is skyrocketing prescription drug prices. Prescription drug expenditures already account for about one-fifth of all healthcare costs nationally, and that figure is projected to go up in the coming years. It’s a crisis coming to a head with one in four Americans unable to afford their medication. We know what is driving these rapid cost increases, and a significant part of the problem is attributed to abusive tactics developed by Big Pharma to unreasonably extend monopoly pricing on certain drugs. It’s time for Congress to act to stop this abuse from happening. The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act, co-sponsore...

Nearly all working-age Montanans, more than half the state’s total population, are getting some welcome news this month: the state is sending them money.  Let’s be clear. The money being sent to over 530,000 Montanans is their own money. Montana collected more income taxes, the primary so...

Editor, Tim parked his bike next to me at the Fourth of July parade, sharing the shade. “Great spot,” I remarked. He nodded. An hour later, after the runners, Paul Revere, George Washington, the floats, fire trucks and horses, I walked up to him. “Sir,” I began, “I want to...

History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes. Patterns and cycles seem to repeat over time. Almost without exception, perceived threats to the racial, ethnic, or religious majority have triggered populist reactions to change. Ethnic minorities have been persecuted because of race; religious minorities bec...

Fishermen,  River is fishable. Moiese slough, buffalo rapids catching trout and smallies. Great places to fly fish.  Sloans to little Bitterroot River for pike, just before you hit the other side of the little Bitterroot before you there are brown trout. Bass are in just about any rocky areas...

There are certain truths that are universal, but unspoken. They are numerous - all around us. So numerous they couldn’t fit into one column. (Watch for part two coming soon.) Often, these truths aren’t even recognized. They are so universal - so clear and obvious to us - that we we’ve stopp...

Editor, Montana’s 1972 constitution guarantees its citizens a right to “a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.” The 2023 trial of Held v. State of Montana, a lawsuit brought by 16 Montana youth, attempts to show how the state government’s l...

Editor, I strongly oppose the shutdown of landline phone service in Ronan and encourage our local leaders to look out for our vulnerable senior population and stand up to the big telecom companies. My father relies on his landline to communicate. Though cell phones and internet-based phone services hav...

Property tax appraisals are currently arriving in the mail. It’s important to review the valuation and appeal it if you do not agree with the valuation. The appeal instructions are in the letter that was mailed to you. You only have 30 days, so do not wait. If the value of your property increased by...

To get there, you head up the Pete Creek Road #338 in the Yaak (no one seems to know who Pete was, and I’m keen to know the name the first people called it before Pete rolled into the country), way on up past Mushroom Mountain. At the dust blown hairpin curve left, continue straight into what looks lik...