Opinion
It starts as a slight twinkle in the eye, nothing more than a spark of an idea, the beginning of grand plans. Vacation: It’s more than a word. It’s a destination. The typical vacation lasts about a week, but the trip itself is frequently a multi-stage event. Stage one involves planning and can go on for months – years even. Where to go? By land or by sea? What to do? Which attractions are most attractive? How many frequent flyer miles? Who gets to ride shotgun? The options and ideas are just the beginning of the fun. Vacation: it’s more than a word. It’s anticipation. The planning stage continues until roughly the day before the start of your seven days o...
A new tracker revealed that the Trump administration is blocking or freezing more than $430 billion in federal funding owed to communities across the country — including nearly $316 billion for national programs that support Indian Country and Native communities. The data reflects just how widespread t...
Montanans are being crushed under the weight of skyrocketing property taxes. Longtime residents are watching their tax bill soar as wealthy out-of-staters scoop up land and inflate home values across Montana. Families, seniors, and working people across the state are pleading for relief. This session a gr...
In this column I want to address a topic most of us avoid. Growing old. Or more specifically, the people living around us who are senior citizens - aging professionals, if you will. I want to talk about this greatest demographic of all time. We expect a lot of them. After all they’ve ...
Editor, In our rural state, public broadcasting is extremely popular - and important. Many of us make long drives and do our work to NPR programming: music, talk shows, history and science shows, a variety of podcasts, local programming, local weather, balanced and informative news - whether state, local ...
Editor, Today’s Valley Journal (May 7) mentioned “infrastructure investment at MT State Prison.” To my way of thinking an investment is something that gives you returns of some sort in the future. It might be money, it might be saving money, it might be preventing problems down the...
Editor, Is anyone else bothered by the lack of cleanup at the 7th & 7th east construction site in Polson? It looks pretty crappy. The project has been completed now for about 3 weeks. I waited about a week before sending an email to the City of Polson Public Works department, requesting to have the tw...
Where does the time go? It’s hard to believe we’re already gearing up for another Annual Summer Reading Program here at the library. The “Color Our World” program runs from June 9 through Aug. 7 and we’re bringing back the beloved Bug Race. There are two ways to record your read...
The Held family has ranched along the Powder River and in Carter County for four generations. They raise registered black Angus breeding stock through embryo transfer and 350 mother cows. About 400 acres are under pivots, 100 are on flood irrigation, 300 are under dryland, and the rest is uncultivated hills....
Recent governmental events (kidnapping people off the streets, arresting dissenters, blocking free speech, withholding monies) brought back a few thoughts. One (from a political science class) was, “Power is seized – not granted.” The other (from a seminar on negotiations) was, “Th...
