Opinion
Cities around the globe are transforming urban jungles into literal jungles. Driven by rising sensitivity to environmental and air quality issues, cities are opting to boost their tree populations in urban areas. In a previous column, I described a pitfall to this approach in the past: overplanting female trees that resulted in a pollen apocalypse in the US. Nevertheless, trees usher in several significant benefits for urban landscapes. Often, the most vital of these improvements is the reduction of ambient temperature. When sunlight is absorbed by leaves in photosynthesis, less heat radiates into the atmosphere. In contrast, darker-colored streets generate increased temperatures by abso...
I recently overheard a couple speculating on whether kids who are raised on video games will have the same level of imagination as those who weren’t. If something will be taken away from them if they experience too much exposure to this medium. To anyone ruminating on that same question, as someone who...
It’s been almost a decade since I spent my first glorious summer in the shadow of the Mission Mountains, which felt like heaven after living the entirety of my life in the humid eastern Texas heat that stifled from April to September. Over the years I’ve lived in numerous places across the wester...
If you are like me, it is difficult to think of a reason why we would want to make Montana more like California. Nonetheless, this election cycle, there are several ballot initiatives being proposed to adopt California policies here in Montana. One such proposal by former Governor Marc Racicot and former Sec...
As I watched Russian troops march across the Ukrainian border in an unprovoked war that immediately made the world less safe for our kids and grandkids, I thought about the words of a World War I veteran from Great Falls named Mike Mansfield, spoken in the days after Hitler invaded Poland in 1939: “...
Editor, An update from “The Magic 30” cat colony, once of four in-town Polson groups. This message is from the meow of “BB” (Big Black) one of the two Mr. Toms who keep the population numbers up. (Ya think we need a neutering program.) “BB” says “Most of us in Mag...
Editor, According to John Adams, “facts are stubborn things.” Putin’s approach to controlling the Russian populace during the war in Ukraine is to prevent them from knowing the facts. He threatens his citizens and the media with fines and jail for telling the truth regarding Russia&rsquo...
Editor, Ryan Zinke is at it again. He’s trying to erase his debacle as Interior Secretary, in which he erased national monuments, reduced hunter access to public lands and handed the keys to our best hunting and fishing to the oil industry. Zinke blames President Biden for gas prices, but that&rs...
A three-member arbitration panel recently rendered decisions in favor of Lake County on two of the three issues contested in a lawsuit brought against the Montana Department of Revenue (MDOR), by the County related to the Temporary Tribal Tax Exemption (TTTE), a statute enacted in 2012. The statute provides ...
Spring has sprung and we are gearing up for a busy March at the North Lake County Public Library. The book drop is always available as is our online catalog and Montana Library2Go with eBooks, audiobooks and magazines. The big news is the much anticipated Friends of the Library Book Sale happening ...
