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We should be raising voices, not raising taxes
Gov. Greg Gianforte and Montana’s Republican legislators pulled a fast one on Montana homeowners in the 2023 session. Earlier this year, they permanently raised state residential property taxes by 43 percent – $81 million a year, and $162 million during the two-year state budget cycle. Then they pocketed our money. (Just look at your residential […]
The vanishing Montana worth fighting for
In autumn, that mournful season that stifles the lighthearted sounds of summer and, against the green of Douglas fir and Ponderosa pine, light up the Seeley-Swan Valley like a votive-filled cathedral in Rome. It’s something to behold as you stand in awe of the magic wand of nature, whose invisible hand has crafted an infrastructure […]
Montana just added a new season — fire season
Montanans used to joke that we had two distinct seasons — winter and road construction. Now we have three: winter, road construction and fire season, the latter of which is punctuated by searing temperatures and long dry spells brought on by a never-ending high-pressure system that stokes smoky weather and obscures the iconic Big Sky. […]
Daines’ high-stakes bet
Politicians, by nature, are calculators, oddsmakers, bettors, bookies. They bet on winning and losing all the time. Montana Sen. Steve Daines bet on President Donald J. Trump. But following the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Daines changed his wager. That day a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol, erected a gallows, killed a U.S. […]