Commentary
Sen. Tester’s wilderness act doesn’t go far enough
There appears to be strong business support for Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act (BCSA). What stewardship? Imagine Tester as the head servant of business, the steward who collects rents and dispenses government (subsidies) provisions. Paid pollsters with their surveys tell us it is a good thing. Businessmen looking for government handouts tell […]
Consumers hosed at the pumps (again)
It seldom works out well when the government prioritizes the profits of mega-corporations over the welfare of the nation and its citizens. The latest example is the hosing everyday Americans are getting at the gas pump so they can get to work, take the kids to school or drive to a grocery store to keep […]
Many things to give thanks for — but most of all, people and health
Beer, Benjamin Franklin said, was proof that God loves us. If that’s the case, then it may just be that bookstore owners are some of the angels he sends to nurture our souls. This Thanksgiving Day, I am grateful for many things. And, one of those angels whom I admired isn’t around to tend to […]
Gov. Gianforte, please enforce Montana’s ‘Bad Actor’ mining law
As a hunter and angler who’s lived in the Upper Clark Fork River valley between Deer Lodge and Anaconda for more than 30 years, I can attest to the damaging legacy of mining on our waterways. In 1908, a massive flood carried toxic mine tailings from Butte down the Clark Fork River, contaminating the river […]
The bipartisan infrastructure bill will help Montana for the next generation
For several decades, the Milk River Project has been chronically underfunded and in need of essential repairs. Politicians of every stripe have failed to deliver the dollars needed to forge a long-term solution. Until now. Help has finally arrived in the form of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The legislation allocates $100 million specifically for the […]
Sen. Daines, stop holding the Blackfoot hostage
Sen. Steve Daines, during a recent Senate hearing, you had a unique opportunity to join with three out of four Montanans in support of the bipartisan Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act (BCSA). Instead, you took the bill hostage. In exchange for supporting a bill that protects 80,000 acres at the headwaters of the Blackfoot River, you’re […]
Keeping kids safe
As Montana physicians caring for children, we recommend strongly and without reservation that all newly eligible children – as well as all teenagers and adults – receive a COVID vaccine. Vaccination is a tool to train your immune system to recognize a virus or bacteria before you are exposed to it. After you or your […]
Setting the record straight about citizens’ rights
Politicians like Sen. Steve Daines and Gov. Greg Gianforte have erroneously claimed that the Alliance for the Wild Rockies gets rich off the Equal Access to Justice Act for working to keep Montana, “high, wide and handsome.” It appears they either don’t understand how this federal law works or are intentionally misleading the public. Montanans […]
The Rittenhouse lesson for Montana — and beyond
Kyle Rittenhouse remains a free … man, if such a term can be used for a teenager. Nonetheless, he was a teenager who traveled across state lines with a weapon of war to defend a used car lot Kenosha, Wisconsin from vandalism. No car on that lot, no matter how luxuriously equipped, was worth the […]
Another climate summit failure
As the latest in a long line of “global climate summits” comes to an end we — and future generations — are offered yet another litany of promises to “phase out” carbon pollution of the atmosphere, reduce global deforestation, and stop mankind’s destruction of its own and only planet. As usual, the “pledges” are to meet goals […]
The man who mistook himself for the law
It shouldn’t be a fine line for a guy who presumably spent years studying the law, making the law in the Legislature, and practicing the law, but Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has confused himself by misunderstanding that while he is a lawyer, he’s not the law. You may be tempted to think, “This is […]
Don’t be surprised by the ‘No Surprises Act’
In January 2022, federal legislation takes effect limiting surprise medical billing for out-of-network healthcare. Passed with bipartisan support in Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, the No Surprises Act (NSA) is the most sweeping healthcare legislation since the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Surprise billing occurs when a patient has no knowledge or opportunity […]