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BY Dylan Huisken, 2019 Montana Teacher of the Year, Bonner, Montana & Linda Rost, 2020 Montana Teacher of the Year, Baker, Montana COVID-19 has upended lives across Montana, making many of us rethink the future of our world. One uncharted territory is education. Montana has closed schools to families physically while maintaining education and nutrition services. Many are tackling distance learning. Some Montana students do not have internet access, and at the same time, many...
Dear Editor: For over 100 years, Holy Rosary Healthcare has delivered quality healthcare services to counties throughout eastern Montana. We continue to take pride in living our Mission to reveal and foster God’s healing love by improving the health of the people and communities we serve, especially the poor and vulnerable. This is why we were proud to support legislation during the last legislative session that reauthorized and reformed Medicaid Expansion in Montana through the Medicaid Reform and Integrity Act. Far too many...
This week, I had a conversation with U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to discuss national responses to the COVID-19 outbreak and how the U.S. Department of Education can assist Montana schools. I encouraged flexibility for Montana schools. We also discussed equitable alternative education delivery and what that looks like in rural Montana, especially for special education and other at-risk student groups. As communities across Montana were forced to rapidly adapt in...
During this time of uncertainty, people need people and we need each other. As we have read and listened to the news, the healthcare system may potentially become overwhelmed with COVID-19, not to mention the daily maintenance of the health of the community. With that being said, I am inviting you to consider becoming a certified nurses aide (CNA). A CNA does not translate into being at the bottom, but rather the base of a rewarding healthcare career. It’s rewarding because you get to care for people in their most v...
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts." It can be discouraging to see Washington DC sewer-style politics creep into Montana elections. Here we are, still eight months from November, and already there are fake news outlets in eastern Montana spreading outright falsehoods about bills in the 2019 legislative session. Recently, one of these swampy websites accused me of voting for taxpayer funded abortions. That's so outlandish, I at first...
A little over a year ago, a brilliant lawyer helped secure the future of our family ranch. Raphael Graybill, in his role as chief legal counsel for the governor, went to battle for private property rights and public access in front of the Montana Supreme Court when he challenged the Attorney General’s interpretation of the law regarding Habitat Montana easements. If he had lost against the AG’s flawed legal opinion, we could have lost our ranch. Raph utilized his incredible intellect and deep understanding of the law to show...
During the dry Depression years, my parents, Lee and Mildred Coons Lavell, traveled all over Montana, Idaho and Washington looking for work for my dad. The only thing predictable about our lives was another brown-eyed-baby born every two years. Finally, early in 1944, when I was 7, they bought a house at Ekalaka. It was the 34th move in their 11-year marriage. The house had three small rooms and was built into the side of a hill across from the cemetery. The day we moved in, we children burst in to explore, of course, and...
From a 2018 national survey of 524 principals, assistant principals and other school based leaders it was found that only 33% of K-12 schools offer a stand alone civics course. Only 24% of school districts require passing a civics exam. The survey indicated a lack of priority in civics in rural and small town school districts, as well as no appreciable increase of interest in civics after the 2016 elections. The report from the Maryland nonprofit did not list school districts by state. The Education Commission of the States...
Dear People of the Great State of Montana, Hello! I am a third-grade student in Northern Virginia. Our class is learning about the United States, and I will be teaching our school about the state of Montana. In the month of May, I will create a display for our State Fair that I hope will make you proud. Although I have gathered facts about your state from books and websites, I think that I can receive the best information from the people who live there. This is why I am writing to you. I am hoping that you would be willing to...
Dear Editor, Beef born, bred, fed and processed in the US is considered the best in the world. Married to a Rosebud County rancher for the past 40 years, I know we take pride in raising a first class fine and healthy herd of cow/calf pairs. You can taste the difference between beef raised and butchered right here in America (especially Montana!) from meat processed and shipped from 3000-plus miles away coming from foreign countries--who knows where and what kind of safety standards are in place. As cattle producers you would...
Happy New Year! After realizing that the last two years have flown by, I thought I might reflect on what is happening in your Town Council. In January we welcomed Jim Mackay to the council. He has been appointed to the streets and roads committee and has some ideas for improvements. He will also serve on the Land Planning Board. The council continues to work on the ordinances and how they fit in our government today and our needs for the future. We have begun advertising for...
I retired after forty years of flying a number of different aircraft and on the 26th day of August 2006 at the age of 68, was the last day that I have flown an airplane. As you may or may not know, in order to hold a commercial pilot certificate one must pass an airman's physical once every calendar year. Everything had always checked out for me including the prostate. After I had retired, even though I had totally quit flying, I continued on taking the physical once a year. In the month of November 2013, I was taking my...
I am a rancher, registered nurse, past Republican Chair of the Montana Legislature’s Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee and a Senior Citizen. A fundamental conservative principle is to care for our children, our elderly and vulnerable citizens. The Montana State Health and Human Services Department must have adequate State funding to pull down the 2 to 3 times Federal matching dollars or critical healthcare services across Montana will disappear. Critical services to children, elderly, mentally ill and d...
Senate District 19, The first year of my term as your Senator has now come to a close. A lot has happened in that year and I want to take a moment to recap it. The year started with Montana’s 66th Legislative session. During the session I sponsored legislation that protected our property rights, grew Montana manufacturing, and recognized both our military veteran and cowboy heritage. I also had the privilege to carry both the student consent bill and the bill that eliminated the criminal statute of limitations for child s...
My father, a Carter County rancher, would be anxious each November when he would sell his calves, about 100 miles away to the livestock ring in South Dakota. A good price would allow for another year of operation. In my research I came across a spreadsheet from the USDA Economic Research Service with hog and beef market data back to 1970. I decided to check each presidential term for the percentages that the ranch, wholesale and retail get from the total retail value of beef. I tried to use the third year of each presidency...
The council has been very busy with several projects this past summer. • The pool was open regularly and swimming lessons went very well. Thank you to Claire Callahan, Max Larson, Emily O'Connell, Melissa Lovec and Amy Walker for all their time spent at the pool. • Mag-chloride was put on some of the heavier traffic streets reducing the dust. • The cement has been poured for the covered area at the park. • Ordinances and policies have been cleaned up as well. Our goal was to...
Meatless Mondays for your school lunch program? Meat grown in a petri dish from a foreign lab? These are questions we need to ask Governor Bullock. By his executive order, Montana is now obligated to advance the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. In order to meet the Paris objectives everything having a carbon footprint is on the table, including our beef industry. At present, U.S. meat consumption is about 222 pounds per person per year. Nationally the goal is to reduce this to 35 pounds per person. In short, Bullock...
What is the US Climate Alliance? It is a domestic group formed specifically to undermine President Trump’s excellent decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Now, by executive order, Part-time Governor Steve Bullock has undermined all of Montana by aligning Montana with the US Climate Alliance. This is so wrong. To begin, Montana is the Treasure State, not the “Fly Fishing State”. Sure, Montana is a great state for recreation, but to quote Senator Al Olszewski, “Montana’s wealth comes from the ground.” Our natural...
The recent announcement by Greg Gianforte that he is seriously considering another run for Governor is problematic. He barely won against a gun grabbing liberal entirely out of touch with Montana values. Now Greg wants to run for Governor? Tim Fox is an excellent candidate for Governor, and Rep. Gianforte should be thinking about maintaining his seat in the House of Representatives. Gianforte should stay in the House of Representatives instead of crowding the Republican field of candidates and detracting from candidates with...
Dear Eric, I am writing to correct a mistake I made in one of my stories. I told about an airplane crash that took the lives of two local men. I correctly identified one as Bud Hansen but incorrectly identified the other as Clyde Sandon. It was actually Ella Voise’s father, Stephen, I guess, Williams. Ella let me know and I apologized to her on Facebook. She was very gracious and said, no apology necessary. Anyway thanks to Ella Voise and apologies to you readers for my mistake. I do want to be accurate, but my eighty year o...
5 March, 2019 Dear Patients of Fallon Medical Complex, As many are already aware, I have decided to pursue another opportunity and will therefore be departing my practice as a physician assistant at Fallon Medical Complex as of May 15th, 2019. Those who have chosen to be treated by me during my tenure at Fallon Medical Complex may continue to be seen and treated by the other capable medical providers who work at Fallon Medical Complex to meet your medical needs. If, however, a patient seeks to pursue medical care elsewhere a...
WASHINGTON – At a congressional hearing last week, Congressman Greg Gianforte blasted Washington Gov. Jay Inslee for his anti-coal agenda that would kill Montana jobs and drive up electricity rates for Montana consumers. After Gianforte described Inslee's agenda to have Washington state end all consumption of coal-fired electricity within the next six years, he circled back to Inslee's testimony. "You testified today that your policies have had no detrimental effect on any c...
Paul and Nancy Brence put a post of the flooded spring creek at their place last week, and it brought back memories when I was nine years old. The winter of ‘51-’52 was deep snow, and by March 15th it has started to thaw. Dad (Odis) decided him and I would leave early with two pack horses loaded with cotton seed cake for the MAX place, about 9 miles west where Dad had a guy staying in that camp wintering a bunch of cows. We unloaded and turned around and headed back. By the time we got to Spring Creek water was running, we...
An amendment attached to House Bill 2 (the state’s budget bill) provides the legislature the opportunity to reduce local government revenues and divert them to the Office of Public Defender (OPD). OPD is a state agency that has nearly doubled in size since the legislature assumed the program from Montana counties. The Legislative Fiscal Division (LFD) reports that public defender system appropriations in 2007 were $18.6 million. The budget request, including supplemental appropriations for the current biennium, are nearly $...
Winter will end. Trust me. But what will we see when all that white stuff disappears? A landscape green from melting snow littered with dead deer? Probably not. Yes, February was brutal for much of the state, but let's not lose our perspective. This is winter. This is Montana – a northern latitude state. And for the memory deprived last year was worse or at least longer. This year, few ranchers so far have complained of deer in their haystacks. Nothing like last year. That's p...