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As the scope and threat of the coronavirus pandemic becomes clear, people all over the world hunger for two things: an effective vaccine and truthful information about the disease. The former may be more than a year away, but the latter is critical to stemming the pandemic in the meantime. This is Sunshine Week, a time each year when people like me to write columns about some legislature’s wrong-headed move to limit access to public records, and then try to make the case for greater access to public information and transparency in g...
Let Us Join Together to Discuss Divisive and Demeaning Speech We address this letter to all people of faith and of good will in our State of Montana. We are at a crucial time in our nation’s history, as well as that of our state, where racial, political and religious divisions have regrettably deepened. People on all sides have spent so much time fanning the flames of division that the higher callings of our religious traditions have been neglected. While we cannot speak for everyone from the various contexts of our siblings in faith, we a...
On Nov. 10, Wild Skies Raptor Center in Potomac admitted an adult Golden Eagle with the classic symptoms of lead poisoning. The bird's talons were clenched and its wings drooped to the floor. His blood hardly had enough red blood cells to carry oxygen to keep him alive. Brooke Tanner, one of the rehabilitators, analyzed the eagle's blood and found lead concentrations beyond what her instrument could measure. Despite attempts to save him, the eagle died 36 hours later. About three weeks before th...
The Public Service Commission has always been a somewhat surly bunch. The PSC’s devoted staff has often had to deal with varying degrees of political game-playing, deception, threats and intrigue. Sure. Politicians politic. The question is, at the end of the day, can elected officials bury their egos and ambitions long enough to put the people’s business ahead of their own? Recent events would suggest that where the Montana PSC is concerned, the answer is “no.” That might surprise you, given that the commission is entirely Republican. But polit...
For centuries, citizens have turned to their local news publication for local breaking and investigative news, as well as to learn about hot-button issues in their communities. In the last 15 years, with the rise of digital communications, many readers have changed their preferences to digital formats and social media over print for their news. But long before social media came onto the scene, news media have enabled us to exercise all five freedoms. As we celebrate National Newspaper Week, we are raising awareness about our five First...
MISSOULA - They call it the widow maker. It’s also called the left anterior descending (LAD) artery and one year ago mine was almost completely blocked. Had my occlusion been total, I’d likely not be penning these words today, which explains the artery’s nickname. The cautionary tale is that I didn’t see it coming. I have no family history of coronary artery disease. My annual physical exams and periodic health screenings didn’t pick up any red flags of high cholesterol or high blood pressure. And I’m fairly active. I noticed my first sympt...
HELENA - The Legislative Session is up and running here in Helena. The first week is usually fairly calm as all of the individual committees organize themselves and legislators begin putting text to their bills and start getting them scheduled for committee hearings. One of the first things we did was pass our rules under which we will operate during the session. You have probably heard a lot of the back and forth in the media when it comes to the rules, but that happens every session. In the end, we came up with a set of rules that everyone...
Identity theft can be a time-consuming and costly hassle, but there are measures you can take to protect your personal information and avoid the headache. One tool that can help is credit monitoring. But what exactly does credit monitoring do? And more importantly, is it enough to keep you safe? What is credit monitoring? There are a three primary national consumer credit bureaus, and you may have a credit report with more than one. Although the reports are often similar, they’re not necessarily identical because some financial institutions o...
"Everything in this newspaper is important to someone." It's become something of a mantra for me, in recent years. Weekly community newspapers are eclectic, to say the least. We publish photos of ribbons being cut at bakeries, and donations being dropped off at local food pantries. We print the school honor roll, the court report, and in-depth stories on decisions made by planning commissions and town boards. Sometimes we cover murders, abuse, and horrific car crashes, and when we do our...
I wrote my will while the fetal heart monitors beeped as I lay in the hospital bed in Missoula. I was drinking my fourth milkshake of the day in a feeble attempt to add body weight to my soon to be born twins. At first, I was just vaguely worried about what would happen to them if something happened to me, then I became very worried. I need to do something. So, I tapped the nurse call button, asked for paper and a pen and wrote a will. Two weeks later I delivered babies A and B, my daughter Laws...
Missoula County’s law enforcement officers work hard every day to keep our families and communities safe. But protecting Montanans and cracking down on crime is a round-the-clock challenge that requires our constant support. That’s why as Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, I partnered with Republicans and Democrats to pass legislation that invests in our police officers, sheriff’s offices, firefighters and Customs and Border Protection agents. These additional resources will help law enforcement officers in Se...
In 2015, the Montana Legislature ratified the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) –Water Compact with Montana, which settled all water rights claimed by the CSKT under the 1855 Hellgate Treaty. This was the culmination of a multi-year negotiation process between Montana’s Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission and the CSKT. The final step in the implementation of the CSKT Compact is ratification by the United States Congress. The federal ratification debate has inevitably turned political and now many of the arguments over thi...
Montanans are now seeing the real-life consequences of budget decisions made by the Republican legislators who make up the majority of our state legislature. Over the next year, 28 property assessment offices will be closing their doors in addition to the 19 public assistance offices that have already turned off their lights – impacting thousands of Montanans in rural areas of our state. As many as 14,000 health care providers will have to reduce care for the mentally ill and disabled, some even shuttering their own doors. Services that M...
SEELEY LAKE - A lot has happened here at the Seeley Lake Rural Fire District in the last couple of months! We are growing and changing and improving every day! Our call volume continues to grow which means we have been able to help more people than ever. We have conducted several community events which have been a great success! We are already planning with the Missoula County Health Department to conduct the Free Flu Shot and Health/Safety Fair for next fall. The Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration was a huge success where hundreds of people...
SEELEY LAKE - U.S. Senator Jon Tester’s Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act will receive a hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Feb. 7. Members of the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project (BCSP) reiterated their thanks to Senator Jon Tester for sponsoring the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act. Senator Tester introduced the bill last year. “Almost 12 years ago, we started the painstaking work on a timber, recreation, and conservation proposal for managing public lands in our backyard,” says Jim Stone, a ranch...
At the start of the New Year many Montanans make New Year’s resolutions. Maybe it’s to spend time with family, put more money into savings, or enjoy our world-class public lands a little more. As your Senator, my resolution is to continue to bring your input back from the Treasure State to the U.S. Senate. This year, I joined the Senate Commerce Committee to fight for Montana small businesses. Along with my spots on the Banking, Veterans’ Affairs, Indian Affairs and Appropriations Committees I will be able to have a strong voice for Monta...
As communities across the nation work to recover from recent natural disasters, many are discovering that while they have plenty of rebuilding to do, they lack the manpower to do it. This circumstance comes as no surprise to the Montana Contractors’ Association (MCA), which has been considering the nationwide shortage of skilled trade workers with trepidation. A survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America revealed that 70 percent of contractors have a hard time finding qualified workers. In Montana the situation is no diff...
October is National Dental Hygiene Month, and while it often means more to hygienists than it does to everyone else, it also gives us dental professionals an opportunity to share our enthusiasm about preventative oral care and disease treatment with our communities. There are multiple roles a hygienist will take on in her/his career to assure we are treating our patients with the most comprehensive care possible. While the most obvious clinical role is front and center, the role of educator is...
MISSOULA - It’s been a whirlwind five months. I’ve learned plenty since I took office in January, so I thought it was time to let Pathfinder readers know what I’ve been up to and try to shed a little light on county government, which I believe is one of the least understood levels of government in Montana. With nearly 900 employees spread out across myriad departments, Missoula County government—an arm of state government—provides an array of services from district court clerk support to staffing a county-wide Office of Emergency Managemen...
Sunshine Week, the annual celebration of government transparency, kicked off on Sunday. This year, opinion journalists might be tempted to turn critical eyes toward Washington, D.C. The recently departed Obama administration never delivered on its promise to be the most transparent in history and the new Trump administration seems to have an equal or even greater taste for secrecy. Heck, last year saw public records and the proper – or improper – handling of them help decide the pre...
Hello Seeley-Swan! It’s been a cold, snowy winter in Helena but I think you all have us beat for winter weather! I am very busy this session, sponsoring 10 bills as well as an amendment to sewer and water district voting rights, on behalf of Seeley Lake residents. I understand confusion about who could and could not vote caused problems in the December Seeley Lake sewer election. Please know I’m working on clarification. Two of my bills have been approved in the Senate and will be heard in the House in March. Both bills address sexual int...
HELENA - Things are starting to move on the budget side here at the Legislature and I wanted to share some information with you as we move forward. First, explaining a bit about the process and then including a quick update on where we are at with infrastructure. The legislature has two budget committees, House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Claims. The first stage of the state budget is these two committees breaking down into six subcommittees. Subcommittees on General Government,...
Across our beloved Montana, scores of dedicated folks are working to improve the quality of life for everyone in their communities now and far into the future. We are your friends and neighbors who are the strength behind the 75 local community foundations in the Treasure State. That says something about Montanans – our optimistic view of the future, desire to make our state a better place for our children and future generations and our willingness to challenge adverse situations and turn them into prospects for growth and opportunity in our h...
SEELEY LAKE - This spot in God’s Country has always been a cross roads of trails. The Ancient Indian trail up the Blackfoot River (known as Cokahlarishkit, as Lewis rendered it, or “the River of the Road to Buffaloe,” better transcribed as Qoq’áax ‘í skit and translated as “buffalo road”) was the “Interstate Highway” serving travelers from today’s Idaho and Bitterroot/Clark Fork valleys. “Business” loops went to various hunting-gathering sites along the way. Here in what is now Seeley Lake, ancient trails went four directions before being “disc...
Last September, John Andrews suffered a brain aneurysm and was airlifted via helicopter by Life Flight Network from Anaconda, Mont. to Missoula, Mont. He was charged $34,200, his health insurer paid almost half, and Life Flight Network billed him the balance - $18,678. Upon arrival in Missoula, St. Patrick Hospital decided John needed to be airlifted via airplane to Seattle, this time by its own affiliate, NW MedStar. He was charged $57,867, his health insurer paid about one-third, and NW MedStar billed him the balance - $37,931. Two flights....
