Opinion
Searching for opinion based articles? Below we'll share opinion news articles on a wide variety of topics.
Notes from Ranger Doug
I’ve had the pleasure over the years of getting correspondence from longtime Glacier National Park ranger/naturali…
Opinion: Eggcellent
So the wife got these eggs that were supposed to be fertilized, chicken eggs that is. A friend has hens and roosters and apparently lives in a place where both are copacetic with the neighbors, or at least in a pla…
Kill bill that turns short-term rentals into residences
Kill Montana Senate Bill 336. This bill seeks to redefine short-term rentals as residential, non-commercial property use, disregarding neighbors’ rights, undermining local control and threatening public safety.
Dam nameplate not true output
Regarding the March 12, 2025 story in the Hungry Horse News about Mick Ruis’ plans for CFAC land and the possibility of huge cryptocurrency server farms, the public should know there is a difference between total n…
Why not Cuba?
With President Trump’s interest in making Canada our 51st state, Greenland becoming an American territory, and the U.S. invading Panama, why isn’t Cuba in the mix? America has a long history with Cuba, first trying…
A bill for the dogs and taxes for you
Senate Bill 427 was plodding along on the senate floor. The subject matter involves trapping and snaring. Needless to say, emotions can run high when such a discussion occurs. The bill proposes to provide a uniform…
A misguided whitewash, at best
With eyes wide open, the American people watch Donald Trump and Elon Musk pillage the “American Dream” in real time. Under the guise of saving taxpayer money, the Trump-Musk Administration’s attack on our public la…
An open letter to Montana’s Congressional delegation
I represent House District 3 in the Montana House of Representatives. My district includes the western half of Glacier National Park, a large portion of the Flathead National Forest and the gateway communities alo…
Nearing halfway point
On a frigid Helena morning, somewhere south of minus 20 degrees, a bus load of residents from Ennis were dropped off at the Capitol.
They don’t know what they don’t know
Much has been written and broadcast recently regarding the impacts of the Trump administration and particularly the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reduce the size of the federal government workforce.
Visiting with Friends
Early one morning a lobbyist for a trade union enters my office. Yes, my elevation to the Senate includes office space, a real stretch of the language, more a cubby space I share with Senator Windy Boy of Box Elder…
A ranger speaks out
I am absolutely heartbroken and completely devastated to have lost my dream job of an education park ranger with the National Park Service at Effigy Mounds National Monument this Valentine’s Day.
Cut the budget, not the Constitution
I had the opportunity, during the second Bush administration, to engage in advising struggling democracies in a project then known as “democracy building.” It was enormously fulfilling work, and I saw real progres…
Racicot on politicizing the judicial branch
Before entering upon the duties of his or her office, a legislator “shall,” according to Article III of the Montana Constitution, solemnly swear to faithfully support, protect and defend the constitutions of Montan…
Beware the Trojan horse targeting public lands
Sometimes when I drive past the little house my wife and I bought when we first married, 30 years ago, it makes me sad. Not only because of nostalgia, but because of economics.