Columns
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…
Editor’s reflections on running a 100-mile race
The inaugural Copper Kings 100 was one of only two 100-mile ultramarathons held in Montana this year.
When presidents were leaders
Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison… a pretty fair line-up of leaders to chart the course of our fledgling republic, wouldn’t you say? Perfect men? Certainly not. But men of powerful intellect, passionately held …
Keep party politics out of courtroom
I am supporting the Montanans for Fair and Impartial Judges campaign because I want to keep our judiciary independent. It’s impossible for a judge to be impartial if elected on a political party platform.
Mow and Daines on America the Beautiful Act
While visits to our national parks are at an all-time high, the parks and their infrastructure are crumbling. Bridges and roads are in disrepair. Housing and wastewater infrastructure are unsustainable. In our own …
Keep courts independent
More than a century ago, during the era of the Copper Kings, Montana experienced firsthand the dangers of political interference in the judiciary. Powerful corporate interests sought to control every branch of gove…
OBBB will cost Montana more than $135 million
The Big Beautiful Bill will cost Montana $139.5 million over the next two years. The bill includes renewal of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and adds new deductions for the taxpayer.
Zinke touts OBBB
On July 3rd, I voted to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill, a historic piece of legislation delivering major wins for Montana families, workers, seniors, and small businesses. The bill was signed into law by President…
What’s the point of being a Senator if you don’t have guts?
More than half a century ago, when I was a young, enlisted man stationed at the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington D.C., I contacted former Montana Senator Burton K. Wheeler. I introduced myself and asked him …
And in chicken news...
I could hear the chicken, but I couldn’t see the chicken. Just little clucks, wafting off into the growing darkness.
A ride through paradise
Earlier in our legislative careers, now Senate President Matt Regier and now Senator Dave Fern took a bike ride (not E-Bikes!), in a nearby county. The first half of the ride was all uphill. Then after going as fa…
A day's work and the demise of a Senator
I awoke slightly before 5 a.m. on Friday, April 18. I needed to reacquaint myself with four bills from the House that I would be carrying on the Senate floor.
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…
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…
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…