Opinion

What would make Congress better?

A couple of weeks ago I was speaking to a group of students and decided to start with a point-blank question: Is Congress doing a good job? There were perhaps 100 people in the room, and not a single one raised his or her hand.

So I asked the question a different way: Is Congress nearly or completely dysfunctional? Most hands went up.

These were not experts, of course. They were simply reflecting a broad public consensus that things are not working well on Capitol Hill. But they weren’t wrong, either. Things aren’t working well on Capitol Hill.

Hanna’s Act addresses a problem affecting all of us

When women and girls go missing in our state, it’s not a Democratic problem or a Republican problem—it’s a Montana problem. And it’s an urgent one.

Not much research exists on the epidemic of Indigenous women and girls going missing or being murdered. But we do know that in Montana, where human trafficking is on the rise and there are serious flaws in our missing persons reporting system, hundreds of people have gone missing and their families are still left wondering what happened to them.

Regional innovation clusters promote business collaboration in rural communities

Small businesses in the Rocky Mountain region have new resources to help them commercialize technology, expand into new markets, grow their customer base and create jobs.

Thanks to funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Montana Bioscience Cluster Initiative in Billings and the Utah Advanced Material Manufacturing Initiative in Kaysville will expand opportunities for businesses in their industries to connect with each other and effectively leverage their assets.

Farm Bureau urges rural communities to participate in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

The Montana Farm Bureau Federation is encouraging rural communities to participate in the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day today, Saturday, April

27. Anne Hazlett, senior adviser for rural affairs at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, explained Saturday provides an opportunity to remove unused opioids from your medicine cabinet.

Montanans work together to protect our waters

Montanans know how precious water is. It’s essential for fish and wildlife, boating and angling, irrigating, drinking and creating much of our electricity. When something threatens our water — such

Loss of newspapers has big impact on communities

My first newspaper job in 1984, fresh out of college, was with the News Leader in Richwood, West Virginia. Richwood was a beautiful little town in the mountains on the

Montana Country of Origin labeling fails to pass Legislature

The Montana Cattlemen’s Association is very disappointed that the Montana Legislature refused to enact a Montana Country of Origin Labeling law (Mt-COOL). Although the bill did receive limited bipartisan support,

Aren’t feral cats an invasive species?

Dear Editor, Per the spaying and neutering of “feral” cats in the Ruby Gulch area, and the turning loose in the same area again, shouldn’t the Montana Fish, Wildlife and

UPOM applauds legislation clarifying ownership of fossils

Fossil remains, including dinosaur fossils, have historically belonged to the surface landowner in a split estate. However, in December of last year a federal court ruling upended fossil ownership in

States, big ag move to revoke basic property rights

Across the nation, six states have passed or proposed policies that serve as a clear rebuke of private property rights. In Utah, Nebraska, Georgia, North Carolina, West Virginia and Oklahoma,

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