Columns

Legislature passed gains for wildlife and habitat

Published on Mon, 05/06/2019 - 4:43pm

The 2019 Montana Legislature turned out to be a success for wildlife and habitat. We look back at a session that had more than 80 bills affecting our core issues of wildlife, habitat and access, and see many wins and a handful of losses when it comes to improving public access to public lands. 

Would climate engineering be playing God?

Published on Fri, 05/03/2019 - 4:43pm

As climate technology advances, the incredible is becoming creditable. Someday, a guy sitting in a bunker may be able to alter the planet’s temperature by fiddling with a cosmic thermostat. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

There are basically two approaches to climate engineering. One is to capture greenhouse gas emissions and bury them. The other, more controversial idea, is to reflect the energy from sunlight back into space. This could be done through ginormous mirrors or by spraying aerosols into the atmosphere to make the Earth shinier (and, therefore, more reflective).

Potpourri ... and preening

Published on Wed, 05/01/2019 - 12:00am

So here’s a potpourri of items collected over the last several weeks that may be of interest. Potpourri, of course, is the French word for “there is a deadline and

Can Biden apologize his way to the presidency?

Published on Wed, 05/01/2019 - 12:00am

Former vice president and new 2020 Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden has a problem. His problem is simple: He has a record. That record is long and checkered. And that means

A restful break

Published on Fri, 04/26/2019 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON — Three days before Joe Biden dove back into the deep end of the political pool, a rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the terrorist who bombed the 2013

Liberal media not always the liberal’s friend

Published on Thu, 04/25/2019 - 12:00am

So Joe Biden is in. He’s not millennial, not female, not a member of a racial minority. That’s a problem for him, sayeth much of the so-called liberal media. The

Criticism of Ilhan Omar isn’t incitement

Published on Thu, 04/18/2019 - 12:00am

A couple of years ago, I spoke at the University of California, Berkeley. My presence was apparently so offensive to a particular group of people that hundreds of police officers

Paris, New York united by urban horror

Published on Thu, 04/18/2019 - 12:00am

Many of us watching the inferno at Notre Dame de Paris felt that 9/11 dread. This week, as nearly 18 years ago, the news channels kept looping the same horrific

Some fake test scores are just alright

Published on Wed, 04/17/2019 - 12:00am

This is one of those crazy stories that just keeps getting crazier. And no, we’re not referencing the Mariners. Although it is true that at the time of this writing,

Notre Dame and tankers of water

Published on Wed, 04/17/2019 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON — At least he recognized the urgency. As the world gasped in horror at the sight of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral burning in a cataclysmic moment, the president of