Opinion

Editor:

Two bills are before the Fish and Game Committee of the Montana Senate that encourage increased snare trapping of wolves. One even goes so far as authorizing the reimbursement of costs trappers incur to kill wolves! According to an economic impact analysis conducted by the University of Montana, “more than $35.5 million are generated annually via wolf-centered ecotourism.” Why would we encourage the indiscriminate killing of an animal that supports the many small businesses that rely on ecotourism?

WASHINGTON — Asking Conservative Political Action Conference attendees for their views on conservatism is like asking arsonists to lecture on fire safety. For decades, the fondest hope of the kind of agitators attracted by this annual event has been a Republican president who shares the breadth of their grievance, the depth of their anger and the fervor of their conspiratorial delusions. In Donald Trump, they finally found their man. He will be welcomed this year — as he will be for the rest of his life — as the god-king of Crazy Town.

Vaccine makers reassured Congress on Tuesday they will boost production and provide an additional 140 million doses in the next five weeks, overcoming the production bottlenecks that have crimped the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The next hurdle is vaccine hesitancy. Opinion surveys show the United States is drawing closer to the goal of broad public acceptance, but there is a ways to go. Every effort must be made to administer the vaccines as widely as possible.

There is a perception that something seemed frustratingly preordained last week when the charges to be filed against South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg in connection with a fatal car accident last September were announced.