The national media left the state after Jordan Linn Graham changed her plea. Closing arguments were set to begin in her trial last week when the Kalispell woman acknowledged that she pushed her husband, Cody Johnson, off a cliff in Glacier National Park, killing him on July 7. Graham will be sentenced for second-degree murder […]

The Internet is full of so many lists that they have earned the nickname “listicles,” and we like to share them. Some include celebrities. Too many include cats. And perhaps the most popular are those that depict images of people acting selflessly with titles like this: “22 Random Acts of Kindness that will Restore Your […]

Miles of cars are idling in front of me on the west side of Lookout Pass on Interstate 90. More than an hour has passed and people are getting antsy, exiting their vehicles and wandering around in the rain for no apparent reason – rain that turns into snow a few miles ahead and has […]

When Oracle bought Bozeman-based RightNow Technologies in 2011 it was already involved in a long-running lawsuit with Google, alleging copyright and patent infringement over the search engine giant’s Android operating system. The case dragged on and largely focused on Java technologies, which Oracle now owned with its acquisition of Sun Microsystem a year prior. I […]

Former Gov. Brian Schweitzer said he wouldn’t take sides in the Democratic primary for Montana’s U.S. Senate seat in which his former lieutenant governor and former adjutant general are squaring off. But he wouldn’t stop there either. Instead, he readily took credit for what has become an intra-party dispute. “I guess I’m responsible since I […]

I just returned from my annual fall vacation – each year I squeeze in a few days of sunshine in Mexico before the snow falls. But on Nov. 3, when my plane touched down in Kalispell, white already blanketed the valley. So began the quick transition into winter. And three days later I was hiking […]

My dad called me recently to ask what size jeans I wear. It was the middle of October and he was Christmas shopping with my mom in Seattle. I told him it seemed a little early to be buying presents, but he disagreed. He hates shopping, but strives for efficiency. About two hours later he […]

I thought Montana Republican Congressman Steve Daines would soon declare for U.S. Senate – now that the government is reopened and the debt ceiling raised. But the freshman lawmaker recently announced he won’t decide until next year. If he does run, he would still be the frontrunner, but it’s hard to imagine the last few […]

Hate Congress? Sick of reading descriptions of our U.S. governing body accompanied by words like “stalemate,” “dysfunction” and “broken”? Well, then you should consider running for office. That might sound counterintuitive, but your country needs you. Unfortunately, the recent shutdown and standoff over raising the debt ceiling is having the opposite effect. Since Republican U.S. […]

I’m probably supposed to write something about the dysfunction in Washington, D.C. You know, how the government shut down, closed Glacier National Park and furloughed a bunch of federal employees. But you’ve likely read enough about that, and my opinion is unlikely to change yours. Instead, as I read about political gridlock, this “new normal,” […]

There is a disagreement over whether the fact we’re getting slower is a good or bad thing. The reason is different than you might think – it has little to do with the belly size of Americans and more to do with the psyche of the runners. They’re running for fun, instead of for a […]

I spent some time with a coworker recently on the University of Montana campus. We were there to help the Journalism School prepare for its centennial celebration – it turns 100 years old next year. While most of the conference involved party planning it also included some somber news on the university itself – mainly […]

Of the many challenges facing Glacier National Park’s new Superintendent Jeff Mow the most pressing will be decided by Congress in the next few weeks. Will lawmakers replace sequestration – the automatic budget cuts that will deepen in the coming years? Will they leave it in place? Will they provide a temporary fix? Predicting whether […]

Next week, some of the biggest tycoons in the business world will gather in Montana for a two-day economic summit in Butte. The list of speakers is truly staggering, ranging from the CEO of Ford to the executive chairman of Google. But, to me, the most appealing attendee is Elon Musk, who is perhaps the […]

After sentencing a former Billings teacher to 30 days in jail for rape last week, Yellowstone District Judge G. Todd Baugh said the 14-year-old victim was “older than her chronological age ” and was “as much in control of the situation” as her perpetrator. The judge apologized. But the backlash was swift and the damage […]