It comes as no surprise that much of the budget surplus that Montana has enjoyed for the last eight years has come from energy and natural resource development. Oil and gas efforts across Montana, especially our eastern most counties, have provided opportunity across the state and revenue flows to help fund our government services on […]

Environmentalists have filed yet another lawsuit, against the Kootenai National Forest’s “Young Dodge” project on Lake Koocanusa’s west side. News? Naw … same old story. Young Dodge has been in the “paperworks” for a long time. Its first draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was published clear back in February 2006. The Forest Service lost two […]

Think about the process you go through when preparing for an important business trip. You make a todo list so you’re sure you get all the bases covered. You think of every scenario that might come up at home while you are gone and every scenario that might up come while out of town. Based […]

The article headlined “Does Benghazi Matter?” (May 22 Beacon) was most enlightening. I was especially intrigued by the opinions of Joe Carbonari. He asked two questions: 1. Should a more vigorous military response have been ordered? And 2. Was a politically motivated cover-up attempted? Carbonari’s observations of the Benghazi issue seem to be in agreement […]

We have come a long way. And have a long way to go. When I was a young boy, my grandparents took me and my two sisters on a summer road trip from our hometown in northern Wisconsin to my aunt’s place in southern California. Before that trip, my family’s meager means prevented us from […]

By John Fuller Shortly after being sworn in, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called America a “nation of cowards.” Within a year, he studiously avoided prosecuting a videoed and documented case of white voter intimidation by the “New Black Panthers.” Then news surfaced that the Department of Justice was involved in a complex scheme to […]

I first met Max Baucus in 1973 when he entered the Montana House of Representatives as a freshman member from Missoula. His seat was at the back of the chamber near bright and articulate Dorothy Bradley of Bozeman, the previous session’s only woman and future Democratic candidate for governor. I got to know him well […]

I arrived in Kalispell on April 15, 2007 with a Toyota RAV4 full of my scant belongings. A mistreated Gibson guitar was likely the most valuable item of the bunch, including the car. I was not so much scared as overwhelmed by the weight of it all: I was starting a new job as reporter […]

With Congress pledging to reauthorize a new Farm Bill before the fall deadline, there was plenty of political will to get the $1 trillion per decade spending bills toward floor votes. Last week, the Senate was voting on various floor amendments to the Farm Bill. Senators previously wanted to pass the Farm Bill before this […]

Many of us have something about our business that acts as a barrier that limits what we can do. In many cases, this barrier isn’t real – it’s simply a belief we’ve allowed to infect our mindset. The trouble with this is that if you believe there’s a limit to your business – there is, […]

Have you noticed, lately, just within our own country the number of controversies, sensible and non-sensible hearings on Capitol Hill, protests and outright outrage among “We The People” on things important to our nation’s health? Look at just these: (1) “Citizens United’s” faltering stand on “corporations are people.” Los Angeles just joined 175 other cities […]

It’s true that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has suggested due to overwhelming public outcry they will revisit the walleye suppression issue in Noxon Reservoir, but it has not yet announced a decision to stop attempted eradication. In the interest of accuracy, it truly is speculation as to how walleye were introduced. FWP’s Draft Environmental […]

Earlier this month, I ran Bloomsday in Spokane along with 47,000 other people. While I grew up there, this was my first time participating in the event, and its sheer size is astonishing. But how the city oversees such a huge race, one of the largest in the country, is equally impressive. Spokane is a […]

By John Fuller Which shallow, cold-hearted person issued the orders to abandon the brave Americans fighting for their lives at Benghazi? When an official representative of the sovereignty of the United States is brutally murdered and the brave warriors attempting to save him are abandoned by their government, why did the highest levels of that […]

In April, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and cooperating government entities released their 148-page “Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem [NCDE] Grizzly Bear Conservation Strategy” draft for public comments. Your comments will be due Aug. 1. Why bother? Two reasons: Officially, a “strategy” (like that for wolves) needs to be approved prior to “de-listing” grizzly bears […]