Every three years, the residential International Energy Conservation Code changes to varying degrees in an effort to reduce the energy consumption of the heating, cooling, lighting and hot water production of our homes. 2012 is another code change year – 2009 was the last, a code that Montana adopted in 2010. Back in 2007, the […]

Last month, the Montana Supreme Court overturned an earlier victory for free speech rights won in Helena district court by American Tradition Partnership (ATP), Montana Shooting Sports Association, and Champion Painting, Inc. over government bureaucrats’ right to bar individuals and companies from airing political opinions under a non-profit or for-profit corporate umbrella. The ban on […]

In one of the first initiatives Montana voters passed, the 100-year-old Corrupt Practices Act prohibits direct corporate campaign contributions. Montana’s state and local elections are still transparent by mandated disclosure laws. The U.S. Constitution never gave person-rights to corporations. The activist U.S. Supreme Court reopened those floodgates with Citizens United. Justice John Paul Stevens said […]

The U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, section 12(g), generally limits a privately held company to fewer than 500 shareholders. The assumption has been that companies with 500 investors are quasi-public anyway, and for disclosure and other reasons should be forced to go public when the shareholder number approaches this limit. Since the IPO market […]

When your store is out of stock on an item…what does your staff do and say? When I was out of state not long ago, I looked around for a pair of light hikers for everyday wear. I knew exactly what I wanted right down to the model name. I visited a locally owned store, […]

It took until the 11th hour for the Kalispell City Council to extend the life of the West Side Tax Increment Finance District. As someone who now lives in the district, I have to wonder why it took so long. The area is in dire need of a facelift and the redevelopment tool has the […]

The government is a zero sum game. The government cannot create wealth, it can only redistribute it. That means for every person that receives something from the government someone else loses. This may seem well intended sometimes. but it always hurts the ones in the most need. Look at the Indian reservations and the inner […]

I don’t mind saying that we’re in the “Dawg House.” Our family was transferred from Texas to the Flathead Valley last June. Prior to our move, I spent a week here driving the valley wondering where we were going to settle. My husband works on Reserve in Kalispell, leaving north Kalispell and Whitefish our options. […]

On behalf of the Whitefish School District, I offer my deepest gratitude for our city council’s decision on Jan. 2. During that meeting, our council agreed to unanimously support a resolution of intention to fund our high school redevelopment project in the amount of a $2.5 million contribution from tax increment finance funds. Based on […]

From time to time, you get signs that your work here isn’t complete. I recently I had one of those days. Six of us, including a three year old and a one year old on the downhill side of a cold, were set to fly what usually is a two segment, three hour flight from […]

I enjoy trains, therefore I keep an eye on railroad doings – such as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in Northern Plains Resource Council v. Surface Transportation Board, NPRC v. Surf for short. At issue is the 2007 Surface Transportation Board (Surf Board or STB) approval of the Tongue River Railroad (TRR), about […]

You may not have heard much about SOPA and its counterpart in the U.S. Senate, PIPA. SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) in the U.S. House and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) in the Senate have a noble and necessary cause behind them: To protect the intellectual property created by U.S. citizens and businesses. What is […]

Sometime late last year, at least according to experts who estimate these sorts of things, Montana surpassed 1 million residents. The milestone was met with both delight and dejection, even if the number is largely symbolic. We have now joined 44 other states that have at least that many people. The six below that mark […]

Last October, according to CBS News, President Barack Obama described the Occupy Wall Street movement as a reflection of a “broad-based frustration about how our financial system work”’ and pledged to continue fighting to protect American consumers. CBS News went on to report that “the president, speaking at a press conference, said he had heard […]

As a Montanan who has worked near the international Border for more than 20 years, Rep. Denny Rehberg’s H.R. 1505, The National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act, leaves me scratching my head. What is he thinking? The bill, which Rehberg co-sponsored, would hand sweeping powers to the Department of Homeland Security and the Border […]