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  • Secretary Of State Christi Jacobsen Announces 2024 Annual Report Fees Will Be Waived For All Montana Businesses

    For the Courier|Jun 21, 2023

    Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen announced on June 9 that 2024 Annual Report filing fees will be waived for all Montana businesses. The elimination of the Annual Report filing fee will result in millions of dollars in savings for Montana businesses. “Our Montana businesses work hard to provide services and products to their communities, and I want to make it easier to do business in Montana,” said Secretary Jacobsen. “I previously cut registration fees in half for Montana businesses, and our state has experienced record new busin...

  • AG Knudsen Files Lawsuit To Block Biden Administration Policy That Increases Montanans' Flood Insurance Rates

    For the Courier|Jun 21, 2023

    Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and nine other state attorneys general are suing the Biden administration over its new “Equity in Action” methodology used to calculate flood insurance rates that would force Montanans to pay hundreds of dollars more per year. Under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) new “Risk Rating 2.0 – Equity in Action” methodology, policies for 2,170 single family homes in Montana would see their flood insurance costs skyrocket by an average of 84 percent, or $757 per year. Using a methodology...

  • Appreciate The Hard Work Done At Grave Sites

    Art and Marilyn Widhalm Flag Coordinators|Jun 14, 2023

    Dear Editor, When I arrived at the Highland Cemetery to get set up for placing flags on veteran grave sites on May 27th I was blown away with, first the entry gate and secondly by the way the cemetery looked. The flowers and new gate really made a welcoming sight and were beautifully displayed. The entire cemetery was meticulously manicured and looked peaceful as a cemetery should. The work that Dan Miller and his crew put in showed the great pride they have and made it a show place for family...

  • Montana Association Of Counties Files Suit To Clarify Governor's Ability To Bypass Legislature's Constitutional Right To Override Veto

    For the Courier|Jun 14, 2023

    The Montana Association of Counties (“MACo”), of which Valley County is a part of, filed suit on June 7 to compel Governor Greg Gianforte and Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen to fulfill their constitutional obligations and allow the Montana Legislature their lawful opportunity to override the Governor’s veto of Senate Bill 442 (“SB 442”). On May 1, 2023, 130 out of 150 legislators passed SB 442, a bipartisan, politically popular measure that touches the state from border to border by redistributing recreational marijuana tax revenues...

  • Montana State Offers Free Citizen Science Kits To Youth Organizations

    For the Courier|Jun 14, 2023

    The Science Math Resource Center at Montana State University, a STEM outreach center housed in the Department of Education, is offering free citizen science kits to 10 Montana programs that serve middle school students. Applications are due Friday, June 23, and kits will be sent to successful applicants immediately afterward. Programs are asked to use the materials by Sept. 30 and fill out a short post-program survey. Each kit includes a video tutorial, instructor’s guide and physical materials to complete two citizen science projects from i...

  • Tester Presses Biden Administration To Return Northern Ports Of Entry To Pre-Pandemic Hours

    For the Courier|Jun 14, 2023

    Continuing his aggressive push to fully reopen the northern border and resume full trade and commerce with Canada, U.S. Senator Jon Tester on June 7 led a bipartisan letter to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) pressing the agency to return the hours of operations at northern ports of entry to pre-pandemic hours or, at minimum, match the operating hours of Canadian ports. “As Members of Congress who represent states across the northern border, we write to request U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) expand the hours of o...

  • Sharpening Knifes

    Gwen Cornwell, For the Courier|Jun 7, 2023

    With all of the smoke filled skies we had in the past month I thought Burma Shave #2 appropriate. Chaperone your cigarettes, they shouldn't go out alone! On to other memories. Be careful what you wish for. At one point in my younger life I wished for an exercise bike. My husband happily purchased one for me at an auction that he attended. Needless to say, it was not what I had in my mind, but I was told I could sharpen my knives while I exercised. Many of our parents and grandparents used this...

  • Senate Bill 109 Redefines PSC District Boundaries

    For the Courier|Jun 7, 2023

    Following the passage and signing of SB 109, the Montana Public Service Commission announces the creation of new boundaries for the five PSC districts. SB 109, carried by Senator Keith Regier and signed into law by Gov. Gianforte, uses the newly established Montana House of Representatives district map to create the boundaries of the revised PSC districts. PSC districts are no longer determined by county boundary lines. Under the recently enacted legislation, each of Montana's seven most populated cities, excluding Butte, will now be...

  • New Assault On Federal Grazing

    Jun 7, 2023

    Dear Editor, With all the checks and balances ingrained in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, it is incomprehensible how one election is totally destroying the foundation of our very successful republic. Wayne Hage, in his book 'Storm over Rangelands', extensively documented how the eastern industrialists coveted the natural resources of the western states and since the 1880's had been using the federal government to keep these resources out of the hands of the western settlers (i.e....

  • World No Tobacco Day

    May 24, 2023

    Dear Editor, Every year on May 31, World Health Organization and its partners mark World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death globally and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide. The theme of this year's World No Tobacco Day campaign is "Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship." Tobacco addiction is...

  • Taking On China To Defend Our Montana Way Of Life

    May 24, 2023

    Dear Editor, With the weather finally warming up here for spring time, I've been spending a lot of time out on my tractor finishing up planting. Every year, I plant my fields with crops like wheat, barley, peas, and millet. The days are long – Sharla and I start early in the morning and work late until the job is done – but as Montanans know, hard work is rewarding and always reminds us how lucky we are to live here in Montana. Our Montana way of life is what makes us The Last Best Place, and...

  • The FCC's Disregard For Montana's Seniors: The Landline Shutdown

    May 17, 2023

    Dear Editor, In Montana, telecom companies have been given the green light by the FCC (www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-grants-relief-outdated-burdensome-phone-industry-regulations) to discontinue their copper wire landline phone service and replace it with internet-based phone service. The FCC argues that the expensive maintenance of landline infrastructure prevents the transition to the next generation of communication technology. However, this deregulation affects vulnerable groups in Montana,...

  • From the Desk of the SED: Maureen Wicks

    May 17, 2023

    Dear Editor, I am incredibly pleased to see that spring planting is underway. Everywhere I travel, I see our agricultural producers out in the field getting their crops seeded. The days are long, and the work is hard. I know how important it is. The farthest thing on our minds at the end of the day is completing paperwork. However, I want to remind agricultural producers in Montana, who have not yet completed their crop acreage reports after planting, should make an appointment with their U.S. D...

  • Burma Shave Ads

    Gwen Cornwell, For the Courier|May 17, 2023

    Thanks to the reader that sent me a few Burma Shave ads. For those of you that do not remember, Burma Shave was a brushless shaving cream sold in the early 20s and 30s. I remember them as quite entertaining as a child as we traveled the highways. Burma Shave opted to advertise it a different way, as they typically chose to post four to six signs along the highways containing verses advertising their product. I thought it might be fun to start our memories with a different slogan for the next couple of issues so #1: Only a convict likes to be...

  • Letters to the Editor

    May 10, 2023

    We Are Not Your Enemy Dear Editor, Public officials talking about hiring hitmen to take out the publisher and reporter of a newspaper seems like something from a tense, blockbuster thriller rather than reality. Yet, in rural Oklahoma, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is currently investigating such a discussion. The McCurtain County Gazette is like most small-town newspapers. It’s family owned and operated, doesn’t have a website or digital version of its newspaper and stands as watchdog for the community. This responsibility, it see... Full story

  • Service Stations

    Gwen Cornwell, For the Courier|May 10, 2023

    I know that I have mentioned all the gas stations located in Glasgow in years past. These were service stations that offered full service. Services like checking your oil, filling your tank, washing your windows, airing up a tire or many were able to change or make repairs to tires while you waited. Now we fill our own tank (make sure you choose the correct fuel, gas or diesel) and wash our own windows. That was an adjustment for many of us senior women especially. I am wondering if my great-grandchildren will see the day that these filling...

  • The BLM's Proposed Rule To End Ranching On Federal Grazing District Allotments

    May 3, 2023

    Dear Editor, The liberal Biden administration is, apparently, dropping the other shoe for the Montana federal grazing district ranchers. The first shoe dropped in 2014 when the federal solicitors argued in front of the Montana Water Court's Water Master that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had built the reservoirs and pits on the federal allotments therefore they owned the water and our cows were their beneficial use. Why the Montana Water Master agreed with them when he had to know they wer...

  • Tester Blocks Biden's Amtrak Nominees - Fights for Rural America's Seat at the Table

    For the Courier|May 3, 2023

    As a part of his continued fight to strengthen rural America, U.S. Senator Jon Tester formally blocked President Biden’s nominees to serve as members of the Amtrak Board of Directors – five of whom are from Northeast Corridor states, violating provisions secured by Tester to ensure full geographic representation and firsthand knowledge of long-distance routes on the Amtrak Board through his bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. None of the six nominees are from Western states. “It is important that people in places like rural...

  • Flooding

    Gwen Cornwell, For the Courier|May 3, 2023

    Remembering a few floods of the past. I have a picture of my Dad’s family sitting on their porch overhang outside a window of the second floor of their house located on 3rd Ave. So. He would tell me how the milk cows were moved (maybe to Markles Transfer) and they managed to house the calves in the loft of the barn. This house and barn are still located on 3rd Ave. This was before the dike was built so you can maybe imagine the water that flowed into town....

  • Glasgow School District Mill Levy

    Apr 26, 2023

    Dear Glasgow School District Community Member, School funding formulas are complex and confusing. To simplify things, our district receives direct state aid payment equivalent to about 44 percent of our general funds. According to the Montana OPI document "Understanding Montana School Finance and School District Budgets," the general fund is defined as the fund used to account for the financing of a district's operation and maintenance costs not accounted for in another fund. Some examples of th...

  • Recycling

    Gwen Cornwell, For the Courier|Apr 26, 2023

    Recycling products has been on our Country’s agenda for some years now but does anyone remember when recycling of some items were specifically prohibited? I just ran into an old bottle (yes, I will admit that it appears to be a vintage “Spirits” bottle). Molded into the glass is a warning stating that FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS SALE OR REUSE OF THIS BOTTLE. How our world does change. Do you think this might have been during Prohibition days?...

  • Hobo Jungle

    Gwen Cornwell, For the Courier|Apr 19, 2023

    I am sure that most of you folks in the Glasgow and surrounding area have noticed the huge crane and work being done on the railroad just west of Glasgow. Of course many of us slow down as we go by to see what progress is being made. Observing this has prompted memories of Hobo Jungle for many of us that travel that highway. That was located just a little further from town where there are more trees. I’m sure this “camp” originated in the days when railroad cars were not all enclosed and there were a number of people that hitched rides on th...

  • The Recently Held National Agriculture Day: Fifty Years Later, Farmers Are Growing a Climate for Tomorrow

    Apr 12, 2023

    Dear Editor, Fifty years after the creation of National Agriculture Day, America's farmers, ranchers and private forestland owners find themselves on the front lines of climate change. They are uniquely positioned to deliver solutions by implementing climate-smart production practices that conserve natural resources, build healthier soils, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and sequester carbon. National Agriculture Day is a day to recognize the producers who are the best stewards of our land....

  • Fully Fund Home Care Providers

    Apr 12, 2023

    Dear Editor, I live in Wolf Point where I work as a caregiver for my daughter, Mindy, who is now 49 years old. She just had a birthday and was only supposed to live for five to six years so every year is a celebration for us. Mindy was born with a condition called Spinobiffida and is totally handicapped. She lives her life in a wheelchair, and I do everything for her. I get 30 hours a week for her care, but that only covers half of the time I work with her. I'm not the only one in my community...

  • Easter Bonnets

    Gwen Cornwell, For the Courier|Apr 12, 2023

    Remembering the song, “In your Easter bonnet With all the frills upon it, you will be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.” I don’t remember our area ever having an Easter Parade, but I do remember the Easter Bonnets or Hats. I did not see any in the Church I attend and of course I did not wear one either. I do probably have a closet shelf-full of hats from by- gone days, but think back to your childhood and how many young girls were attired in new Easter clothing as well as a little bonnet. Maybe an Easter bonnet for girls just went with...

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