Attorney General threatens to take over Gallatin County Attorney's office.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

“Even as we celebrate the beauty that surrounds us, our generation must decide how to address the collapse of critical natural systems, which threatens far more than the harmony and essential diversity of nature,” – King Charles III of Great Britain, on climate change.

Even though relations between Europe and America have been strained lately with talk of annexing Canada or Greenland, King Charles III of England visits America, including addressing Congress. The only other British monarch to do that was Charles’ mother, Elizabeth II. He was cheered often in Congress as he spoke about the need to check executive power as well as take better care of the environment.

The plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has been delayed after the United States Senate passed a resolution that would end the funding stand-off and shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said he had some concerns, which could derail the funding plans as money to pay federal workers once again becomes critical.

A new report shows that nitrates are contaminating more waterways than you may think. Nitrate pollution has been an issue in many places, but after a series of stricter regulations, it looked as if the problem was more isolated. That’s not the case anymore, according to the Environmental Working Group, which says that nearly 1-in-every-five people have contaminated drinking water.

The largest measles outbreak in the country has ended. Public health officials in South Carolina announced that the wave of measles that swept over the Palmetto State appears to have ended with 997 people contracting the disease and 21 of those needing hospitalization. However, in the six-month period, the state recorded no deaths.

The Attorney General of Kentucky filed a suit that challenges a Kentucky Supreme Court decision which halted a Roman Catholic parish from building an outdoor grotto in the northern part of the state. The attorney general said the ruling violates the church’s freedom to exercise its religion, and 20 other Republican attorneys general have joined the fight, including Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

Even as the Trump administration continues to push to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, members of Congress — both Democrat and Republican — continue to voice concerns about eliminating it, while Secretary of Education Linda McMahon says that all essential programs will be transferred to other agencies.

Note: some links may lead to stories behind a news organization's paywall

Most Montanans didn’t know of former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who died this past week of colon cancer at the age of 74. In a column, his longtime friend Rod Gramer remembers the former lifetime politician as a capable, humble and principled man who seems like a very different politician than what we have currently.

Even though the story uses Ohio as an example, reports show that in order to meet America’s rising electricity demands, utility companies are going to have to invest heavily into transmission lines. That infrastructure investment across the nation will translate to an estimated $1.4 trillion, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. The translation? Higher utility bills for consumers.

President Donald Trump has already once nearly gotten late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel fired. However, Trump has renewed his call to cancel Kimmel, after the host made a joke, referring to First Lady Melania Trump as a soon-to-be-widow. Kimmel said it was a reference to the age gap between the two; Trump has said it suggests violence. On Tuesday, The New York Times reports the administration has ordered a review of every one of ABC,’s station licenses, which would seem to threaten the viability of the network.

While we often use this space to highlight data that comes to us from a variety of sources, mostly public relations firm trying to find a hungry reporter willing to bite on stories that feature Montana’s least favorite board game, today our friends at the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services have provided an interesting statistic in their weekly “Health in the 406” update:

Today, The New York Times featured a great project that tries to find the 30 greatest living songwriters. Like so many projects that begin with the notion to find the best or greatest of anything, the list, featured here, is bound to start some arguments.

There were two things that caught our attention, though. First, the project writers decided to list the songwriters without ranking — in other words, if you made the list, you made the list. The specific number — one through 30 — isn’t given, which is an interesting approach. Secondly, each one of the 30 songwriters — all of them amazing in their own special rights — have videos of another well-known artist talking about them. So, that’s just our way of saying: Warning! Huge time sink ahead.

The writing that introduces each songwriter is equally beautiful. This piece isn’t just a good argument-starter, but it’s a fantastic read. It’s the kind of piece that seems to match the genius of the songwriters with an equally powerful prose. For example, take a look at this description of Lucinda Williams, “Whatever anybody means about a song’s texture turns tactile with Lucinda Williams. Sweat salt. Ice crunch. Oyster grit. Matches. Grease (bacon, engine, hair). She must know this.”

Williams brief introduction in the piece is then followed by comments from Mary Chapin Carpenter, a great performer and songwriter herself.

We won’t ruin the joy of discovery for you. There are several predictable artists who need to be there. But there are also plenty of surprises. One of the things that I appreciated about the list was it makes great arguments for more modern artists. It’s easy to feel that the best music or the best of anything needs decades of experience.

To wit, one of the artists that made the list is a relative new favorite artist of mine, Lana Del Rey. And that’s why we’re featuring her very mature, deep and poignant hit, “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but I have it.” (Apologies to our grammatically precise folks … the title is in all lowercase.)

We’d love to hear whether you think other living songwriters were overlooked or absent, or if you found a couple of new gems.

P.S. — We understand when we switched over a new formatting on our morning newsletter, “The Hook” featured its daily song on a hyperlink. But, with the advent of newer technology, if you would like to listen to the song, you can simply hover over the song below and click on it. On most days, that should take you directly to the song on YouTube. But several of you have note difficulties with this. Since it means a new window will pop up to take you to the music, if you have pop-ups blocked on the computer, then it will stop you. And, if you want to nominate a song, suggest a lyric or have questions, please — by all means — just send us a note.

If you have a song that you’d like to share, or would like to get in touch with us, please send us a note at [email protected]

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