Glacier Park's iconic mountain goat population is crashing

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

“That is why, effective immediately, we are repealing the ridiculous endangerment finding and terminating all additional green emission standards imposed unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond." –President Donald J. Trump.

The Gianforte administration is reminding residents that there is still time to apply for property tax and rental reductions that were passed by the 2025 Legislature in its quest to make Montana housing more affordable.

As the events in Minneapolis with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement continue to reverberate, the United States Senate appears headed for a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security over issues of funding and reforms that some members of Congress are pushing for. After the failed vote, the Senate adjourned while funding for the department will expire tonight. The Senate will not return — at least as scheduled — until after Feb. 23.

In a separate Senate hearing, U.S. Senators decried what happened in Minneapolis to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and said that even if there were legitimate reasons to be there, the department has lost public trust.

In a continued theme of problems with immigration and the Department of Homeland Security, more members of Congress mount another challenge to visit immigration facilities. As it currently stands, Congress members should be able to enter them to inspect them. However, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem insists that the department must be given seven-days’ notice, and a separate federal court case is playing out, challenging a similar issue.

A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction against the Department of Defense and Secretary Pete Hegseth who are trying to punish Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, for urging members of the U.S. military to defy illegal orders. Kelly’s attorneys say that the department can’t punish him for using his First Amendment rights and say that his position as a U.S. Senator gives him legislative immunity from such action — arguments that, for now, the federal courts seem to buy.

The United States House of Representatives has supported a Trump administration-backed piece of legislation, the SAVE Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote. Advocates warn that the strict requirements could disenfranchise swaths of eligible voters, including women who changed their names after getting married.

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A fascinating-yet-horrifying study by researchers studying the evolution of artificial intelligence pried out what AI was really thinking about America and its states. Even though AI digitally blushed when asked direct questions about which states were laziest or prettiest, through a series of questions, ChatGPT’s answers seemed to favor states with higher percentages of white people, often in more northern climates. According to the article in The Washington Post, Montana works harder than say, Idaho or South Dakota, but ChatGPT believes we could do better, like Wyoming or North Dakota.

Valentine’s Day (see also, “The Hook”) is often a time for love, romance and decadent desserts. But it wasn’t always that way. Our friends at the Conversation via Smithsonian magazine report that during the late 1800s and early 1900s, valentines came in two distinct categories — love and hate. In a tradition called "Vinegar Valentines,” printers would concoct poems and cards that would be sent anonymously to those who were arrogant … or smoked indoors … or even to suffragettes, who were seen as home-wreckers. We’re not the only generation to cherish our snark.

Whenever the subject of coal comes up (see also above story on EPA rollbacks of greenhouse gases), American politicians often use rival China as an excuse to rush headlong into more fossil fuels. But several recent articles demonstrate that China has turned an arid desert, the Taklamakan, which is the size of Montana, into a thriving forest, becoming possibly the world’s largest carbon sink.

Columnist George Ochenski writes that during the 1970s, the old Montana Power Company had literal fever dreams of making the Treasure State the “boiler room of America,” complete with “vampire wires” that would take the energy from our state. Now, a new proposal seeks to raise the vampire wires from the crypt of history and once again make Montana America’s energy colony, without much benefit to those who live here.

It’s always a challenge to write "“The Hook” either during, or as we approach Valentine’s Day. Either you love love, or you despise the holiday with the exception of the candy. Or the candy hearts that taste like petrified toothpaste. Not that I’d know about either of them.

Finally, I think I have found a song we can settle on, regardless of your level of cynicism or romance: “Love Hurts.”

While most people know the song as a monster ballad in the 1970s by one of my favorite bands, Nazareth, it’s not the only version of the song.

It’s one of those songs that just rips your heart out, and yet, if you’re like me (which, let’s hope you have better taste and have made better choices) you still crank up the volume. It’s one of the songs that I blast when it comes on the radio, and all the kids riding in the car with me slump down a little lower.

But as much as the most popular of the version cracked the rock charts in 1976, going to No. 8 on the Billboard Top 40, there were oodles of cover versions by that time. Notably, Roy Orbison was the first to chart with it — in Australia in 1961. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., the song didn’t do much. But even before that, the song was first recorded by The Everly Brothers in 1960, for their album, “A Date with the Everly Brothers.” Seems like dating two brothers at once would be awkward for all sorts of reasons. That’s the version we’re featuring today just because so many people are familiar with Nazareth, but fewer know about the version that was nearing 20 years old by the time it hit the airwaves again.

The song is written by the legendary husband-wife songwriting duo, Boudleaux and Felice Bryant. They may not be household names, but they are often overshadowed by other famous married songwriting couples like Carole King and Gerry Goffin or Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. But the Bryants were amazing and had already had plenty of success with the Everly Brothers, having written arguably their most famous song, “All I Have To Do Is Dream.” The couple’s credits are diverse, including the bluegrass staple, “Rocky Top.”

So, Happy Valentine’s Day, if that’s your thing.

And if not, love hurts, right?

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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