Media coalition secures court documents related to Anaconda shooter.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

“Under the Court’s new view of Section 2, a state can, without legal consequence, systematically dilute minority citizens’ voting power,” – Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on a ruling that will significantly change how the courts look at concerns of racial gerrymandering and the Voting Rights Act.

The United States Supreme Court makes a huge decision when it comes to voting. The conservatives on the high court have set the bar significantly higher for voting cases and racial gerrymandering. In an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, he said that some of the recent attempts of racial gerrymandering have not come close to proving a racist motive. Liberals on the court warned that the new ruling will give states license to discriminate against minority voting blocs.

Despite objections by some Republicans to the nomination of Kevin Warsh to replace outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, the GOP voted to forward Warsh’s name onto the full Senate. Many Democrats are worried that Warsh will be just a puppet for President Donald Trump when the federal banking branch should remain independent of politics.

Even though many states have proposed “red flag” laws that would help law enforcement identify potentially unstable people possessing guns, many conservative-leaning states are now going after the red-flag laws, looking to eliminate them.

In Washington, the attorney general is suing the large grocery store chain, Albertsons, because of what that office says are deceptive practices regarding buy-one, get-0ne sales. The grocery chain is Montana’s largest, too.

As higher temperatures threaten Alaska’s fishing industry in several ways, it is also adding to the stress for salmon there as invasive pike are destroying salmon and rising temperatures are also stressing the fish.

In Washington, efforts to recall Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, have officially ended. Those efforts to recall the governor were directed at two open seats that he had refused to fill on the Public Disclosure Commission. After appointing two representatives, the recall efforts ended.

In more news about the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Washington, D.C., District Attorney Janine Pirro said that the shooter had not only planned to target President Donald Trump, but planned that it would be a “mass casualty” event.

The United States Supreme Court will decide whether lower appellate courts were correct in uphold temporary protected status for immigrants, namely from Syria and Haiti. Now, they’ll decide if the Trump administration can revoke that protection for as many as 1 million people.

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It is crazy to think that the phones that we carry around in our pockets — everyone has them — are more powerful than any computer several decades ago. And so it shouldn’t surprise us that those same devices can be made to amazing things. Case-in-point: College students have developed a device not unlike the Fitbit that can detect oncoming epileptic seizures, according to the Smithsonian magazine.

The different Federal Reserve banks scattered throughout the United States don’t just set monetary policy, they also have extensive research arms. That’s why our friends from the Ohio Capital Journal report that the federal reserve bank there has more research that say the Trump tariff policies as well as the war in Iran are causing consumer prices to surge, making nearly everything less affordable.

In North Dakota, a federal judge has struck down a program that would have residents pay less for pharmacy drugs. According to the North Dakota Monitor, the program was enriching pharmacies at the expense of patients.

We received an email that discussed which state has the biggest drug problem. WalletHub which squishes numbers and statistics does a credible job of trying to define what is essentially an impossible task: Trying to determine which state is struggling the most. We certainly understand that by selecting different criteria a person could come up with different results. And really, when you’re measuring something as troubling as drug use, ranking pain or misery is likely a fraught thing.

But in Montana we’ve documented the scourge of methamphetamine. We also have seen the fentanyl and opioid crises.

Here’s how WalletHub defined its study: “This study compares the 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of 20 key metrics, ranging from arrest and overdose rates to opioid prescription use and employee drug testing laws.”

So how does Montana rank? No. 13.

New Mexico led the states, with other western states like Colorado, Wyoming and Nevada having more troubles.

Here’s a few more interesting tidbits that they included:

Arkansas has the highest retail opioid pain reliever prescriptions per 100 residents, leading the nation. On the other end of the spectrum, Hawaii has the lowest.

West Virginia has the most drug overdose deaths per 100,000 residents, which is six times more than in Nebraska, the state with the fewest.
 

New Mexico has the highest share of teens who used illicit drugs in the past month, which is 2.5 times higher than in Utah, the state with the lowest. 
 

Vermont has the highest share of adults who used illicit drugs in the past month, which is 2.4 times higher than in Utah, the state with the lowest.

As expected, it didn’t take some of you very clever, smart — and, of course, beautiful — Hooksters to devour the list published by The New York Times on Tuesday which gave a list of the 30 best songwriters alive.

We fed it to you, knowing there’d be debate. And there was.

While there was a smattering of opinions, one of the artists who seemed particularly snubbed and noticed by our readers was Jackson Browne.

For all of his hits, and all of his songs, I tend to agree. If nothing else, his longevity and his own personal catalogue of songs make a good argument. I have always admired Browne for being able to take the shortest No. 1 song in U.S. Billboard chart history, “Stay” by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs in 1960, and his live version turned it into a nearly seven-minute song. And, it’s equally credible.

For my money, though, since I was a child of the 1980s, “Doctor My Eyes” and other songs like it seemed older. The hit that I remember most was “Tender Is The Night” from the “Lawyers In Love” album.

And I agree with some of our loyal fans: Jackson Browne was snubbed by the Times.

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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