Montana DOJ says you can't know the names of peace officers.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

"I would have been forced to close All Families Healthcare if these restrictions took effect, leaving my patients to travel hundreds of miles or forgo care altogether. Our state lawmakers clearly don’t care about Montanans’ health, or they wouldn’t pass law after law driving health care providers like me to spend our time in court instead of the exam room with our patients. But I vow to keep fighting tor protect access to this safe, essential healthcare for all Montanans.” – Helen Weems, a nurse practitioner who has had to mount a legal challenge to Montana’s abortion laws for years, winning again on Tuesday.

The Montana Supreme Court says that a 2023 law passed by the Legislature treats abortion clinics different than any other providers, and likely violates the state’s constitution in several ways.

In a sweeping executive order, President Donald J. Trump has issued a new mandate that says that the federal government will come up with master voting rolls. He has recently called “mail-in ballot” voting a fraudulent way of voting, even though the majority of America now votes that way. Even as he issues the order, Democrats and other voting rights groups have promised a swift legal challenge.

The United States Supreme Court seems unpersuaded by the Trump administration’s arguments about reinterpreting the constitutional principle of birthright citizenship.

Columnist Doug James says that Montana’s senior Sen. Steve Daines is the “master of misdirection.” He points out that while Daines talks a good game about a lot of issues important to Montana, he more often can be found voting against the state’s interests. That’s why we shouldn’t put too much faith that Daines will just retire from politics.

Well, if there’s one thing that you can rely on the Daily Montanan for, it’s breaking news … about the rising cost of Easter candy. See — we know what’s important to our readers, candy.

In a follow-up email, our friends at a publicity firm that sent the original (and alarming) email about the sharp rise in Easter egg candy have issued even more research that may help explain why the Easter bunny is on a diet in 2026. You may recall that if you spend as much on Easter candy as you did in 2020, you’ll get 40% less. And let’s not even get started about the bad jelly beans that continue to be produced that try to lure us into a purchase.

Researchers say that the average American family has only increased their budget in that time by 15%. In other words: You’re paying more and getting less.

Sometimes, there are songs that just break your heart.

Other times, there are singers’ whose stories do the same.

That is true for both this song and this brother-and-brother duo of the Louvin Brothers. If you haven’t heard of them, that’s OK and even understandable. But all genres of music — rock, country and bluegrass — would not be the same without them.

They began relegated to “gospel” music for a mostly white, rural and poor population. Their music is a mix of bluegrass and country, but originally they did a lot of popular hymns, largely because they weren’t country enough for country, and bluegrass as a genre was still largely developing. Their albums are sought after by collectors and, in particular, their “Satan Is Real” is not just a great album, but has great cover art and was used as the autobiography of Charlie Louvin. Elvis Presley credited them for being his favorite artists, and The Everly Brothers modeled themselves after them, something that is not hard to hear at all in their music.

Charlie Louvin went on to have a fairly successful country music career, after the death of his brother, Ira. Still, as popular and well known as Charlie may have been for a period, his work — in my opinion — never quite measured up to the greatness of the Louvin Brothers’ harmony. I can only describe it as somewhere in between heartbreakingly sweet and a perfect blending of voices. But, because they were pigeonholed into a gospel category, they were never allowed to become popular the way that some music stars were. That adds a tinge of sadness to their overall story, coupled with the tragic car wreck that took Ira’s life. Their lives together were also a mix of worldly sin and heavenly music that has painted such an intriguing picture of so many artists, Hank Williams included.

However, there was something special about the heart-sorrow that their music seemed to capture better than the rest. They certainly have several — if not many — great love songs, but their love songs are at their peak when the lyrics shift to a broken heart or unrequited love. I recently heard this song, “I Wish It Had Been A Dream,” which I cannot play enough.

Sadly, the title also describes how I feel about so many events lately.

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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