Montana over-estimated wolf population. By a lot.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

For years, wildlife advocates and conservation organizations have been saying that Montana and its method of estimating wolf populations has way overestimated their numbers. The state has updated its model and — voila — it turns out that the state will have to curb the hunting quotas because the numbers were significantly overestimated.

Also, as calls grow louder for either Seth Bodnar or Alani Bankhead to step aside, Bodnar has been racking up endorsements that would normally go to the Democrats, as moderates and liberals argue about how best to stop the Republicans from taking a U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Steve Daines.

Columnists Sue Urhen and Tim Storey write that while a lot of Americans feel alienated by politics and are apprehensive about participating in the process, there are hopeful signs that democracy and bipartisanship are still alive and can still work.

A group of protestors and those who have been working to document how both the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have handled deportation and arrests, some have launched a lawsuit saying that the federal government has retaliated by kicking some of them off an approved flying list like “TSA pre-check” as punishment for their participation.

Even though the United States Supreme Court has ruled that President Donald Trump does not have the authority to unilaterally impose tariffs without the approval of Congress, Trump announced on Friday that he was implementing more tariffs against countries allegedly because of child labor violations.

I took a few days off recently to be with family and — ?enjoy? — the summer weather, which hit triple digits on at least three of the four days I took off. One of the things I did was hole myself up in the basement to take a listen to the new Rolling Stones’ album, “Foreign Tongues.”

Fair warning (and something I’ve said repeatedly): I tend to dislike many new albums only to come back to them in 5 to ten years and think they’re brilliant. So, stay tuned for the 2031 editions of “The Hook.”

The new album starts off strong with its hard driving rock hit, which we’re sharing today, “Rough and Twisted.” You can find the Rolling Stones and Mick Jagger’s solo work littered with songs about being tough and loaded with machismo. Methinks Mr. Jagger probably suffers from painful self-awareness that he’s always been smaller and has listed toward the feminine with his outfits.

The album is worth a listen, if for no other reason than to be impressed that a band with an average age that could give the United States Senate a run for its money is still vibrant and versatile. In so many ways, this album also showcases some of the different “moods” of the band from ballad, to uptempo dance, to boozy bar songs. There seems to be elements of all of those eras sprinkled throughout. And, more than anything, that’s both the strength and the weakness of the album. It’s got something for everyone, but likely not enough any one type of song in particular to indicate what the band really “sounds” like today. As much as it’s enjoyable, it’s not particularly memorable. It’s almost as if the band is saying: Lookee here, we can still do this. Maybe in enough time, some of these tracks will be played enough to be burned into our memory of great Rolling Stones hits. For now, they’re just middle-grade album filler.

I wrote the following summary of the new band out and then went to the reviews, only to find that many of them said roughly the same thing. The two biggest ratings I saw about the album ranked it in the 70s for scoring, meaning somewhere around average to slightly below average.

I can only conclude the same thing: I know it’s only rock-and-roll.

But I like it.

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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