Only Hawaii and Alaska rely on tourism more than Montana

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

"Last legislative session, our goal was to deliver permanent and meaningful property tax reform to Montanans in the place they call home.With 80 percent of Montana homeowners seeing lower property taxes last year, we did. I’m now asking the Supreme Court to step in to ensure the relief provided to Montanans remains intact.” – Gov. Greg Gianforte, urging the Montana Supreme Court to decide a challenge to the property tax law quickly.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte wants the Montana Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the property tax relief law that was filed by several conservative lawmakers. The law brought relief to many Montana homeowners, but those challenging the bill said it was cobbled together at the last minute, and it doesn’t meet state Constitutional requirements. Gianforte, however, said it’s important to know the outcome before the 2027 legislative session, so he wants the Supreme Court to take it up to get a result more quickly.

The United States Supreme Court said it will hear two cases related to immigration in April, including one in which the Trump administration is asking the high court whether it can revoke temporary protected status for as many as 350,000 Haitian refugees.

Across the country, states, including Montana, have been asked to turn over voter information to the federal government. Different states have complied. Some have turned over all the information; others have only turned over part of the information, with the Trump administration threatening legal action if it doesn’t get what it wants. Meanwhile, in Montana, the public is still uncertain what information current Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen has disclosed.

Columnist Ayana Gray, who lives in Great Falls and holds a master’s from Cambridge on artificial intelligence, says that looking at the numbers for a proposed data center in Butte doesn’t make sense. The number of jobs and economic opportunity the leaders say it is bringing seem exaggerated.

One of the things that many of the Vietnam veterans whom I interviewed said was consistent was that they remembered the smell of the country — a hot, humid jungle, intermixed with diesel and jet fuel that made for a memorable bouquet. That makes sense because smell is the strongest of human senses as it relates to memory.

But recently, I called for memories surrounding certain, specific songs. And that’s another commonality with the veterans — most of them remember the songs that they heard while “in country.” It’s fascinating how a single song — sometimes just a note or two — can transport a person back in time.

Today, Carla Scantlebury of Wilsall, shares this story:

“During the time they were high on the music charts, I was in high school in Minot, North Dakota.
One of my brothers was in the Army fighting in Vietnam (age 19) and my other brother (age 17) was solicited by army recruiters to become a fighter pilot. Luckily, he was able to get a college deferment and did not end up in Vietnam. My elder brother lived through the war but not without emotional scars forever. The Army did not recognize a diagnosis of PTSD in those days. Many veterans were ignored and treated horribly when they returned home.

“And so it goes. Here we are in another war and there are talks of reinstating the draft.  It is unnerving how these songs and other music from that era continue to remind me what a very stressful and conflicted time it was.”

Today’s song is “Fortunate Son,” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Carla included that one and The Youngblood’s “Get Together.”

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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