Smoky with an increased chance of fire.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

It’s not easy figuring out where that haze in the air is coming from. Montana has fires. Washington’s fires in Spokane have been devastating. And fires are raging in Canada. Today’s stories focus on dangerous air quality and very worried firefighters across the West. Much of the state is getting a break from record-setting temperatures, which have overstayed like in-laws or former college roommates. But those temperatures are returning, and with them, an increased chance of wildfires.

As if the wildfires weren’t enough to put out and fight, a new report says that with the increase of large wildfires, the secondary effects of wildfire has now become one of the greatest risks for pregnant women. While other toxins and dangers have been eliminated or decreased (like alcohol use during pregnancy), smoke from fires is a growing concern.

Speaking of raging, dangerous wildfires, our hearts broke for our neighbors in nearby Spokane, Washington — which is just a few hours’ drive from places like Missoula. Fires there during the weekend forced the evacuation of thousands, and destroyed hundreds of homes.

Leaders say that a new bipartisan framework proposed for artificial intelligence and ethics surrounding the use of the new technology is a good start, but that it’s still not complete as the advancing use of AI seems to be moving more quickly than lawmakers can keep pace.

Even after the Department of The Interior and President Donald J. Trump claimed that they had 100% proof of vandalism being the cause of the blue lining of the Reflecting Pool in the mall in Washington, D.C., prosecutors dropped charges against the U.S. Olympian who was accused of single-handedly destroying the pool, shifting the blame to shoddy workmanship. Despite the U.S. Department of Justice dropping the charges, that didn’t seem to change the narrative of Trump.

In addition to dropping the vandalism charges, it appears that the two United States senators — John Cornyn and Thom Tillis — appear to have changed their position on the nomination of United States Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche, a former personal attorney for Donald Trump. Blanche, during the weekend, committed in writing that the Department of Justice will not utilize the “lawfare weaponization fund” that would have created a $1.8 billion fund that Trump has advocated could help those who were criminally indicted for the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Gov. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota has called a special session for the North Dakota Legislature, which will meet to discuss what they have characterized as a public health emergency over kratom, which is a natural extract that mimics some of the properties of opioids.

A deal to avoid a government shutdown and temporary spending measure will keep the government running through Dec. 11, and through what could be a tense election season. In order to the get the deal done, the Republican leadership, which barely holds a majority in either Congressional chamber, delayed a proposed overhaul of the federal grant process, which would allow the administration to rescind federal grants if the organization doesn’t comply with the political goals of the president. The legislation also stabilizes, at least temporarily, highway funding.

Immigration advocates have been worrying that Congress’ impasse when it comes to funding will lead to disastrous results for children who have come into the country without an adult or who are struggling because of deportations. The federal government program that provides legal representation for these minors has officially run out, leading those same advocates to wonder about the fate of children trapped in the system.

States that are led by Democrats are appealing to the United States Supreme Court that if the nation’s highest court sides with the Trump administration about voting-by-mail, it will send states into an election tailspin because there’s not enough time to coordinate an alternative, and many states — including Montana — lean heavily on the U.S. mail to vote.

In this section, we feature a lot things about Montana. It’s hard to describe the varieties of experiences that you can have here. We all know: Don’t pet the fluffy cows (bison). In other words, we live with wildlife — extra emphasis on the “wild.” Here is a photo making its way around social media of a car versus pheasant accident near Lockwood. No one (human) was injured. But you kind of have to live here to understand this sort of thing.

IYKYK.

Well of course, with all the smoke, wildfires and temperatures, you just have to know that “The Hook” will have some kind of smoke theme.

We have featured a lot of smoke-related songs, including “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (Those Cigarettes)” and “Smoke on the Water.” And, with the way things are going, we sadly may have to hold onto a few smoky songs because the forecast isn’t looking so good.

One of the songs that kind of defines wildfire is the theme song that many of us who grew up here know, “Smokey The Bear” by Eddy Arnold. I can remember singing this song in several elementary school music lessons. Written in 1952, it was a song to help raise awareness of wildfires, especially at a time when when nine out of 10 doctors recommended smoking Camel cigarettes (check out the magazine advertising circa 1952). And so Arnold crooned about “growling and a-prowling, and a-sniffing the air.” I can remember listening to the song in a pile of kids records.

While Arnold did well with the song, adding to his Country Hall of Fame career, the song created a years-long controversy. The song “Smokey The Bear” made sense from a lyrical and music perspective, but it was the “The” that caused the problem. Purists and buzzkills argue that the bear, named Smokey, needs no definite article — just like I am not Darrell the Ehrlick. They argued it should just be “Smokey Bear.”

But that just doesn’t sound right and so the “the” stayed put in the song, and entire marketing campaigns have been build around Smokey — or Smoky the Bear, if you prefer. Nowadays, it sounds just wrong to say, “Smokey Bear” although other popular invented characters don’t follow the same naming convention, including the Muppets, Fozzy Bear. Try as forestry officials did to drop the “the” from his title, it didn’t work. The bear named “Smokey” will be forever memorialized as “Smokey The Bear,” thanks to Eddy Arnold and the record executives at RCA.

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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