So many candidates for 2026.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

"The proposed resolution is diametrically at odds with the conservation legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt, ‘TR.’ For all these reasons we feel a deep obligation to TR to speak out loudly in support of this exceptional American wilderness area. As TR said at the Grand Canyon in 1903, we now reiterate with the Boundary Waters today: 'Leave it as it is.'" — An open letter from President Theodore Roosevelt's direct descendants to United States Senators on saving the Boundary Waters.

Two seats on the five-person board of the Montana Public Service Commission are up for election in 2026. After the first 24 hours of the open filing period, four names had emerged in the race, but not one Democrat. Currently, all five members are Republican.

A new jobs report that looks at the hiring for jobs that happened in 2025 reveals a “historic stall” in the job growth and economy. Experts say that while America is not in a recession — the lack of job growth in all but a handful of sectors is characteristic of a recession.

The Florida House of Representatives has passed a bill that would rename the Palm Beach airport after President Donald J. Trump, noting that he’s the first president to call the Sunshine State home, and also continue the trend of naming things after Trump. The Florida Legislature also set aside millions for the “rebranding,” even though Trump lost the county to Kamala Harris in 2024.

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Today, we have three recent selections from Smithsonian magazine, one of our favorites. First, we have very serious scientific news for you: Scientists have invented special fart underwear. Let that sink in for a moment. On second thought, don’t. But, scientists have long been flummoxed about human flatulence. No one really has a very good idea about the range, frequency or … other characteristics of humans’ gassiness. However, scientists are hopeful a new invention will create a literal fart baseline.

Scientists have long known that elephants have terrible eyesight. Yet these magnificent animals seem incredibly adept at manipulating objects and an environment. Now, researchers may have unlocked the key to elephants sensory skills — their trunk, which has thousands of special hairs that allow them to literally feel their way through the world, unlike almost any other creature.

Scientists may have witnessed their first documented black hole birth, in the not-so-far away Andromeda galaxy. Kind of nearby in the universe’s neighborhood. A huge star that was observed for several decades has dimmed so severely that it is producing a fraction of a fraction of the light it once produced. More research will be needed to make sure that, say, space dust isn’t getting in the way, but it could be the first evidence of a massive star collapse leading to a black hole.

Politicians in the Treasure State love to consider Montana a “deep red” Republican state. But longtime Montana resident Stephen Maly said the truest color of Montana is neither red nor blue, but deep purple.

America is literally a nation founded upon protest songs. So, the next time you wonder if the Dust Bowl or the Vietnam War were the first events that spurred a bunch of music offering contemporary critiques of society or the news, think again. Our friends at Smithsonian magazine write that “Yankee Doodle” — a song we all know and remember singing as children — was the first war protest song. To read more about it, here’s the article, even though the origins of the song and the exact meaning of the lyrics are still debated.

And for today’s “The Hook,” we turn to a song that has a simply stellar pedigree for a protest song. We’ll also turn over the introductory duties to our friend and eDJ Jim Vashro:

Woody Guthrie wrote a poem, “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos,” in 1948 when a plane deporting migrant farm workers back to Mexico crashed over Los Gatos Canyon. Newspapers listed the names of the four Americans flying the plane but listed the migrants only as “Deportees.” Guthrie wrote the song to protest the racist mistreatment of the workers before and after the crash and also to protest the practice of the U.S. paying to leave crops rotting in fields to keep prices high. Martin Hoffman added music to the words that would become Deportee  as performed by Woody’s son Arlo Guthrie in this video.

I have to give credit to Mike Korn, who unearthed this gem that is still all too relevant almost 80 years later.

“Wreck at Los Gatos”
(also known as "Deportee")
Words by Woody Guthrie, Music by Martin Hoffman

The crops are all in and the peaches are rott'ning,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They're flying 'em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again

Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria;
You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will be "deportees"

My father's own father, he waded that river,
They took all the money he made in his life;
My brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees,
And they rode the truck till they took down and died.

Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
Our work contract's out and we have to move on;
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.

We died in your hills, we died in your deserts,
We died in your valleys and died on your plains.
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes,
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.

The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon,
A fireball of lightning, and shook all our hills,
Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says, "They are just deportees"

Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil
And be called by no name except "deportees"?

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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