Zinke won't seek reelection

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

"The injuries sustained from a career in Special Operations are not immediately life threatening, but the repair cannot be deferred any longer and recovery will require considerable time with my wife Lola and my family. My judgment and experience tell me it is better for Montana and America to have full-time representation in Congress than run the risk of uncertain absence and missed votes." — U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana on his decision not to seek reelection.

Wow. Not exactly a slow-news Monday with the activity in the Middle East as well as the big announcement of Congressman Ryan Zinke not running for re-election. According to Cook Political Report, the race without Zinke now moves to a “toss up,” and the announcement had hardly gone out before others had jumped in the race, including perennial candidate “Dr. Al” Olszewski and conservative talk radio personality Aaron Flint, whom several politicians have thrown their weight behind.

Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen reveals the “I Voted” sticker design winner for the 2026 campaign season, which feels like it’s getting heated up very quickly.

The Pentagon announces that six servicemembers have died so far in the conflict with Iran. Speaking of which, the Associated Press said that it is referring to the conflict as a “war.” So, we’re at war. Speaking of that, President Donald J. Trump said the war is predicted to last four to five weeks.

A federal court has said that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s requirement that members of Congress have to give seven days’ notice before arriving for an inspection at an immigrant detention center is not lawful, and said they can show up unannounced to inspect the facilities.

Columnist Doug James said that it may not be the right century, the same war, or the same circumstances, but Montanans should remember the reasons that the first woman elected to Congress, Montana’s own Jeannette Rankin, stood against both World War I and World War II. And he bets that she would be against the war that has begun against Iran.

One of the odd things that I love about journalism is that you collect odd facts in your everyday career like a kid collects rocks during a hike. Last week, President Trump set a record for the longest speech at 98 minutes (one-hour, 38 minutes) during the State of The Union. “Good lord,” I thought after watching that — I could have made cookies, watched most of a baseball game or even watched a movie.

That led to another thought.

I wonder how many Academy Award winning movies were less than 98 minutes. Well, that’s a pretty huge list when you consider the number of categories that are included. So, I tracked down the shortest award-winning movies that took “Best Picture.” It turns out that four films which won the top slot for best movie clocked in at shorter than Trump’s speech. They are:

During the weekend, one of the truly underrated legends of rock-and-roll died. Neil Sedaka was, for a period, about as big as they come. And the rock-and-roll song book would have been a lot less melodic without him. Sedaka’s close friendship with Carole King and also Connie Francis helped contribute some of the best, sing-along rock songs of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was, like King, a gifted piano player and lyricist for decades, from writing “Oh, Carol” a 1958 hit, to his comeback with Elton John in the mid 1970s, including “Bad Blood.”

He wrote several songs that sound a lot like him, but were signature hits for others, like John’s duet with Kiki Dee, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” which, when you understand that Sedaka wrote it, sounds like it. Even though Sedaka recorded an early version of “Stupid Cupid,” it became a much bigger hit for Connie Francis. He liked referring to himself as the “King of the do-be-do and sha-na-nas” — a title he rightfully earned, although you’d probably be wise to ask about the competition for such a moniker.

His songs were thoroughly memorable, even if a very idealized version of teenage romance. Still, some of his bigger hits, like “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,” haven’t aged quite as well lately because they sound a bit creepy.

His signature hit, even though he had several chart-topping singles, was “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” which has the distinction of hitting the charts three separate times, going to No. 1 in 1960 and then again in 1962, after a resurgence. But, in 1974 he recorded a slow tempo version that seemed to fit perfectly with the lounge-lizard crooners of that era.

Today, though, we’re going to play a tribute — another song that did very well for Sedaka, but is rarely heard, “Stairway To Heaven.” Nope. Not the predecessor to the Led Zepplin hit, rather a schmaltzy teenage romance song that begins with a catchy, “Climb up … way up high … Climb up … way up high.” It topped out at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960.

Of all the music that my parents brought into my life — some of which I have railed against here because they weren’t as geared toward harder rock — I am always grateful that they had a stack of Neil Sedaka records. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who had a better grasp of writing great melodies for a generation of rock that was a bit more innocent.

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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