http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/main/C559/L/ New West Network: The Voice of the Rocky Mountains en info@newwest.net Copyright 2008 Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:00:44 MDT Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:00:44 MDT http://www.newwest.net/city/article/a_look_at_montanas_drug_use_trends/C559/C559/ Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:12:45 MDT Methamphetamine use is down, cocaine is coming back and Montana continues to see a boom in prescription painkiller abuse, writes Zachary Franz in the Great Falls Tribune. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/plum_creek_timber_road_eastment_investigated_by_gao/C559/C559/ Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:53:54 MDT The Government Accountability Office released a letter Friday that questioned the closed-door land use plan between Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey and the Plum Creek Timber Company -- the largest private landowners in Montana with 1.2 million acres. The GAO investigators -- provoked by the secretiveness of the land use easement and potential impact on Montana's forestland -- referenced the National Forest Roads and Trails Act passed by Congress in 1964, which states the purpose is "to facilitate timber harvesting," and concluded the agency cannot grant a right greater than what the act allows. Many argue private driveways are not facilitating timber harvest, particularly when the road easements detail "cost-sharing agreements," where taxpayers and Plum Creek split cost of road construction and maintenance. In other news, Rick Holley, President and CEO of Plum Creek Timber, will be a Keynote Speaker at the upcoming Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies conference, and will be discussing the company's approach to real estate activities. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/protecting_teachers_who_protect_free_speech/C559/C559/ Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:54:18 MDT California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law last week which will protect journalism teachers against retaliation when they defend their students' rights to free speech. "While this law makes the workplace safer for teachers, the real beneficiaries are California's students, who no longer must fear that honest reporting on school events will get their favorite teacher fired," Student Press Law Center Executive Director Frank D. LoMonte said in a press release. "Governor Schwarzenegger and the California legislature should be commended for sending a message to school officials -- in California and across the nation -- that teachers are not to be used as pawns to intimidate kids into avoiding legitimate topics of discussion." No longer will public school or college instructors face possible firing, suspension, discipline, reassignment, transfer or other forms of retaliation when they defend a student's right to report the news as freely as any reporter under the First Amendment. "Teachers losing their jobs for refusing to censor their students' news reporting is a real and pervasive problem, and it is going on all too commonly in America's schools," LoMonte said. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/agriculture_local_food_and_open_space_at_the_new_west_conference/C559/C559/ Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:26:36 MDT Preserving agricultural lands and open space in the face of rapid growth is something most people in the Northern Rockies consider vitally important. It's not always clear how to make that happen - but innovative farmers, ranchers and community planners are finding a variety of new approaches. At the New West conference next week, the session on this topic will feature Bob Quinn, an organic farmer from Big Sandy, who will discuss how he's built a business based on agricultural strategies and product development that are nothing less than revolutionary; Jim Hagenbarth, whose ranching operations span the Montana - Idaho border near Dillon, who will talk about how he's making it work in an era when many ranchers feel they have no choice but to sell out; Paul Hubbard, who will show how the Community Food and Agriculture Coalition is supporting local food and farming in Missoula; and Jennifer Zung, a planner from Driggs, Idaho, who will talk about how development and open space can in fact be compatible. The conference, Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies, takes place next week, Oct. 23-24 in Missoula. The two-day event will examine a host of issues associated with real estate, land use and growth and change in the region. It's our third annual event, and it promises to be bigger and better than ever. Check out all the details at www.newwest.net/realestate08. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/ten_years_later_wyoming_murder_haunts_reporters/C559/C559/ Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:19:01 MDT It's been 10 years since Matthew Shepard, a gay college student at the University of Wyoming, ran into two young men at a bar in Laramie who robbed him, drove him to the edge of town, tied him to a wooden fence and struck him 18 times in the head with a .357-caliber Magnum handgun before leaving him to die. This weekend National Public Radio looks back on how the murder turned Laramie into "the country's newest symbol of hate," and also how it deeply affected the journalists who covered it. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/deer_lodge_lumber_mill_lays_off_23/C559/C559/ Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:51:45 MDT Sun Mountain Lumber of Deer Lodge, Montana, has laid off 23 employees who worked in the finger joint and planer operations. The layoffs were effective Thursday. Owner Sherman Anderson says poor market conditions led to the decision. Mills in Bonner, St. Regis, Columbia Falls and Libby have announced layoffs totaling nearly 180 workers since May. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/rural_resource_rich_states_skirt_meltdown/C559/C559/ Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:33:20 MDT As the national economic meltdown takes its toll, some out-of-the-way states are enjoying an economic boom, reports the AP's Daniel Wagner, because they're isolated from major urban centers and benefit from an abundance of in-demand commodities. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/new_west_conference_now_more_than_ever/C559/C559/ Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:46:12 MDT When we launched Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies two years ago, markets around the region were booming and the big questions on many peoples' minds were about how to control runaway growth. Today the environment is very different -- but we think the insights you'll gain into the economy, the real estate market, and land use issues at this year's Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies conference, taking place Oct. 23-24 in Missoula, will be more valuable than ever. With an historic election just weeks away and financial markets continuing to gyrate in unpredictable ways, the timing of this event is in some ways fortuitous. On Thursday, Oct 23, we'll have four of the top journalists in the region assessing the political climate, the election, and how that might impact growth and change in the Northern Rockies. We're also inviting elected officials to be our special guests at the Thursday reception, and they'll undoubtedly have a lot of insight into the political dynamics as well. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/bear_eats_car/C559/C559/ Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:37:14 MDT When she went outside on a brisk morning in mid-September, Mary Randall got a rude surprise. "I noticed the windshield wiper was hanging down and I went, 'Hmm, that's odd.'" Odd doesn't begin to describe it. Along with a broken wiper, the interior of Randall's car -- parked outside her home in the Sugarloaf area in the canyons above Boulder -- had been completely destroyed by a scavenging bear. http://www.newwest.net/city/article/mccains_lead_in_montana_dwindling_poll_shows/C559/C559/ Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:36:56 MDT John McCain's lead over Barack Obama in Montana is shrinking, according to a poll released Thursday by American Research Group. McCain is now up by five points -- 50 percent to 45 percent -- compared to last week's eight point advantage (in a Rasmussen Reports poll) and double-digit advantages two weeks ago (in polls conducted by Research 2000 and CNN/Time Opinion Research).