My Page: Kaylee Porter

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From The New West Blog

In May, Congress gave more than 106,000 acres of mountains and old-growth forests with salmon-filled streams the strictest level of federal protection.

The newly created Wild Sky Wilderness area in western Washington is a part of Congress’ recent push to protect as many as a dozen pristine areas around the country. By the end of the year, the Washington Post reports, 12 bipartisan wilderness bills are expected to pass and as much as 2 million acres of unspoiled land could be under federal control, a total that would rival the wilderness acreage set aside by Congress over the previous five years.

In recent weeks the House has passed six wilderness bills, including Wild Sky, that would protect more than 500,000 acres. [more]

homeword's 6th annual sustainabiity tour

With energy costs across the country soaring, many homeowners want to save some green by going green. The 6th Annual Sustainability Tour, hosted by homeWORD, will highlight examples of green building around Missoula in hopes of inspiring people who want their homes to be more sustainable and cost efficient.

This year’s tour focuses on the “basics of sustainability,” says Sustainability Tour planner Kara Lawrence. “We’re steering away from all the new expensive green technology out there and focusing on what average people can do with an average income or lower to build more sustainably.”

The tour, taking place this Saturday, June 14, includes green building workshops and tours of 12 Missoula homes that demonstrate sustainable building. [more]

Summer weather means panhandling in Missoula. At best, it is a polite request for spare change. At worst, it is a belligerent demand accompanied by insults and the occasional projectile.

Though many Missoulians are happy to contribute a quarter for coffee or a buck toward a burger, downtown business owners say the latter, more aggressive type of panhandling has become a problem and have been asking for help.

City officials listened, and though they are not considering a ban on panhandling, as the business owners suggested, they have a plan for handling downtown panhandling this summer. The two-part plan, which the city will unveil Tuesday in a press conference at the Missoula Food Bank, focuses on expanding the program Real Change, Not Spare Change, as well as increasing the police force downtown.
[more]

Quick Voter Guide

Never before has Montana been so important in the Democratic presidential primary. We’ve observed this electoral process from a distance for years, so finally being on the frontline is cause for excitement. In the onslaught of presidential campaigning, however, little attention has been paid to other important races.

Tomorrow’s primary ballots include candidates for Governor, U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, Attorney General and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, as well as many other contested races and two proposed mill levy increases. So, make sure you take the time to catch up on these races before heading to the polls. [more]

Presidential Politics and Bigotry

As the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination drags on, overt instances of racism and sexism continue to surface.

People in Butte, Mont. saw one white supremacist holding a sign that said “fetch the rope” when Barack Obama visited, while anti-Hillary Clinton T-shirts bearing the slogan “Bros before Hos” are widely sold on the internet.

To address this sort of bigotry, the Missoula YWCA hosted a panel discussion Thursday afternoon entitled, “Racism and Sexism in the 2008 Presidential Campaign.” The panelists told a crowd of close to 50 people, the biggest problem is not the bigotry itself, but the lack of discussion about it. [more]

Politics

With the jagged, snow-covered peaks of the Mission Mountains as a backdrop, Sen. Hillary Clinton pledged her support Tuesday to tribal sovereignty, Indian health care and economic growth on reservations in Montana.

“We need a president next January who understands the obligation that the United States government has to the tribes that represent the first peoples of the United States,” Clinton told a crowd of more than 1,000 at Salish Kootenai College on the Flathead Indian reservation.

Her visit came a week before the last Democratic primaries in Montana and South Dakota on June 3 and about a week after front-runner Sen. Barack Obama's visit to the Crow Reservation on the other side of the state. Native Americans are expected to make up as much as 20 percent of next Tuesday's Democratic primary voters in Montana. [more]

politics

The mismanagement of the Iraq War and Sen. Hillary Clinton’s preparedness to be Commander in Chief were the focus of an informal discussion lead by Major General Paul Eaton Wednesday at Clinton’s Missoula campaign headquarters.

Eaton, touring Montana on Clinton’s behalf, was the Commanding General of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team in Iraq, where he was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004. He said the current administration has waged the war incompetently, citing the lack of diplomacy in the Middle East and the lack of support for American soldiers and veterans.

“We’ve got to get a competent leader into the White House,” Eaton said. “Hillary Clinton is hands down electable because she is smart and she is tough.” [more]

Urban Fringe Development Area Project

To house the growing population, Missoula needs to build about 15,000 new homes in the next 20 years, local planers say. The big question is how the city will accommodate this growth.

Members of the community gathered at the City Club Missoula’s forum on Monday afternoon to address this question and a possible answer: the city's Urban Fringe Development Area Project. The project looks at where growth has occurred and where it might in the future. Its goal is to help the community develop a framework plan of the growth policy it wants.

Roger Millar, the director of the Office of Planning and Grants, discussed the challenges of growth in Missoula and options for accommodating the housing demand. [more]

Irreplaceable Wildlife

Local scientists, faith leaders, conservation advocates and city officials gathered at the Roxy Theater in downtown Missoula on Friday afternoon to mark Endangered Species Day and draw attention to climate change’s impact on Montana wildlife.

Sandwiched among photographs of threatened Montana animals, Missoula City Council President Ed Childers read the city’s Endangered Species Day proclamation. The photographs were a part of the "Irreplaceable: Wildlife in a Warming World" exhibit, which will be at the Roxy until June 15 before moving on to Seattle. [more]

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