Thank you for stopping by! Here are the topics for today’s column:
- Montana Minimum Wage
- Montana State Library Commission
- Powerball Lottery
- Steve Scalise
- One More Thing
MONTANA MINIMUM WAGE:
MTN News is reporting that Montana’s minimum wage will increase by 35 cents per hour on January 1, 2024, or about 3.6 percent. The current minimum wage of $9.95 per hour will increase to $10.30 an hour, according to the Montana Department of Labor & Industry.
Is this a great state or what?
I remember being paid $1.10 an hour at a fast food place and then moving to a job that paid $2.30 per hour. That job was at a gas station. I felt like I was rich! Do you have any memories of your minimum-wage jobs?
MTN News provides some historical information about the federal minimum wage, which is lower than Montana’s, and the minimum wage over the years in Montana. Click HERE.
MONTANA STATE LIBRARY COMMISSION:
The Montana Free Press (MTFP) is reporting that the Montana State Library Commission voted Wednesday to strike a longstanding professional requirement applied to the directors of Montana’s eight largest libraries, one that dictates whether those libraries qualify for state funding. Currently, public libraries that serve more than 25,000 people must employ a director with a graduate degree in library or information science in order to qualify for state certification and, by extension, state revenue.
It was also reported that of the eight libraries that the standard applies to, only one is not in compliance: Kalispell’s ImagineIF Library.
It appears that most of the Republicans on the commission want to “dumb down” the director’s position. Shame on them. The MAGA war against libraries continues in Montana.
Read the complete MTFP report HERE.
POWERBALL LOTTERY:
A ticket sold in California won the $1.73 billion Powerball Lottery jackpot Wednesday night. The winning numbers were: 22, 24, 40, 52, and 64, with the Powerball being 10.
According to the Associated Press (AP), the jackpot is the world’s second-largest lottery prize after rolling over for 36 consecutive drawings, since the last time someone won the top prize was on July 19.
STEVE SCALISE:
The next man up for the U.S. House Republicans to be Speaker of the House is Steve Scalise of Louisiana. He still has to win the vote on the House floor.
The Associated Press is reporting the GOP conference picked Scalise as their nominee on Wednesday in a secret ballot. Lawmakers exiting the room said Scalise won 113 votes, while Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, took 99. A handful of Republicans declined to vote for either.
So, the House GOP is still divided while the work in the House is not getting done.
ONE MORE THING:
Sometimes there is no next time, no time-outs, no second chances. Sometimes it’s now or never. ― Alan Bennett
The Western Word 
A MAGA library director with no degree giving a library tour. It could work…..someplace like Kalispel.
“ongoing national republican campaign”
https://www.highereddive.com/news/walmart-removes-degree-requirement-headquarters-jobs/695540/
Apparently even at Walmart it depends on the job, as their original press release states, “While degrees should be part of the equation and in some cases even required …” Besides, it’s Walmart … “How hard can that be?”
Originally I was thinking in terms of things like the current red state push to let anyone be a teacher no matter what their qualifications or lack thereof, like Florida. Or even here in Montana. Personally can’t really see that ending in better educational outcomes for the kids, but then I’m just a simple caveman lawyer.
You are correct there is a national movement to de-credential more jobs. Kind of a necessity in some industries since there aren’t enough American kids graduating with the requisite degrees and they can’t gets work visas for degreed foreigners fast enough. And there’s long been some jobs that required a degree any degree even if it wasn’t remotely related.
But for specialized things like library director, or teacher, guess it all depends how much value one places on their key personnel having exposure to and training in all the theories, knowledge, and cumulative experience that’s embodied in formal education. Based on the various stories cited in that MFP piece, and back links from those, for the Kalispell library trustee board the answer to that question seems like “not much”, with political considerations taking top bill. Or maybe since they’ve managed to chase off three directors since 2021 with their meddling, there just aren’t enough qualified people left to choose from.
I can’t remember what I got paid washing dishes at the Holland House in Holiday Village but I went from there to the smelter making $3.05 working as a Leach Rat. Big bucks then.
The library commission’s move is just the latest in the ongoing national Republican campaign to de-credential job requirements to keep as many kids as possible out of universities where they might get exposed to ideas and outlooks other than the prejudices and misinformation they grew up with in small towns. A small-minded, fearful, and bigoted voter is a reliable Republican voter.
Reminds me of a comedy routine that used to appear on TV maybe SNL where a couple simpletons would mock some job with “How hard can that be?” Like “Nuclear physicist … how hard can that be?”
In this particular case the commission’s move could have the welcome-to-some side effect of putting in place people who would stock Montana’s library shelves with materials supporting the world view of Gianforte’s favorite museum that dinosaurs walked the earth with men (and pigs live in trees). And that of course would be good for business.
In the words of MAGA champion Oliver Anthony, from the MAGA anthem, “It’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to…”
-JmB
In the story on the State Library Commission, MTFP also reported a thumbs-down vote on a Public Information Office position for the State Library. Although the governor’s office recommended the hire, Gianforte’s lackeys on the SLC just couldn’t bring themselves to doing something right.
It seems some of the members like the publicity and having an information office would take that away from them.
Thanks, JmB
It also seems the state library commissioners are totally at odds with the rest of the state’s officials.
They argued that local library trustees should set the standards and against the state commission telling them, “You are not capable of deciding what your librarian should be”. This attitude is totally contrary to the practices of our legislature and other elected state officials who constantly dictate top down one-size-fits all rules for Montana local governments no matter the size Two Dot or Missoula – rules for taxation, rules for housing density, rules for carrying guns in public, how locals enforce the law, and etc.
It can’t simply be a matter of, “If local control furthers conservative philosophy, it is good. If local control smacks of anything liberal, it needs to be squashed under our boot heel.” Can it? Because Republicans are people of consistent high principle. So they tell us, regularly.