MontanaBuzz

THE BUZZ

Rock superstar John Mayer has raised his happy quotient by settling down in the Bozeman area.

Mayer has gained fame in recent years for hobnobbing with a series of celebrity girlfriends -- Jennifer Anniston, Jessica Simkins, Jennifer Love Hewitt, among them -- and for a 2010 Playboy interview in which he divulged many graphic details about his love life and his addiction to porn.

Mayer let on that he moved to Big Sky Country when he appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show Monday. He said some friends had taken him on a trip of middle America to help him recover from vocal surgery, and one of their stops was Bozeman. He was so taken by the area that he called a real-estate agent, who showed him a house that he really liked and ended up buying.

"Why not be happy after a while?" he told DeGeneres. "You get to a certain age where you prepare yourself for happiness. Sometimes you have to remember to actually. So I remembered to get happy."

Mayer has a new album, "Born and Raised," that comes out May 22.

A "citizen watchdog" forum that aims to provide bloggers and citizens with tools they need to become more effective monitors of government agencies is slated for Helena July 14.

The forum, sponsored by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Accountability, and Montana Watchdog, will address such issues as investigative reporting, state and local government budget processes, and getting a message out through social media.

Montana Watchdog and the Franklin Center, which bills itself as government-watchdog group, says the forum is a nonpartisan event that will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with registration required.

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show usually targets his comedy daggers at Republicans on the national stage, but he just at Gov. Brian Schweitzer for his recent remarks about Mitt Romney and polygamy.

Schweitzer had declared Romney was going to lose a lot of votes from women because his father was born in Mexico to a polygamous commune founded by early members of the Romney clan. Schweitzer declared women voters were "not great fans of polygamy."

Schweitzer later argued he wasn't talking about religion. He said: "And as I’ve said before, Mitt "Romney and his family — that I know of — (don’t) accept polygamy today.”

But Stewart wasn't buying it, saying the governor was speculating about that. “I don’t think anybody in his (Romney's) family believes in polygamy — that I know about,” Stewart said, as he jokingly pretended to talk like Schweitzer. “I mean we can’t be sure.”

Stewart said both liberals and conservatives were wrong to hammer Romney on the basis of his Mormonism. Check the video at Mediaite if you want to see more. (Hat tip: Montana Watchdog)

Montana voters back Mitt Romney by a 48-43 margin over President Barack Obama. No surprise there.

But they also favor Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul over Obama by an even wider 49-41 margin, according to a recent Public Policy Polling survey.

And no, that result isn't likely caused by bias in the poll. Public Policy Polling is a Democratic firm with a reputation for accuracy.

“Barack Obama probably missed out on his best chance to win Montana in 2008,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “But the race there is still closer than you would expect it to be."

Dan and Don Nichols were the famous 'mountain men' duo that abducted biathlete Kari Swenson and killed her would-be rescuer Alan Goldstein near Big Sky in 1984.

The younger Nichols is on the lam, the elder Nichols has just asked the Montana Parole Board for release from prison. And Swenson penned an impassioned letter to the Bozeman Chronicle that argued against Nichols' release -- and criticized the public and the press for romanticizing the duo as "Mountain Men."

The Nichols, she said, weren't like Jim Bridger or John Colter -- rugged, hard-working men who helped settle the vast and wild West. Instead, she says, the Nichols are "two crazy misfits ...(who) lived in the mountains part-time but they couldn’t survive there, at least not without poaching, breaking into cabins and stealing supplies, leaving the mountains for months at a time and purchasing modern equipment. Ultimately they were caught without a fight because they were cold, hungry, and tired of living in the mountains."

Swenson said letters and journals by Don Nichols show how disturbed he is, in blaming her for what happened.

"I endured being grabbed by both wrists, hit in the face, thrown to the ground, chained to Dan, threatened with knives and guns, marched through the woods, secured like an animal to trees and spent a terrifying night chained next to Dan. Don kept telling me what a great story this would be to tell my grandchildren. Are these words of a sane man?"

Swenson, a veterinarian in the Bozeman area, was shot in the chest in the ordeal. She says she's spent years in counseling, and still has shrapnel in her chest. "We the victims have a life sentence, not Don Nichols. They invoked a death sentence on Alan Goldstein."

UPDATE: Swenson's efforts no doubt helped, as the Parole Board quickly dispatched Nichol's third request for release from prison on Friday.

Former Montana Attorney General Joe Mazurek and his wife, Patty, stand in front of a family photo in their home in Helena. Patty retired from her job as a job as a school teacher so she could care for her husband, who suffers from early onset of Alzheimer's. (Randy Gray / Great Falls Tribune)

Former AG Joe Mazurek battles early-onset Alzheimer's

Mazurek tells story to draw attention to McLaughlin research

UM emails reveal testy exchanges during probes of alleged rapes

Missoula mayor reprimands policeman who criticized UM by email

60 National Guard troops return to Montana after year in Iraq

MT political candidates look for new ways to get messages out

150 Butte criminal cases may be dismissed if they don't go to trial

Train service returns to Ravalli County

Big Sky Country will continue to warm up in next few days

Billings cop put on 2 weeks leave without pay for actions

Gov picks Tennessee firm to run state's 1st employee health clinic

Whitefish couple leave over $1 million to community foundation

Billings man charged with threatening to kill President Obama

UM email indicates dean implicates 4 football players in rape

Emails show UM, Missoula accounts differ on Saudi rape suspect

House-passed provision aims to protect Malmstrom mission

If you watch the solar eclipse, protect your eyes

Mountain lion too close for comfort for Flathead Lake couple

Whooping cough cases jump over 200 in Montana

Man wanted in Montana arrested in Philippines

Wilderness Association reopens office in Bozeman

Killer returns to Idaho for review of death case

Rep. Rehberg offices vandalized for 3rd time in last month

Caribou could make history by giving birth near Troy

Bakken oil boom: A chance for developers to 'Think Big!'

2 grizzlies captured near Kalispell relocated

Large grizzly killed in crash near St. Ignatius

Judge sets new trial in Montana Power case due to juror misconduct

Turner woman being laid to rest, latest victim of rare disease

2 OK after small plane lands on highway near Darby

Kalispell mail office to close; Butte, Helena Wolf Point spared

Search stops for man who's missing after jump into Clark Fork

Medical pot repeal sponsor says he'd do it over again

Labor Board backs Legislature in fight over state workers' pay

BUSINESS / ECONOMY

Lodge Grass grocery store shuts down for day to protest thefts

PPL Montana takes a liking to regulated assets

Bakken man camps give 1000s of workers home away from home

Flathead firm powers growth with unique batteries

Bozeman-New Jersey flight schedules announced for winter

Bozeman music store changes focus to keep doors open

Havre, Miles City schools to train workers for Bakken oil fields

Officials: Electric co-ops learning lessons from SME debacle

State program aims to reduce workplace injuries, provide savings

North Dakota passes Alaska as US's 2nd largest oil producer

Judge denies Yellowstone Valley co-op's request to leave SME

SPORTS / OUTDOORS

Feeding frenzy: Fattening up trout for the planting season

UM's Bob Beers leaving for scouting job with Houston Texans

UM men take home Big Sky's all-sports trophy

Nate Montana leaving UM for West Virginia Wesleyan

Former Griz Lisowski signs 3-year deal with Seahawks

College of Idaho will ask to join Frontier Conference for football

Former Bozemanite adjusts to life on pro cycling tour

MSU men, women win 2nd in Big Sky track tourney

Griz football players decide to shut down Twitter accounts

OPINION

Judge should keep limits on individual donations to candidates

Counties should leave wolf management to the state

Landowners play a key role in helping manage public lands

Proposed changes in Montana's wolf hunt make sense

Restore bison to the CM Russell Wildlife Refuge

Montana is no law unto itself when it comes to Citizens United

Postal decision becomes political football

Paying tribute to 2 special women

Do election years bring out the worst in people?

FEATURES

Trying times at Montana's Indian boarding schools

BLM gives new look to old homesteads

1862 Homestead Act planted seed of MT's ag industry
//
Another chapter in reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone

Branding iron: Montanans leave their mark in ranch history

An idea takes root: Saving seeds that grow in Montana

In pursuit of the elusive owl in Montana's wilds

GTF officer teaches others how to fly fish Iraq's still waters

MSU student's 'really quiet' photos win trip to London show

CALENDAR

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld returns to Helena May 18

Tech N9ne, other rappers coming to Great Falls May 20

Lineup set for Butte Folk Festival on July 13-15

Steve Martin to perform in Missoula on July 20

Uncle Kracker, Craig Campbell at Helena fair July 25

Red Ants Pants Festival names artists for July 26-27

Sara Evans, Jo Dee Messina headline State Fair Acts

Animal expert Jack Hanna visits Great Falls Aug. 14

Condoleeza Rice to speak at MSU convocation Sept. 5

Flathead Lake's first dragon boat race slated for Sept. 8

Have a tip? Email editor (at) montanabuzz.com

Main Navigation