City Desk
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January 3, 2023
By Eric Tegethoff - Producer, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - Hate groups have become more active on the internet, spreading bigotry to kids in online spaces. Some tips can help parents and caregivers protect their children from this. Comments from Lindsay Schubiner, Momentum program director, Western States Center.
Eric Tegethoff
January 3, 2023 - It can be challenging for parents and caregivers to shield their children from bigotry and hatred online, but there are a few tips they can follow.
Lindsay Schubiner, Momentum program director at the Western States Center, said the work is especially crucial because white nationalist groups are using the internet to recruit people.
She pointed out young people are developing identities and ideas in relationship to everything around them, including what they see and hear online.
"As hate violence and threats to democracy continue and bigotry and conspiracy theories reach further into the mainstream, young people see that, and it has an impact," Schubiner asserted. "It's really important for parents and caregivers to provide an open space to critically examine what all of that means to them and to their future and to their values."
About 45% of middle and high school students said they have been the victim of cyberbullying, according to a survey from the Cyberbullying Research Center. The survey also showed cyberbullying has been increasing over the past decade.
Schubiner stressed vigilance is the first key to ensuring kids are staying safe online. She noted for example, hate groups use jokes minimizing violence, scapegoating or straw man arguments to manipulate people online, tactics she said both kids and parents need to be aware of.
"Helping them to recognize the kinds of strategies that are intended to influence them can be a really powerful way to push back against this," Schubiner emphasized.
Schubiner encouraged parents and caregivers to listen openly and non-judgmentally to their kids' about their online experiences. She cautioned cutting off access to friends or to the internet can backfire because many white nationalists manipulate followers into seeing it as evidence of "political correctness" and attempts to curb free speech.
Schubiner added a better approach is to enlist people your child trusts.
"Really lean on relationships and relationships that the young person has with either older peers or other adults who share inclusive and equitable values," Schubiner recommended.
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PNS - Monday, January 2, 2023 - Senator Elizabeth Warren reintroduces gun legislation, 2023 looks like a promising year for renewable energy, and the U.S. has the lowest number of divided state governments in more than half a century.
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Big Sky Connection -- A Montana conservation group is fighting a move to overhaul the state's constitution, which dates to the early 1970s. Crafted with protecting the environment in mind, the Republican-controlled Montana Legislature has set its sights on making major changes to the document. Comments from Jeanne Marie Souvigney (SOO-vuh-nee), treasurer, Montana Conservation Voters & Education Fund; and Mae Nan Ellingson, delegate to the 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention.
Click on the image above for the audio. High rates of survival and reproduction have allowed the bison population to increase by 10% to 17% every year. That's 10 times faster than the human population grows worldwide, according to the National Park Service. (Adobe Stock)
Mark Moran
December 30, 2022 - The new year begins with the prospect of big changes to the Montana state Constitution that have been drafted by GOP lawmakers and opposed by conservation groups and others.
The Republican-controlled Legislature has already introduced almost four dozen measures to change the document, which dates to the early 1970s. It's the first GOP super-majority in a half-century, and seems determined to change what has long been considered a "progressive" document that protects the state's natural resources.
Jeanne Marie Souvigney, treasurer of the Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund, said lawmakers are irritated that the state Supreme Court found two laws unconstitutional, which she said allowed for pollution to degrade the Blackfoot River and Paradise Valley.
"In both cases," she said, "the environmental damage could have been irreversible and the remedies too late to make a difference, threatening both those landscapes."
While close to 50 bill requests have been made before the Legislature even gavels in next week, typically only a third of them become bills that can be debated by lawmakers. But it is still nearly four times the number of bill requests made in the last session. In addition to environmental policy, there are measures that would change policies on college campuses, gender identity and abortion.
The Conservation Voters group has launched an effort to teach the public and lawmakers about the uniqueness and importance of the document.
Mae Nan Ellingson, who was one of the original delegates to the Montana Constitutional Convention and is one of only ten remaining, called the move to make major changes, including giving the Legislature more power than the courts, dangerous.
"The proposals that I have seen go a long way to destroy the integrity of this notion of three equal branches of government," she said, "with separation of power and checks and balances."
The Montana Legislature convenes next Monday.
By Mark Moran - Producer-Editor, Contact
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References
Citation: Montana state constitution State of Montana 1889
Citation: Bison reintroduction (in photo caption) National Park Service 2022
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PNS - Friday, December 30, 2022 - New York District 3 Rep.-elect George Santos is being federally investigated amid inconsistencies. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack withdraws its subpoena of former President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden signs the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill into law.
