Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/author/david-crisp/page/18/)
The Gary Johnson presidential campaign has opened a statewide office at 2624 Minnesota Ave. in Billings. Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for president, has been running at about 9 percent to 15 percent in recent polls. With the two least popular candidates ever nominated by the major parties, Libertarians think this might be their year. Johnson must run at 15 percent in the polls to be included in presidential debates. Continue Reading →
It isn’t easy to criticize the punditry of Laurel veterinarian and former state legislator Krayton Kerns. But let’s do it anyway. (more…) Continue Reading →
After spending the Republican National Convention in Texas, I can’t shake the feeling that the whole thing happened there. That is, of course, ridiculous. The convention was in Cleveland, Ohio, not Cleveland, Texas. (more…) Continue Reading →
Revenue losses from Montana tax cuts passed in 2003 are approaching $1 billion, a new report says. “The Montana We Could Be: Tax Cuts, Aimed at the Rich, Take a Toll,” a report by the nonprofit Montana Budget and Policy Center in Helena, estimates that the tax cuts will have cost $976 million by the end of 2016. That’s enough to pay the deferred maintenance costs for all of the school districts in the state, the report says. The tax cuts, which took effect in 2005, reduced the number of tax brackets from 10 to six and cut the top income tax rate in Montana from 11 percent to 6.9 percent. The legislation also, among other changes, gave a 2 percent tax credit on capital gains. Continue Reading →
Five seasoned Democrats who have applied to replace Yellowstone County Commissioner Bill Kennedy will face the public on Aug. 3. The candidates are Robyn Driscoll, David Wanzenried, Lynda Bourque Moss, Chuck Tooley and Jennifer Merecki. Nominations also will be taken from the floor at the public forum. Kennedy, also a Democrat, has resigned from District 3 of the commission to become chief executive officer of the Montana State University Billings Foundation on Aug. Continue Reading →
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court justice known to her fans as the Notorious RBG, has apologized to Donald Trump. He apologizes to no one. According to news reports, Ginsburg, 83, called Trump a “faker” and admonished him for failing to release his tax returns. She also said this to the New York Times: “I can’t imagine what this place would be—I can’t imagine what the country would be—with Donald Trump as our president. For the country, it could be four years. Continue Reading →
In North Texas the temperatures are a degree or two cooler—Sunday topped out at 97—and the humidity is a couple of percentage points lower. Still, an hour’s walk through the Prairie Point Cemetery left us drenched in sweat, exhausted and almost queasy. (more…) Continue Reading →
We’re off to Texas to settle my mother-in-law’s estate and to catch up with family. Anyone who has ever visited South Texas in July would understand why we wound up in Montana: Here we have relentless summer heat—a daily hundred degrees of heat, with humidity to match. (more…) Continue Reading →
I couldn’t get past this sports headline in the June 25 Billings Gazette: “Three-time NFR qualifier Bill Parker passes at 62.”
I didn’t know Bill Parker and mean him no disrespect. But “passes”? A quarterback passes. A point guard passes. Even an offensive lineman with a C-minus average passes. Continue Reading →
Got a notice last month saying that the cost of my Billings Gazette subscription was rising to $33.60 a month. No surprise there. Rates go up. But I was confused, because I had been reading in the masthead this sentence: “Home delivery subscribers of Premium Day papers will see a slight reduction in their subscription length to offset all premium day charges.”
Question 1: Why do I read the masthead? It started long ago when I became the editor of a central Texas daily. Continue Reading →
