Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/author/edkemmick/page/12/)
Two Montana writers have launched a new podcast, “Breakfast in Montana,” that will feature an informal discussion of two Montana books, one from the past and one contemporary work, in each episode. (more…) Continue Reading →
Last summer, after violent confrontations broke out in Charlottesville, Va., where white supremacists gathered to protest the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, Kari Kaiser was talking to a friend who also belonged to the Billings Rises group. Billings Rises was part of Big Sky Rising, which Kaiser described as a “volunteer army of concerned citizens” who came together after the 2016 election to encourage civic engagement and activism. (more…) Continue Reading →
If you are a regular listener to Yellowstone Public Radio or any other NPR station, you have surely heard newscaster Lakshmi Singh pronounce the word “Washington” in a way it has never been pronounced before. It sounds something like “Woe-shing-tun,” though with emphases and accents beyond my ability to replicate in type. And since she normally pairs that word with her own mellifluous name, I rarely resist the temptation to repeat, after her, “In Washington, I’m Lakshmi Singh.” (more…) Continue Reading →
Jessi Wetzel thought it was a pretty big deal when somebody shot up her parked car two days after Christmas. She was amazed, and angry, when she called the Billings Police Department to report the incident and was told that an officer would not be coming by to investigate. (more…) Continue Reading →
One of the most difficult things about assembling a World War I exhibit at the Montana Historical Society Museum in Helena was deciding what to include and what to leave out. The Great War, as it was also called, lasted four years and claimed the lives of 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians. It was fought, one way or or another, all over the globe. It destroyed empires and sparked revolutions, and its reverberations are still felt today. (more…) Continue Reading →
Missoula Current, one of our partners on the independent online journalism scene in Montana, celebrated the beginning of its third year by posting a short video about what it does and how it does it. We are honored to be working with the folks at the Current and wish them all the best. Missoula, and the rest of Montana, is lucky to have them. Continue Reading →
Katy Easton, now working for Big Sky Economic Development, will take over as the CEO of the Downtown Billings Alliance on Feb. 1. Easton, 39, was chosen to replace Lisa Harmon, who was the DBA’s executive director for 12 years before leaving at the end of last year. (more…) Continue Reading →
The six-way competition to win the Democratic nomination for the 2018 U.S. House race got a little smaller on Tuesday. Tom Woods, a state House representative from Bozeman, announced his departure from the race in a press release Tuesday morning. (more…) Continue Reading →
Ordinarily, on this last Sunday of the year, I would post a tongue-in-cheek review of the past year, as I had done for more than 10 years at the Billings Gazette and for the past three years at Last Best News. I was inspired to do so by Dave Barry, as were legions of fellow obscure laborers in the vineyards of backwater journalism. We had the temerity to follow the master’s lead by telling ourselves we could get away with it by writing about local events, leaving the national and international scene to Barry. (more…) Continue Reading →
A Billings couple has plans to turn a large warehouse on the east side of Montana Avenue into a country mercantile, antique mall and breakfast-and-lunch cafe, with five loft apartments on the second floor. And because the warehouse, at 2019 Montana Ave., includes a big vacant lot to the west, the Liberty and Vine Country Store, as it will be called, will have its own 32-space parking lot, a rarity on Montana Avenue. (more…) Continue Reading →
