When I saw last week that another Billings motorist had plowed into a house, and that “speed and alcohol were factors in the crash,” I felt it was time to call it a trend. (more…) Continue Reading →
If a home is a castle, we all need moats
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Recent Posts
Harlowton ‘navigator’ takes the scare out of Obamacare
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HARLOWTON — Tina Barnhart has learned a few important lessons about helping people sign up for subsidized private health insurance. The trick is to be specific about insurance plans, and how much they cost, thanks to the federal subsidies. Just don’t mention Obamacare, or even refer to it by its less familiar but official title, the Affordable Care Act. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Montana, News, Affordable Care Act, Chris Hopkins, Harlowton, Mike Zwicker, Montana Health Network, Obamacare
Photo Gallery: Pictures from an expedition
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I had to go to Harlowton to work on a story Thursday morning, on what turned out to be a glorious day for a drive. As everyone in this part of the world knows, it has been a very long winter, so long that I probably shouldn’t refer to it as if it were over. So to finally get a chance to drive on dry roads under blue skies and on one of my favorite Montana roads was an opportunity I was inclined to savor. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Diversions, Montana, Photo Galleries, Barber, Billings Gazette, Cushman, Harlowton, Lavina
Book Review: Harrison revels in ‘Brown Dog,’ his pre-Fall hero
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Brown Dog, by Jim Harrison, Grove Press, 2013. 525 pages, $27. My slight acquaintance with the works of Jim Harrison — I’ve read maybe 10 percent of his many books — leads me to believe that Brown Dog, the character, is the truest expression of his inner self. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Culture, Jim Harrison, John Steinbeck, Michigan, Nikos Kazantzakis
Mobile unit puts on the miles to help military veterans
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ROUNDUP — Doug Bell, a readjustment counselor with the Billings Vet Center, said it’s typical of military veterans to insist that they don’t need help. “There’s that mentality of, there’s always someone worse than them, so they don’t want to take away from them,” he said. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Montana, News, Bernard Rustad, Billings Vet Center, Bob Newman, Doug Bell, Jim Hatter, John Viviano
Life is short, mistakes are forever
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I have publicly shamed myself over the years by apologizing for errors that have crept into my news stories and columns. Twenty-five years ago, I wrote a very long profile of a doctor in St. Paul who still made house calls. The person who suggested I write about the good doctor gave me his first name wrong and I never checked that cardinal fact, since I kept referring to him in conversation as “Doctor.” (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Prairie Lights, '12 Years a Slave', Academy Awards, Ed Reilly, New York Times, Solomon Northrop (sic), Solomon Northrup (sic), Solomon Northup
Racing time, and the wind, to save local history
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BIG TIMBER — Jim Baldwin is standing in a rickety shed so old and fragile that it looks like it might not survive another day of the fierce winds blowing outside. He’s looking down at a large cardboard box brimful of dirt- and manure-encrusted books, letters and other documents. It doesn’t look very promising, but he’s learned not to trust appearances. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Montana, Big Timber, Bruce Townsend, Jim Baldwin, Mission Mountain Wood Band, Sons of Norward. Carol O'Dell, Tim Thompson
Judge Shanstrom: A life well lived, in and out of the courtroom
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General back-country elk rifle season opened Sept. 15 last fall in Montana, the same day Senior U.S. District Court Judge Jack Shanstrom worked as a judge for the last time. If you don’t know where he’d rather have been — then you don’t know Jack. On that day, we called Jack Shanstrom “Judge” because we had to. On Sept. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Montana, News, Aaron Small, Eric Holder, Jack Shanstrom, John Roberts, Sandra Day O'Connor, Tim Babcock
A fine tribute to a great newspaper reporter
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Don’t miss this obituary on Missoulian reporter Betsy Cohen, who died Monday at 49. She worked for the Montana Standard in Butte and for the Missoulian from 1998 until her death. I only met her a few times and didn’t know her well, but I was impressed with her work. Having now read her obituary, I wish I had known her better. She was a great reporter and apparently a remarkable person, talented in so many ways. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Betsy Cohen, Michael Gallacher, Missoulian, Montana Standard
Amateur filmmaker documented worst snowstorm in city’s history
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If you live in Billings and think the recent run of heavy snowfall was bad, you should have been here in 1955. We’ve seen use of the terms “snowpocalypse” and “snowtravaganza” to describe the recent storms, but these hardly begin to compare with the storms of early April 1955. (more…) Continue Reading →
