Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/author/edkemmick/page/13/)
In the early 1990s, when I was new to Billings, I spent a lot of time at Riverfront Park. I mostly went down there to bomb around on my six-speed bicycle, which wasn’t quite a mountain bike but was tough enough for those soft trails. At the east end of the park, downstream, the last segment of the old Washington Street Bridge was still standing, and you could dive off the iron trestle into what was then a slow channel of the Yellowstone River. (more…) Continue Reading →
This is supposed to be the time of year we count our blessings and remind ourselves of all the good things that have happened in the past year and over the course of our lives. But that apparently isn’t the way my brain works. I usually think, instead, of all the things that have gone wrong on Christmases past, all the illnesses and snowstorms and white-knuckle travel associated with this particular holiday. (more…) Continue Reading →
Listening to everything that Faith Rumph has been through, it’s hard to believe — or maybe it’s just painful to acknowledge — that she is only 17. Born in Billings, she was removed from her biological parents at the age of 2, “because basically they were not fit to be parents,” she said. Faith and her then-newborn sister lived with one family until Faith was 4, when Faith was adopted by Mark and Cindy Rumph. (more…) Continue Reading →
SIDNEY — Travis Peterson’s career as a civil engineer lasted five years. A native of Sidney, Peterson graduated from Sidney High School in 2001 and went on to earn a civil engineering degree from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. Then he headed to the West Coast, where he worked as a marine contractor. He enjoyed working on bridges, piers and other projects, and he was good at at it, but he had other interests as well. (more…) Continue Reading →
The Washington Post reported this weekend that the Trump administration has come up with a list of forbidden words and phrases that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not be allowed to use in budget documents. The list has nothing to do with George Carlin’s seven dirty words, words that I am not going to publish here gratuitously, though I do urge you to watch the entire, priceless George Carlin video. (more…) Continue Reading →
A new rule prohibiting smoking within 20 feet of public entryways, windows or ventilation systems will take effect in Yellowstone County on March 1. The rule, adopted Thursday morning by the RiverStone Board of Health, also prohibits the indoor use of e-cigarettes and other vaping devices in public spaces, basically bringing them under the same rules as traditional forms of smoking. (more…) Continue Reading →
The Yellowstone River Parks Association is taking the lead on a plan to buy 15 acres of land for a fishing access and boat launch across the Yellowstone from Riverfront Park. “It’s going to be an amazing development,” said YRPA President Darryl Wilson. (more…) Continue Reading →
Twenty minutes into his lunch-hour presentation at the Billings Job Service office on Rosebud Drive last week, Patrick Hoy motioned with his thumb to a door in the corner of the room, the one farthest from the lobby. “Oh, by the way,” he said, “if something should happen while we’re here, this is the way out.” (more…) Continue Reading →
Listening to Hammes Co. President Bob Dunn last week, when he was telling the Billings City Council about the transformation of One Big Sky Center from a single downtown project to a comprehensive development strategy, I heard echoes from years ago. What really struck me in Dunn’s presentation was his insistence that Billings, if it did not want to be left in the dust, had to start thinking big, in a very organized way. (more…) Continue Reading →
