Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/author/edkemmick/page/23/)
The Montana Supreme Court has denied former state Sen. Art Wittich’s four-part appeal of his conviction on charges of violating Montana’s campaign finance laws. Justice Beth Baker said in the 42-page opinion that the high court affirmed all of the District Court judge’s rulings in the case, and it found that former state Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl did nothing illegal in filing the action against Wittich in District Court. (more…) Continue Reading →
CASPER, Wyo. — Shortly after the total eclipse ended, my brother’s 9-year-old niece, Lily Litman, said, “That was literally the coolest thing I’ve seen in my entire life.”
I’ve got a few years on Lily, but I would have to agree. For pure awe and wonder, I can’t imagine what might compete with seeing a total eclipse in near-perfect conditions, which is what we had in Casper on Monday. (more…) Continue Reading →
CASPER, Wyo. — Here on the front lines, things are running pretty smoothly. After reading all about the total eclipse for days on end, and hearing stories about how people from all over the world could be converging on Casper for front-row seats, we didn’t know what to expect. (more…) Continue Reading →
Searching for a voice of reason in a country up to its chin in unreasonable passion, I called Ken Robison, a historian who lives in Great Falls. His words were the tonic I needed. Ken is a native of Montana who grew up near Geraldine and who, since retiring from a career in Naval Intelligence in 2001, has been doggedly doing research into forgotten corners of Montana history, resulting in a stream of books and numerous articles in the Great Falls Tribune and the River Press in Fort Benton. (more…) Continue Reading →
Billings will soon have a police officer specifically assigned to patrolling city parks. The new position was approved by the City Council in July, with funding from the city’s General Fund, and the person selected for the job will be helping respond to what is perceived as a growing number of problems in the parks. (more…) Continue Reading →
The former state legislator who was jailed on Tuesday for contempt of court reportedly refused to cooperate with authorities regarding his involvement in a political corruption scandal, calling the court case against him “a political game.” Wesley Prouse, of Shepherd, who will turn 49 on Thursday, was in jail and could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but the Billings lawyer who prosecuted several Republican legislative candidates involved in the so-called dark-money cases gave an account of the events that landed Prouse in jail. (more…) Continue Reading →
In response to the violence in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, about 60 people gathered on the lawn of the Yellowstone County Courthouse on Sunday to call for peace, justice and inclusion. “Virginia?” Penny Ronning asked. “Charlottesville? That could be Billings. Continue Reading →
Last month, I had occasion to criticize Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton, who seemed to be determined to cast doubt on the validity of our election processes. I thought it was a strange goal, given that the secretary of state is the chief elections officer for Montana. I wondered, was it something like having Scott Pruitt lead the Environmental Protection Agency, which he seems bent on dismantling? (more…) Continue Reading →
There are some good things about being a dinosaur. I first wrote about Bill Reichert and his amazing collection of 45-rpm records 17 years ago, and my story was published in the Billings Gazette on Aug. 21, 2000. (more…) Continue Reading →
Bill Reichert has been collecting 45-rpm records for just shy of 60 years, carefully curating and tending a collection that has grown to nearly 20,000 of the little vinyl discs. At the age of 73, he said, “I’m at the point now with my collection—there’s no way I could sit down and listen to all these in my lifetime.” (more…) Continue Reading →
