Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/author/edkemmick/page/49/)
I was still a reporter at the Billings Gazette when that newspaper’s online edition began accepting comments from readers. That development nearly sparked a revolt among the reporters. It wasn’t a case of our being afraid of criticism, of having our mistakes pointed out, or even of seeing our crystalline prose lampooned. (more…) Continue Reading →
Editor’s note: Anybody who has followed Last Best News since our founding knows that I am a big fan of the Montana Folk Festival in Butte. I believe I once referred to it as the coolest event in the history of Montana, and I was not exaggerating. I’ve written about it on more than a few occasions, and I have also posted lots of photographs of the festival, mine own and those of Anna Paige. And now the folk festival needs our help. Here’s the whole story, in the form of a press release from the festival. Continue Reading →
Backers of the huge building project proposed for downtown Billings will have to persuade a majority of the City Council to put up at least $30 million in public funds for the project to work. The tougher job might be winning the support of the city’s finance director, Pat Weber, to whom a lot of council members will be looking for guidance. (more…) Continue Reading →
The profile of Billings written for Outside magazine, hailing this burg as the winner of the magazine’s Best Towns 2016 contest, covered a lot of ground in a short space. The writer talked to some good people, hit many of the highlights and did a good job of telling Outside readers that Billings was a bit different from past Best Towns winners. (more…) Continue Reading →
A series of panel discussions looking at “border town discrimination” against Native Americans will take place in Billings on Monday, Aug. 29. The daylong event is being put on by the Montana Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and will be held in the Shrine Auditorium, 1125 Broadwater Ave. (more…) Continue Reading →
A couple of visitors to Riverfront Park paused on the trail overlooking the Yellowstone River near South Bridge Thursday afternoon, looks of confusion on their faces. Fortunately, Al Nash was nearby and he explained that the sight of 11 people in haz-mat gear was nothing to worry about. (more…) Continue Reading →
Some of the business owners who stand to be displaced by the huge development project planned for downtown Billings are worrying about what they will do next, but not Gary Temple and Marylee Moreland. The married couple own Meadowlark Gallery at 118 N. 29th St. and they live above the art gallery. If the One Big Sky Center comes off as planned, a 25-story building, the tallest in Montana, will rise up from the site of their gallery. (more…) Continue Reading →
The Outside magazine piece on Billings’ selection as the best town of 2016 is now posted online. Better yet, so is the five-minute video tribute to Billings that was created by the folks at Outside. To find the video, just click on the link above and scroll down to about the middle of the article. Two Billings attractions are featured prominently in the video: all the nearby mountain-biking opportunities and the many craft breweries in town. (This seems like a good time to remind our readers to be careful when combining these attractions.)
The downtown-centric video covers the ground quite thoroughly, to the point where you could almost imagine someone in a distant part of the country watching it and then Googling “job opportunities in Billings, Montana.” Continue Reading →
On what was almost a perfect summer day, a young dog lover by the name of Pari Kemmick went with some friends up to the Four Dances Natural Area early in the evening on Monday. They walked to the edge of the high sandstone formations there (often referred to as Sacrifice Cliff), then made their way down to the Yellowstone River bottom via a steep, narrow road. (more…) Continue Reading →
The public and private partners working on a huge development in downtown Billings got their first nod of approval Monday night from the City Council. By general assent—since no actual votes are taken at council work sessions like the one held Monday—developers of the One Big Sky Center got the green light to present the council with a predevelopment agreement at the council’s Sept. 12 meeting. (more…) Continue Reading →
