Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/author/edkemmick/page/63/)
In a 400-page assessment of the Yellowstone River that is thick with technical findings and scientific terminology, Gerard Baker identified what he thought was missing from the report. Baker, a Mandan-Hidatsa Indian who retired as assistant director of the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., said what was missing was the river’s soul, its spirit. When the river and its plants and animals were created, Baker said, no part of it was inanimate. (more…) Continue Reading →
The Rock Pile, a Billings sports bar that closed on Christmas Eve for a complete renovation, is scheduled to reopen this summer as the 406 Kitchen and Taproom, complete with a rooftop patio. The new bar-restaurant will serve a wide variety of bottled and tap beers and will have a “chef-inspired menu” of bar foods with a twist, according to co-owner Jake Brosovich. (more…) Continue Reading →
The Montana Supreme Court has cleared a path to trial for a Butte woman who says she was defrauded by a company that promised to help reduce her debts. Billings attorney Cliff Edwards, one of the lawyers for Susan Ossello, said the 5-2 decision issued last week by the state high court is “a great big deal” and a clear victory for Montana consumers. (more…) Continue Reading →
A few weeks back I wrote about how newspapers used to believe it was their obligation to watch paint dry—to keep a close eye on the process of local government. Danny Westneat, a columnist for The Seattle Times, has written a piece that perfectly illustrates why such coverage is important. Last fall, at the end of a long, dry city council agenda in the Seattle suburb of Kent, he wrote, there was “a mysterious bit marked only as ‘Property Negotiations, as per RCW 42.30.110(1)(c).'” When that item came up, the mayor announced that the council was going into a closed executive session and he asked everyone in the audience to leave. The few people in attendance accordingly left, and when the council returned from its secret session it quickly voted to sell a 10-acre public park to a developer, who planned to put a housing subdivision there. No one learned of this until four months later, when the “lone newspaper left in the area, a weekly with only two reporters covering a city of 125,000, broke the news.” Continue Reading →
If you’ve been following the news in Montana at all recently, you know that methamphetamine use is once again a terrible problem. Just last month, the Billings Gazette ran a story with a headline that said, “Meth possession spikes while other crimes stay steady.” The story quoted Police Chief Rich St. John, who said this about the near-record number of murders: “There’s a common denominator, and it’s usually methamphetamine.” (more…) Continue Reading →
I don’t want to be too depressing on a Saturday morning, but maybe if you never worked in the newspaper business this story will only be interesting, rather than terribly sad. It’s about how tens of thousands of older reporters, editors and photographers have been put out to pasture in recent years as the newspaper industry has withered with accelerating speed. Most of the examples deal with people who worked at much bigger papers than we have here in Montana, but their stories sound awfully familiar. One trend mentioned in the article is that women are being targeted disproportionately when it comes to layoffs. “One woman downsized from the Post,” the writer said, “told me that she ‘always got good reviews and often got raises’ in all of her years at the paper. Continue Reading →
At St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Billings, and in four other cities across Montana Tuesday night, people gathered to offer the world’s refugees some hope—and the possibility of refuge. “Generosity is a virtue,” said Fitzgerald Clark, once an immigrant and now an American citizen. “Generosity and community are what make us great.” (more…) Continue Reading →
This article originally appeared in Raised in the West magazine. On a warm, clear day in early December, 14-year-old Shaylee Tamcke is standing in a pen on the Christensen Red Angus ranch just outside Park City, trying to make her mind up. She is one of 22 young recipients taking part in the 2016 Merit Heifer program, sponsored by the Northern International Livestock Exposition Foundation. (more…) Continue Reading →
A one-day crowd-funding event designed to encourage local support of local nonprofits is being planned for Billings and the surrounding seven-county region. Give Local Yellowstone County Valley Region is being hosted by the Billings Community Foundation and will run from noon to 11:59 p.m. on May 3. (more…) Continue Reading →
Starting a week from today and continuing every Monday for 32 weeks, Last Best News will be running a series of video presentations by state leaders in business, politics and academics. The Montana Ethic Project was created by a group of students at Montana State University and the University of Montana. They wanted some of the brightest, most inspiring people in Montana to speak directly to other residents of this state about subjects important to themselves and to the larger society. (more…) Continue Reading →
