Last Best Blog

This is the weblog page of Last Best News. Here you will find some news, perhaps, but also lots of commentary, opinion and satire. Just so you know.

Related Topics:

Recent Posts

Joe Medicine Crow featured in Economist obituary

By: |
Joe

In my estimation, there are few posthumous honors quite like being the subject of an obituary in The Economist, a weekly news magazine based in London but widely available in this country. Each week, the last page of the publication carries an obituary, sometimes of a person quite well known but often of relatively obscure people. No matter who it is, the obituaries are so well written that I can’t imagine anyone ever questioning the wisdom of the latest selection. This week, the subject of The Economist’s obituary is Joseph Medicine Crow, the last of the Crow Indian war chiefs who died earlier this month at 102. It is a beautifully written piece, built around the story of how, as a young soldier in World War II, Medicine Crow made off with a herd of horses belonging to some German SS officers. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Joe Medicine Crow, The Economist

Story spills the beans on former Missoulian editor

By: |
Rock

The Missoula Independent is reporting some details about the Missoulian editor who resigned earlier this week, after being suspended for bringing a gun to work. From the sounds of it, Matt Bunk’s brief tenure at the newspaper was such a disaster that his showing up in the newsroom packing heat gave the powers that be an opportunity to get rid of him with little fear of being sued again. Here’s the key paragraph: “Current staffers and former reporters who spoke with the Indy this week describe a newsroom that was nearing revolt against an editor who they say bullied reporters and routinely threatened their jobs during disagreements. Some say they expected further resignations, or even a walkout, had Bunk been permitted to return.” Much of the blame lies with Missoulian Publisher Mark Heintzelman, who hired Bunk seven months ago after demoting longtime editor Sherry Devlin, who later resigned and sued the newspaper for wrongful discharge. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Darrell Ehrlick, Mark Heintzelman, Martin Kidston, Matt Bunk, Missoula Current, Missoula Independent, Missoulian

Missoulian editor Bunk reportedly resigns

By: |
Bunk

The Missoula Current is reporting that Matt Bunk, the Missoulian editor suspended two weeks ago after bringing a concealed weapon to work in violation of company policy, has resigned. Martin Kidston, the founder of the Current, said his sources were newspaper employees and that no other information was available Monday night. As Kidston also reported, Bunk was named editor of the Missoulian only last August by publisher Mark Heintzelman. And Heintzelman had been on the job not quite a year himself when he hired Bunk away from a twice-weekly paper in Libby. Bunk was hired after former Missoulian editor Sherry Devlin was demoted, and she later filed a lawsuit in District Court, saying she had been unjustly demoted and replaced by a less-qualified male. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Mark Heintzelman, Martin Kidston, Matt Bunk, Missoula Current, Missoulian, Sherry Devlin

In honor of the late Merle Haggard, 2 reading suggestions

By: |
Hag

Merle Haggard, one of the best songwriters and the owner of one of the most distinctive voices in the history of country music, died Wednesday, on his 79th birthday. You don’t need me to tell you of Merle’s life and legacy. You’re on the Internet, with Google at your fingertips. But allow me to recommend two superb pieces about Merle, one quite short and one very long. The short one was published two years ago by the Wall Street Journal, as part of its occasional “Anatomy of a Song” series. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Bryan Di Salvatore, Iris Dement, Merle Haggard, New Yorker, Tina Brown, Wall Street Journal

Pistol-packing editor says gun was an antique

By: |
M.B.

Following up on a story broken by the Missoula Current, the Missoula Independent has new details on the suspension of Missoulian editor Matt Bunk, who violated company policy by bringing a gun to work. Indy reporter Derek Brouwer (formerly a reporter for the Billings Gazette) writes: “In a personal Facebook post he shared Monday with the Indy, Bunk says the incident involved an antique handgun his girlfriend recently gave him as an engagement gift. The editor says he has a concealed carry permit and often wears a gun, but forgot to remove it from his hip before entering the office one day. ‘Someone pointed it out, and I put it back in my car immediately,’ he wrote.” The Missoulian, like the Gazette, is owned by Lee Enterprises, and Brouwer points out that the “antique firearm” excuse wasn’t good enough for another editor at a Lee newspaper. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Derek Brouwer, Lee Enterprises, Martin Kidston, Matt Bunk, Missoula Current, Missoula Independent, Missoulian

A little Kiss on Minnesota Avenue

By: |
Ace

We couldn’t resist this scene Monday afternoon. Nicole Knight of Advantage Signs and Graphics was completing a portrait of Ace Frehley, former lead guitar player for Kiss, on the outside of Smiling Dog Records at 2702 Minnesota Ave. Knight said she has been friends with Mike Ludlam, the owner of Smiling Dog Records, for more than 25 years. Ludlam opened the used-vinyl store in February. He blacked out the windows on the north side of the store and asked Knight to do adorn them with her paintings. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Ace Frehley, Advantage Signs and Graphics, Kiss, Mikle Ludlam, Nicole Knight, Smiling Dog Records

Joseph Medicine Crow, last of the war chiefs, dies at 102

By: |
Medicine Crow

Joseph Medicine Crow, the great Crow Indian historian, author and war hero, often called the last living Plains Indian war chief, reportedly died this morning at the age of 102. His death was reported on the Facebook page of Ben Pease, the artist whose portrait of Medicine Crow is above. In a private message, Pease said Medicine Crow “passed to the ‘Other Side Camp’ Sunday morning.” Among his many honors, Medicine Crow was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the nation’s highest civilian honor—by President Obama in 2009. In Billings, the District 2 School Board voted last year to name a new middle school in the Heights—the first public school built in Billings in 30-some years—after Medicine Crow. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Adrian Jawort, Ben Pease, Joseph Medicine Crow, Mary Hudetz, President Obama

Photographer gets down and dirty with bison gleaners

By: |
Bison

There was a good story in the Billings Gazette last month about the Buffalo Bridge Project, which involves a group of people who scavenge whatever is left of bison that are killed just outside Yellowstone National Park. The photos were good, too, but for whatever reason there were no pictures of the dirty work—the blood, gore and viscera that accompany this odd, primitive endeavor. Matt Hamon to the rescue. He is a photographer based in Potomac, Mont., who spent a lot of time with the “gleaners,” as he calls them, and he has posted a batch of compelling, in-your-face photographs of what is involved in using all parts of a dead bison. What is more intriguing is that this series of photographs is only the start. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, bison, Buffalo Bridge Project, Matt Hamon, Yellowstone National Park