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.

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A fine farewell from a first-class journalist

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Sherry

Sherry Devlin put in her last day at the Missoulian yesterday, ending a remarkable 36-year run there as a reporter and editor. Her farewell column, posted this morning, is as well-crafted, gracious and heartfelt as one would expect. Much of it is devoted to recounting some of the really important stories she and her colleagues worked on over the decades, reminding us how vital, how irreplaceable, newspapers are. But my favorite part of the whole column was its shortest, simplest paragraph: “The work, and all the rigors it entails, has been a joy.” What a tremendous privilege to be able to say such a thing—and in the case of Sherry to mean it absolutely—about such a long career. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Ginny Merriam, Lee Enterprises, Missoulian, Sherry Devlin

For Syrians, the terrible prospect of Billings

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There isn’t anything remotely funny about this country’s shameful attitude towards Syrian refugees. Well, there wasn’t until the Onion weighed in. In a piece headlined “How Refugees Are Admitted Into The U.S.,” the Onion listed 13 steps Syrian refugees must undergo before being admitted. Here’s step 10: “Accept grim but very real possibility of life in Billings, MT.” That’s very, very cruel, right? Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Onion, Syria

Contest: Unravel the meaning of new Gazette ad

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Ad

It’s contest time! Here’s how it works: We will publish, verbatim, portions of a Billings Gazette employment ad and you, our readers, will attempt to figure out what the hell it means. There will be no prizes because there is no way of determining what the “correct” answer is. We just want you to put on your thinking cap, let your imagination run wild and try to explain to the rest of us what the Gazette could possibly be looking for. The ad, which I could not find online, is on Page D1 of the print edition of the Gazette, in the upper-left corner. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings Gazette, Lee Enterprises

A word or two on The Bar Tab

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I need to clear up a little misapprehension here at Last Best News. Several people have told me they were confused about the authorship of The Bar Tab, a series of local tavern reviews that debuted last week on this site. Some people even thought I, Ed Kemmick, your Last Best News correspondent, your LBN publisher and editor, was writing The Bar Tab reviews. In a word: no. The authors really are a local couple who are just as they described themselves in the introductory piece that ran with the first review. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, The Bar Tab

Fixer-upper? Nope, a tearer-downer

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Slum

Here’s what we’ve come to: supposedly the most expensive house currently on the market in Montana is priced at $20 million—and the agent listing it says it will probably be torn down to make room for a bigger house. Why? Agent Pat Donovan told realtor.com that the main attraction is the 35-acre property on Whitefish Lake where the house sits. The house itself is merely a “log home” of 5,000 square feet. Mind you, it’s not exactly the gulag: “The home’s bedrooms and bathrooms are spacious and bright, and they manage to avoid the grimness often associated with lodge-style living.” Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, realtor.com, Whitefish Lake

Help needed to send kids to Polar Express event

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The Billings Depot will be presenting its extremely popular Polar Express event again, on the first weekend of December. It features a children’s theatrical production, a visit from Santa, elf dancing, cookie decorating, a silly photo booth, ornament making and more. Unfortunately, not every family can afford tickets for their children to attend this event, so the folks at the depot are asking for community help in two ways:

NOMINATE: If you know a family that works hard and would love to give their children this experience but simply cannot afford to purchase tickets, please nominate a family in need to receive free tickets to the event by emailing us at jennifermercer@billingsdepot.org. (Emails only please; no Facebook comments.)

Because tickets are limited and the show is designed for children 3 to 7 years old, we ask that you nominate children close to that age range. Children must be old enough to sit on their own with the other children during the show. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings Depot, Downtown Exchange Club Billings, Polar Express

Well, that car is definitely stopped

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Wreck

I’m afraid I don’t have any actual news on this, but I thought the photo was interesting enough on its own. I mean, whatever else the driver may have done wrong, he or she did stop, right? This was at Seventh Street West and Cook Avenue about 4:30 p.m. Monday. The strange thing is, I had been driving past the area around Eighth and Cook half an hour earlier and saw a firetruck and police car with lights flashing. There appeared to have been two cars involved in an accident there, and a woman was being taken away on a gurney. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings Gazette, Billings Police Department, Car wrecks

Billings list: Recalling the crucified cat, or not

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Jason

I’m not that big a fan of lists … unless they’re actually good, and this one, “14 Signs That You Grew Up in Billings MT,” is pretty good. It is the work of Justin Hutchinson, local radio guy, photographer, party-goer, etc., who pointed out a couple of days ago that his post about Billings was “going around again,” this time on BuzzFeed. The post, which I didn’t see on any previous go-rounds, begins with this promising statement: “You remember the first time you heard about the crucified cat.” I’m happy to say I never heard of the poor crucified cat, but I was well aware of the Father’s Day tornado, the Dollar Theater, Snowbird and my favorite, “Speed Limits Are Suggestions.” Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings, BuzzFeed, Dollar Theater, Jason Hutchinson, Snowbird

Montana Quarterly publishes ‘best-of’ collection

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Here’s something I should have brought to your attention a bit earlier. But better late than never. The Montana Quarterly, the Livingston-based magazine that recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, has published a book of collected pieces under the title, “Montana, Warts and All,” which also happens to be the magazine’s motto. Here’s the official blurb for the book: “Elegant. Literate. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Alan Kesselheim, Craig Lancaster, Jeff Hull, Jeff Welsch, John Clayton, Montana Quarterly, Scott McMillion