Appearing on the Howard Stern show today, Jeff Bridges briefly discussed — and appeared to throw cold water on — the notion that he run for the U.S. Senate from Montana. As we have reported and commented on in the past few days, a Billings-area woman started a Facebook page and a Change.org petition to encourage Bridges to seek appointment as the Democratic candidate to replace Sen. John Walsh. Walsh dropped out of the race against Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., amid revelations that he, Walsh, pilfered the writings of others during his time at the War College. On the show, Bridges was talking to Stern about how his wife often puts the brakes on him when he gets unduly excited about things, those times when “I write checks my ass can’t cash.” (Just like a real senator!) And then he mentioned stumbling across the Facebook page, apparently, and mentioning that to his wife. Continue Reading →
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.
Recent Posts
Cafe DeCamp owner finds a new home
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This is great news. The Billings Gazette is reporting that Jason Corbridge has finally found a new home and will be opening a restaurant this fall. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Cafe DeCamp, Commons 1882, Greg Oliphant, Henry Kennah, Jason Corbridge, Mamacita's
Last Best News magnate is interviewee for a change
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Way back in 2005, I appeared in a panel discussion on blogging at the Festival of the Book in Missoula. Others on the panel were John Clayton, of Red Lodge, and Patia Stephens and Courtney Lowery, both of Missoula. Courtney, now Lowery Cowgill, was then working for NewWest, a pioneer in digital journalism. The site, alas, did not survive, but while it lasted Courtney was its animating spirt and consistently its best writer. She is now working on a farm, raising children and somehow serving as managing editor of PBS MediaShift, in which role she conducted an email interview with me about Last Best News. The result was posted this morning. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Courtney Lowery Cowgill, John Clayton, NewWest, Patia Stephens, PBS MediaShift
Another look at ‘Off the Path’ anthology
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Don’t miss Craig Lancaster’s interview with Adrian Jawort, who edited and published “Off the Path: An Anthology of 21st Century Montana American Indian Writers, Vol. 1.” We wrote about the book in February, but Lancaster’s interview has a lot of new information, including Jawort’s plans for upcoming anthologies and his own novel. Excerpt: “A lot of people open the book perhaps expecting something typical and almost clichéd and formulaic about Native Americans, but this is very edgy and atypical. We do touch on plaguing real issues like suicide, abuse , alcoholism, and poverty that Natives out west deal with on a seemingly extreme level and a lot of it is biographical, but it’s still very original fiction. Off the Path has basically created a life force of its own and a lot of that stemmed from positive reactions to it.” Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, "Off the Path", Adrian Jawort, Craig Lancaster
Good column, great advice
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Kristen Cates, the education reporter for the Great Falls Tribune, has written a brave, funny column on a sensitive subject. Here’s the best part, a perfectly succint, very useful piece of advice:
I’ve come up with this tip on when it’s OK to ask a woman if she’s pregnant:
• Never (unless you are in the labor and delivery room while she’s having that baby). I would even make sure you see the little head beginning to emerge before you ask. I am a dummy in countless ways, but my wife taught me well on this subject. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Great Falls Tribune, Kristen Cates
High praise for our favorite photographer
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John Warner, a photographer in Billings who has put his stamp all over Last Best News, won a high honor a few days ago. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Boulder River, John Warner, National Geographic, Your Shot
Comment-less Gazette story raises questions
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There’s an interesting story in today’s Billings Gazette, in which the organizer of the anti-marijuana ballot initiative concedes that the effort probably didn’t gather enough signatures to get on the ballot. But then I noticed one very odd thing: comments appear to have been disabled on this story. In other words, there’s no comment bar under the story. Was it an oversight, a mistake? Is this something the Gazette does on certain stories it fears will attract too many trolls? Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, anti-marijuana initiative, Billings Gazette, Rimrock Auto Group, Steve Zabawa
Forget John Galt — who is Rob Rogers?
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The BBC is asking the question. So is CNN, Russia Today and Al Jazeera. Who is Rob Rogers, the newest appointee to the Billings School District 2 Board of Trustees? Well, as the Billings Gazette explained, Rob is a former Gazette reporter who covered the district for the past five years. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings City Council, Rob Rogers, School Dsitrict 2 Board of Trustees, Terry Bouck, Wilco
A few thorns amid Lee’s rosy outlook
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The Motley Fool is reporting today that Lee Enterprises, publisher of the Billings Gazette, as a member of the “specialist media,” “will be better positioned than their generalist peers to survive and even thrive in the new media landscape.” This could be good news for investors, the Motley Fool’s audience, but it remains to be seen whether readers of Lee Enterprise-owned newspapers and the people who work for them will see any benefits if Lee does outperform its “generalist peers.” So, how does Lee Enterprises qualify as a “specialist” media company anyway? Quoth the Fool: “Lee Enterprises is a publisher specializing in community newspapers that are focused on mid-sized to small markets. Community newspapers belong to a specialized category with unique characteristics.” Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings Gazette, Lee Enterprises, Motley Fool
Draft NDO opens more doors to debate
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As reported by the Billings Gazette this morning, the city has released a draft of the nondiscrimination ordinance that will be the subject of a City Council work session Monday night. Here’s the most surprising thing I noted in the draft: it prohibits discrimination not only on the basis of “sexual orientation, gender identity or expression,” but also on “Veteran’s status, political beliefs or obesity.” Leaving aside the question of why “veteran” is capitalized, I doubt anyone will object to including veteran status in the ordinance. Who doesn’t want to protect veterans from discrimination? But what about obesity? Continue Reading →
