Editor’s note: This email came over the transom on Friday, after Last Best News published the charging documents in the Jason Priest assault case. We see no reason not to share this email with our readers: (more…) 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
Editor goes mum, paints self in harsh light
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The Billings Gazette is in the news, sort of, for Editor Darrell Ehrlick’s decision not to post court documents in the case of state Sen. Jason Priest, R-Red Lodge, who was charged with felony assault involving his child, his estranged wife and his wife’s boyfriend. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings Gazette, Darrell Ehrlick, Jason Priest, Jim Romenesko, Mike Gulledge
Bob Wire plumbs guitar players’ obsession
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Bob Wire, one of my favorite columnists, now writing for a website I was not previously aware of, Make it Missoula, has a new piece up titled “20 Surefire Signs You’re Married to a Guitar Player.” Bob should know, or at least his wife should, since Bob’s a honky-tonk man. Here are a few of my favorites from the list:
“He talks with a completely straight face about finding the ‘Neil Young’ chord in a Beatles song.” “It offends him deeply that models posing with guitars in print advertisements are obviously not guitar players. They clumsily grasp the neck, and they hold up the body of the guitar with the other hand (ever heard of a strap, Tyrese?) pretending to strum with their thumb.” Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Bob Wire, Dwight Yoakam, Make it Missoula
Bridge story stirs memories of early adventures
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My story on the pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks brought in this response from Ellen (Bragg) Arnold, who grew up Billings and is now living in Boulder, Colo.:
“This story brought back some memories for me! (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Central High School, Ellen Bragg Arnold, pedestrian bridge, railroad tracks, South Side
A little history would have helped debate over bridge
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It was amazing to watch the Billings City Council come within a whisker last night of undoing 13 years’ worth of work on a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks. Mike Ferguson does a good job of explaining what happened in his Gazette story this morning. But for the benefit of people — particularly people sitting on the City Council — who don’t know some of the history behind this project, bear with me. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings City Council, Brent Cromley, Mike Yakawich, Montana Rail Link, Wyeth Friday
Goodbye to another Gazette reporter
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Another Gazette colleague has joined the exodus. Jan Falstad’s last day was Friday and her final Have You Heard column — the last of some 840 columns — ran this morning on the Business page. Jan was a hell of a business reporter. She understood the nuts and bolts of finance and the stock market, but she was alive to the human aspect of every story, too. She made her column, which could have been a dry, narrow-interest feature, into a must-read piece that was one of the more popular parts of the Gazette week after week, year after year. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings Gazette, Darrell Ehrlick, Jan Falstad, Lee Enterprises
A fine tribute to a great newspaper reporter
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Don’t miss this obituary on Missoulian reporter Betsy Cohen, who died Monday at 49. She worked for the Montana Standard in Butte and for the Missoulian from 1998 until her death. I only met her a few times and didn’t know her well, but I was impressed with her work. Having now read her obituary, I wish I had known her better. She was a great reporter and apparently a remarkable person, talented in so many ways. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Betsy Cohen, Michael Gallacher, Missoulian, Montana Standard
Backstory: Discovering ‘The Sag’
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On our way to Fort Benton last spring, my wife Lisa was driving on the last leg of our trip, and we found ourselves on a road we’d never been on before — Highway 80 between Stanford and Fort Benton. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Diversions, Last Best Blog, Montana, Davidson, DeLorme, Fort Benton, Shonkin Sag, Square Butte
Worth the wait, we hope
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It took 17 years, but I finally got a story in the Billings Outpost. I was working at the Gazette something like 20 years ago when David Crisp joined the staff as an assistant region editor, the same job I had. We worked together for a few years — and drank beer, played darts, shot pool, went canoeing and listened to Jimmie Rodgers records together — until David went over to being a reporter, an excellent reporter. And then he left the paper to start his own weekly, the Outpost. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Last Best Blog, Billings Outpost, Billings Public Library, David Crisp, Montana Quarterly, Nick Ehli
In the face of ‘nastiness,’ Lewistown paper changes comment policy
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The powers that be at the Lewistown News-Argus, fed up with “the nastiness that has pervaded so many of our online discussions,” are making some changes to their policies regarding online comments. They are requiring commenters to use a first and last name and to post comments under only one name. They also promise to more carefully review comments before they are posted. (more…) Continue Reading →
