Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/category/news/)
“Our place. Your power.” Those four words, according to Beartooth Electric Cooperative General Manager Kevin Owens, define the essence of the co-op’s venture into solar energy. “It’s about generating electricity at a solar array in one location and using it in another location,” Owens said. (more…) Continue Reading →
One week from today, on July 1, Last Best News will be suspending operations. I plan to keep the site live on the web at least through Sept. 1, so people can use the archives and save any stories they may want to preserve, but as of July 1 we won’t be adding any new content to the site. (more…) Continue Reading →
More than a decade into the Bakken oil boom, the state of North Dakota, where the vast majority of the boom is concentrated, still does not have a single landfill licensed to accept radioactive oilfield waste. Montana does. Oaks Disposal operates a landfill 26 miles northwest of Glendive that has taken in nearly 350,000 tons of oilfield waste of all kinds since it opened in 2013. Two other landfills that could accept radioactive waste, one near Outlook and one near Culbertson, have been licensed by the state of Montana but have not yet opened. (more…) Continue Reading →
The building that once housed the old Western and Wheel bars, located side by side on the 2700 block of Minnesota Avenue, has been sold, and the new owners plan to convert it into residential apartments. Jack English and Jeff Payne, principals of Illuminations Systems Inc., an electrical construction business in Denver that has an office in Billings, closed on the property in December and hope to start demolition on the building this summer. (more…) Continue Reading →
Her life’s work has been equity in education, and it’s that commitment that compelled Denise Juneau to make the difficult decision to leave Montana for the opportunity to lead Seattle’s public schools. That move now imminent, Juneau said she’s focused on the goal of leading the Seattle Public Schools District as it brings to reality a broad community resolve to correct the wide achievement gap between its white and minority students. (more…) Continue Reading →
Tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and other U.S. trade partners have increased the cost of products sourced by Montana manufacturers, though the full ramifications aren’t yet fully known. (more…) Continue Reading →
As part of a project to expand and modernize the city’s wastewater treatment plant, failure to turn off several valves put the plant into noncompliance with state pollution-discharge limits for a short period in April. The city informed the state Department of Environmental Quality of the violations a few days later, and the DEQ’s environmental compliance inspector in Billings, Dan Freeland, said the city is unlikely to be penalized for the incident. (more…) Continue Reading →
HELENA — The results of June 5 primary elections gave some clues as to the mood of Montana’s electorate, and all signs points to another competitive — and expensive — U.S. Senate race this fall. State Auditor Matt Rosendale, who ran much of his primary campaign as though he was the frontrunner, confirmed that position last week by easily defeating former Billings Judge Russ Fagg, Big Sky businessman Troy Downing and Kalispell surgeon Al Olszewski in the four-way Republican U.S. Senate primary. (more…) Continue Reading →
MISSOULA — The Montana Department of Corrections has reached a settlement with human rights groups that ends a nearly 30-year-old lawsuit over prison conditions stemming from a deadly 1991 riot at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. (more…) Continue Reading →
It’s hard to say how most Montanans feel about refugees, but at least one refugee is crazy about Montana. And why not? When Wilmot Collins first came here, landing at the Helena airport in February 1994, there was a “Welcome home, Wilmot” banner hanging in the terminal. That was an amazing moment — but so was seeing lightly dressed people at the airport despite an outside temperature of 32 degrees. (more…) Continue Reading →
