Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/category/news/page/31/)
It’s no secret that Montana is chronically short of mental-health-care workers. According to figures compiled by Youth Dynamics, a nonprofit organization that provides statewide mental-health services, 13 Montana counties are without a single therapist, and 18 counties do not have a licensed addictions counselor. (more…) Continue Reading →
The Billings Chamber of Commerce on Thursday celebrated small victories and some large defeats in the recently concluded legislative session. (more…) Continue Reading →
When Montana’s 2017 Legislature adjourned on April 28, Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, found himself in much the same position as when the session began. At the session’s beginning, he helped draw up several bills that would help his community, which is facing the impending closure of two out of four units at its massive coal-fired electrical plant. By the time lawmakers left the Capitol, many of the bills—aimed at easing impacts on jobs, tax revenues and real estate—were dead. (more…) Continue Reading →
Much has been written about the African and Middle Eastern refugees who have resettled in Missoula in the past year, welcomed by many and looked at with fear and disdain by many others. Now, some of those refugees will be using video cameras to tell their own stories of what it means to resettle so far from home, and to share with the rest of us their perceptions of their new surroundings. (more…) Continue Reading →
On a bright spring day when no one possibly could have wanted the climate to change, about a hundred people showed up Saturday for the Billings version of the People’s Climate Change March. (more…) Continue Reading →
As many as 1,800 refinery workers from far corners of the country are converging in Billings until mid-June, doing round-the-clock work on the Phillips 66 refinery during its largest-ever planned maintenance period. The refinery, which normally employs about 300 full-time workers, is in the midst of what’s known as a turnaround, a maintenance event that refineries undergo every five years. It involves shutting everything down, bringing in a host of outside help and working 24 hours a day to complete all the maintenance the refinery needs in order to go the next five years. (more…) Continue Reading →
Cassini is the most sophisticated space probe ever built. Launched in 1997 as a joint NASA/European Space Agency mission, it took seven years to journey to Saturn. It’s been orbiting the sixth planet from the sun ever since, sending back data of immense scientific value and images of magnificent beauty. Cassini now begins one last campaign. Dubbed the Grand Finale, it will end on Sept. 15 with the probe plunging into Saturn’s atmosphere, where it will burn up. Continue Reading →
HELENA — After nearly five months of hearings, debates, floor action and votes, Montana’s 65th Legislative session is coming to a close. While lawmakers are constitutionally required only to draft and pass a two-year budget for the state’s numerous offices and programs—which they did last week—legislators from all walks of life address the concerns of their constituents, as well as their own ideas in the other bills they bring. (more…) Continue Reading →
Plans for further improvements in the far east end of downtown Billings were detailed Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Billings Industrial Revitalization District. Those plans include street, sidewalk and lighting upgrades in a nine-block area between north 10th and 13th streets and from First to Fourth Avenue North, with a total estimated price tag of just under $6 million. (more…) Continue Reading →
Billings lawyer Bill Cole is now the third announced candidate hoping to replace Mayor Tom Hanel in the city election this fall. He joins architect Randy Hafer and state legislator Jeff Essmann, both of whom announced their candidacies in the past couple of weeks. Hanel is nearing the end of his second term as mayor, and under the City Charter, the mayor and City Council members are limited to two consecutive terms. (more…) Continue Reading →
