Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/category/prairie-lights/page/21/)
On the slowest day in the short life of Last Best News, just 131 people visited the site. That was on Saturday, Feb. 15, two weeks after the site launched on Feb. 1. That depressing day was followed by a few more slow Saturdays, which convinced me that people simply don’t spend much time on the Internet on that day of the week. Continue Reading →
Matt Rosendale, the state senator gunning for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Steve Daines, has had a big hit with the TV ad depicting him shooting down a government drone. (more…) Continue Reading →
When I launched Last Best News on Feb. 1, one of my publicly stated goals was to get out and about in Eastern Montana as much as possible. Little did I know that winter, which had been bad enough even until then, would last so long and bring so much snow and cold. (more…) Continue Reading →
It’s called Municipal Court, but I think a more apt name might be Improvisational Court. So many defendants are rushed through Municipal Court on a typical morning, attended by so many clerks, probation officers, public defenders and private lawyers, that despite an abundance of rules and procedures, the proceedings have a hectic, makeshift air about them. (more…) Continue Reading →
Ten years ago, before he opened his faith-based creationist dinosaur museum, I went over to Glendive to interview Otis Kline. I had thought it might be fun to hear Kline present his notions regarding evolution, the age of the Earth and what we could learn from dinosaur fossils. (more…) Continue Reading →
Just when I thought the endless winter of 2013-14 was going to do me in at last, I was saved by a ray of sunshine from Butte, America. The sunshine was a story from the Montana Standard, published in the Billings Gazette, that was headlined: “Man accused of breaking into home, ordering porn — again.” (more…) Continue Reading →
Opponents of a non-discrimination ordinance are so eager to continue discriminating against certain people that they couldn’t even wait for the proposed ordinance to be drafted. That’s why they showed up last week when the City Council heard a request for a $25,000 donation to help fund a national conference that will be held in Billings this summer to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Not In Our Town movement. (more…) Continue Reading →
When I saw last week that another Billings motorist had plowed into a house, and that “speed and alcohol were factors in the crash,” I felt it was time to call it a trend. (more…) Continue Reading →
I have publicly shamed myself over the years by apologizing for errors that have crept into my news stories and columns. Twenty-five years ago, I wrote a very long profile of a doctor in St. Paul who still made house calls. The person who suggested I write about the good doctor gave me his first name wrong and I never checked that cardinal fact, since I kept referring to him in conversation as “Doctor.” (more…) Continue Reading →
I’ve known Max Lenington for more than 15 years. I didn’t know him well, since I never did much reporting on Yellowstone County, for which he is treasurer, assessor and county superintendent of schools. But I knew him well enough to believe I had some sense of the kind of person he was. (more…) Continue Reading →
