Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/page/118/)
I was planning to ride off into the sunset today, but if I may appropriate an observation by Benjamin Franklin, it looks as though I might be heading in the direction of the rising sun.
In the week since I announced that Last Best News would cease publication today, I have heard so many expressions of interest in reviving it in some shape or form, with or without my continued involvement, that it appears likely that this independent online newspaper will live on.
This is the 28th chapter of the 32-part video series “The Montana Ethic Project.” This chapter features Jamie Doggett, a former chair of the Montana Committee for the Humanities, speaking on “The Role of the Humanities in Functional Communities.” You can watch the whole video below. Here is an edited transcript of how it begins: Continue Reading →
Tomorrow night in Helena, the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana will host a free advance screening of Oliver Stone’s new film, “Snowden,” at the Myrna Loy Center.
Most people have heard of Edward Snowden, but few understand how his disclosures sparked a critical global debate about freedom of expression, privacy, secrecy and the proper limits of government surveillance. Continue Reading →
Until I got away, I didn’t realize how badly I needed to get away.
It was no great shakes, as vacations go, just a Labor Day weekend in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, spent mostly on the shores of Rock Island Lake, with an easy hike to Widewater Lake on Sunday. Continue Reading →
The city of Billings has been ordered to pay just under $2 million in back wages and penalties to 142 active-duty and retired police officers in a wage dispute going back to 2009.
District Court Judge Brenda Gilbert of Livingston, in an order issued Thursday, said the city must also pay roughly $650,000 in attorneys’ fees and nearly $126,000 in incidental costs associated with the years-long lawsuit. Continue Reading →
Joe “Buddy” Ulrich didn’t have any big plans for the sketch he drew a few weeks ago.
Since taking up graffiti art five years ago, Ulrich said, he spends hours every night working out ideas in his sketchbook. The drawing in question showed colored leaves sprouting from a downtown Billings skyline, with “Out Of The Dark” written below it. Continue Reading →
A political candidate in Billings has threatened his opponent with a defamation lawsuit over remarks she made while campaigning for the House District 48 seat she now holds.
Jessica Karjala, D-Billings, told the crowd on Monday at the Greater Yellowstone Central Labor Council Labor Day Picnic that she had received a cease-and-desist letter over the weekend from a Billings law firm threatening a lawsuit. Continue Reading →
Bob Story, executive director of the Montana Taxpayer Association and a former state legislator, has struck back with an op-ed piece taking on claims that income tax cuts passed in 2013 are cutting into school maintenance funding today.
Story probably was referring to an opinion piece by educators, but since Last Best News has reported in considerable detail on this topic, allow me to retort. Those old tax cuts matter because gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte has argued that income tax revenues actually increased after the cuts, and he has proposed doubling down by cutting rates even more. Continue Reading →
