Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/page/120/)
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.
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYO. — Attendees at an outdoor concert held near Yellowstone National Park last week as part of the National Park Service’s centennial celebration were told to expect traffic jams, parking hassles and long lines for admission.
While the Aug. 25 event brought less congestion than anticipated, that same advisory could also apply to many summer days in Yellowstone itself. Continue Reading →
Learning that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick had refused to stand for the National Anthem reminded me of the one time I sat down for social justice. Kaepernick said he was protesting oppression of black people in the United States. His NFL employer, perhaps taking into account the liberal politics in Moscow on the Pacific, issued a grown-up statement: “In respecting such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we recognize the right of an individual to choose and participate, or not, in our celebration of the national anthem.” It was a brave stand in a league where standing up for America is just good business. A report by U.S. Sens. Continue Reading →
A civil rights panel conducted a hearing in Billings for nearly eight hours Monday on the subject of discrimination against Native Americans, and it heard nothing more vivid than the testimony of Sarah Beaumont.
For 20 minutes, punctuated by fits of sobbing, Beaumont told of working for a major company in a good union job in Billings, and of having to endure, on an almost daily basis, hateful, hurtful remarks about Native Americans. Continue Reading →
Fifty years ago this month, Charles Whitman climbed the tower at the University of Texas in Austin and began to kill people. I was in my first year of graduate school—it would be the first time anyone tried to shoot me. It was Aug. 1, 1966. I was 22 years old.
I was studying mass communications and working as a television production specialist at KULR, the university’s educational television station before it became a part of what
we now know as our public television system. I would join the broadcast staff later that year as a member of the nighty news team. Continue Reading →
Programs in wind technology, petroleum engineering and leadership studies could be among ways to improve enrollment and retention at Montana State University Billings, a national expert said here last week. Continue Reading →
This is the 26th chapter of the 32-part video series “The Montana Ethic Project.” This chapter features Timothy James LeCain, an associate professor of history and director of graduate studies at Montana State University in Bozeman, discussing the question, “An Ethical Nature?” You can watch the whole video below. Here is an edited transcript of how it begins:
I was still a reporter at the Billings Gazette when that newspaper’s online edition began accepting comments from readers.
That development nearly sparked a revolt among the reporters. It wasn’t a case of our being afraid of criticism, of having our mistakes pointed out, or even of seeing our crystalline prose lampooned. Continue Reading →
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is an international trade treaty among 12 Pacific Rim nations (with the notable exception of China). It is an important issue in the coming election, and it is important to know why.
The treaty has been put in its final form through largely secret negotiations by the trade representatives of the countries involved and is now waiting to be ratified by the governments of the 12 nations. President Obama wants it, but there is some doubt that the Senate will approve it. Continue Reading →
