Diversions

Young’s Point a landmark of history, geography

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Point

Not many people can look from their home and point to historic locales along the Yellowstone River. Friends of mine bought a house just above Park City and nestled along the river. Their southern view is dominated by the several-hundred-foot-high rocky outcropping of Young’s Point.

This area historically and geologically marked—coming from the west—the beginning of the broad and fertile valley of the lower Yellowstone River. Here begin the foothills that extend west to the Crazy Mountains, the Beartooth Range and the Yellowstone National Park uplift. Continue Reading →

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Billings

City Council gives first nod to downtown project

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Center

The public and private partners working on a huge development in downtown Billings got their first nod of approval Monday night from the City Council.

By general assent—since no actual votes are taken at council work sessions like the one held Monday—developers of the One Big Sky Center got the green light to present the council with a predevelopment agreement at the council’s Sept. 12 meeting. Continue Reading →

Billings

More details released on major downtown project

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Plans

This story has been updated.

Developers of a $120 million-plus project in downtown Billings—including a skyscraper that would be the tallest building in Montana—unveiled their plans Monday afternoon.

At a press conference in Meadowlark Gallery, 118 N. 29th St., attended by nearly 80 people, the developers and local people who’ve been working with them outlined plans to build the One Big Sky Center, which would take up two-thirds of a two-block-square area on the 2900 and 3000 blocks of First Avenue North. Continue Reading →

Montana

Montana Ethic Project: How to foster high-tech industry

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Gianforte

This is the 24th chapter of the 32-part video series “The Montana Ethic Project.” This chapter features Greg Gianforte, who was still with RightNow Technologies when this interview was conducted and who is now, of course, the Republican candidate for governor. He discusses the subject of “High Tech in Montana.” You can watch the whole video below. Here is an edited transcript of how it begins:

Continue Reading →

Prairie Lights

Prairie Lights: A perfectly bad fix for a nonexistent problem

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Mixed

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking my dogs through the downtown skate park and I had just cleaned up after one of them.

A city parks worker, who was there to empty the trash bins, saw me picking up after my dog and went out of his way to thank me. As a token of his thanks, I guess, he also handed me a couple of dog-waste bags.

At the time I considered it a pleasant exchange, one that made me feel good about city government. Continue Reading →

Culture

Noodles O’Brien aims at ‘fast food made healthy’

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Noodles

Paul O’Brien was nearing the completion of his doctorate in physical therapy when he had a life-changing thought.

He liked doing physical therapy, but he realized he didn’t really love it. Talking to his then-girlfriend, he wondered aloud what he could throw himself into that he was truly passionate about.

As O’Brien recalled it, she looked at him and said, “It’s food. Are you kidding me? It’s so obvious.” Continue Reading →

Culture

Laurel geologist (oh, and Billings) featured in magazine

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Outside

For now, at least, Laurel resident Chase Brownlee is the face of Billings.

The 26-year-old Stillwater Mine geologist is on the cover of the September issue of Outside magazine, which just hit the newsstands today. Another photo of Brownlee dominates the Contents page and there’s a two-page spread of him standing atop the cliffs of the Four Dances Recreation Area (also known as Sacrifice Cliff) overlooking the Yellowstone River. Continue Reading →

Culture

New book mixes stunning photos, geographic info

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Canyon

Over the Christmas holidays last year, Jon Switzer was exhausted.

Exhausted, he said, “by my dumb ‘smart’ phone and the constant distractions it brought me.”

So he sat down with an old magazine full of photographs of Montana. He was captivated, he said, but also frustrated because he wanted to go the places pictured in the photos but found little or no guidance on how to find any of them. Continue Reading →

News

Authors talk over era of Montana basketball legends

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The rollout of two new books about high school basketball in Montana turned into an appreciation of basketball legend Larry Pretty Weasel here on Wednesday.

Pretty Weasel is widely considered the best Indian high school basketball player in Montana history, and some people call him Montana’s greatest high school basketball player, period. He also is a key character in a new book by a Hardin teammate, Steven E. Dyche, author of “Integrated Basketball at the Little Big Horn: A 1957 Success Story.” Continue Reading →