Montana

Openly transgender woman to make history at convention

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Green

The Montana Democratic Party will send a diverse delegation to the national convention in Philadelphia later this year, including several Native Americans and the first openly transgender woman to represent the state at a national convention.

During the party’s state convention in Helena this weekend, Democrats selected 10 delegates for Hillary Clinton and 11 for Bernie Sanders. The party retains six super delegates, including Gov. Steve Bullock and U.S Sen. Jon Tester, who have yet to pledge their support for either candidate. Continue Reading →

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Montana

Montana Ethic Project: A good legacy a matter of choice

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Yellowtail

This is the 15th chapter of the 32-part video series “The Montana Ethic Project.” This chapter features Bill Yellowtail, a former state senator from Wyola, speaking on “Futuring and Native Leadership.”

You can watch the whole video below. Here is how it begins:
“We Montanans are a people of a proud heritage. “Our cultural heroes, our magnificent landscape, our august statesmen all inspire. But the question for us is what will be our legacy? “Recently I listened to a bright young American Indian man challenge everyone of use to, ‘be a great ancestor.’ Continue Reading →

Diversions

Train ride is a wonderful outing, a worthy cause

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River

Jeremy Lundblad, a Montana Highway Patrol trooper who lives in Laurel, went on the first train ride of his life Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t a terribly long trip—Billings to Pompeys Pillar and back, in about two hours—but it was an enjoyable, memorable ride. “I normally work weekends because that’s when all the fun stuff happens,” he said. “But luckily I was off today.”

So were dozens of other law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs and other first responders and their families—about 250 people all told—who were guests of BNSF Railway. They came from towns all over Yellowstone County. Continue Reading →

Culture

Downtown co-op bookstore plans open house June 30

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This House of BooksAn open house for This House of Books, a community-owned bookstore going into downtown Billings, is scheduled for Thursday, June 30.

The event will run from 5 to 7 p.m. in the old Wendy’s restaurant at Second Avenue North and North 29th Street. Local residents and potential members of the cooperative bookstore will be able to have a look at the building, meet people involved in the project and sample some of the teas that will be featured in the store’s tea bar. Light snacks will also be served. Continue Reading →

Opinion

Opinion: Preserving Montana history is no ‘pork’ project

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As the rhetoric ramps up leading to the election and the next legislative session, so does the finger-pointing at the failure of the past legislature to pass meaningful infrastructure funding in the final form of Senate Bill 416.

After passing the Senate by a vote of 47–3, SB 416 failed by one vote of the necessary two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives. The bill had the support of 51 of 88 Republicans, 62 Democrats, and Gov. Steve Bullock. Yet it failed to reach final passage. Continue Reading →