Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/page/168/)
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.
I’m a big fan of Alexis Bonogofsky’s photography. She has great affection for the eastern half of Montana and a real knack for taking photographs that capture the spirit of this place.
Her “2016 East of Billings” calendar brings together a striking collection of her photographs—of the Tongue and Yellowstone rivers, Otter and Rosebud creeks and lots more. You can read about it, and how to order it, at Alexis’ blog, also called East of Billings. Continue Reading →
BUTTE, America, 1967—In nearly a century of existence, the Mining City was no stranger to labor strife, and when Christmas came in 1967, Butte was living through its longest-ever strike. Underground miners there and smeltermen from Anaconda had been off the job since mid-July and would stay out until the following April.
As a show of support, members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union at what then was the Farmers Union Central Exchange refinery south of Laurel put together a pre-Christmas caravan for their Butte brethren. Continue Reading →
The former director of the Michigan Audubon Society has been hired as the new director of the Montana Audubon Center in Billings.
Jonathan Lutz, who headed the Michigan society for the past seven years, took over at the Montana Audubon Center on Dec. 1. He succeeded Darcie Howard, the longtime director who resigned last summer with plans to return to her East Coast roots. Continue Reading →
This has been a busy year for the construction industry in Billings.
A year-end report from the Planning and Community Services Department shows that in almost every category of construction and remodeling, the numbers as of Dec. 1 this year were higher than those for 2014. Continue Reading →
On the afternoon before Thanksgiving, the Tongue River Railroad Co. asked the federal Surface Transportation Board to indefinitely freeze its permit application for the proposed Tongue River Railroad.
If permitted, the railroad would condemn up to 90 miles of working family farm and ranchland in southeastern Montana to build a new rail line to ship coal from the proposed Otter Creek coal mine to proposed Pacific Northwest coal export facilities and then on to Asia. Continue Reading →
If all goes well, Anytime Fitness will open its new downtown gym during the first week in February* in one of the biggest ground-floor spaces remaining on Montana Avenue.
Anytime Fitness is moving into the 6,800-square-foot space of the building on the southeast corner of Montana Avenue and North Broadway, just across Montana from the Empire Parking Garage. Continue Reading →
On Saturday, Dec. 12, about 150 people gathered in Pioneer Park in Billings for an event called We Are All Sisters. The idea was to show our support for the Muslim community in Billings after some of the people within that community had been harassed. Continue Reading →
An alert reader sent along a message he got from U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. “I just thought this might need an editorial reply,” the reader wrote. Agreed.
In the message, Daines happily reported that the Senate had just voted to repeal Obamacare. Not until the eighth paragraph did he mention that President Obama still has to sign the bill, which nobody expects to happen. Continue Reading →
THERMOPOLIS, WYO. — The holiday season is a key sales period for retailers across the country, but Christmas Day marks a major milestone for one Wyoming small business. That’s when “The Hateful Eight” hits movie screens, offering audiences an extended look at a custom bison coat created by Thermopolis native Merlin Heinze. Continue Reading →
