Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/page/182/)
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.
Walking into two small rooms in the basement of an office building on the 700 block of Central Avenue in Billings, you’d never guess they house “the highest court in the land, on the earth.”
That’s how Cecil DeLabio described The Tacit Supreme In Law Court, of which he is The Chief Justice. He shares the office space with Ted Shinneman, who is the court’s Senior Chief Justice. Continue Reading →
During a discussion about his new West End restaurant, chef Travis Stimpson talked about community almost as much as he talked about food.
That’s because he wants his Local Kitchen & Bar to foster a sense of community and to be an important part of the community as well. He wants people to enjoy good food and drink grown and made in Montana, and he wants them to stop thinking that eating at chain restaurants has anything to do with fine dining. Continue Reading →
Residents along Grand Avenue, Central Avenue and 56th Street West have taken notice of the many surveying activities along the roads and in the space that will soon be Ben Steele Middle School. Continue Reading →
It’s hard to imagine now, but back when Todd Miller opened his coffee shop in downtown Billings, nobody in town was roasting coffee and probably half the small number of people who had heard of espresso called it expresso.
“Coffee was whatever they slopped in your cup at the local cafe, and everybody bought their coffee for home consumption in two-pound red cans,” Miller said. Continue Reading →
Billings Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 3200 Broadwater Ave.
Service: 10:45 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015
Length of service: 1 hour, 25 minutes. Length of sermon: 11 minutes
Walking up to the front doors of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church on a fine Saturday morning, I suddenly had the thought that I might be barred from entering the sanctuary. I can’t even say why, except that in the absence of knowledge it is easy to entertain silly fears and half-formed stereotypes. Continue Reading →
More bad news for Lee Enterprises, the Iowa-based newspaper chain that owns the Billings Gazette and papers in Missoula, Butte, Helena and Hamilton.
Bettendorf.com is reporting that Lee has sold a newspaper building in Napa, Calif., for $5 million, which it planned to use to pay down part of its enormous debt. Continue Reading →
Paul G. Eitner left New Jersey in 1914 at age 37 and ended up in Miles City, Mont. Physicians had recommended the drier climate as a treatment for his tuberculosis. He found work as a ranch hand in Custer County and later at a liquor store.
In 1918, Eitner was accused of murdering Joseph Nugent, a man who supposedly tried courting a woman Eitner was in love with. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison at Deer Lodge. Continue Reading →
James Bolenbaugh may not have known it at the time, but growing up in Billings would prove to be an instrumental factor in determining his career choice.
“Billings was a great community to grow up in because there was so much beautiful scenery to grow up around,” Bolenbaugh said. “I think that was one of the things that led me to design scenery for a living.” Continue Reading →
First the television cameramen shuffle in. Then Gov. Steve Bullock, flanked by a couple of aides at the door, steps toward the stage.
We’re in a conference room at Montana State University in Bozeman, and this is a moment that many at Wednesday’s Montana Wind Energy Forum have been waiting for, especially now that it’s the only thing between them and lunch. Continue Reading →
High-school football season, like smoke from a not-so-distant wildfire, once again has descended upon Montana.
Observing the realignments and reclassifications of Montana High School Association members provides a learning moment for students of the sociology, economics and history of this ever-changing state. Continue Reading →
