Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/page/204/)
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.
If you see a lot of people in Billings rubbing sore necks on Tuesday, it might have something to do with the “Save Our Murals” open house at Billings Senior High School Monday night.
Hundreds of people turned out to gawk up at murals painted by generations of Senior High students, to donate money toward their restoration and preservation and to put in orders for a book on the murals, planned for publication next fall. Continue Reading →
Last spring, Sam Bruner, the principal of two small schools on the Crow Indian Reservation in Pryor, knew he needed to hire two teachers for the upcoming school year. So he drove more than two hours west to a job fair in Bozeman, where he set up his table and then watched as a stampede of job-hunting teachers passed him by. Continue Reading →
There is some hope coming out of Helena.
On Friday, a state House committee killed a bill that would have provided continuing cover for some of the worst banking fraud in American history. Continue Reading →
Every year, about 12,000 babies are born in Montana, among the 4 million babies born annually in the United States.
Like every other state, Montana has a newborn screening program. Shortly after a baby is born, between 24 and 48 hours of age, it is subjected to routine tests for 28 rare disorders that, if left untreated, could result in intellectual disability, brain damage or death. Continue Reading →
Tami Haaland was 16 when she saw a Calgary Opera Company production of “La Traviata” in Chester, courtesy of the Chester Arts Council.
It made a big impression on her, and it helps explain why she has spent so much of her adult life bringing the arts into the lives of others. Continue Reading →
CODY, WYOMING—Efforts to restore native Yellowstone cutthroat trout have made headlines in recent years, with a focus on reducing invasive lake trout in Yellowstone Lake, the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park.
But a new front in the war against non-native trout could be developing just east of the park next year, if the Wyoming Game and Fish Department moves forward with a plan to create a safe harbor for Yellowstone cutthroats in the Shoshone National Forest. Continue Reading →
In January I wrote about Downtown Businesses Against Advertising in the Billings Gazette, a Facebook group organized to protest a Gazette column by Editor Darrell Ehrlick that they perceived as a slam on downtown.
“This group is started as a protest to the Gazette and its editorial board,” the page said, “and we encourage all members to transfer their ad dollars to businesses that support downtown, not tear it down.” Continue Reading →
A festival of 10 one-act plays was put together by the Sacrifice Cliff Theatre Company as the result of what amounted to a challenge.
“This year,” said company co-founder Patrick Wilson, “I’d been hearing a lot of people asking, ‘are there even any writers left in Billings who want to get their plays on stage?’” Continue Reading →
If you want to get some sense of what Billings was like in the old days, you can’t do much better than walk through the North Side, that triangle of land bordered by the BBWA Canal, North 27th Street and Sixth Avenue North.
Officially, the North Park Neighborhood as designated by the city of Billings extends south all the way to Montana Avenue. But for me, the neighborhood’s cohesiveness can’t survive the jump across Sixth Avenue, a busy four-lane, one-way street that marks the southern boundary as obviously as the canal does to the north. Continue Reading →
A select group of friends and financial supporters got a sneak preview of the Art House Cinema & Pub in downtown Billings Friday night.
Treated to beer, wine and snacks, 35 or 40 people settled into theater seats and watched a selection of Academy Award-nominated animated shorts, then heard an update and a profusion of thanks from Matt Blakeslee, CEO of the nonprofit venture. Continue Reading →
