Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/page/214/)
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.
Site work on what is proposed to be the biggest wind farm in Montana is expected to start Thursday about 10 miles southeast of Bridger.
“That’s a huge project,” Carbon County Commissioner John Prinkki said. “It’s an exciting project.” Continue Reading →
“Spirit of Steamboat” and “Wait for Signs,” both by Craig Johnson. Viking.
Shoppers for last-minute Christmas presents could do worse than to pick up one, or both, of these two quick reads by the creator of Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire, now the title character in a TV drama. Continue Reading →
One of the most important moments in Jerel Driver’s life came 3½ years ago, two days before he was to start serving a prison term for criminal endangerment.
He was living in Glendive, where he committed most of his crimes. He said all his trouble involved the same two things: alcohol and violence.
“I grew up fighting,” he said. “That’s the way it was. You were taught to fight, to protect yourself.” Continue Reading →
I wrote in August about an effort by Belfry-area landowners to create a special zoning district aimed at lessening the impacts of nearby oil and gas development. Continue Reading →
A few weeks ago, President Obama played the lead role in the annual White House Turkey Pardon farce. He looked upon the biggest, fattest, most privileged and whitest turkey in America … and promptly pardoned it. Continue Reading →
A friend with a long habit of hanging onto curious artifacts recently gave me the banner reproduced on top of this column, clipped from the Sept. 5, 1992, edition of the Billings Gazette.
I happened to be playing tennis that morning, a Saturday, at Pioneer Park, when a Gazette truck pulled up alongside the newspaper rack just off the sidewalk. The driver jumped out and began removing the papers from the rack. Continue Reading →
By Joseph Bullington, mtvigilante.org
“Keep Gate Closed,” reads the sign beside the padlocked gate blocking hunters from a swath of public land. The sign is riddled with bullet holes.
Past the gate and a mile down Jake Creek Road is a state of Montana Wildlife Management Area known as Spotted Dog. The area opened to the public just four years ago but has already become a battleground in an age-old dispute over land use. Continue Reading →
Anybody who has floated the super-scenic Smith River in central Montana in recent years knows it has a bear problem. Careless campers who failed to handle their food and garbage properly have food-conditioned a number of black bears.
Likewise, anybody familiar with bear behavior knows that once a bear receives a food reward from humans, it keeps coming back for more until it becomes a safety concern and has to be, as wildlife managers put it, “removed from the population.” Hence, the truism—a fed bear is a dead bear. Continue Reading →
