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Prairie Lights

GOP caucus definitely dumb, likely illegal

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Jorg

For the record, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to prohibit Montana legislators from caucusing in private.

I’m all for the public’s right to know, for making public documents available to the public, for making sure public bodies conduct their business in public. But caucuses? Traditionally those have been strategy-setting sessions involving members of a political party. Making caucuses public is like allowing the defense to sit in on the offense’s huddle. Continue Reading →

Montana

Fort Peck Tribes welcome wild bison home

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Bison

Ninety-seven wild Yellowstone bison were delivered to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation Thursday, with 42 more scheduled to arrive Friday.

Robert Magnan, director of Fort Peck Fish and Game and head of the reservation’s buffalo program, said the bison were greeted by prayers and songs “welcoming them back to their homeland.” Continue Reading →

Billings

Make some Noise: Uberbrew bottling popular wheat beer

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Noise

Uberbrew recently became the second Billings brewery to put six packs of its beer on retail shelves.

The Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co. has been doing so for years with a bottling operation attached to its brewery at 2123 First Ave. N.

Uberbrew owners Mark Hastings and Jason Shroyer are going a bit different route—having their popular White Noise hefeweizen bottled at the Fort Collins Brewery in Colorado. Continue Reading →

Lay of the Land

Sustained by a secret

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Trail

Lay of the Land: A series of essays on the spirit of Montana

I hope we all don’t brag too much about our October 2014 weather. I have already warned the Fishtail coffee klatch on this, because we might regret it. Instead, in our out-of-state conversations, we should emphasize the depths to which the thermometer drops come winter, and we need to mention how many seasonal jobs we all have to work in order to live here. Continue Reading →

Culture

This Veterans Day, save your thanks for the real heroes

By: |
Fulton

Every year on Veterans Day, I cringe at the knowledge that well-meaning people are going to wallpaper Facebook and Twitter with heartfelt tributes to the heroes who have served our country.

I cringe because as a veteran myself, I know the truth about the average military personnel. Most of the people I met in the military were good people. They showed up and did their job. They didn’t cause problems. They were generally a pleasure to work with. In other words, they were average people. In other words, not heroes. Continue Reading →

Billings

Montana Ave., from blight to beauty in 25 years

By: |
Depot

True story: In the early 1980s, when I was living in Butte, I was in Billings one weekend to play hockey.

I was driving down Montana Avenue with a couple of other players, at a time when the avenue had probably never looked worse. The Rex restaurant was there, as it is now, and there were a handful of other businesses, mostly secondhand stores, but not much else. Continue Reading →