Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/page/55/)
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.
As sabers rattle over the Korean peninsula, remember that those who create wars seldom fight in them. That is left to the sons and daughters of less important people.
The decisions to enter what became known as World War I were made by men who believed it would be close to Armageddon. “If war breaks out,” said British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, “it will be the worst catastrophe the world has ever seen.” Continue Reading →
The last Civil War soldier died when I was a child, but the war over how we remember that war rages on. Continue Reading →
CASPER, Wyo. — Shortly after the total eclipse ended, my brother’s 9-year-old niece, Lily Litman, said, “That was literally the coolest thing I’ve seen in my entire life.”
I’ve got a few years on Lily, but I would have to agree. For pure awe and wonder, I can’t imagine what might compete with seeing a total eclipse in near-perfect conditions, which is what we had in Casper on Monday. Continue Reading →
SHEEP MOUNTAIN LOOKOUT, Wyo. — Ninety-seven percent totality was just fine for the Morrisons. Brian Morrison and his wife, Robin, live in Casper, where thousands of totality-seeking visitors flocked to see Monday’s solar eclipse. Brian said they don’t much like crowds, so they chose to experience the rare event atop a 9,600-foot peak in the Bighorn Mountains, where they spend lots of time each year getting away from it all. “It is pretty crazy in Casper,” he said before the eclipse started. Continue Reading →
CASPER, Wyo. — Here on the front lines, things are running pretty smoothly.
After reading all about the total eclipse for days on end, and hearing stories about how people from all over the world could be converging on Casper for front-row seats, we didn’t know what to expect. Continue Reading →
Searching for a voice of reason in a country up to its chin in unreasonable passion, I called Ken Robison, a historian who lives in Great Falls.
His words were the tonic I needed. Ken is a native of Montana who grew up near Geraldine and who, since retiring from a career in Naval Intelligence in 2001, has been doggedly doing research into forgotten corners of Montana history, resulting in a stream of books and numerous articles in the Great Falls Tribune and the River Press in Fort Benton. Continue Reading →
In Vienna, my adopted city, there is a Soviet War Memorial. It occupies 3,000 square feet in central Vienna. It features a white marble colonnade and a 650-foot column capped by a 40-foot figure of a Red Army soldier.
He is wearing a golden helmet and bears a Soviet flag and a golden Soviet coat of arms. A plaque at the base of the column reads: “Monument to honor the soldiers of the Soviet Army who fell while freeing Austria from Fascism.” Continue Reading →
Billings will soon have a police officer specifically assigned to patrolling city parks.
The new position was approved by the City Council in July, with funding from the city’s General Fund, and the person selected for the job will be helping respond to what is perceived as a growing number of problems in the parks. Continue Reading →
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has, heretofore, never had a single journalistic presence devoted entirely to making sense of our vast region.
Now it does.
Mountain Journal was just launched this week as an online, not-for-profit entity devoted to the mission of public-interest journalism. Continue Reading →
The former state legislator who was jailed on Tuesday for contempt of court reportedly refused to cooperate with authorities regarding his involvement in a political corruption scandal, calling the court case against him “a political game.”
Wesley Prouse, of Shepherd, who will turn 49 on Thursday, was in jail and could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but the Billings lawyer who prosecuted several Republican legislative candidates involved in the so-called dark-money cases gave an account of the events that landed Prouse in jail. Continue Reading →
