Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/page/63/)
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.
It’s pretty exciting when big-name stars make appearances in Montana: Elton John, Paul Simon, Garth Brooks and the like. But it’s not as unusual as today’s press might make it appear.
While we may seem “out of the way” to folks back East, Montana has a long history of drawing the latest fads, entertainment, attractions and big-name talent. Continue Reading →
I have lived in Billings since 1989. I have covered the city of Billings as a reporter for more than 20 years. And a few days ago, I finally toured the Moss Mansion.
How can that be? Preston Boyd Moss, who built the imposing red-stone mansion at 914 Division St., had a hand in just about everything that mattered in early Billings. He and a partner built the original Northern Hotel, and he was instrumental in the creation of the BBWA Canal, a newspaper, a telephone company, the sugar factory, Rocky Mountain College and the original YMCA. Continue Reading →
I’m not usually one for looking at weather forecasts.
I figure that because the weather is something you can’t change, what’s the point of reading about what it is expected to be? But it’s hard not to be interested in the near future when you’re looking at a string of six days with temperatures of 100 or above. Continue Reading →
The educational plans of Fort Peck native Natasha Chamberlain just got a big boost.
The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans announced last week that Chamberlain, who will be a sophomore at Carroll College in Helena this fall, was one of 10 students nationwide who will receive a $10,000 Horatio Alger Honeywell Scholarship. Continue Reading →
Trent Inderland is looking forward even more keenly than usual to a bluegrass concert in Billings next week.
Inderland, vice president and concert coordinator for the Yellowstone Bluegrass Association, is excited partly because the group that’s playing July 7 is the Gibson Brothers band, winner of numerous awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association and veteran of the Grand Ole Opry. Continue Reading →
Driving back to Billings from Great Falls on Wednesday, I took a long detour.
I was in the mood for back roads, for one thing, and I specifically wanted to see the one-room schoolhouse—right next door to a nuclear missile silo—that I’d visited in 1999. That visit was part of the week-long journey I made with photographer David Grubbs, driving from Yaak to Alzada on unpaved roads and then writing up our experiences for the Billings Gazette. Continue Reading →
GREAT FALLS — It almost sounds like some kind of Olympic event: Bike 1,200 miles across the rugged terrain of Montana in six weeks, stopping every few days to put on a play.
And carry everything you need to live and perform—food, clothing, sleeping gear, costumes, sets, props and musical instruments—on those bicycles. It’s a combination that Billings native Kean Haunt finds intriguing and satisfying. Continue Reading →
Admit it. You don’t know enough about the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 to cast a well-considered vote on its merits. And neither do the people you elected to Congress. Continue Reading →
Gov. Steve Bullock on Monday welcomed governors from across the West to Montana for the annual Western Governors Association meeting, one that will cover everything from cyber security to childhood hunger.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is also slated to deliver a keynote address on Tuesday. Several outdoors groups have scheduled a simultaneous rally to encourage Zinke to protect public lands and national monuments. Continue Reading →
