Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/page/90/)
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.
An effort to provide a van to help transport veterans to equine therapy at Intermountain Equestrian Center west of Billings recently received a boost from several foundations, two local businesses and the Billings School District 2 Career Center.
The first meeting of collaborators working to provide transportation for veterans to and from the Intermountain Equestrian Center took place in November. Continue Reading →
A couple of Montana boys who stumbled into the movie business while attending Carroll College appear to have struck a chord with their latest film.
“What Separates Us,” by director Bryan Ferriter, a native of Helena, and producer Isaac Marble, who grew up on the East Bench outside of Fox, near Roberts, won the best-picture award at the Machetanz Film Festival in Palmer, Alaska, last summer. Continue Reading →
Twelve million tourists visited Montana last year, pouring billions of dollars into our state’s economy. In survey after survey, visitors cite our clean, cold waters and our well-managed natural resources as their reason for visiting Montana. Continue Reading →
The nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization has sent a letter to 22 Montana legislators and the House Judiciary Committee, calling on the governing body to oppose an anti-Muslim bill poised for consideration.
In the first month of Montana’s 2017 Legislature, Rep. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, introduced a bill banning Sharia law to uphold the “fundamental rights guaranteed by our constitution.” Continue Reading →
Steve Daines, the freshman U.S. senator from Montana who sits on the back-benchers’ back bench, got a rare taste of notoriety last week. He posted a video of his 15 seconds of fame on his Facebook page, so he must have been proud of it, but the episode showed Daines’ political weakness, not his strength.
Daines was presiding over the Senate when, in concert with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he blocked Sen. Elizabeth Warren from finishing a speech against Sen. Jeff Sessions’ confirmation as attorney general. He and McConnell convicted Warren of violating Rule 19, which says that “no Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.” Continue Reading →
After moving to Missoula from Atlanta in 1989, photographer Neil Chaput de Saintonge did a lot of exploration in his adopted state.
“I probably covered half the paved roads in Montana in my first five years here,” he said. Continue Reading →
When I sat down to write today I became immediately depressed about the possible topics at hand, so I decided to share with you a poem by James Whitcomb Riley, a framed copy of which has graced a small room in my parents’ home and then my home for almost a century. Happy Valentine’s Day. The Passing of the Backhouse
When memory keeps me company and moves to smiles or tears,
A weather-beaten object looms up through the mist of years. Behind the house and barn it stood, a half a mile or more,
And hurrying feet a path had made straight to its swinging door. Its architecture was a type of simple classic art,
But in the tragedy of life it played a leading part;
And oft the passing traveler drove slow and heaved a sigh,
To see the modest hired girl slip out with glances shy. Continue Reading →
