Bill Kennedy

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Something lost: Memories of an earlier, freer Heights

Sartorie

Editor’s note: This is the third piece in a three-day series looking what has been lost as Billings has grown steadily in recent decades. Over the past two days, Phoebe Tollefson wrote about the South Side and the West End. Today she takes a look at the Heights. The apartment complexes, strip malls, big box stores and houses in the Heights cover some of the most fertile soil in the Yellowstone River valley. And they have transformed one Billings native’s favorite boyhood camping spots. Continue Reading →

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5 Democrats in running for county commissioner

County Courthouse

Five seasoned Democrats who have applied to replace Yellowstone County Commissioner Bill Kennedy will face the public on Aug. 3. The candidates are Robyn Driscoll, David Wanzenried, Lynda Bourque Moss, Chuck Tooley and Jennifer Merecki. Nominations also will be taken from the floor at the public forum. Kennedy, also a Democrat, has resigned from District 3 of the commission to become chief executive officer of the Montana State University Billings Foundation on Aug. Continue Reading →

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With perks, County Commission job suddenly attractive

Kennedy

As was reported this morning, Denis Pitman appears to have won the race for Yellowstone County Commission, since he was well ahead of incumbent Republican Jim Reno in Tuesday’s election and there was no Democratic candidate. The Gazette also reported that the commissioner job comes with a base salary of about $64,000. That’s not quite right—it’s closer to $68,000—but it’s pretty decent pay in Montana by any measure. However, and I think you will agree, the benefits attached to the job are at a level that most people in the private sector can only dream of. Bill Kennedy, the only Democrat on the commission, recently announced that he will be stepping down Aug. 1 to take a new job as president and CEO of the Montana State University Billings Foundation. Continue Reading →

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Questions swirl around company touting new refinery

The company that is proposing to build five oil refineries in Montana and North Dakota — projects that would require funding of $2.5 billion — appears to have very few assets itself. Bloomberg was reporting as of Wednesday afternoon that Quantum Energy Inc.’s market capitalization — the number of outstanding shares times the value of a share — was about $3.8 million. (more…) Continue Reading →

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