Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/tag/billings-city-council/page/4/)
Carol Kraft is looking forward to Tuesday morning. The police are supposed to show up first, about 8 a.m., to roust anyone still squatting in the two vacant houses at 115 N. 22nd St. Then, about 9:30, Cayton Excavation is supposed to start demolishing the two houses and a burnt-out shed. (more…) Continue Reading →
After weeks of debate, an unprecedented flood of emails and the longest public hearing in its history, the Billings City Council finally got around to discussing the language of a proposed nondiscrimination ordinance Monday night. (more…) Continue Reading →
You might think there’s nothing left to say about the city’s proposed nondiscrimination ordinance, given that the Billings City Council endured a 10-hour public hearing on the subject last week. (more…) Continue Reading →
As reported by the Billings Gazette this morning, the city has released a draft of the nondiscrimination ordinance that will be the subject of a City Council work session Monday night. Here’s the most surprising thing I noted in the draft: it prohibits discrimination not only on the basis of “sexual orientation, gender identity or expression,” but also on “Veteran’s status, political beliefs or obesity.” Leaving aside the question of why “veteran” is capitalized, I doubt anyone will object to including veteran status in the ordinance. Who doesn’t want to protect veterans from discrimination? But what about obesity? Continue Reading →
During the first 12 years of my life, growing up in Montana, it was against the law for a person of my race to marry an African American or an Asian American. Montana’s anti-miscegenation law was not repealed until 1953. It was not until 1967 that the U.S. Supreme Court declared these laws, still existing in sixteen other states, unconstitutional. (more…) Continue Reading →
After a marathon meeting that lasted until well after sunrise, the Billings City Council voted early Tuesday to proceed with consideration of a non-discrimination ordinance. (more…) Continue Reading →
Ed Kemmick is on vacation, visiting his granddaughter in a distant state, which means he won’t be writing his Prairie Lights column this week. Which is too bad, because Ed made the mistake of keeping up with the news in Billings while he was on the road. As stories dribbled out about the City Council’s marathon meeting Tuesday night, Ed became more and more outraged, as well as somewhat despondent, which is the last thing he expected to be on a vacation to see his granddaughter. (more…) Continue Reading →
The arc of social justice bends slowly but surely toward inclusion. In Billings, in the case of a prospective non-discrimination ordinance, the “slowly” part is evident for all to see. The “surely”? I don’t know that anyone who attended the Monday meeting of the City Council or spoke in favor of an ordinance has much confidence in that today. (more…) Continue Reading →
It was amazing to watch the Billings City Council come within a whisker last night of undoing 13 years’ worth of work on a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks. Mike Ferguson does a good job of explaining what happened in his Gazette story this morning. But for the benefit of people — particularly people sitting on the City Council — who don’t know some of the history behind this project, bear with me. (more…) Continue Reading →
Opponents of a non-discrimination ordinance are so eager to continue discriminating against certain people that they couldn’t even wait for the proposed ordinance to be drafted. That’s why they showed up last week when the City Council heard a request for a $25,000 donation to help fund a national conference that will be held in Billings this summer to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Not In Our Town movement. (more…) Continue Reading →
