Wall Street Journal

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In honor of the late Merle Haggard, 2 reading suggestions

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Hag

Merle Haggard, one of the best songwriters and the owner of one of the most distinctive voices in the history of country music, died Wednesday, on his 79th birthday. You don’t need me to tell you of Merle’s life and legacy. You’re on the Internet, with Google at your fingertips. But allow me to recommend two superb pieces about Merle, one quite short and one very long. The short one was published two years ago by the Wall Street Journal, as part of its occasional “Anatomy of a Song” series. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Bryan Di Salvatore, Iris Dement, Merle Haggard, New Yorker, Tina Brown, Wall Street Journal

Kavulla explains water compact in WSJ

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Kavulla

Travis Kavulla, vice chairman of the Montana Public Service Commission, gives readers of the Wall Street Journal a good, straightforward explanation of the comprehensive water compact with the Salish and Kootenai tribes in northwestern Montana. I can’t pretend to understand all the ins and outs of the voluminous, complex compact, but Kavulla makes a good case that it makes the best of a very difficult situation. Here’s a key part of his piece:
Even as whites resisted quantifying water use, the Salish and Kootenai tribal government hired a small army of hydrologists to measure theirs and anthropologists to document the historic range of their people. Since the 1980s, they have been compiling a meticulous record, preparing for the day when they would have to prove their claims in court. With the compact, that water war doesn’t need to be fought, saysHertha Lund, an attorney representing large irrigators on the reservation. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Public Service Commission, Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Wall Street Journal, water compact

This Blackfoot River property is more than eye candy

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Big House

The Wall Street Journal is offering a tantalizing slideshow of a hot property for sale in Western Montana. The nearly 1,200-acre property, with a mile of Blackfoot River frontage, is being sold by Nina and Pat Brock, the former CEO of Brock Candy, referred to by the Journal as the “Gummy Bear Heir.” It’s a pretty spectacular place, but the asking price is $10.5 million. Which is too bad, because if it were only $8 million or so, I’d probably buy it. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Blackfoot River, Brock Candy, Wall Street Journal

Cranky ex-copy editor flays ungainly idioms

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I am excited to be writing this. I am so excited you’d think I had never written anything in my life. And I know you will be excited, too. You’ve heard people talk that way. A city official calls a press conference to announce that some guy who just painted his house donated a couple of half-empty cans of paint to the dog pound. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Culture, Billings Gazette, Billings Outpost, Jeff Gibson, Roger Clawson, Wall Street Journal

Helena poet wows the Web, now a best-selling author

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Gregson

It’s quite possible you’ve never heard of one of the most popular authors in Montana. That would be Tyler Knott Gregson, a 33-year-old poet and wedding photographer who lives in Helena and recently published his first book of poems. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Culture, Montana, Glenn 'Goose' Gregson, Gonzaga University, Penguin Books, Sarah Linden, Tyler Knott Gregson, University of Montana