Oct282022

City of Billings Studies Traffic Problems on Elmo Drive

Local

Residents along Lake Elmo Drive in the Billings Heights have brought several safety concerns to the attention of city officials this year. For example, Lake Elmo and Wicks Lane (pictured here) is the only intersection along the three mile stretch of road that has a traffic light. (Michael Marino photo)

by Michael J. Marino

After receiving comments from concerned residents in the Heights, Billings Public Works Department began investigating traffic problems on Lake Elmo Drive earlier this summer. The department created a list of projects and recommendations to improve the road’s safety, detailing their plan in a news release on October 20. read more

Oct282022

LR131 is Not a Cookie Cutter Issue

Opinion • Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I find myself in uncharted territory by writing a Letter to the Editor. However, the number of stirred emotions due to the proposed LR131 Referendum finds me here. With over 40 years of medical experience including Pediatric Nursing and Navy medical training, the reverberation of thought caused by the referendum itself and the stirring words of Lea Bossler and Dr. Tim Mitchell has unleashed a storm. read more

Oct282022

County Sees Over 4,000 More Residents Employed than 2021

Top Stories

by Michael J. Marino

Inflation trends since 2000. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor & Statistics)

Recent data revealed 4,215 new jobs were created in Yellowstone County between October 2021 and the present, making the county’s total number of jobs 86,478 as of last month, according to a press release from Montana’s Department of Labor & Industry (DLI). Yellowstone County currently ranks 22nd out of the 56 counties with an unemployment rate of 2.2%. Glacier County is currently trailing the rest of the state with a 5.4% rate of unemployment. The highest unemployment number, 7.4%, was reported in the Northern Cheyenne Reservation area.  read more

Oct212022

MetraPark… Mismanagement?

Top Stories

by Michael J. Marino 

MetraPark is accused by a number of local event promoters of discriminating against certain events and not upholding the terms of previously signed contracts. One such event holder, Richard Todd, founder of Dream Chasers Racing, decided to speak out about his experience with Metra in an interview on October 4.   read more

Oct212022

Obituary: Betty Witzel

Obituaries

Betty Witzel

Margaret (Betty) Elizabeth (Hertel) Witzel, 88, was welcomed into the arms of Jesus on Oct. 8, 2022.She was born on April 16, 1934, to Wilmer and Margaret (Bricker) Hertel in Lewistown, and raised in Moore. Betty grew up on a ranch that allowed her to experience life as a “tomboy,” carrying snakes in her pocket and engaging with livestock. Betty lost her mother as a teenager, which encouraged her loving, caring and mentoring relationships throughout her life. Betty graduated from Moore High School in 1951. She moved to Billings to attend Rocky Mountain College, as they created an educational course in Home Economics specifically for her. Betty graduated from RMC in 1955.

Betty met and married John “Jack” Witzel on June 2, 1957. They had four children and moved to the Huntley Project area in approximately 1967. Betty and Jack separated in 1982, later divorcing but remained very good friends until his death in 2021. read more

Oct142022

If LR-131 Had Been Law at The Time

Opinion • Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

From her birth at 25 weeks gestational age, our daughter’s life was a miracle. 100 days later, one big exception arose: Fetal Inflammatory Response Syndrome. It was a parting gift from my unexpected and severe pregnancy complications. We call some infants miracles because they live through adverse circumstances when so many others don’t. Maesyn Conley Cahoon was both the miracle and the unlucky in her short lifetime. read more

Oct142022

Candidates Line Up for General Election

Politics

by Evelyn Pyburn

Mark Morse running for County Commissioner is the only challenged Yellowstone County candidate in the coming election, on November 8. Candidates for all other open elected county offices are Republicans standing unchallenged by any Democrat contenders. And, even Morse is being challenged by another Republican who failed to defeat him in the Primary Election. Incumbent County Commissioner Denis Pitman is running a write-in campaign for the General Election. read more

Oct72022

Temporary Marijuana 

Local

Regulations Extended

by Evelyn Pyburn

The marijuana business in Yellowstone County is operating under temporary zoning regulations put into place prior to the election last spring in which voters gave approval to make legal the growing, production and sale of marijuana in the county. Last week, the county commissioners said that they would extend those regulations for another year while the City County Planning Department aids in writing new ones. read more

Oct72022

ICE Agents Build New Facility; Construction Activity Stirs Rumors

Top Stories

by Evelyn Pyburn

Rumors have been rampant around Billings the last couple of weeks about the federal government building a processing center in Billings to deal with illegal aliens. Some aspects of the rumors began almost two years ago, and nailing the rumors down has been a challenge, but indeed ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is building new offices at 1711 6th Avenue North in Billings, which includes at least two detention cells. The facility will process non-citizens alleged to have committed crimes as they await proceedings. read more

Sep302022

Dorothy Lane Wants Bigger Jail, Officials Say Think Twice

Local

by Michael J. Marino

The disgruntled Dorothy Lane neighbors (from top left to bottom right): Wesley Dunn, Amber Dunn, Sean Callahan, Jacquelyn Garcia. (photos courtesy Community 7-TV)

Mayor Bill Cole announced at the Sept. 19 Billings City Council session that Robert Morris, one of the alleged “problematic neighbors” of Dorothy Lane, was arrested early last week and released on bail a short time later. This was part of his conversation with county attorney Scott Twito, in which Twito provided a prosecutorial update on the Dorothy Lane complaints.

During public comment, Wesley Dunn apologized for “disrespecting Council’s time last week.”

Wesley mentioned a man, Anthony Felton, stating, “You didn’t really inherit this problem (appearing to point to city administrator Chris Kukulski), but the Council did.” Several times he referred to Felton as “this problem,” and several times saying “something needs to be done” about “this problem.”

Who is Felton? Inquiry revealed that he does have some criminal history dating back to 2017. In relation to Dorothy Lane? That answer is unclear; he is alleged to have been “spotted” on the street, but the neighbors have not made any precise allegations, nor do the publicly available call logs correlate Felton to any of the listed incidents. He was ordered by Yellowstone County District Court Judge Jessica Fehr to attend a drug treatment program in early 2021, though not due to any new charges. The judge told Felton he has “the capacity to do some really good things in this community,” during this hearing. read more

Sep302022

Community Involvement is the Solution

Opinion • Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, 

With all the ranting and raving by so many factions, especially the younger generation about how “oppressed” and “unfair” our system has become living here in the United States of America, which the main stream media almost nightly perpetuates and provides them a platform to vent, which somehow, someway, validates that it is fact, is making it worse!! read more

Sep302022

Statewide Commissioners, Governor Wrangle Issues

Top Stories

Governor Greg Gianforte fielded questions from county commissioners from across Montana during MACO conference. (courtesy photo)

A wide range of issues were discussed and debated by several hundred county commissioners from throughout Montana who were in Billings this week for the annual conference of the Montana Association of Counties (MACO).

On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Gianforte spoke to the commissioners, who he recognized as being those most fundamentally involved in government. Having just completed a 56-county tour of the state, Gov. Gianforte said that the issue most on the minds of Montanans is that of drugs and crime.  read more