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  • What DIDN’T kill Smurfit-Stone

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot The sad news out of Frenchtown has everyone speculating on the cause of the Smurfit-Stone closure. Here are some of the reasons given by misinformed wags: – It was those damned environmentalists. – It was the greedy labor unions. – It was the potential rollback of “black liquor” tax credits. Let’s tackle [...]
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    Posted: December 16, 2009, 2:12pm EST
    by petetalbot

  • Solar parking meters?

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot Downtown parking is mundane to many, unless you happen to work, shop and visit downtown Missoula. It’s a hot topic right now, over at Missoulagov.listserve (subscribe or visit the archives). The short version: apparently the downtown business improvement district and, I assume, the parking commission are considering parking kiosks [...]
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    Posted: December 09, 2009, 11:14pm EST
    by petetalbot

  • The least of his transgressions

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot Hypocrites are the worst. Sen. Larry Craig railing against gays and then trying to get sex in a Twin Cities airport men’s room. Rep. Mark Foley, chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, who sends sexually explicit emails to House pages. Conservative Sen. David Vitter [...]
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    Posted: December 07, 2009, 10:38pm EST
    by petetalbot

  • Run, run as fast as you can

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 7
    by Pete Talbot That’s my advice to the fiancee of Jordon Bryant Iddings, the alleged jerk in Thursday night’s downtown rampage. Actually, it started at Hooters, that classy joint out on Reserve St. Then proceeded downtown to the Bodega and Reds. Iddings’ abhorrent behavior, and that of his five buddies, was blamed [...]
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    Posted: November 22, 2009, 2:40pm EST
    by petetalbot

  • City council elections: a referendum on Obama

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot Congratulations to Roy Houseman, who defeated incumbent John Hendrickson by 162 votes in the Ward 2 race. Condolences to Mike O’Herron, who almost took out incumbent Dick Haines in Ward 5: 1,398 – 1,328. And with all the other Missoula Democratic Party-endorsed incumbents winning their seats, it looks like [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 12:18pm EST
    by petetalbot

  • Why Denny doesn’t need a public option

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot High Country News has a chart in its October 26 issue highlighting the wealthiest Western Congressfolk. There’s only one Montanan on the list of the 50 richest: Rep. Denny Rehberg. Out of 100 Senators and 435 Representatives, Rehberg ranks 27th. And as the News reports, these are lowball figures [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 5:02pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Max blows it again

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 7
    by Pete Talbot Buried in an AP story on climate change was Sen. Max Baucus saying he had “serious reservations” with a modest effort to cut carbon emissions over the next decade. What a tool. The bill being considered by a Senate environmental panel calls for a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2009, 3:51pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Missoulian serendipity

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 8
    by Pete Talbot Every so often, our daily newspaper gives us competing versions of an important story. Today was such a day. There’s this guest column and this news interview. Both are on the subject of health care. The guest column was penned by Greg Roberts, a former health care executive.  The [...]
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    Posted: October 13, 2009, 3:03pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Missoula MD to meet with Obama

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 6
    by Pete Talbot Missoula physician Meg Sarnecki is one of 50 doctors from around the country who are meeting with the President to discuss health care reform. (You won’t find this news in our local print media. Don’t ask me why. KPAX ran a short piece. I found out about it in [...]
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    Posted: October 04, 2009, 1:45pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Does Sen. Tester watch PBS?

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot I certainly hope so. I’ve been able to catch most of the documentary on our country’s national parks, produced by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, and airing on Montana PBS stations. It’s an extraordinary series. The show’s subtitle is “America’s Best Idea.” Well, it certainly is one of them. [...]
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    Posted: September 30, 2009, 9:50am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Thanks a bunch, Max

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot I’ll keep this short and let the others who are better versed in health care reform than I to weigh in — both here and at other sites. Sen. Baucus voted against a public option plan, similar to Medicare, that was proposed by Sen. Jay Rockefeller. Baucus said he voted [...]
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    Posted: September 29, 2009, 1:57pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Check out the Drummond dump

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot In my constant quest to recycle the occasional wine and beer bottle. or mayonnaise and pickle jar that ends up in my trash, I discovered glass recycling bins in Drummond, of all places. The bins are at the Drummond dump on the east side of town. If you’re coming [...]
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    Posted: September 29, 2009, 7:46am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Boat wreck politics

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot As much as U.S. Rep. Rehberg and state Sen. Greg Barkus wish they could take back the night of August 27, it ain’t going away. Lee Newspaper’s Jennifer McKee has a pretty decent analysis of the politics of late surrounding the boat wreck. I have a few comments on [...]
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    Posted: September 28, 2009, 2:52pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • City zoning myths and some endorsements

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 8
    by Pete Talbot Zoning Rewrite University-area homeowner Ian Lange had an erroneous op-ed in Sunday’s Missoulian. Fortunately, Ward 3’s Bob Jaffe debunks Lange’s misinformation, point-by-point. The short version is that Lange thinks Missoula’s zoning rewrite will stifle economic growth by turning established neighborhoods into ghettos (by allowing more density). Lange suggests that ADUs [...]
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    Posted: September 22, 2009, 11:55am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Republican health care reform: t-shirts

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 9
    by Pete Talbot I was relieved when I heard that Dustin Frost had come out of his coma. Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ll know that Dustin was the most seriously injured in a boating accident earlier this month. Also injured in the crash were Rep. Denny Rehberg, another [...]
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    Posted: September 20, 2009, 2:33pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • The idiocy II

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot Well, she’s at it again — my lamebrain (distant) relative who sends obnoxious, right-wing emails to my poor wife. This was last week’s. Here’s today’s (I apologize for some of the small fonts. This email arrived in a strange format — at least one that I wasn’t able [...]
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    Posted: September 17, 2009, 6:14am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • The idiocy

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose but you can’t pick your relatives. Or something like that. Anyway, the photo and bullshit below comes from an email to my poor wife. A couple times a month she gets similar crap from (I’m glad to [...]
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    Posted: September 10, 2009, 11:32pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Ted busts a bronc

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 2
    by Pete Talbot Came across this photo at Daily Kos. It’s the recently deceased Sen. Edward Kennedy in Miles City riding a bronc. Here’s some background. [...]
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    Posted: August 28, 2009, 1:34pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Rehberg hospitalized after boat crash

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 7
    by Pete Talbot Montana’s lone U.S. Representative was hospitalized in Kalispell after a boating accident on Flathead Lake near Big Fork, the AP reports. Details are sketchy but apparently state Senator Greg Barkus was also involved in the accident. And while I vehemently oppose both Barkus’ and Rehberg’s political philosophy, I hope their [...]
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    Posted: August 28, 2009, 12:12pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Missoula doctors disappoint

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 6
    by Pete Talbot Sen. Jon Tester was in town Tuesday to listen to doctors and administrators from our two hospitals. What was the main complaint from these health care providers? Tort reform. Not public option or affordability or access for their patients but the high premiums they have to pay for malpractice [...]
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    Posted: August 26, 2009, 8:21am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • What’s wrong with this picture?

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot A man is shown legally carrying a rifle at a protest against President Obama on Monday in Phoenix, Arizona. (Courtesy CNN) I don’t care if this guy is pro-health care reform, anti-health care reform, a socialist, an anarchist or a tea-bagger. Carrying weapons at a political rally close to where the [...]
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    Posted: August 18, 2009, 1:21pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • It’s a rhetorical question

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot I picked up Thursday’s Missoulian and the Missoula Independent at the same time yesterday. Both had lead stories on Sen. Baucus and health care reform. The sub-head on the Indy piece reads: Is Sen. Max Baucus the sellout the left portrays or the savvy centrist poised to finally reform [...]
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    Posted: July 31, 2009, 10:16am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Palin carrying McCain’s love child

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 7
    by Pete Talbot Shocking news. Is it true? I’m not sure, but it came from a reliable source (my imagination). Here’s why I wrote that headline: … Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein on Saturday warned legal action may be taken against bloggers and publications that reprint what he calls fraudulent claims. (From [...]
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    Posted: July 06, 2009, 3:55pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Rehberg wants my grandkids to fry

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot Following on the heels of a New Yorker article I read on global warming, I saw that Rep. Denny Rehberg joined just about every Republican in the U.S House to vote against the modest cap-and-trade, energy and environment bill. I’m guessing Denny doesn’t read the New Yorker. He’d rather [...]
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    Posted: June 30, 2009, 9:09pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Her family’s final request

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot I read the obit of a distant acquaintance in today’s Missoulian. She was six months younger than me.  Cancer took her way too early, at 54-years-old.  I know Marcia Trotter’s sisters and brother better than I knew Marcia.  It’s a large, well-known Missoula Family. It’s sad news but the final [...]
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    Posted: June 20, 2009, 11:00am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • More Rehberg bait-and-switch

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 5
    by Pete Talbot Rep. Rehberg lists funding for the Watson’s Children Shelter in Missoula as one of his accomplishments.  Problem is he voted against the appropriation. Rehberg said “nay” on HB HR 2847, but the bill still passed.  The shelter should reap $500,000 to expand its much needed facilities.  Denny’s taking credit, though: “The Watson’s Children [...]
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    Posted: June 19, 2009, 9:27pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Sorry Jim Elliot, I want more

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 6
    by Pete Talbot So far, the sole candidate for Montana Democratic Party Chairman is Trout Creek’s Jim Elliot. Elliot served honorably in both the Montana House and Senate. He has an opinion piece in the Queen City News on health care reform that is well reasoned and articulate.  Unfortunately, it falls short. Elliot [...]
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    Posted: June 17, 2009, 7:26am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Grumpy old white guys

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot This picture says it all.  The online photo doesn’t do justice to the Missoulian’s print version, but you get the gist.  These guys put the word bitter in Bitterrooters. It’s Teabagger II and it was held Monday in Missoula at the offices of Sens. Baucus and Tester.  It was [...]
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    Posted: June 16, 2009, 11:38am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Keep it on the table

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 8
    by Pete Talbot   (These photos won’t win any awards but try snapping pictures while holding a sign.  It may not look like it but there are about 200 people at this rally for single-payer health care held at Sen. Baucus’ office in Downtown Missoula on Friday.)            I’ve been to a Baucus [...]
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    Posted: June 06, 2009, 1:57pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Hating the homeless

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 7
    by Pete Talbot The Salcido Center — a downtown daytime hangout for the homeless — was up for a hearing in a city government committee meeting. Apparently, it’s running short on funding and could use some help.  Salcido Center staff was asking the council to sign a letter asking the state [...]
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    Posted: June 04, 2009, 3:15pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Health care heats up; some thoughts

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 1
    by Pete Talbot First this Mark your calendar, folks.  As part of a statewide and national campaign, there’ll be a rally at Sen. Baucus’ Missoula office at 280 E. Front St. on Friday, June 5 at noon.   Here’s a note from Montanans for Single-Payer, the organizer of events across the state: ” … [...]
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    Posted: May 31, 2009, 2:19am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Montana loses one of the best

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 4
    by Pete Talbot (Update: a memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 30, at the University Congregational Church, 405 University Avenue.  A reception will follow.) Well into his eighties, Doug Campbell spoke truth to power.  He died on Tuesday at 93, on his own terms. He and his wife Alice [...]
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    Posted: May 22, 2009, 10:26pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Jodi Rave quits newspaper biz

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 5
    by Pete Talbot This will make Rob Natelson happy. In February, over at Electric City Weblog, Prof. Natelson said there was just too much native news in Montana’s newspapers (as opposed to right-wing, white-guy news). Ms. Rave is leaving the Lee Enterprises newspaper chain (papers in Missoula, Billings, Helena, Butte and Hamilton) [...]
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    Posted: April 30, 2009, 11:08am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Smurfit-Stone extends shutdown

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 3
    by Pete Talbot It started as a rumor but was confirmed by the Missoulian. Smurfit-Stone will continue its 10-day shutdown for another 30 days — to June 1. That’s 280 people out of work in the Missoula area, for at least a month. Add that to what could be 369 Plum Creek [...]
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    Posted: April 28, 2009, 4:56pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Zoning rewrite petition revisited

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 2
    by Pete Talbot (As usual, jhwygirl beat me to the punch here. I have some additional links and comments, though, on the petition drive.) Please, before signing the anonymous petition that’s spreading fear and misinformation about Missoula’s zoning rewrite, get the facts. Here is an information sheet from the Office of Planning [...]
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    Posted: April 17, 2009, 10:12pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Missoula City Council: drunk and stoned again

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot Not really. But Ward 3 Councilman Bob Jaffe employed his wry wit to kick off a serious discussion of Missoula’s marijuana laws. “This morning we started the day at 8:00 am with alcohol and marijuana. First we approved the purchase of a bunch of field sobriety kits, motorcycle and [...]
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    Posted: April 16, 2009, 3:33pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Montana massacre

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 1
    by Pete Talbot “Ripped from today’s headlines,” as they like to say on those television teases for Law and Order. I was cruising Left in the West when one of the ads on its home page caught my attention. I always thought I was immune to website advertising but I guess those [...]
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    Posted: April 16, 2009, 2:44pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Ergot mold discovered in Laurel

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 2
    by Pete Talbot Ergot, a mold that attacks rye, is the building block for LSD. It has been discovered in huge quantities in the Laurel airshed. How else can one explain the lunacy coming from legislators Dan McGee and Krayton Kerns (both Republicans and both out of Laurel) in this 2009 session? Taken [...]
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    Posted: April 08, 2009, 6:11pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • The Rolling Zones

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot After a pitcher of Badlander IPA, the mayor and the planners relaxed, and then gave a concise and passionate argument for the Missoula Zoning Rewrite. The title of the event sucked me in: “Everybody Must Get Zoned.” But it turned out to be a straight-forward look at the zoning [...]
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    Posted: March 31, 2009, 12:54am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Hendrickson for Mayor? Engen should be so lucky

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 6
    by Pete Talbot Over at Missoula Red Tape, Keila Szpaller hints that Missoula Councilman John Hendickson might make a run for mayor. Please, please let it be true. We’ve posted on Ward Two’s Councilor a few times here, here and here, for starters. I can’t think of a more divisive, thoughtless, regressive and [...]
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    Posted: March 25, 2009, 6:07pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • The Pope’s a jerk

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot From AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe and Pope Benedict XVI: keep cranking out those babies, and spreading AIDS. It started out with this headline: US births break record ” … Behind the number is both good and bad news. While it shows the U.S. population is more than replacing itself, a [...]
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    Posted: March 21, 2009, 4:36pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • A shameless plug

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 7
    by Pete Talbot Missoula’s Sustainable Business Council, a seven-year-old, non-profit organization with over 150 members from the business community, sponsors a lecture series on sustainability. A fine example will be the Thursday, March 19, Perspectives on Sustainable Community. It starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Missoula Children’s Theatre mezzanine, 200 N. Adams [...]
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    Posted: March 18, 2009, 3:58pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • The difference between Jon and Max

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 4
    by Pete Talbot Well, there are a lot of differences between Senators Jon Tester and Max Baucus, and some similarities, too. And, IMHO. Jon isn’t perfect and Max isn’t all bad. As a matter of fact, if you compare Max to Rep. Denny Rehberg, Max looks like a compassionate, progressive statesman — [...]
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    Posted: March 15, 2009, 3:20pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • No sex talk at UM

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot Where does the UM Law School get these folks? When I first saw the Missoulian headline, I figured law professor Rob Natelson was at it again. But it turns out there’s another law professor who has issues with the First Amendment. Adjunct professor Kristen Juras believes that the sex and [...]
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    Posted: March 13, 2009, 1:30am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Missoulian editorial angers county Dems

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot “Never get in a pissing match with someone who buys ink by the barrel,” my Momma said. The idea of a Missoulian boycott was shot down but there was plenty of criticism of an editorial that ignored censorship at Big Sky High. In the end, it was decided that at [...]
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    Posted: March 11, 2009, 1:48am EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Bozeman explosion closure

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 7
    by Pete Talbot First, the horrible news: the missing woman was found in the debris and has been identified. I was hoping that this was just a huge mistake and the authorities were wrong, but apparently most of the folks in Bozeman knew the score and were just waiting for the [...]
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    Posted: March 09, 2009, 5:47pm EDT
    by petetalbot

  • Bozeman explosion

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot A relative in Bozeman called this morning to say that an explosion downtown had leveled a building and fire was threatening to spread to adjacent structures. On top of that, I hear there’s a serious snowstorm going on, hampering emergency crews’ efforts. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there [...]
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    Posted: March 05, 2009, 9:46am EST
    by petetalbot

  • Way better than Rehberg

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 1
    by Pete Talbot Meet Tyler Gernant, potential Denny Rehberg opponent. First he has to file (he has an exploratory committee now) then he has to win the primary, then he’d face Rehberg in November, 2010. But hats off to anyone who gets out early, does the background work and then takes a shot [...]
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    Posted: February 21, 2009, 11:34am EST
    by petetalbot

  • Iraq War claims another Montanan

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 5
    by Pete Talbot 4&20 offers its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Lt. Col. Garnet “Gary” Derby. He was from Whitehall but listed Missoula as his home. He was killed in Iraq on Monday, along with three other soldiers and an interpreter, in a roadside bombing. Lt. Col. Derby is [...]
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    Posted: February 14, 2009, 1:24pm EST
    by petetalbot

  • Big Sky High censorship, continued

    —4&20 blackbirds

    Number of comments: 10
    by Pete Talbot The message Tuesday night: school board elections are coming up and there needs to be some changes. More than 50 people crammed into a meeting room at the county courthouse to watch the video that was banned at Big Sky High School, The Story of Stuff. The film ran [...]
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    Posted: February 12, 2009, 12:20am EST
    by petetalbot

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