To recap a wild week here in River City, Mayor Bob Kelly took significant heat for unilaterally inviting refugees to Great Falls. (He has since apologized.) While some of the comments on E-City Beat and elsewhere have not been particularly receptive to the mayor’s mea culpa, I think it’s possible that some of us have…
In honor of Bob Kelly’s recently exposed extracurricular activities, I thought it would be interesting to share a story from 14 years ago, penned on New Year’s Day in 2006. It is from Gregg Smith’s old blog, and it tells the tale of another big government liberal mayor of Great Falls: Randy Gray. Back then,…
Thanks to one of our discerning readers, who sent us this yesterday: about six months ago, and without authorization from the City Commission, Great Falls Mayor Bob Kelly signed a letter addressed to Donald Trump, asking the President to send refugees to the City of Great Falls. According to the website Welcome Refugees 2020, Kelly…
Not too long ago, we wrote about Democratic gubernatorial candidate Whitney Williams’ massive fundraising efforts, and the fact that more than three quarters of her haul originates from big money donors outside of Montana. Given the extreme disparity between Williams’ out-of-state donations compared to the other candidates, I decided to take a deeper dive into…
It is fair to say a large number of property taxpayers are opposed to voting for yet another school district levy. Based on recent school district levies, both those which passed, and those which have failed, it is also fair to say taxpayers have gotten the good, the bad and the ugly…
With the coming of the new year comes another attempt by the Great Falls Public School District to raise your taxes. “What?”, you say, “We’ve just given them $98 million dollars and now they want more, $1.3 million more. For what?” Well of course, the school district will tell you it’s for the kids, but…
_______________________________________________________________________ This cartoon was forwarded to E-City Beat anonymously. The obscenity notwithstanding, I think it’s quite funny and decided to publish it. Consider it an introduction to a new regular feature we are launching – Comedy & Satire On E-City Beat. If you are a budding cartoonist or satirist, send us your…
In an October 20, 2019 comment section posted on a public Facebook page, Great Falls city commissioner Tracy Houck accused E-City Beat of publishing untrue “stuff” about her involvement in the City’s recent Community Development Block Grant, CDBG, funding debacle. “I read the stuff a local blog writes about me and it’s not true.” Though…
_______________________________________________________________________ One of the three questions E-City Beat recently sent to all of the Great Falls city commission candidates is the following: Do you or any of your immediate family members, business partners, employer, or employees hold any positions, professional or volunteer, recent past or present, that would constitute a conflict of interest, or appearance…
_______________________________________________________________________ Yesterday a concerned reader sent E-City Beat some screenshots of an exchange on Facebook involving a teacher in the Great Falls Public Schools District who uses the FB handle of Tricia Henneberg which clearly says she is an employee of GFPS. Henneberg is Tricia Loucks, listed in the District directory as a Special Ed…