_______________________________________________________________________ Someone sent me a link the other day to a very interesting news piece from KBZK in Bozeman, MT. – ‘Bozeman ranks #1 for strongest micropolitan economy’. That’s the strongest micropolitan economy in the nation, not just the state. As the report explains: “According to Policom, an Economics research firm, Bozeman is ranked number…
_______________________________________________________________________ On January 10 the Montana Office of Public Instruction announced “record high graduation rates for Montana in 2018”. In today’s Great Falls Tribune, January 29, one of the headlines on the front page is “Graduation rate of GFPS students in 2018 dropped”. Recent data from City-Data.com shows the Great Falls’ poverty rate above the…
_______________________________________________________________________ It is never wrong for local citizens to stand up and speak up in order to hold local public officials and institutions accountable and to keep them honest. Yet some folks in Great Falls still think that any criticism of our so-called “leaders” and public policies is somehow wrong, even damaging to our community….
Today someone sent these pictures to me with the following note: “Interesting pictures of the City parking their tractor/trailer on M&D’s vacant lot while they are performing asphalt patching on an adjacent street. The same lot that they ran M&D off of for parking the same type of trucks there.” The ‘M&D’ referred to here…
________________________________________________________________________ I thought it important to share the following letter I recently received from someone in Great Falls and E-City Beat has agreed to publish it with small portions redacted to protect the anonymity of the sender. Let me say a word about that anonymity, which the writer explains his reasons for in the…
________________________________________________________________________ Today someone directed my attention to a KRTV Facebook post and news story about the next “Future of the Falls Forum”. Here’s how the KRTV story describes the Forum events: “The next “Future Of The Falls” forum will be on Monday, December 3rd, from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm at the Civic Center….
________________________________________________________________________ Editors note: The Montana Farmers Union state convention is in Great Falls this year. Here’s the press release with relevant information. ________________________________________________________________________ Montana Farmers Union to Hold 103rd State Convention Great Falls, MT- “Moving agriculture forward” is the theme of the 2018 Montana Farmers Union State Convention to be held October 26-27 at…
________________________________________________________________________ What are conflicts of interest and who are the Conflict Coddlers? Most folks in Great Falls have heard about conflicts of interest, but how many know what they are and how to recognize them? We have heard about the recent Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding corruption concerning elected City officials influencing the doling…
________________________________________________________________________ I expect Great Falls residents and business owners will experience a little sticker shock when they see their local property tax bill next month. After intentionally deceiving the public by not including the individual tax impact data on the ballot, our city commission voted for final approval for Great Falls Park District One….
________________________________________________________________________ If it’s so hip, edgy, cool and progressive for some to hate all those evil corporations out there then why all of a sudden is it so hip, edgy, cool and progressive to love the Nike corporation? In fact, shouldn’t every good, blue-blooded, anti-corporate Democratic Socialist actually have a special loathing for a…