🌱 Gun Carry Rules In City Buildings + Billings Contractor Sentenced

Morning, neighbors! I'm back in your inbox this morning with your fresh copy of the Billings Patch newsletter. Here's all the community news you need to know right now.

But first, your local weather:

• Friday: Cold with clouds and sun. High: 43 Low: 32.
• Saturday: Turning cloudy and warmer. High: 54 Low: 32.

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Here are the top three stories in Billings today:

1. The Billings City Council has approved changes to an ordinance that previously prohibited carrying firearms in city buildings. The move is aimed at complying with state law after Legislative Referendum 130 and House Bill 102 limited the authority that local governments have to make their own regulations around carrying concealed guns. While the open carry of a gun or possession of an unpermitted concealed firearm is still banned in restricted areas of city buildings, anyone with a valid permit to carry a concealed firearm is no longer prohibited from doing so in other areas. (Subscription: Billings Gazette)
2. The former president of a paving and asphalt company based in Billings was sentenced to three years of probation, six months of home detention, and fined $27,000 for attempting to monopolize the market for highway crack-sealing services in Montana and Wyoming. Nathan Nephi Zito, 44, pleaded guilty in October 2022 to one felony count of attempted monopolization in violation of the Sherman Act, where he approached a competitor in early 2020 to stop competing with his company for highway crack-sealing projects administered by Montana and Wyoming. In return, Zito's company offered to stop competing with the competitor for projects administered by South Dakota and Nebraska. (Q2 News)
3. As the Montana Emergency Rental Assistance Program (MERA) comes to an end this month, hundreds of families in Billings have been forced to leave their temporary housing. MERA provided federal funds for low-income families to live in hotels for several months, but as the program ends, some have been left homeless, with some forced to live in their cars. Two people who were evicted from their temporary housing are now living in their car and facing the challenge of finding housing for themselves and their pets. (Q2 News)

Today and tomorrow in Billings:

Friday, March 31

• Now And Then At Billings Studio Theatre (7:00 PM)

Saturday, April 1

• Harry Potter Clue At Moss Mansion Museum (7:00 PM)

From my notebook:

• Are you looking for a new family member with four paws? Check out the list of adoption-ready pets in the Billings area at the link! (Billings Patch)
• Cara Chamberlain, a Billings poet, will appear at the Cody Library's Grizzly Room on Thursday, Apr. 13, to read from her works. Chamberlain is the author of several poetry collections, including "Hidden Things," "The Divine Botany," and "To Gaze Upon Their Loveliness," and has been published in numerous journals and anthologies. (Cody Enterprise)
• Police have arrested Terrell Clarence Seminole, 23, who is suspected of shooting an Uber driver outside the Alberta Bair Theater in Billings last year. Seminole has been charged with one count of assault with a weapon after he allegedly fired a shot that severed the victim's spine. (Subscription: Billings Gazette)

Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door on this Friday. I'll see you soon!

— Lauren Kubiak

About me: Lauren is an Editor for Lightning Media Partners. She graduated from Rowan University with a Bachelor’s in journalism. She was previously a full-time editor at an association management firm, editing peer-reviewed nursing journals, textbooks, and newsletters.