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Week of 14 September 2026 · Billings
Sixteen things happening in Billings worth talking about
Pulled this week from the Gazette, KTVQ, KULR8, the Chamber, Big Sky EDD and Downtown Billings. Every topic comes with hooks ready to record: a headline that carries the fact, a question for the caption, and you on camera saying why it matters here. Tap Winner on what you will film, Dud on what should never come back, Recycle on maybe next week. Then hit Save. Your picks are shared, so whichever of you opens this sees the same list.
WinnerYou are recording it. It will not come back as a topic, and we keep watching it for updates.
RecycleNot this week, but keep it. It comes back next Monday.
DudNever again, and stories like this stop showing up.
NewKTVQ11 to 14 Sep
Lot rent at a 520-lot Billings park just jumped from $530 to $705 a month
Golden Meadows in the West End was bought earlier this year by Hillside Communities, and residents who own their homes but rent the land underneath are organizing after a 33% increase. When an investor buys the ground under 520 homes, that is a property story worth explaining.
Hook 1$530 to $705 a month, just for the lot
Would you stay or move your home? 🤔
Hook 2They own the homes. They rent the ground underneath.
Who should hold the power in that deal? 🤔
Hook 3A new owner bought a 520-lot park. Lot rent went up 33%.
Is this coming to more parks in Billings? 🤔
NewKTVQ14 Sep
400 vendors at the Fall Home Improvement Show, and 90% were local
The 33rd annual show at MetraPark drew thousands, and the owner of Billings Kubota said he is having one of the best years he has ever had. He said they are building all over Billings, which is the kind of demand a property broker should be talking about.
Hook 1400 vendors. 90% from the Billings area.
Do you hire local for work on your home? 🤔
Hook 2"They're building all over Billings"
Is Billings booming right now? 🤔
Hook 3One local dealer: one of the best years he has ever had
Is your business feeling it too? 🤔
KTVQKULR810 SepAlso on last week's page, with new numbers
The county may put $100,000 a year into a program its operator says saves $1.9 million
Commissioners are weighing money to expand Beta Alternatives, which keeps some first-time, nonviolent felony offenders out of a jail that has long run over capacity, adding about 120 people to the 350 it serves. With a jail vote coming in November, what the county spends on detention is a budget question for every property owner.
Hook 1$100,000 a year to save $1.9 million, says the program
Would you make that trade with county money? 🤔
Hook 2The county jail has long run over capacity. Here is one fix on the table.
Build more cells or keep more people out? 🤔
Hook 3120 more people could get probation instead of a jail bed
Does this ease the jail or just move the problem? 🤔
NewKTVQKULR88 to 11 Sep
E-scooter injuries jumped 43% in 2025, and Billings had two kids hit in one week
Billings police say this is the first school year they have seen so many motorized scooters and bikes ridden by school-age kids, after two crashes in the Heights in one week. How kids get to school safely is part of how families choose a neighborhood.
Hook 1E-scooter injuries up 43%. Kids under 14 up 64%.
Does your kid ride one to school? 🤔
Hook 2Riding a mini motorcycle on the sidewalk is illegal in Montana
Did you know that? 🤔
Hook 3A Billings crossing guard says 3:10 p.m. is when cars stop stopping
Do you slow down at pickup time? 🤔
NewKTVQ12 Sep
The Mustangs beat Missoula 5-1 and are playing for the Pioneer League title
Julian Garcia threw seven shutout innings at Dehler Park to send Billings to the championship series against Modesto or Long Beach. A home team playing for a title is the kind of shared win that gets a whole city talking.
Hook 1Seven shutout innings. Billings is playing for the Pioneer League title.
Are you going to the championship series? 🤔
Hook 2Mustangs 5, PaddleHeads 1
Modesto or Long Beach, who do you want next? 🤔
NewKTVQ9 to 11 Sep
A Billings theater now streams show audio straight to hearing aids and AirPods
Big Sky Audiology bought and donated an Auracast transmitter to Billings Studio Theater, replacing a system from about 2015, in time for Come From Away. The clinic says it plans to bring the technology to more venues across the city, a small upgrade that changes who can use a building.
Hook 1Hearing loss? This Billings theater streams the show to your AirPods.
Would that get you back to live theater? 🤔
Hook 2A local clinic paid for it and gave it away
Which Billings venue should get it next? 🤔
Hook 374 seasons in, Billings Studio Theater just got a tech upgrade
When did you last see a show there? 🤔
NewKTVQKULR810 to 11 Sep
For the first time, Billings Public Schools is teaching Crow
About 2,000 of the district's more than 16,000 students are Indigenous, and the class at the Lincoln Center teaches culture alongside a language its teacher calls endangered. What a school district offers is part of what makes a city a place families move to.
Hook 1About 2,000 Indigenous students. Now a Crow language class.
Should more schools do this? 🤔
Hook 2Crow is endangered. These Billings students are learning it.
Did you learn a second language in school? 🤔
NewKULR87 to 11 Sep
Shot in Billings on September 6, arrested in California
Billings police say a 45-year-old man was arrested by California Highway Patrol on an attempted deliberate homicide warrant, with help from public tips and license plate reader technology. Safety near downtown is a question every tenant and buyer asks, and a closed case is part of the answer.
Hook 1Shot in Billings on Sept. 6. Arrested in California.
How far can you really run? 🤔
Hook 2License plate readers helped catch this suspect
Do you want more of these cameras in Billings? 🤔
NewKTVQ12 Sep
A West End sunflower farm started in 2023 is already booking weddings for next year
Flowerstead Farms at Shiloh Road and Grand Avenue began with about 5,000 flowers and has grown into a weekend festival with classes and a wedding venue, and the owner says it is bursting at the seams. A small piece of West End land turned into a business people drive to.
Hook 15,000 sunflowers in 2023. Now a wedding venue.
Would you get married in a sunflower field? 🤔
Hook 2$10 gets you in and five flowers to take home
Have you been out to Shiloh and Grand? 🤔
Hook 3"Billings needs something like this"
What else should open in the West End? 🤔
NewKTVQKULR811 to 12 Sep
No symptoms, no family history, stage 4: why a Billings woman says get screened
Jo McGollum, a Billings dental hygienist, found stage 4 colorectal cancer through a routine at-home screening test she had put off for years, and was guided through treatment by a nurse navigator at the Intermountain Health Cancer Center in Billings. Care close to home is part of what keeps people in a city.
Hook 1No symptoms. No family history. Stage 4.
When was your last screening? 🤔
Hook 2One at-home test found her cancer
Is that test on your list this year? 🤔
NewKTVQKULR8Gazette11 to 12 Sep
1,000 flags and a beam from the World Trade Center at City College
The Breakfast Exchange Club of Billings marked 25 years since the attacks with 1,000 flags on the City College grounds beside a salvaged World Trade Center beam, with another memorial outside City Hall. Organizers said the point is making sure young people understand the day.
Hook 11,000 flags in Billings, 25 years after 9/11
Where were you that morning? 🤔
Hook 2A beam from the World Trade Center stands in Billings
Did you know it was here? 🤔
NewKULR811 Sep
Born in Billings on 9/11, and one of 50 babies in the book Faces of Hope
Lisa Day went into labor watching the attacks from her Billings home, and her son Michael John was born that night. He was featured in the 2002 book Faces of Hope and a 2011 BBC documentary, and 25 years later he wrote the story himself.
Hook 1She turned on the TV on 9/11 and went into labor
Do you know anyone born that day? 🤔
Hook 2One of the 50 babies in Faces of Hope was born in Billings
What does 9/11 mean to someone born on it? 🤔
NewKULR89 Sep
A Billings nonprofit has paid for infant funerals across Montana for 15 years
The Ramsey Keller Memorial contracts with funeral homes statewide and pays in full for funerals for infants under one, started after Kori Keller's family lost their daughter in 2011. Its Pink Tie Affair on September 26 marks the anniversary.
Hook 1Parents were choosing funerals by price. One Billings family changed that.
Did you know this help existed? 🤔
Hook 215 years of paying for infant funerals in full
What local cause do you give to? 🤔
NewKTVQGazette12 Sep
Volunteers cleaned headstones at Montana's only national cemetery
Yellowstone National Cemetery in East Laurel holds the remains of more than 2,500 people who served, and volunteers cleaned headstones there Saturday for a national day of service on the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
Hook 1Montana's only national cemetery is in East Laurel
Have you ever been out there? 🤔
Hook 2More than 2,500 who served are buried here
Would you give a Saturday to this? 🤔
NewKTVQ10 Sep
No football since sixth grade, and now Montana and Montana State are interested
Lockwood senior Isaiah Greer, 6-foot-3 and about 220 pounds, came back after multiple ACL injuries and was runner-up in the Class A 100-meter dash in the spring. Lockwood is 2-0, and a growing town's team is part of its identity.
Hook 1No football since sixth grade. Now the Griz and the Cats are interested.
Where should he play in college? 🤔
Hook 26-foot-3, 220 pounds, and runner-up in the Class A 100
Is he the best athlete in Lockwood? 🤔
NewKTVQ9 Sep
Kids who own books are four times more likely to enjoy reading
Billings Public Schools' Jumpstart program gave K-3 students extra literacy time and free books this summer. MTN's If You Give a Child a Book campaign raises money for books for schools in low-income communities, and the donations stay local.
Hook 1Kids who own books are 4 times more likely to enjoy reading
What was your favorite book as a kid? 🤔
Hook 2A Billings third grader: "Reading is really good for your brain"
Do your kids read before bed? 🤔
