Good morning and happy International Moment of Frustration Scream Day. God, this holiday’s become so commercialized.
Big news day for a Friday. On the Beacon, it’s all about football in the Flathead as Myers Reece previews tonight’s premiere inter-city showdown between Kalispell’s two football teams, Glacier and Flathead High. It’s brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor tonight, folks. The AP reports that Canadian Jerry Ambrozuk, who crash-landed a plane in Little Bitterroot Lake in 1982 is being deported for illegally obtaining a U.S. passport. Myers Reece is prolific this week, also profiling a bear spray manufacturer in Kalispell and analyzing how the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on lethal injection could affect <a href="http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/supreme_court_decision_could_affect_flathead_murderer/1154/" title="the small number of men on death row in Montana. I blogged on the partisan accusations hurled at Legislative Fiscal Division staffers in Helena.
Topping state news, Lee’s Helena reporter Mike Dennison is on fire today, with two big reports. A Kalispell insurance agent is in a dispute with state Insurance Commissioner John Morrison over attaining the names of 785 state businesses receiving insurance subsidies. Dennison also reports that Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., is seeking federal assistance to expand mental health evaluations for national guard members returning from the conflict overseas. Rehberg is also making news with his opposition to a bill that would designate almost 7 million acres of Montana’s public land as wilderness. A new report says Montana’s “Old Fund,” which covers workers injured on the job before July 1990 is set to run out years earlier than expected, possibly necessitating a bailout by taxpayers. Three Montana men were arrested in Nebraska after a string of robberies. Former MSU football player Robert Gatewood pleaded guilty to drug charges in federal court.
In lighter news, big kudos to Missoula bluegrass band Broken Valley Road Show, heading to China to play at an Internationa Folk Festival, before a crowd likely to number in the hundreds of thousands. And in, er, much lighter news, the New York Post has a hilarious story and photo gallery of a naked hipster wandering around Times Square, talking on his cell phone and joking with police. Don’t worry, with the utmost taste, the Post censored the pics with a big red apple. And finally, if football isn’t really your thing, Jackson Hole-based ski movie makers Teton gravity Research will be showing their latest film at Flathead High Saturday night – I’m planning on taking a stroll down to the school and checking it out. Enjoy the weekend!