Good morning and happy National Grouch Day. Is that an oxymoron?
Topping the Beacon this morning, Whitefish contributor Becky Lomax has two stories out of there. A big kudos to Katie McGunagle, a Whitefish sophomore getting a poem published in a national magazine. Lomax also reports on the season opener of the Whitefish Theatre Company, Blithe Spirit. In other theater news, I wrote about Jesse Culp, a Kalispell theater instructor gathering material for a dramatic production about domestic violence. We’ve also got a new feature, the Sports Buffet, which provides a roundup of what happened over the weekend in regional sports. Think of it as the dessert to the News Buffet’s vegetables.
In state and regional news, the AP reports on the frustration in Congress over how to allocate funds for the farm bill, in light of the massive amounts of money going to drought-stricken areas in the West, like Montana and the Dakotas. A Billings man has agreed to plead guilty to a felony and testify against O.J. Simpson and other men involved in a Las Vegas robbery Sept. 13. Law enforcement from throughout the region gathered over the weekend in Kalispell to pay respects to a Highway Patrol officer killed in a crash last week. The Missoulian’s Michael Jamison reports on the sale of the North Fork Hostel in Polebridge. The Kalispell Chamber of Commerce commences a summit Tuesday to grapple with the affordable housing shortage in the Flathead. The Great Falls Tribune reports on fall foliage and the progress of road repair in Glacier National Park. NewWest.net checks in with Professor Steve Running of UM, part of the UN Team that won the Nobel Peace Prize last week for its research on global climate change.
And finally, a huge shout out to Billings brewer Travis Zeilstra of Montana Brewing Co., who took top honors at the Great American Beer Festival as winner of the Small Brewpub and Small Brewer of the Year. If you get a minute, check out this shot of what might be a T-Rex footprint taken near Jordan, Montana. It promises to be another magnificent autumn day in the Flathead. Enjoy it.