Good morning and happy Mulligan Day. If you’ve screwed something up, today is your chance to take a mulligan and try it again.
It’s a rainy morning in the Flathead and the new Beacons are on the stands. Our issue this week examines the issues and candidates in next month’s city council elections. My story checks in with city officials in Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls for an overview of hurdles in upcoming months and years. The city council races in Whitefish are heating up; evaluate the candidates based upon their responses to the Beacon’s questions. Next week, we’ll have similar info on Kalispell city candidates. A dispute between city officials and Kalispell firefighters went down at City Hall yesterday, with firefighters removing many of their amenities from the station. Also a must-see today: Lido Vizzutti’s multimedia slide show from the Glacier-Flathead football game Friday. He should have it up shortly.
The Missoulian reports that the parents of a Bigfork teenager who collapsed during football practice and died a week later, are still waiting to see a copy of the report detailing the accidental death. While the fate of a congressional bill to expand children’s health insurance hangs somewhere between veto and override, Montana officials say they have the money to meet the demands of the program and are encouraging families to continue to apply. The Missoulian also reports on the lion hunt scheduled for this year in the Rattlesnake Wilderness. In other dangerous predator news, the Great Falls Tribune interviews a Stevensville man attacked by a grizzly east of Dupuyer.
And, finally, in cool, dangerous and illegal sporting news, the New York Times reports on a man who claims to have set a new record in outlaw endurance cross-country racing, making it from New York to Los Angeles in just over 31 hour. No, that’s not Hunter S. Thompson. Happy hump day and drive safely!