Good morning; today is the anniversary of the fall of the Alamo.
In our top local story, a toddler was shot in the head and killed in Evergreen Wednesday night. Authorities are currently investigating the girl’s death. Popular Flathead broadcaster George Ostrom has left KOFI after a dispute with the station’s manager over reporting on the trial of a KOFI employee accused of stealing almost $1 million from the station. As the Department of Interior weighs relaxing the restrictions on loaded guns in national parks, the debate over whether it will make parks safer rages. Keriann Lynch reports on Bigfork’s Saddlehorn development, an inadvertent experiment in “green” development. And from Dave Skinner, quite possibly the most ornery columnist in Western Montana, hammers the journalism and science surrounding a recent study of jackrabbit populations in Yellowstone.
Two more long-shot candidates have announced plans to run for higher office. St. Regis rancher and trucker Anton Pearson is challenging Max Baucus for the U.S. Senate – but only on the weekends. And Stan Jones, a frequent Libertarian candidate from Bozeman, is running for governor. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., extended an invitation to the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to come to Montana to discuss security along the northern border. And just across the state line in Wyoming, Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are descending on the state before Saturday’s caucuses.
And finally, at Grand Central Station in New York City, more than 200 people froze spontaneously, alarming everyone else who look as though they think they’re in a science fiction movie. Is it a prank? Is it art? Whatever it is, it’s cool. Have a great Thursday.