Good morning; today is the fifth anniversary of the commencement of the Iraq War.
It’s Wednesday and the new Beacons are hitting the stands. Our top feature this week ranks the very best high school athletes from around the valley in basketball, wrestling and swimming with killer photos. Public construction projects, from the Going-to-the-Sun Road to Kalispell City Hall, are far outstripping their original price estimates, and there don’t appear to be any simple explanations for why. The Flathead County Museum is no longer, after burning down as part of a training exercise for rural fire departments over the weekend. In a story from one of our high school contributors, local teens are working to raise awareness about dating violence as prom season approaches. And Columnist Mark Riffey writes about the ways in which quality can sneak up on you as your business expands.
In the Sanders County sex abuse case, the jury found a Heron man guilty of keeping a woman captive and sexually molesting her for 15 years. Republican U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg announced yesterday he is seeking a fifth term. Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Montana is too small to set its own fuel efficiency and emission standards, as was suggested in a recent global warming report. A record number of 186 wolves were killed in the Northern Rockies last year due to livestock depredation.
And finally, Butte’s Montana Standard has compiled a list of the Montana soldiers and Marines killed in Iraq since the war’s inception in 2003 – seems like a long list for such a small state. Have a good day.