Good morning and happy birthday to Marcel Proust and Alice Munro.
On the Beacon this morning, the Mission Mountain Wood Band is hitting the road again for a statewide tour after a roughly 30-year hiatus. No, it’s not just you – the mosquitoes really are bad this year, due to a cool, wet spring and the high rivers that followed when the temperatures warmed up. A 71-year-old man is in critical condition after crashing his truck through an Evergreen office building yesterday. Two victims of Tuesday’s plane crash in Kalispell have been identified: Jamie Whealon, 27, of Polson and 22-year-old student pilot Nathaan Demers of Kalispell are in stable condition. The best local baseball tournament of the year is underway at Whitefish Memorial field. And Beacon columnist Dave Skinner, in his typically tender-hearted way, discusses the precipitous rise in commodity and energy prices.
In state news, a massive grass fire swept Missoula’s Mt. Sentinel last night. A recent federal circuit court ruling that turns more authority over to federal agencies is not necessarily a victory for logging interests, according to conservation groups. A complaint against the residency status of state Sen. Jesse Laslovich, D-Anaconda, has been filed by his opponent. The U.S. Senate, on its third try, successfully blocked a cut of Medicare payments to doctors, restoring the funding. Leaders of the Crow Indian reservation are interested in developing the coal beneath their land. And Gov. Brian Schweitzer is asking the Belgian company attempting a takeover of Anheuser-Busch to maintain its commitment to purchase much of its malt barley from Montana farmers.
And finally, two young women in Cape Cod, Mass., are taking advantage of the summer’s cicada swarm, making jewelry out of the giant bugs. Have a great day.