Good morning; on this day in 1981, MTV launched with its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star,” by the Buggles.
On the Beacon this morning, the three Marion men accused of a racially motivated attack on Asian migrant workers pleaded not guilty. Flathead County commissioners voted yesterday to let voters decide on a $10 million conservation bond, to go on the ballot in November. In the run-up to the Bigfork Arts Festival, Keriann Lynch writes about Isabel von Rittberg, who combines dancing with climbing. The Flathead Youth Home has begun its campaign to raise money for a permanent facility in downtown Kalispell. And in Warren Miller’s weird world, he describes a recent boating debacle brought on by the 14-year-old kid lurking in his senior citizen’s body.
In state news, NorthWestern Energy’s earnings are through the roof. In recent community meetings about the Montana Legacy Project, a land deal between Plum Creek Timber Company and conservation groups partially financed with federally backed bonds, many in the public are wary. A new cancer treatment center is opening in Havre. The state and ASARCO have reached a $143 environmental cleanup deal, much of it focused on the lead smelter in East Helena. Several prominent Western historians filed a lawsuit in Washington D.C. to stop a proposed expansion of the Little Bighorn Battlefield visitor center. And the Bozeman Daily Chronicle announced it will lay off nine employees.
And finally, the world’s oldest recorded joke dates from 1900 B.C., and it’s a dirty one. Have a great weekend.