Good morning; on the Beacon today, one group in the Flathead is focused on bringing a little more Hawaiian culture to Montana: the Bigfork Outrigger Canoe Club. The Lodge at Whitefish Lake is expanding across Wisconsin Avenue. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., defended a $900,000 earmark to fund an emergency communications center in Whitefish yesterday after coming under criticism from Arizona’s senators. A summer camp in Whitefish and Kalispell is focusing on Spanish language skills, sports and cultural tutorials. Elections officials in Lincoln County have approved the wording of a petition seeking the recall of Sheriff Daryl R. Anderson.
Yahoo! Federal officials declared the state was once again free of the livestock disease brucellosis. Great Falls Mayor and Cascade County Commissioner Gayle Morris was arrested on suspicion of promoting prostitution at a strip club he owns. Conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats in the U.S. House are making several demands on health care reform before they will agree to support it. Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock is among 33 state attorneys general asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review Chicago’s ban on private handgun ownership. A doctor at the Fort Harrison VA hospital has been fired for improperly conducting patient exams and fudging medical records. And the Bozeman Chronicle reports that jobs created by the stimulus in Montana are still difficult to gauge.