Good morning; on the Beacon today, 327,572 people entered Glacier National Park last month, up 14.1 percent from about 287,000 visitors in June 2008. Troy-based Shelter Designs sells yurts, an inexpensive structure used traditionally by Asian nomadic tribes. Sgt. John Ortiz, a Kalispell police officer who fought pancreatic cancer and then returned to work, rather than take a medical disability option, has been named Montana’s officer of the year by two organizations. Flathead County’s unemployment rate dropped for the third consecutive month, falling slightly to 9.6 percent in June from 9.7 percent a month earlier. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., unveiled a sweeping plan last week designating both more wilderness and more areas for logging across the state. Actor Jamie Farr, who played Cpl. Maxwell Klinger in the “M.A.S.H.” TV series, is scheduled to be in Whitefish for a hospital fundraiser.
The Missoulian reports that prospects for geothermal energy development in Montana are looking lukewarm. The rainbow trout population in the Madison River is rebounding. A soldier captured in Afghanistan, Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, is from Hailey, Idaho. Walter Breuning, a 112-year-old Great Falls man, has become the oldest living man in the world.