Good morning; on the Beacon today, the people facing foreclosure in the Flathead come from all economic levels, and are increasingly those with once-good credit who could lose their houses because they have lost their jobs and are falling behind on their payments. The city of Kalispell’s financial situation, while not ideal, http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/kalispell_budget_outlook_stabilizing/12029/. With a private investigator on the job and hundreds of hours spent gathering information, the cost of investigating alleged wrongdoing at the Flathead County Planning and Zoning department is rising. Tester’s recently introduced Forest Jobs and Recreation Act may be the most significant piece of legislation he has created in his U.S. career. The team of Kyle Cianflone and Jason Vedadi, defending co-champions of a year ago, won the second annual Flathead Beacon Pro-Scratch Golf Tournament, which concluded Tuesday at the Big Mountain Golf Club in Kalispell.
State tax collections are down slightly from estimates, but Montana’s budget is holding up well, especially compared to other states. The same, however, can’t be said for the state’s university system. U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., is calling for a hearing into General Motors Co.’s continued use of foreign precious metals suppliers after canceling a contract with a Montana’s Stillwater Mining Co. For better or worse, the burden to design a plan that provides health insurance to every American who seeks it without adding to the deficit — and that can get 60 votes in the Senate — is falling on Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Majority Leader Harry Reid. Supporters of proposed public hunts of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies are intervening in a federal court case brought by environmentalists who want to stop the hunts. A new study reports Montana ranks 30th overall in the well-being of children living here, slightly worse than the year before, when Montana ranked 29th. Trout Unlimited is pushing for drilling setbacks along trout streams surrounding Billings managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Montana consumers who lost their homes through the foreclosure of some Countrywide Financial Corp. loans are eligible for a settlement of about $2,000 each – now doesn’t that make you feel better?