Good morning; on the Beacon today, a recent petition presented to the Whitefish City Council shows that the downtown business community is overwhelmingly against a streetscape project set to break ground after Labor Day. Whitefish Resort’s Thursday Night Mountain Bike Race League is drawing more than 70 people a week. The stagnant market for upscale homes is leading to the auction of a Flathead Lake estate originally purchased for $3.2 million. In the midst of an economic downturn, The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Lands are struggling to find the money to complete the Montana Legacy Project. A 25-year-old Libby man, Joshua Reid, has died in a weekend motorcycle crash on U.S. Highway 2 in Lincoln County.
An administrator in the state auditor’s office says she was recently fired after lodging a complaint against the governor’s brother, Walt Schweitzer, who is second in command at the agency. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester says he toured the Stillwater Mine on Saturday in order to boost morale and gather information after GM canceled its contract. The head of the Montana Highway Patrol says his agency is looking for a way to outfit troopers with Tasers. New estimates indicate most Montana homeowners will see increases or decreases of $200 in their state tax bill. A slight printing problem at the Department of Revenue has delayed the mailing of new tax notices telling people the newly appraised value of their homes. And Lee’s Mike Dennison wonders how Montana’s shortage of primary-care doctors could be affected by any new federal health care legislation.