Monday: Hiking Deaths, Grizzly Bears, Concealed Weapons

Good morning; on the Beacon today, Montana’s Environmental Protection Agency director John Wardell died in a climbing accident near Libby. Glacier Park officials are questioned about the recent deaths of a mother grizzly and her cub. The Flathead’s jobless rate falls to 9.1 percent. Chef Jim Gray gives a review of the Julia Child movie. August weather stays largely on track with other years. Local photographer Bret Bouda helps out the Glacier National Park Fund with an exhibit to benefit the park’s centennial.

The hiker who died in Glacier National Park is identified as William Labunetz, a 67-year-old neurologist from Great Falls. A record number of gun owners worried about stricter gun laws in the future are rushing to get concealed weapon permits. Foreclosure sales are driving up home sales across the Western region of the United States. The U.S. Fish, Wildlife and Parks Service is offering a “substantial” reward for information in the shooting death of one of Montana’s largest grizzly bears, Maximus.