Good morning; on the Beacon today, Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg and his staff member, Kristin Smith, were released from Kalispell Regional Medical Center on Monday after suffering injuries in a boat crash near Bigfork four days earlier. Dustin Frost, Rehberg’s state director who was also in the accident, remained at the hospital with a serious brain injury. Concept designs for the new Main Library were unveiled last week, much to the delight of the Flathead County Library Board of Trustees. Glacier football gets its first home win and the wolf hunt is in limbo in HIGHS & LOWS, our weekly index of what’s up down and in between. Lido’s slideshow of the O-Mok-See horse races is a must see.
Sen. Max Baucus said a health care overhaul bill will happen this year even if Republicans back out. Gray wolf hunting is set to begin in the Northern Rockies, even as a federal judge eyes a request to stop the killing of the predators. Pending U.S. home sales rose more than expected in July to the highest level in more than two years as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of a tax credit that expires this fall. The federal government is asking people to be on alert after it received several reports that a large number of counterfeit $100 bills have been passed in Montana. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks will not comment on why a trophy bighorn ram was shot during an undercover investigation. And the Butte area leads the state in traffic deaths through the first eight months of the year.