Good morning; on the Beacon today, Denny Rehberg arrived back in Washington D.C. Tuesday and is back on the job, recuperating from injuries suffered in an Aug. 27 boat crash on Flathead Lake. Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. says it will extend operations through October, after it had previously decided the plant would shut down in September. The Bigfork School District has reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit filed by the parents of a 17-year-old boy, Jeff Bowman, who died two years ago after collapsing during the first day of football practice. Kalispell City Council approved the budget for the current fiscal year at its Tuesday night meeting, along with setting mill levies. A 51-year-old man from Canada died when he lost control of his motorcycle and went off a 30 foot drop in Glacier National Park in northern Montana. And the deadline for the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit is looming, a program that some local real estate professionals say has given the housing market in Flathead County a boost.
A fire that started along Holter Lake burned some RV trailers and sparked a wildland fire that burned about 2,400 acres Wednesday. Plans for a proposed U.S. Forest Service history museum in Missoula include enough space to house more than 40,000 exhibits and a 46-foot-high tower crowning the building. The wolf hunt is on. The Hardin jail finally found some prisoners. And while we’ve got an AP story on this, the Missoulian’s Vince Devlin has the must-read on how the man charged with stabbing someone to death in a Ronan bar could be released based on the recently passed Castle Doctrine law. Gov. Brian Schweitzer is traveling in Germany and Spain this week to meet with energy businesses and promote business development opportunities here. And Montana’s federal delegation reacted to President Barack Obama’s congressional address on health care last night.