Good morning; on the Beacon today, based on a meeting held last week at Flathead High School that drew more than 40 people, wariness and outright opposition to any expansion of the Kalispell city airport appears to be growing. Army Staff Sgt. James R. Stright of Libby, 29, was killed Thursday night when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed on a Navy ship during training off the Virginia coast. The Flathead City-County Health Department on Oct. 20, in collaboration with North Valley Hospital and Mountain Mall gave 667 vaccines for the H1N1 virus. Flathead High’s Mary Allen, 17, moved to Kalispell this past summer to be with her father and four younger siblings, but when Allen speaks about volleyball, it is always in terms of her new family on the court. If an informational meeting held recently in Polson is any indication, chances that city voters will approve a 3 percent local option tax, placed on the Nov. 3 ballot by city commissioners, are few and far between.
Montana is redesigning its basic license plate design for the first time in five years, and is looking at a retro-inspired design that harkens back to the plates of the 1970s and earlier. Matt Nichols threw for 327 yards and four touchdowns, lifting Eastern Washington to a 35-24 victory Saturday over Montana State, which was down eight players because of the flu. Running backs Chase Reynolds and Thomas Brooks-Fletcher combined for 245 yards and four touchdowns in Montana’s 45-30 victory over Sacramento State on Saturday. State wildlife managers say one wolf kill was reported as Montana’s general hunting season opened Sunday with an estimated 100,000 hunters spreading across public and private lands. Montana Public Radio is dropping “Car Talk” from its schedule. A long-awaited decision is due today on whether the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana deserves federal recognition. Lee’s Chuck Johnson writes about the effort to draft Billings Republican state Sen. Taylor Brown to run for governor. And Mike Dennison talks to state cabin leaseholders who do not think the new rent structure endorsed by the state Land Board is fair to leaseholders.