Good morning; on the Beacon today, women’s roller derby is taking off in the Flathead, and Lido’s slideshow of their practice is a can’t miss. A contingent of Columbia Falls officials has joined the prerelease center site committee in what they say is an effort to become better informed about the potential effects the project could have on the Flathead Valley. Lido’s got video of the Penguin Plunge in Whitefish. Wild Bill Schneider wonders why the blockbuster film, “Avatar,” has “Conservative America’s shorts pulled up tight.” A 28-year-old Polson man has been arrested after a 3-month-old baby was taken to the hospital with injuries consistent with having been shaken. The director of the state Department of Transportation launched a highway watch program Wednesday along Montana 35 and U.S. Highway 93 near Flathead Lake after a recent string of tractor-trailer crashes in the area. An experiment to spill water from Libby Dam to help white sturgeon in the Kootenai River might not proceed because of below-average mountain snowpack levels.
Guns made and kept in Utah would be exempt from federal regulations under a measure passed by the Utah Legislature Wednesday, despite concerns over a costly legal battle at a time when the budget is already stretched thin. The United States is likely to average 95,000 more jobs each month this year, while personal savings will remain high as credit remains tight, according to a White House report released Thursday. It would take big gains in the stock market over a long period of time to repair beleaguered state pension funds, managers are reporting to the Montana Board of Investments. A little-known political group with links to conservative and Republican Party figures is urging Montanans to oppose a “big bank bailout bill” — but U.S. Sen. Jon Tester says the banking bill does no such thing and wonders who’s behind the ad. Sen. Jesse Laslovich, D-Anaconda, considered one of Montana’s rising young political stars, resigned his legislative seat Wednesday. Secretary of State Linda McCulloch said Wednesday her office has cut spending by 18 percent, or $1.3 million, in her first year of office.