Good morning; on the Beacon today, after a $6.9 million county-approved bond and years of work, the new Flathead County Dispatch and Emergency Operations Center is in the final construction stages, with regular staffing expected by March 15. The Kalispell City Council plans to consider an emergency ordinance placing a 90-day moratorium on medical marijuana businesses. Flathead County commissioners voted last week to begin negotiating a contract with Kalispell-based 48 North Engineering as the engineering firm for the stormwater system overhaul in Bigfork. Brandon French, of the Kalispell Fire Department, and Ben Parsons, of the Whitefish Fire Department, head to the tiny European principality of Andorra at the end of February for the Ski-Mountaineering World Championships as part of the eight-man U.S. team. And Kitchen Guy Jim Gray describes some of his many pet peeves at restaurants.
Members of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation and Montana Taxpayers Association have filed a class action lawsuit against the state Department of Revenue contending property tax increases have not been phased in properly. Gov. Brian Schweitzer, speaking to land use managers, said that state and federal agencies must tell the public that the scarred forests left behind by voracious pine beetles will remain for years. Bryon Wilson Jr. won the bronze medal in the men’s moguls event Sunday at the Winter Olympics, making him the first Montana skier to win a medal in the freestyle event. Montana’s U.S. senators are preparing to dive in on another big national issue — climate change and energy legislation — but it appears they’re facing a divided state electorate on the subject. A female patient at Montana’s psychiatric hospital was reportedly raped by a convicted sex offender in March 2008, and the state recently paid a $375,000 settlement to avoid litigation in the case.