Swank Enterprises secures a big contract to do rehabilitation work on the Many Glacier Hotel. Meanwhile, a squirrel kills the power to much of downtown Kalispell.
HIGH
PELOSI and OBAMA – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rallies her caucus to pass historic health care legislation, marking a major triumph for President Barack Obama.
SWANK ENTERPRISES – This local construction firm scored a $9.5-million contract to do rehabilitation work on the Many Glacier Hotel.
ARCH COAL INC. – The state Land Board accepted this mining giant’s $86-million bid to lease the Otter Creek coal tracts in eastern Montana.
SMITHWICK-HANN and INGRAM – Karl Ingram of Flathead High and Shay Smithwick-Hann of Glacier High made the Class AA all-state boys basketball team.
BETWEEN
BIPARTISANSHIP – It’s not dead. Despite unanimous Republican opposition to the health care bill, other issues coming up on the Congressional docket – like financial reform or immigration reform – may see Democrats and the GOP joining hands once again. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking…
LOW
SQUIRRELS – Nearly 4,000 people in Kalispell went without power Monday after one of these pesky, but cute, critters burrowed into a Flathead Electric Cooperative transformer.
MONTANA FURNITURE GALLERIES – A victim of the recession, this chain is closing its five stores and factory, putting 70 people out of work.
TROY MINE – The U.S. Department of Labor fines the Troy Mine $550,000 for penalties and citations stemming from a 2007 cave-in that killed one worker.
ROBERT COOPER – This Huntley man filed a complaint after he was called a “kook” by Rep. Bill Glaser, R-Huntley, on the House floor, but the Montana Supreme Court ruled unanimously that statements made during a floor session are protected speech.