Good morning; on the Beacon today, beginning April 10, one of the smallest communities in the state hosts one of Montana’s largest events, when the 44th Creston Auction & Country Fair kicks off. To accommodate its rapid growth, Fresh Life Church is purchasing the building currently occupied by First Avenue East Café in downtown Kalispell. About 60 fourth-graders from Hedges and Peterson schools worked feverishly to haul buckets brimming with rainbow trout from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks vehicles to the Dry Bridge Pond last week as part of the Hooked on Fishing program where the students stocked local ponds. A law enforcement official in northwestern Montana says old bones found at the edge of a slough near Creston are being sent to a crime lab in Missoula. Flathead County authorities say they have arrested a Kila woman on an attempted homicide charge after she fired a weapon during a domestic disturbance with her adult son. And Kitchen Guy Jim Gray explores some of Americans’ unhealthy eating habits.
A Montana lawmaker plans to examine emerging legal problems concerning medical marijuana later this month when she calls together a legislative committee. U.S. Sen. Max Baucus says he is confident that the health care overhaul he played a big part in drafting will gain in popularity as its provisions come into effect, and as people begin to understand its complicated details. A group responsible for mapping new legislative districts to reflect population changes found in the 2010 Census plans public hearings around the state this month. The mayor of Libby is considering installing surveillance cameras downtown to prevent vandalism. An 11th-hour plea by Plum Creek Timber Co. to loosen density restrictions in the Seeley Lake planning region isn’t playing well at the Missoula County Courthouse. The Montana AFL-CIO’s endorsement of Democrat Dennis McDonald for the U.S. House has raised questions from other candidates about the fairness of the process the labor group used to make its choice. John Harrington of the Helena Independent-Record writes about an apparent disconnect in the Montana food chain where the state produces an enormous amount of grain, yet still has a high number of hungry residents. A proposed U.S.-Russia treaty to reduce nuclear weapons is nothing short of alarming for some Judith Gap residents.
And the Missoulian had a great profile over the weekend of Beacon Media Director Lido Vizzutti’s father, “Joe,” who passed away Feb. 13 at the age of 62.