fbpx

Wednesday: Tourism, Bernanke Warns, Helena Gold!

By Beacon Staff

Good morning; on the Beacon today, at a major tourism conference held last week in Kalispell, the outlook is bright for Glacier Park’s centennial season. For the first time in its short three-month tenure, the Polson City Commission agreed with two of its most vocal critics in moving forward with a vote on whether to purchase an existing structure to build a sewage treatment plant instead of delaying the move to hold a workshop to obtain additional public input. The state has suspended the license of a Kalispell insurance agent who owes more than $65,000 in state taxes. And business columnist writes about how those who work in sales should be very excited about the new Apple iPad.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Wednesday that he has confidence the unfolding economic recovery will have staying power, although it won’t be strong enough to bring quick relief to high unemployment. The Schweitzer administration says the state’s next two-year budget is likely to be lower than current spending, and is asking agencies to identify 4 percent cuts in personnel budgets. Carroll College student Republicans and tea party activists are criticizing the school’s last-minute cancellation of a town hall meeting featuring a well-known conservative law professor. Five more lawsuits have been filed against NorthWestern Energy after a natural-gas explosion last year that killed one woman and destroyed half a city block. Western Montana, already parched by drought, appears headed for a summer of diminished water supplies, as well as river flows trickling at well below normal. A national recession didn’t seem to deter skiers and snowboarders from making tracks to Montana’s winter resorts this year, and a new study of cold-season tourism aims to count just how much they spent while on the slopes. More than 100 members of the Montana Air National Guard have been deployed to Florida for training exercises that mark a critical juncture in the unit’s conversion to operating with an F-15 fighter jet fleet. The state’s new expanded health insurance plan for children is gaining enrollment, but key lawmakers on Tuesday urged health officials to push harder on signing up eligible kids. Alliant Techsystems Inc. of Minnesota has bought Blackhawk Industries Products Group, a military-accessories maker that has a facility in Bozeman. And a mining operation in Helena has discovered what may be one of the richest gold and silver deposits in the world.