Good morning; on the Beacon today, Robert Lake and Jeffrey Nixon, the two men charged with murdering and robbing 49-year-old Wesley Collins, each had their bond set Thursday at $500,000 by Judge Mark Sullivan. With only 12 players – including six freshmen – on the roster this year, the Whitefish Bulldogs don’t even have enough players for a junior varsity team, but they’re showing incredible promise. As the sun set Wednesday, lights are turned on to aid workers as they lowered the third piece of the new Viking Creek Day Lodge pedestrian skywalk into place over Wisconsin Avenue in Whitefish. A 58-year-old Trego man has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor prostitution charges. The sole wild horse on Wildhorse Island has been given a companion, and will get several more.
Montana has renegotiated dozens of leases with landlords across the state, reducing the rent agencies pay by more than $3.4 million over the life of those leases, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Thursday. CenturyTel Inc. said Thursday that it will buy Qwest Communications International Inc. in a stock swap worth $10.6 billion, creating a telecommunications giant serving customers in 37 states. Home sales surged 17 percent in the West last month, as buyers scrambled to take advantage of low mortgage rates and qualify for tax credits that expire at the end of this month. Attorney General Steve Bullock says Montana is going to offer victims of domestic violence an easier way to prove they have a permanent restraining order.