Good morning; on the Beacon today, we run down both the Republican and Democratic candidates for Flathead County Commission. Officials with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes say medical marijuana providers on the Flathead Indian Reservation who sell to Indians can be charged with felony distribution of the drug. A 55-year-old Polson woman who prosecutors say has 11 DUI convictions has been sentenced to five years under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections. The state is looking at using a $40 million court-ordered windfall to buy thousands of acres of former Plum Creek Timber land from The Nature Conservancy — a notion some lawmakers think may be illegal. And Dave Skinner tackles the myriad ballot issues that voters will have to decide upon.
A 43-year-old transient is accused of stealing a Missoula parking enforcement scooter while the attendant was writing a ticket. Kalispell’s Senate District 4 Republican candidates talk to the Missoulian. A controversial mine that would tunnel beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness may soon be back on track, despite a recent judge’s order that yanked federal approval of the project. Despite mortality rates averaging 25 percent — more than three-quarters of which is human caused — gray wolves are thriving in the Northern Rocky Mountains, according to a recently published tri-state survival analysis. And Chuck Johnson has an interesting story on a legislative candidate out of Dillon with a violent past – and how he is talking about that past as he runs for office.