Good morning; on the Beacon today, the primary elections are on all day and you should get out there and vote. Doors to the newly constructed Walmart Supercenter in Kalispell’s Hutton Ranch Plaza will open at 8 a.m. on June 16. Officials from the City of Kalispell and Flathead County met June 1 to discuss pursuing federal grant money for green projects in the valley. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has relocated a grizzly bear that was killing livestock in the Star Meadow area in the northwestern part of the state. Glacier National Park announced new rules Monday that make it easier to haze or kill problem grizzly bears – a response to last year’s shooting of a bear that had become increasingly bold around humans.
Montanans are headed to the polls to choose candidates for Congress and a slew of legislative and judicial seats. With frustrated voters poised to punish the party in power, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Barbara Boxer will find out their Republican opponents this fall. As voters head to the polls on Tuesday, it’s likely they’ll encounter people with clipboards standing near the entrances of polling places, asking for support of one of eight ballot or constitutional initiatives groups around the state are trying to qualify for November’s ballot. In a dozen or so Republican legislative primary races that will be decided Tuesday, special-interest groups are sending out last-minute attacks — which state officials and others say are breaking state law. Liz Fowler, a U.S. Senate Finance Committee staffer who played a key role in drafting the health reform bill passed by Congress, will be the lead speaker at this week’s annual Montana HealthCare Forum conference. Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock has declined a request by the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council that he open an investigation into the Nov. 23, 2009, death of Allen “A.J.” Long Soldier. The Irish Ambassador to the United States will visit Butte Friday to speak with the chief executive and visit the archives.