Good morning; on the Beacon today, when Dawn Prince marches through Kalispell as the grand marshal of the Montana Pride Celebration, scheduled for June 18-20, joined by her family, partner, and members of the state’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, it will be with some satisfaction at witnessing the steps forward the gay community has taken in the state since she was an adolescent growing up in Eureka. Four wild horses were released onto Wild Horse Island in Flathead Lake on Tuesday afternoon – the first time in seventeen years since any horses have been placed there. Flathead County authorities say charges of kidnapping and rape have been dismissed against a 27-year-old Flathead Valley man. A New York City-based identity theft ring victimized more than 200 people nationwide, including soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas, whose information was stolen as they served in Iraq and Afghanistan, authorities said Wednesday. And Wild Bill Schneider calls opposition by some environmentalists to the Swan Crest endurance race overkill.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration has issued two citations stemming from a fatality in January at the Signal Peak Mine south of Roundup. A 25-year-old Missoula man accused of stabbing his roommate to death during a drunken fight and dumping the body into the Clark Fork River was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison. President Barack Obama’s renewed call for more stimulus spending as insurance against a double-dip recession hit a roadblock in the Senate on Wednesday, the victim of election-year anxiety over huge federal deficits. Montana Sen. Jon Tester was among those providing opposition, proposing a cut in unemployment benefits. Claiming delay tactics, NotMyBathroom.com filed a lawsuit this week in Missoula County District Court over its bid to get a petition off the ground to strike down the equality ordinance. Montana’s official water watchers confirmed Wednesday what almost anyone living here already knows: June has been really wet. The northern tier of the country, including Montana, continued to see slow but steady economic improvement through the first several months of 2010, with similar trends expected for the next 12 months, a pair of Minneapolis economists said Wednesday.