Good morning; on the Beacon today, each summer, since 1998, Mike Stebbins has hosted the Flathead Soccer Camp at his hayfield-turned-soccer field, featuring pedigreed coaches from across the world and from all levels: high school, club, college, English Premier League and World Cup. Although less sand and more oversight will be involved, horses hoping to emulate Hidalgo will compete in several equestrian endurance races July 17-18 on a ranch near Marion. Two issues that have sat on the back burner for much of this year were on the agenda at the Kalispell City Council work session Monday: a noise ordinance and a vicious dog ordinance, and the discussion on these topics picked up largely where it left off last year. A Lake County jury has convicted a transient of stealing a house in foreclosure by removing “for sale” signs, changing the locks and filing strange paperwork with the county claiming he purchased the house from Yahweh. And Mark Riffey advises on how to use slow periods to improve your business processes.
U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg is again defending a lawsuit against the city of Billings over the way firefighters dealt with a 2008 blaze that damaged a subdivision project developed by his company. But his Democratic opponent, Dennis McDonald, isn’t buying it. A 38-year-old man suspected in a 1992 murder in South Carolina has been arrested in Missoula, where authorities say he’s apparently been living for several years. Gov. Brian Schweitzer toured the Otter Creek coal tracts Tuesday with representatives of the company that paid the state $86 million just for the right to try and mine it. After days of progress on the Gulf of Mexico oil leak, BP said Wednesday that delays have temporarily stopped work beneath the water on both a stopgap solution and a permanent fix to the gusher. A preliminary report describing the airplane crash that killed four people near Perma last month was released on Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board. Liz Fowler, a key staffer for U.S. Sen. Max Baucus who helped draft the federal health reform bill enacted in March, is joining the Obama administration to help implement the new law. Sen. Trudi Schmidt, D-Great Falls, and other members of an interim legislative subcommittee examining ways to revise the state’s medical marijuana laws shared their frustrations with the current system at a legislative meeting this week.