Good morning; on the Beacon today, NorthWestern Energy officials met in Columbia Falls Wednesday to release the findings of an investigation on the May 6 house explosion that killed one of its employees. Check out this shot of Kalispell Firefighter Brian Rauch rescuing a dog from a building fire Wednesday afternoon as Debbie Huntington follows close behind at Stolte’s Pet Stop on U.S. Highway 93 between Kalispell and Whitefish. Judging by the number of registered racecars, this weekend’s Montana 200 will be among the biggest spectacles in Montana Raceway Park’s history. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester say two more energy companies have agreed to retire their leases in the North Fork watershed of Montana’s Flathead River. The Montana Highway Patrol says a 53-year-old Canadian man was killed when his Harley Davidson motorcycle crashed head-on into a car on U.S. Highway 2 in northwestern Montana. And Mick Holien catches up with Trey Young.
The state Department of Livestock says a yearling bison heifer on Ted Turner’s Flying D ranch has died after being exposed to naturally occurring anthrax. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes dedicated the Clairmont-designed Warrior/Veterans Wall of Remembrance at Eagle Circle in front of tribal headquarters in Pablo yesterday. The Billings fire chief is disputing the details of a lawsuit filed against the department by Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., over how it handled a range fire in 2008. Research by a Montana State University doctoral student and one of the nation’s top paleontologists is upending more than 100 years of thought regarding the dinosaurs known as triceratops and torosaurus. The sometimes-controversial founder of the Montana Caregivers Network pleaded not guilty in Municipal Court on Tuesday to two misdemeanor charges indirectly related to marijuana.