Good morning; on the Beacon today, Ryan Malby won Missoula’s Canyon River Golf Pro-Am July 7 by six strokes, shooting a 61 and breaking the course record. Don Collins, a fourth-generation Flathead Valley resident, has owned and operated Montana Emu Ranch Company along with his wife, Penni, since 1993. A federal judge on Thursday reinstated Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Montana and Idaho, saying the government made a political decision in removing the protections from just two of the three states where Rocky Mountain wolves roam. And Mick Holien writes about his impressions so far of new Griz football Head Coach Robin Pflugrad.
Companies showed a lack of confidence about hiring for a third straight month in July, making it likely the economy will grow more slowly the rest of the year. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent. Wildlife advocates say a ruling to restore Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves throughout the Northern Rocky Mountains buys time to create a better plan than the one the judge rejected, one that ensures their numbers don’t dwindle again. The Senate confirmed Elena Kagan Thursday as the Supreme Court’s 112th justice and the fourth woman in its history, granting a lifetime term to a lawyer and academic with a reputation for brilliance, a dry sense of humor and a liberal bent. A report by two U.S. senators is criticizing 100 federally funded “stimulus” projects — including one at Montana State University and another in Helena — saying the projects have neither created nor saved jobs. A measure that would ban federal-land mining along Glacier National Park’s western edge has passed a major Senate hurdle, and has been expanded to provide water-quality protections for nearby communities. A global warming author and Bitterroot resident, Marty Essen, launched TurnOffFoxNews.com, a website aimed at encouraging others to join him in a campaign to convince business owners to choose another channel on their televisions. Montana stands to receive at least $68 million in federal money under the $26 billion state aid bill passed by the U.S. Senate Thursday and expected to be approved by the House next week. The Canadian company that wants to build an oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico responded to critics Thursday by dropping its proposal to run the pipeline at a higher pressure level and agreeing to follow U.S. safety standards for the project.