Good morning; on the Beacon today we write about how, competing in a global market, Flathead’s farmers are small fish in a huge pond, and to carve out a livelihood, many get creative. Flathead High Head Football Coach Russell McCarvel is looking to his class of 19 seniors for leadership as the Braves try to improve upon last year’s 2-8 record. Kalispell’s SD5 has 33 new hires this year. For 22 teachers in that group, the 2010-2011 school year represents their first year of experience in their respective positions. Jesse Rumsey, an assistant cross country coach at Flathead High School and an organizer of the program, said runners from Glacier and Flathead high schools will help teach elementary- and middle-school students the benefits of running at the Highlander Cross Country camp beginning on Sept. 7. And WIld Bill Schneider relates how most people who take their dogs into the wilderness don’t get it.
A 104-year-old heiress, Huguette Clark, to a Montana copper mining fortune — now living in a New York hospital room — is at the center of a criminal investigation into her fortune and welfare, two people familiar with the probe told The Associated Press. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told concerned locals Wednesday that there may be a way to salvage an underused crossing post in Whitetail that was left in the lurch amid a multimillion renovation when the Canadians closed their side of the border. Oil company ConocoPhillips is appealing an Idaho judge’s ruling this week that revoked special state permits allowing four oversized loads of oil refinery equipment through a federally protected river corridor. New requests for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, the first decline in a month and a hopeful sign after a raft of negative economic reports. Classes begin next week on Montana’s college campuses, but less than half of the brightest students coming out of Montana’s high schools last spring will be sitting in those classrooms. The federal “jobs bill” passed this month by Congress allocates $30.7 million for Montana public schools — but it’s uncertain whether or how schools may get the money this year.