Good morning; on the Beacon today, Molly Priddy examines the precedent for using anonymous online comments as evidence in the Justine Winter homicide case. Art students from Flathead decorated and planted hundreds of pinwheels throughout the rainy day as a part of the Pinwheels for Peace project and to celebrate International Day of Peace. Flathead County’s unemployment rate decreased again in August, dropping to 10.2 percent from 10.8 percent a month prior. A scholarship has been set up in honor of a newspaper reporter, Melissa Hart Weaver, who died in a plane crash this summer. Columbia Falls High School’s boys soccer team has forfeited its season after a school investigation found that a majority of the Wildcats’ players violated the district’s drug and alcohol policy on a road trip.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer says Montana could gain $7 billion over the next three decades from the mining of Otter Creek coal near Ashland, and he wants the Legislature to consider earmarking some of that money for college students in the state and energy research. Home construction increased last month and applications for building permits also grew. A new study conducted at the University of Washington concludes that the Montana Meth Project, having spent millions of dollars on a now-famous advertising campaign, “has had no discernable impact on meth use.” A 73-year-old woman, Janet Vornbrock of Bigfork, has been arrested on suspicion of criminal endangerment after authorities say she caused two automobile crashes in two days. The Montana Board of Regents is set to decide Thursday whether to name UM Provost Royce Engstrom the university’s next president, and all indications point to an affirmative vote. NorthWestern Energy and consumer groups Tuesday presented their entire proposed settlement of an electric-and-gas rate case for NorthWestern’s 335,000 customers in Montana but regulators gave no indication whether they would accept it. Idaho’s U.S. senators will introduce a measure to lift Endangered Species Act protections from wolves in Idaho and Montana, as well as portions of Washington, Oregon and Utah. Bison advocates asked a federal judge Tuesday to order a new review of the Yellowstone National Park bison management plan, arguing the animals should be allowed to roam freely outside the park.