Good morning; on the the Beacon today, facing an onslaught of new regulation sure to be passed by the 2011 Legislature, Montana’s medical marijuana growers and caregivers are attempting to put a new face on their industry. The Kalispell City Council will continue deliberating the future of a controversial west side facility for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts following a work session Monday where little consensus was evident. A timber expert from the University of Montana painted an expectedly bleak picture of the state of the forest industry at the 38th annual gathering of the Montana Wood Products Association, though he highlighted several key market opportunities on the horizon.
A revised Helena schools sex education plan was bashed Tuesday by opponents as teaching too much too soon, but lauded by supporters as necessary instruction. A conservative group that claimed it was unfairly banned from a state employee charity campaign will be allowed to participate after a settlement with the state. The commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference says the University of Montana is “high on our list” as the league looks for new members. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Tuesday it will take steps to close a little-used border Montana post that was in the midst of an $8.5 million stimulus-funded makeover when Canada announced it would shut its side of the crossing. What was believed to be a simple Yellowstone Lake ecosystem limited by the frigid snowmelt that feeds the lake actually contains thousands of species living off nutrients provided by geothermal features below the surface, researchers have found. The smoldering dispute over the National Bison Range re-erupted in a Washington, D.C., federal courtroom Tuesday. Montana and Idaho could win back state management of gray wolves through legislation offered by Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester late Tuesday. The owner of a Missoula tattoo parlor pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony count of sexual assault for abusing a female relative over the course of a seven-year period. The salaries of top executives at regulated utilities in Montana will be public information — if the state Public Service Commission possesses that information as part of its regulatory duties. And a judge running for the state Supreme Court has given a man accused of assaulting a woman a sentence with an unusual twist.