Good morning; on the Beacon today, the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce will host the inaugural Great Northwest Oktoberfest on Oct. 14 through Oct. 17 at Depot Park, an event that promises to bring a little bit of Munich to Montana. Although Glacier High School volleyball coach Christy Harkins doesn’t have a player on her team who has ever won a state tournament match, she said she does have a roster full of talented athletes who understand how to win. A federal judge in Missoula is dismissing a lawsuit launched by gun rights advocates and states seeking freedom from federal gun laws. And Mick Holien asks whether the professional and collegiate sports scene come under more scrutiny than it has in recent months due to a number of instances of questionable judgment displayed by athletes.
Montana’s governor thinks Canadian-born director James Cameron should be aiming his criticism of Alberta’s oilsands at more deserving targets. A census report released this week shows that the gap between the richest and poorest Americans is wider than ever. President Barack Obama is making official what has been clear for days: Rahm Emanuel, the relentless enforcer of his agenda as White House chief of staff, is resigning. MSU officials say a record 13,559 students have enrolled at the university this fall. Opponents of Initiative 164, who want it yanked from the November ballot, on Thursday in a Polson courtroom painted a picture of a petition drive to qualify the measure that illegally conducted contests among signature gatherers, lied about the industry it would affect and notarized signatures before people actually signed the petition. The coming winter has a strong chance of being wetter and colder than normal, for the hunting, skiing and winter-sports crowd. Attorney General Steve Bullock argued Thursday that Montana’s law barring corporations from buying ads to help elect or defeat candidates is constitutional, because it doesn’t stop businesses from influencing the electoral process. Montana tax officials did a fair job of reappraising properties two years ago, but couldn’t always explain the specifics behind those values, according to the state Legislature’s government watchdog.