Good morning; on the Beacon today, Republican challenger Pam Holmquist ousted Democrat incumbent Joe Brenneman in the race for the Flathead County Commission District 2 seat, winning by a vote of 20,195 to 10,458. Republicans were victorious in legislative races across the valley as well. ALERT’s nurses, paramedics and pilots spent much of last week training on the two new systems, which should improve rescuers’ chances of locating avalanche victims. Coldwell Banker Wachholz and Co., one of Northwest Montana’s leading real estate companies, is shutting down its five offices on Nov. 5. The Kalispell City Council Monday denied an application by the Gateway Community Center for approximately $600,000 in tax increment funds to pay for improvements to the hub of social service and nonprofit agencies located on the west side.
U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg has ridden a wave of tea party-fueled conservative fervor and voter resentment of Democratic policies to a sixth term in Congress. Montanans have voted to put a 36 percent cap on payday loan interest rates and to block the government from imposing a certain real estate tax. Republicans were looking ahead to taking full control of the Legislature in 2011 as the bulk of the returns still trickling in early Wednesday favored their candidates. Republican Jay Doyle won a close and viciously fought race Tuesday with 38 percent of the vote to become Lake County’s next sheriff, defeating two detectives who work in the office. A pair of Republican political newcomers swept to victory in the two contested Public Service commissioner races Tuesday night, giving the GOP a 3-2 majority on the board that regulates utilities in the state. Helena attorney Beth Baker defeated Livingston Judge Nels Swandal on Tuesday to win an eight-year term on the Montana Supreme Court. In the state’s most expensive legislative race, Democrat Kendall Van Dyk was edging incumbent Republican Roy Brown by just 16 votes in final, unofficial results. In non-political news, Allen Goff, a teenager believed to be the leader of a local white supremacist group, was in jail Tuesday night after Billings police officers arrested him on suspicion of pointing a gun at a man and threatening to kill him. Three Montana hunters who suffered carbon monoxide poisoning while sleeping in a wall tent with a propane heater are recovering at a Salt Lake City hospital thanks to some young family members.