Good morning; on the Beacon today, a contractor who is facing 15 felonies in Washington and has been accused of improper business dealings in at least two other states is now operating in Montana, leading to complaints from homeowners and former employees who say they’ve been swindled. Authorities are investigating after a backpack full of dynamite was found under a bridge near the Whitefish River in northwestern Montana. Flathead County Commission awarded the bid for construction of the first stage of Bigfork’s new stormwater system last week, but construction won’t begin until next spring after a Bigfork landowner filed a protest with the state over the scope of the project’s environmental assessment. And Wild Bill Schneider speaks directly to cyclists, not motorists, on the prickly relationship between the two.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Wednesday that big Republican wins in the state House won’t change his plans for the budget or state policy, and he promised to form a broad coalition to get state business done. A group of children waiting for their school bus Wednesday morning got a shock when they spotted a mountain lion in a field just 200 feet from their stop along a rural route. At least two payday lenders in Billings are closing after voters overwhelmingly approved an initiative to cap interest rates on payday and title loans at 36 percent. Montana Republicans won control of the 2011 Legislature in stunning fashion in Tuesday’s election, surprising even themselves by picking up 18 seats to craft a 68-32 majority in the Montana House. Candidates for leaders of the 2011 Legislature began surfacing publicly Wednesday, with Sen. Jim Peterson, R-Buffalo, the likely Senate president, and Rep. Mike Milburn, R-Cascade, the probable speaker of the House. The day after Republicans won two Public Service Commission seats to give the GOP a majority on the regulatory board, its only current Republican — Commissioner Brad Molnar of Laurel — said he expects to become the PSC’s next chairman when the new commissioners are sworn in next January.