Good morning; on the Beacon today, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Deputies Union has passed a “no confidence” vote in Sheriff Mike Meehan. A third man arrested in connection with the Kalispell beating death of 49-year-old Wesley Collins was charged with evidence tampering after police say he helped murder suspects Jeffrey Nixon and Robert Lake dispose of the body. A 23-year-old Seeley Lake man faces charges for a hit-and-run crash that killed a bicyclist last summer on Highway 83 near Seeley Lake. On April 17, Gail Lynne Goodwin strapped on the bungee cords and flew around for an afternoon with the cast of the Cirque du Soleil show “Mystère” at their practice gym in Las Vegas. Kalispell city officials plan to meet with local business interests over the next month to seek proposals on using the approximately $1.8 million in funds from the Westside tax increment finance district. In the race for “fastest girl in the state” honors, the Flathead Valley has three frontrunners: Glacier senior Maddey Frey, Flathead sophomore Tess Brenneman and Bigfork junior Mallery Knoll.
June trial dates have been set for two bowling alley employees charged with serving alcohol after hours to a Columbia Falls man killed in a head-on crash with a Montana Highway Patrol trooper. A federal judge in Missoula will hear oral arguments on June 15 on whether gray wolves in Montana and Idaho should be removed from the list of federally protected species. Gov. Brian Schweitzer and his wife, Nancy, paid no federal income taxes and $1,252 in state income taxes for 2009. More than 2,700 members of the Army National Guard in Idaho, Montana and Oregon will be sent to Iraq for a yearlong deployment this fall. Seizing on Americans’ anger at Wall Street, Democrats are growing increasingly confident they’ll be able to break through Republican opposition and approve the most sweeping new controls on financial institutions since the Great Depression. Montana’s insurance regulator told lawmakers Monday that the state’s first role in implementing federal health care overhaul will go into place shortly. Glacier Park officials have released a new bear management plan after the unpopular killing of a sow and her cubs last August. Lee’s Jennifer McKee interviews Republican Congressional candidate A.J. Otjen. Gov. Brian Schweitzer didn’t consult with pharmacists before proposing to import prescription drugs to Montana from Canada, and the governor’s proposal raises more questions than it answers, said the chairwoman of the Montana Pharmacy Association on Monday.