More than two weeks after Election Day, plenty of elections aren’t settled. In the Flathead, a recount is scheduled for Tuesday in the race between Democrat Cheryl Steenson and incumbent Rep. Craig Witte, R-Kalispell. Steenson leads by 20 votes out of 4,044 cast. If the result were to flip, it would give control of the […]

A Kalispell man, trying to light wet firewood by pouring gasoline on it, ignited a structure fire that destroyed several Mountain Villa Apartments on West Reserve and US 93 North. The man, who has not been identified, was arrested on an outstanding warrant, but could also face charges of negligent arson, or criminal negligence. The […]

The U.S. Constitution requires that all people receive the equal protection of the laws. “Equal Justice Under Law” appears over the main entry to the U.S. Supreme Court in our nation’s capitol. If folks cannot reasonably access their courts, I believe it goes without saying that equal protection of the laws and equal justice under […]

Plum Creek Timber Co. announced Friday that it is laying off 64 employees at its Kalispell plywood plant and an additional five employees in Columbia Falls in response to waning demand from customers. The move eliminates one of three rotating shifts at the Kalispell plant and reduces its output capacity by 20 percent, according to […]

Live Music: Friday: Can’t Hardly Playboys at Red’s; Dan Dubuque at The Cottage; Good Wood Trio at Blue Canyon; Kiniption Fit at Great Northern; A Street Band at The Salish; Sonny King at Blue Moon; Mobile Beat DJ at Red’s Saturday: Good Wood Trio at Mountain Mall; Craig Wickham at The Lodge; Jack Waller Trio […]

Use the arrow or click on the image to see pictures from NY Dolls Fashion Show at Red’s Wines and Blues. The show featured casual and holiday fashions from Savannah’s Boutique of Whitefish and Fawn Boutique of Kalispell.

The volleyball season is over for Flathead, Glacier and Polson. Each lost today in loser-out matches at the state tournament in Bozeman. Flathead lost to Great Falls this morning (25-21, 15-25, 26-24, 25-18) in the Class AA tourney. Two hours later, Glacier lost to C.M. Russell (22-25, 25-21, 23-25, 26-24, 15-9). In the Class A […]

You can’t help but love the lede of this humorous piece in Politico about the former Baucus aide doing the hiring for the new Obama administration: Want a staff job in Barack Obama’s White House? Pretend to be from Montana. That’s the advice from North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, whose former chief of staff Jim […]

“In 2008, for the first time in history, more people will live in cities than in rural areas. One-third of these urban dwellers – more than 1 billion people – live in slums.” These are the opening words of Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen’s multimedia exploration of the world’s slums, The Places We Live. From 2005 […]

Authorities say two men have died in separate vehicle crashes near Kalispell. Trevor Osler, 21, of Kalispell, was killed when his vehicle rolled over on Montana 35 near the Flathead River at about 1 a.m. Wednesday. Eight hours later, an 84-year-old Whitefish man was killed in a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Whitefish Stage […]

HELENA – Gov. Brian Schweitzer says the owner and operator of a coal mine near Roundup will host one or more job fairs for Stillwater Mine workers facing job loss. Stillwater, a producer of platinum and palladium, recently gave 60-day layoff notices to 526 employees at the company’s East Boulder mine. Schweitzer says he requested […]

Following a slow start, deer hunting in northwest Montana has picked up over the past two weeks, due more to the arrival of rutting season than favorable weather conditions. A lack of snowfall continues to hurt productivity in some areas, and check station counts for whitetail bucks and total mule deer are still well below […]

Good morning and happy birthday Vice President-elect Joe Biden. On the Beacon this morning, hunting harvest numbers are lagging so far, due mainly to the mild temperatures and lack of snow. The economic downturn is making it tougher for developers on Kalispell’s north side to lock down commercial retail tenants. Two men died in separate […]

Over at FlatheadMemo.com, local blogger James Conner crunches the numbers on the two state House district recounts, and the likelihood of those recounts causing a flip in election results. One of the tightest races in the state was Kalispell’s House District 8, where Democratic newcomer Cheryl Steenson beat incumbent Republican Craig Witte by just 20 […]

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is taking public comment on a proposal to establish a public fishing access site at Lake Five, near Glacier National Park. A different Lake Five site proposed a few years ago led to a lawsuit, and a court injunction against using that location. A new environmental assessment […]