HELENA – Crouching in a forest as the sun rose on the Continental Divide west of Helena, hunter Russell Ferebee listened to elk bugling and hoped one would draw near enough for him to shoot it — not with a gun, but with a bow and arrow. Ferebee stayed close to the ground, his camouflage […]

Good morning and happy birthday Martin Scorsese! On the Beacon this morning, a new bead shop in Kalispell will teach jewelry making. A man has purchased part of Kalispell’s Old Steel Bridge to span the Stillwater River for bicycle and pedestrian access. In Faces this week, we feature Kayla Smart, a senior defensive specialist on […]

Staff members from the Montana Historical Society will be at the Glacier Discovery Square in Columbia Falls tomorrow for a training seminar and discussion about digital archiving projects. The free presentation will include the basics of how to start a project, project management and what to collect. The Montana Memory Project is a collection of […]

The Glacier Lady Wolfpack enter this week’s Class AA state volleyball tournament riding a five-game conference winning streak and claiming the No. 3 seed. The Flathead Braves head into the tournament as a decided underdog against three-time defending champion Billings Senior. The Lady Wolfpack face Eastern AA’s No. 2 seed Billings West on Thursday at […]

GREAT FALLS – As workers scramble to build an $800 million coal-fired power plant on a patch of farmland here, a crisis that began on faraway Wall Street threatens to stretch the nation’s power supplies to the brink — driving up prices and laying the stage for future shortages. The power industry is under extraordinary […]

GREAT FALLS – Officials on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation are partnering with a Denver-based company in looking for oil on reservation lands along the Rocky Mountain Front. Anschutz Exploration Corp. is putting up the money for the exploration. The tribe’s investment is covered by putting up the land for exploration wells, said tribal Chairman Willie […]

Each year the University of Missouri School of Journalism administers the College Photographer of the Year (CPOY) contest. It’s always exciting to see what kind of pictures young photographers are making and I’m always reminded of how insightful their visions can be. It’s an incredible mix of talent and hard work. National Press Photographers Association […]

When flagging interest threatened to terminate both of Whitefish Mountain Resort’s freestyle and snowboard teams, long-time freestyle coach Steve Knox invented a solution. Last year, he combined the two teams and refocused the coaching instruction targeting what lots of the kids on the mountain were doing—jibbing in the park. “Were all about jibbing,” he says. […]

Kalispell City Council meets tonight at 7 p.m. to assess several requests that could alter the landscape of southern Kalispell. First, council will hold a public hearing on whether to amend the city’s growth policy to change 550 acres south of Kalispell to accommodate a large commercial and residential development, Siderius Commons. The Gardner family […]

As the popularity of biomass energy grows throughout the forest-rich areas of the Northwest United States, Montana has cemented its position as the standard-bearer for a large six-state effort called the Fuels for School and Beyond Program. The Big Sky state has nine of the 14 biomass boilers currently operating under the program, including ones […]

EUREKA – A Eureka man has pleaded guilty to two counts of assault on a police officer in a drug-fueled shooting spree in May. Harry Sultzer III pleaded guilty on Nov. 3. His sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 3. Prosecutors say Sultzer was under the influence of drugs on May 20 when he pointed a […]

HELENA –The Montana Republican Party has hired Alden Downing as the party’s new communications director. State GOP Chairman Erik Iverson made the announcement Monday. Downing was campaign spokeswoman for Republican gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown and before that was Capitol bureau chief and political reporter for KFBB-TV in Great Falls and KULR-TV in Billings. The 24-year-old […]

HELENA – Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s proposed budget was criticized Monday by education advocates for spending too little on schools — while Republicans said it spends too much. The Montana School Boards Association is telling members the governor’s proposed budget will force school districts to cut programs or seek increases in local property taxes. Executive Director […]

Who says Bush is a lame duck!?! According to a press release I just received, Pres. Bush has just appointed Lee Greenwood, the country western music star best known for writing and performing “God Bless the U.S.A.” to the National Endowment for the Arts Council to serve a six-year term. Dubya’s appointment really sticks it […]

There’s a sort of unwritten and unspoken code among chefs that as long as you give credit where credit is due, sharing a recipe is no big deal. Most of us have no problem. Note that I said most. There are a few exceptions. One restaurant where I was co-executive chef actually made me sign […]