WASHINGTON – The government and the mortgage industry are set to announce the most sweeping effort yet to help troubled homeowners by speeding up the process for renegotiating hundreds of thousands of delinquent loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which seized control of the two mortgage finance companies […]

Max Baucus is a somewhat inscrutable member of Montana’ federal delegation. Despite his decades in Washington, D.C., dwarfing the tenure of his colleagues, Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg and fellow Democrat and freshman Sen. Jon Tester, it’s a little bit tougher to understand what makes Baucus tick. The fact that Baucus didn’t face a semblance of […]

There are a number of thoughtful essays being written, in the wake of Republicans’ calamitous national defeat one week ago, about the direction of the GOP, how it should spend its “time in the wilderness,” and how long that reluctant jaunt into the woods might last. Some of these essays are somber and thoughtful, like […]

HELENA – Republicans said Tuesday they will seek a re-count in a Kalispell state House race, hoping to break a 50-50 deadlock in the chamber. Last Tuesday, Montana voters chose an equal number of Republicans and Democrats to send to the state House and provisional ballots counted Monday did not change those results. But one […]

The Bonneville Power Administration has given the Flathead County sheriff’s department a $3,000 reward for its work investigating the theft of copper wire. Flathead officers arrested four people after a series of thefts from 11 power substations in northwestern Montana between October 2007 and March 2008. Three people have pleaded guilty to stealing the wire […]

It was the 11th hour of the 11th day, on the 11th month, for the 11th time. In 1997 Bigfork High School teacher Mary Sullivan spearheaded an effort to start up a Veteran’s Day Assembly. Sullivan says this event is created and designed by the students. Their chosen theme this year came from a quote […]

Use the arrows or click on the image to see pictures from Bigfork High School’s Veterans Day Assembly.

PARSHALL, N.D. – In this tiny reservation town a hundred miles from the Canadian border where temperatures once hit 60-below zero, a Southern twang is sometimes heard over the din at the local diner and there is talk of Texas tea beneath the streets. Roughnecks from Texas and Oklahoma have traveled here on hopes that […]

MISSOULA – A 19-year-old man has been arrested in Missoula on suspicion of trying to kidnap a woman. Jerry Magstadt is charged with attempted kidnapping and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Justice Court. A female University of Montana student says a man approached her Thursday night and asked if he could use her […]

Thanks Whitefish, you trusted me with more votes than I have ever garnered before, making us the top vote getter from the district. I will not forget my obligation to work for locals. Good folks stood by me during the most pessimistic campaigning by special interest groups we have ever seen in our towns’ history. […]

5:34 a.m. A window was busted out. 7:26 a.m. A laptop is missing from the Trumble Creek Road area. 7:29 a.m. A cow was hanging out near a church. 8:01 a.m. Someone found their home near Big Mountain trashed. Apparently an acquaintance, not a friend, is the culprit. 10:02 a.m. Coins and bills totaling $43 […]

Glacier National Park will offer a day of free admission to veterans, current members of the U.S. armed forces and their families tomorrow, in recognition of Veterans Day. The annual day without admission fees was designated in 2006 and applies to all other parks in the national system. National Public Lands Day, in September, also […]

Kalispell City Council meets tonight at 7 p.m. for an informal work session, at which no votes are allowed, to discuss the request by Super 1 Foods for a sign in Depot Park and to go over desired qualifications and salary offerings for a new city manager. Super 1 Foods is considering moving into the […]

Good morning; on this date in 1969, Sesame Street premiered. On the Beacon this morning, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says bear removals by officials managing grizzly populations are also the top cause of death among the bears, over the last decade. Flathead High’s Laurie Swindall is a proving a critical part of the […]

Football season is over in the Flathead. All of the valley’s remaining high school teams lost this past weekend in the playoffs, though a bit farther up north the Eureka Lions advanced to the Class B semifinals to face undefeated Huntley Project. In Class AA, the Flathead Braves fell to a tough Billings West team, […]