I imagine most people are still discussing last Tuesday’s historic election results, and all the implications of the massive and imminent change in leadership at the federal level. I hear people talk about taxes, about gun control, and about Rahm Emanuel’s “bulldog” reputation. (Along with bulls, bears, donkeys and elephants, the 2008 election saw dog […]

Over at Left in the West, Jay Stevens takes a look at CNN’s exit poll data on Montana and he “weep(s) for my generation.” The reason? Some of the numbers show an extremely resilient Republican electorate, despite the GOP getting swept in every statewide race. According to CNN, 60 percent of voters ages 30-44 voted […]

HELENA – Montana’s securities commissioner has ordered a Tennessee-based oil and gas development company, accused of defrauding Montana investors, to pay more than $657,000 in fines and restitution. Montana State Auditor John Morrison, who is also the securities commissioner, on Monday upheld the findings of an administrative hearing examiner who ordered fines of $510,000 and […]

Workers at the Flathead Lake Salmon Hatchery have gathered about three million eggs from Kokanee salmon in Lake Mary Ronan. The eggs will help the hatchery supply 1.2 million two-inch kokanee to waters in western Montana as well as eggs to other hatcheries, such as the Big Springs Trout Hatchery in Lewistown. Hatchery manager Mark […]

Open hockey is underway at the Woodland Park Ice Rink on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights and we need some more players to start coming out. Hockey kicks off at around 7:45 during the week, and at 6:30 Saturday evenings. I showed up for the first time this weekend, and we only had five people […]

A state board Monday authorized buying 160 acres to establish a state park and wildlife area on Flathead Lake’s north shore, a place that is on a Montana priority list for conservation. With the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission’s approval of the deal, authorization by the state Land Board is the last remaining step […]

About four years after the question first arose, the National Park Service issued a final rejection last week of a BNSF Railway proposal to blast snow in Glacier National Park’s avalanche chutes above train routes, leaving the question of what steps the railroad will take instead to mitigate danger from sliding snow. The decision denied […]

The Hockaday Museum of Art held its Return to the Garden gala at the Hilton Garden Inn this evening. One of the cool things about this event is that several local artists (painters in this case) bring a penciled in or otherwise partially completed work. During the reception, the event’s guests network and chat with […]

I get the impression that the French don’t like being outdone by anyone, especially the English and Americans. But that rule of thumb now appears to apply to Italians as well. In my last column, I wrote about the “scandalous” way I used rotini instead of spaghetti in making a pasta frittata. I got all […]

HELENA – Gov. Brian Schweitzer coasts into his second term with a big re-election endorsement, only tarnished a bit by his party’s inability to seize control of the Legislature and carry the state for Barack Obama, observers say. Schweitzer’s image as an up-and-coming Western star for the Democrats is likely to keep growing, despite a […]

Flathead High School’s Laurie Swindall has been playing volleyball now for nine years, and the senior credits her older sister for inspiring her to excel at the sport. She also takes the lessons learned on the court and applies them to her studies and everyday life. “When practice starts we all get in a group […]

GREAT FALLS – Bear managers have been the No. 1 killers of grizzlies in northwestern Montana over the past decade. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says “management removals” — the killing of bears, primarily for raiding food or killing cattle on private land — are responsible for 58 of the 179 grizzly bears people […]

A new option is opening up to help a forgotten need in the Flathead Valley: Intermountain is running an emergency children’s shelter for children up to 12 years old. “One of the things that’s been lacking in the Flathead County,” says Berni McDonald who is running the children’s shelter, “although it’s lower in population, we […]

MIDLOTHIAN, Va. – When 10-year-old Austin Smith heard Barack Obama had been elected president, he had one question: Does this mean I won’t get a new gun for Christmas? That brought his mother, the camouflage-clad Rachel Smith, to Bob Moates Sports Shop on Thursday, where she was picking out that special 20-gauge shotgun — one […]

HELENA – Four employees at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge are on paid suspension while the state Department of Corrections investigates an inmate’s allegations that prison staff subjected him to sexual misconduct, a spokesman for the department said Saturday. A fifth worker who also was suspended with pay has ceased employment with the […]