HELENA – The state labor department says unemployment in Montana last month rose to 4.6 percent, compared to a national rate of 6.1 percent. Unemployment in Montana was 4.4 percent in August and 4 percent in July. State Labor Commissioner Keith Kelly calls Montana’s September rate “well within normal.” He says Montana is not immune […]

Every month, Montana West Economic Development offers an interactive lunch program with an expert speaking on various aspects of starting and running a growing business. They call them “E2”, or “Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur”. Typically there is a speaker, lunch and some discussion and networking during the session. Every one that I’ve been to has been […]

The lingo was unfamiliar, but the smiles were not. In a weekend filled with QSOs, CQs, Elmers, a little bit of Morse Code and additional ham radio lingo, Scouts from across the valley enjoyed the 51st annual World Scout Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) Friday night and Saturday at Montana Council’s Grizzly Base Camp near […]

BILLINGS – Financing prospects for large-scale energy projects in Montana have dimmed with the crisis on Wall Street, but some that already are under way should proceed as planned, state officials and developers said. Across Montana, new transmission lines, pipelines, wind farms and coal and natural gas projects are proposed or under construction. Montana Gov. […]

The relentless search for oil has led explorers to the boreal forest of northeastern Alberta, among the jack pines and black spruce trees an hour’s drive from the boom town of Fort McMurray. Kelly Hansen, operations manager at ConocoPhillips’s $1 billion Surmont oil-sands plant, holds up the prize: a beaker of sticky black “synbit,” a […]

Good morning; today is the anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. On the Beacon this morning, if you didn’t catch this over the weekend, Kalispell City Manager Jim Patrick was fired Friday morning by the city council and mayor. The Columbia Falls boy scouts learned the lingo from the Flathead Valley Amateur Radio Club over the […]

In this last regular season home game of 2008, the Cats showed the home crowd that they were in fine form. If you blinked and missed the first quarter on this unseasonably-warm night in CFalls, you weren’t alone. Bigfork might have wished they missed it as well. When the second quarter began, Mackey Nolan already […]

8:31 a.m. A Trumble Creek Road man found two of his horses dead. He thinks a mountain lion is responsible. 10:28 a.m. Four black bears were in a yard near a state park in Whitefish. 1:36 p.m. Eight Democratic political signs were stolen on Clark Drive in Kalispell. 1:39 p.m. More Democratic political signs were […]

Amanda Milliard has had a 4.0 since she was a freshman. Maintaining a perfect grade point average takes dedication, vision and an enormous work ethic. These are the same traits that make Milliard a powerhouse on the Columbia Falls volleyball team. “Each and every day I find challenges,” said Milliard. “And there are ups and […]

Vicki Cocchiarella, a Democratic state senator for Missoula, had no problems shepherding Senate Bill 489 through the 2007 Legislature, receiving the support of 135 out of 150 lawmakers. But that was then and this is now. The bill, which will appear on ballots around the state Nov. 4 as Constitutional Amendment No. 44, asks the […]

On Friday, a Pennsylvania man was the first to eat the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser: a 15-pound burger that, with toppings and a bun, came to a total weight of 20.2 pounds. When asked why he ate a burger that big, Brad Sciullo said simply, “I wanted to see if I could.” Besides making me […]

HELENA – School groups want a judge to tell the state it does not adequately fund schools and hasn’t met the requirements of the court’s 4-year-old school funding ruling. The Montana Quality Education Coalition argued Monday that the state has not done everything needed to satisfy a District Court decision that declared the state’s school […]

RIVERTON, Wyo. – Wyoming lawmakers considered their options in recent days about how the state could regain management authority over gray wolves, but they have not made any decisions yet on how to proceed. The Legislature’s Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee met Thursday in Cody and Friday in Riverton to hear from […]

HELENA – Sen. Max Baucus says he will lead the effort to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, which he describes as overpriced and lacking consistent quality. The Montana Democrat said he will not support a system in which the government covers all consumers equally, a system typically known as “single payer.” “We are Americans; we’re […]

HELENA – Montana college students received $45 million in education loans from the Montana Higher Education Student Assistance Corp. and its lending partners this fall, and the corporation says tumult in the student-loan industry will not prevent additional lending. MHESAC posted an operating loss of $8 million for the fiscal year that ended on June […]