Live Music: Friday: Can’t Hardly Playboys at Red’s; Dan Dubuque at The Cottage; Mike Dowling at KM Theater; Russ Nasset and the Revelators at Great Northern Bar; Bluestone Trio at Blue Canyon; Good Wood Trio at Scotty’s; Smart Alex at Ricciardi’s; DJ Que at the Finish Line; Sonny Q at the Blue Moon; DJ Mobile […]

BIGFORK – When Jon Tester stood up in front of a class of Bigfork High School students last week, the first question he answered dealt with a decision upon which he would be questioned and congratulated almost continuously over the course of the day he spent in the Flathead: his vote against the $700-billion bailout […]

KALISPELL – A $60,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver of a car that caused a crash on U.S. Highway 2 that killed a Montana Highway Patrol officer and two others. Tim Blixseth, a former timber baron and founder of the exclusive Yellowstone Club golf and […]

GREAT FALLS – Workers have begun construction of a cooling tower for a coal-fired power plant near Great Falls. A formal groundbreaking is planned for next week, but workers with Wickens Construction of Lewistown began some earth-moving work Wednesday. Scrapers dug an area where the foundation of the plant’s cooling tower will be located on […]

BONNER – A Missoula real estate developer bought most of the shuttered Bonner sawmill’s assets this week with the eventual goal of buying the entire 155-acre property. Scott Cooney and several unnamed investors had bought most of the mill by the second day of a two-day auction Wednesday that was held by Portland-Ore.-based Stimson Lumber […]

HELENA – New campaign finance reports show U.S. Sen. Max Baucus and U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg continue to raise significant amounts of money for their re-election campaigns. Baucus, a Democrat, raked in another $460,000 in contributions for the quarter. His campaign says total receipts exceeded $570,000 when other income such as interest on savings is […]

HELENA – Gov. Brian Schweitzer committed Wednesday to seeking a decrease on the business equipment tax if re-elected, but maintains that most of his budget proposals will come after the election. Schweitzer says full details on his plans will come only when he is required by law on Nov. 15 to submit an executive budget. […]

Good morning; happy birthday to singer, songwriter and ladies man John Mayer. On the Beacon this morning, as Sen. Jon Tester traveled through the valley last week, the questions asked of him reflected not only public opinion toward the bailout bill, but also the concern many in the Flathead feel about their economic security. Tester […]

8:35 a.m. A rock somehow made it through a window on Ninth Street West in Columbia Falls. 9:26 a.m. Transients have taken over an abandoned home on Nicholson Drive in Evergreen. There is no running water, working heat, or sewer system. The Health Department thinks it is a health hazard. 10:11 a.m. For once, neighbors […]

Terms are expiring for many City of Whitefish volunteer boards. The City is searching for volunteers to fill 11 positions on eight boards by the end of this year. “We’d like to hear from folks,” said City Clerk Necile Lorang. In some years, Lorang sees a large response for volunteer board openings, but this year, […]

It can only rain this hard in Washington, Oregon or Guadalcanal. The tires aquaplaned on the river running down the middle of the eastbound highway headed for Mount Hood, just east of Portland. We had passed dozens of automobile agencies that were devoid of customers and drowning in unsold merchandise. For a weekend, at least, […]

There can be no doubt about the historical significance of Friday night’s gridiron match-up between cross-town rivals Glacier and Flathead. The grandeur goes beyond the rivalry itself, which is in its second year and appears poised to produce a much more competitive game than last season. The evening also carries the weight of goodbyes – […]

Pity Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher of Ohio, who in our terrifying media culture has made the term “overnight celebrity” literal. After being mentioned 15 times in Wednesday night’s presidential debate, Wurzelbacher found 21 reporters and cameramen in his driveway by mid-morning Thursday. The sensation over this swing-state, aspiring small business owner says more about the […]

KALISPELL – A third-grader who admitted smoking marijuana in the boy’s restroom at school is one of the first students to have been disciplined under the Whitefish School District’s new suspicion-based drug testing policy. Superintendent Jerry House says no one saw the boy smoking pot, but teachers could smell the smoke. Because teachers keep track […]

CHEYENNE – Wyoming lawmakers, many openly expressing frustration with the federal government, plan to meet this week to discuss how the state should proceed on wolf management. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Montana on Tuesday signed an order reinstating federal endangered species protection for gray wolves in the northern Rockies. The U.S. Fish and […]