Good morning and happy birthday Al Martino! On the Beacon this morning, federal judge in Missoula sentenced Ralph Fox of Bigfork to 110 years in prison after being convicted for sexual exploitation of children and receipt of child pornography. The body of an Alaska man living in the Flathead washed up on the shore of […]

The body of an Alaska man living in the Flathead Valley was found Monday afternoon washed up on the shore of Woods Bay in Flathead Lake. The 43-year-old man’s name has not been released. The Flathead County sheriff’s office says the man was last seen Sunday evening fishing in Woods Bay from a personal watercraft. […]

12:27 a.m. After a divorced couple exchanged custody of a child in Columbia Falls, the woman threw a brick at the man’s car. 4:44 a.m. Deputies told a 23-year-old Kalispell man to sober up and go to bed. 4:54 a.m. A man said he saw three or four shadows outside his Kings Way home. He […]

FINLEY POINT – The sign for East Shore Smoke House is perched atop a towering tree trunk along Montana Highway 35. Written on it in bold letters are alliterative tributes to three of Jim Bassett’s most sacred pleasures in life: blues, booze and barbecue. “Those are the three things I like,” Bassett, East Shore’s owner, […]

A Michigan man was struck and killed by a pickup truck as he tried to flag down a passing motorist on U.S. Highway 2 near Kila. Flathead County sheriff’s deputies said the crash happened just after 4 a.m. Tuesday. The 78-year-old man died at the scene. His name hasn’t been released. Authorities say the man […]

The candy and party enthusiasts are already gearing up for Halloween. Then from there on we’ll slip quickly into Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and then February. This is an oversimplification, of course, but it’s how I often feel when faced with the rapid and overwhelming onslaught that is affectionately known as the holiday season. For […]

BILLINGS – Montana Republicans are reconsidering a plan to challenge more voter registrations in the state after Democrats filed a lawsuit to stop the practice. Last week, Republicans sent letters to election officials in seven counties, challenging the registrations of almost 6,000 voters because their listed addresses did not match a Postal Service database. GOP […]

The Kreck Riverwalk Trail in Columbia Falls is the next segment of the Columbia Falls Riverwalk trail to get some volunteer attention. On Saturday, October 18th, Task Force volunteers will be having a work day to begin work on the trail, and invite interested citizens to join them for the day, or just a few […]

HELENA – Monday is the last day Montanans can register early to vote, allowing voters to go to the polls Nov. 4 at their local precinct — but it’s not the last day you can register to vote in this election. In Montana, state law allows you to register up to and on Election Day. […]

Good morning; on this date in 1945 Billy Sianis placed the curse of the billy goat on the Chicago Cubs. How fitting. On the Beacon this morning, John Fraley, a spokesman for Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, has just finished his second book, about the history of the people who settled the Middle […]

MIAMI – Evel Knievel never denied his scrapes with the law — the late motorcycle daredevil often reveled in them. But even he objected to a 1970s FBI investigation of whether he was involved in a string of beatings. According to documents obtained by The Associated Press, the federal government came close to charging Knievel, […]

8:28 a.m. A woman on Maple Drive said a man has followed and taken pictures of her over the past several days. 9:04 a.m. Someone at a church camp called authorities to tell them a 9-year-old boy sat on and broke a volleyball net. 10:21 a.m. A patron at a local casino became upset for […]

At tonight’s public meeting, the Whitefish City Council will discuss text amendments to the critical areas ordinance clarifying its application to existing lots. Also at the meeting, which begins at 7:10 p.m. at City Hall, councilors will request nominations for a community interview panel to aid in the city manager selection process. At a work […]

BILLINGS – The Montana Democratic Party has filed a federal lawsuit to block Republicans from challenging the registrations of about 6,000 voters in the state. Republicans last week challenged the eligibility of the voters in seven Democratic-leaning counties. As a result, voters with out-of-state or out-of-county addresses will receive an affidavit asking them to verify […]

Now it’s getting ugly. As the campaign heads into the home stretch with Democrat Barack Obama pulling ahead into a solid lead, the candidates are going after each other’s character with attacks over unsavory figures in each man’s past. Republican John McCain is attacking Senator Obama on his connection to former anti-Vietnam War radical William […]