A former Kalispell school employee accused of embezzling school activity money has pleaded guilty. Forty-five-year-old Cynthia Upwall appeared in District Court on Thursday and pleaded to felony theft. Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan says Upwall has admitted stealing $17,500. Auditors verified that about $15,000 in school funds were missing. The Kalispell School District hired Upwall […]

In 2000, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s summary of national waters reported that about 40 percent of streams, 45 percent of lakes and 50 percent of estuaries that were assessed were not clean enough to support fishing and swimming; polluted mostly by sediments, excess nutrients and harmful microorganisms. Could that happen in Bigfork? At present, […]

For 11 college students living and studying in the Swan Valley for eight weeks, conservation is more than just science and fieldwork. It involves a lot of socializing: chatting with the locals and immersing themselves in the community. It’s called cooperative conservation. The students are part of a field-semester program called Landscape and Livelihood, which […]

When Elaine White was a child, she’d tag along with her mother to hang out at church with the quilting ladies. “I’d sit under the quilt frame and watch the designs take shape from underneath,” she recalls. Years later, White found herself as co-chair for the 2008 Flathead Quilters Guild’s annual show at the Flathead […]

8:29 a.m. A weapon and a computer were reported stolen from a home west of Whitefish. 10:37 a.m. A repossessed car was damaged. The former owners broke taillights and may have even tried to light it on fire. 10:39 a.m. A contractor is accused of stealing building supplies. 11:28 a.m. There was an injured cat […]

Love controversy but feeling weary of politics? Me too, which is why I am fascinated this week by a story in this week’s Wall Street Journal about a small but growing backlash in the music community by Metallica fans who say the super-group’s new album, “Death Magnetic,” sounds awful. It’s not that the music’s bad […]

Live Music: Friday: Can’t Hardly Playboys at Red’s; Dan Dubuque at The Cottage; Heavy T & The Grooves at Scotty’s; Blue Stone at Great Northern; Good Wood Trio at Blue Canyon; DJ Q at Finish Line; Sonny King at Blue Moon; Mobile Beat DJ at Red’s Saturday: Craig Wickham at Belton Chalet; Andre Floyd at […]

WASHINGTON – Documents show officials with the Environmental Protection Agency prepared in April 2002 to declare a public health emergency over asbestos contamination in Libby, but changed their minds around the same time they met with the White House. The documents and e-mails were obtained from the EPA and released Wednesday by U.S. Sen. Max […]

In the first two weeks of September, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks specialists killed three wolves in the Murphy Lake pack for attacking cattle on private land. Over the previous month, the wolves killed seven calves and injured three, according to FWP. In early August, the pack killed three calves and one adult cow on […]

Good morning and happy birthday William Faulkner. On the Beacon this morning, documents released by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., show the Environmental Protection Agency scuttled plans to declare Libby’s asbestos contamination a public health emergency in 2002 after meeting with White House officials on the matter. A wolf pack near Fortine that has recently […]

A day after a jury slapped John Stokes with a $3.8-million lawsuit for defamation, the controversial radio personality got on the air and said he’s not going anywhere. “We will continue,” Stokes assured listeners. “We’re not going out of business. The towers are still standing.” But if the Flathead County District Court jury’s decision stands […]

It used to be that post-World War II recessions in the United States were the bad part of plain vanilla business cycles – inventories had piled up too high as a result of too few sales, or the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and slowed the supply of new money into the economy to battle […]

I have had a love affair with high-speed sailboats ever since I bought my first catamaran in 1962. I would ride waves at San Onofre and it had powerful enough sails to tow a water skier when the wind blew hard enough. I continued to race catamarans for the next 22 years. Even with my […]

Lucas Moyer-Horner crams his arm under a truck-sized boulder and pulls out a handful of peppercorn-like pellets. The dark brown scat belongs to a small animal that looks like a fur-covered Russet potato. American pikas inhabit high alpine talus slopes – rugged, steep places most people fear to tread, but Moyer-Horner scampers over like he’s […]

5:57 a.m. A man that was taking a nap under a picnic table behind a Montana Highway 35 business was told to scram. 8:41 a.m. An 11-year-old boy was bit by a dog near Lost Creek Drive. 11:47 a.m. Authorities were trying to locate a man who was seen cutting antlers off a deer that […]