12:06 a.m. What sounded like an alarm going off at a school on Fairmount Road turned out to be a broken school bell. 2:50 a.m. Yelling kids were reported near Hungry Horse. 10:32 a.m. A 61-year-old woman was bleeding from the head and neck after she was run over by a car in Bigfork. 11:11 […]

In a three-hour work session Monday night, Kalispell City Council failed to make substantial progress toward balancing the budget in a way that would avoid any further job cuts. Instead, the council opted to delay a vote on a city budget until the end of the month and continue to look at alternatives in a […]

For those of you unfamiliar with the Montana Radio Café at 101.9 FM, I’m sorry. I believe it’s the most unique radio station in the state, not to mention my favorite. I say, thanks, Scott Johnston for giving us the blues. We need them, just like we need the Café’s jazz, bluegrass, folk and global […]

Charges have been filed against the Kalispell owners of a pit bull that allegedly mauled a neighbor and then charged police, who shot the dog. David and Summer German are each charged with one count of negligent endangerment and two counts of having a dog at large. They are scheduled to appear in Municipal Court […]

Flathead County animal control officers are investigating the deaths of five puppies found drowned in the Flathead River west of Bigfork. Three puppies were found Monday wrapped in a bedsheet while two others had been found in the same area days earlier. Animal control officer Paul Charbonneau says he believes the days-old puppies were part […]

After 17 months missing, two Kalispell children allegedly abducted by their mother were returned to their father and hometown last week. Valerie Dunkle, 45, was arrested Friday, Aug. 29 after the Kalispell Police Department received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that she and the children were staying at the […]

8:03 a.m. Three pit bulls were locked in a vehicle parked at a trailer park. 8:19 a.m. An inflatable raft was found in Bigfork. 8:20 a.m. There’s an abandoned camper trailer on the west side of Columbia Falls. 10:27 a.m. A controlled substance stolen from the medication room at an assisted living facility is thought […]

Good morning and happy birthday to Star Trek, the first episode of which premiered on this date in 1966. On the Beacon this morning, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden campaigned at Flathead High school Sunday, and if you weren’t there, Lido Vizzutti’s photo slideshow provides a good glimpse into the atmosphere in the gymnasium. […]

Last month, I paid $8.99 (a month’s dues for Netflix) for the pleasure of having the DVD “Munich” sit on my coffee table for three-and-a-half weeks. When I put the film at the top of my Netflix queue, I had every intention of watching the semi-fictionalized drama, which depicts the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes […]

WASHINGTON – A half-million American Indian plaintiffs are appealing a federal judge’s recent decision to award them much less than they wanted in a long-running trust case. U.S. District Judge James Robertson said in an Aug. 7 decision that the plaintiffs are entitled to $455 million, a fraction of the $47 billion that they had […]

Ron Paul’s name will appear on the Montana presidential ballot as the Constitution Party nominee, along with running mate Michael Peroutka, according to a spokesman at the Montana Secretary of State’s office. Jonathan Martin, state chairman of the Constitution Party of Montana confirmed that he submitted the paperwork for Ron Paul’s presidential candidacy Friday. The […]

OK, I’ve about had it up to here with restaurants and food manufacturers claiming that the white goopy stuff they’re peddling is Caesar dressing. It’s not. Real Caesar salad dressing is almost clear – maybe with a little brownish yellow tint because there should be an egg yolk and dissolved anchovies, along with some Worcestershire […]

COLUMBIA FALLS – Since soccer became a Class A sport in 2001, Columbia Falls and Whitefish have won six out of seven state championships for boys and three out of seven for girls. It’s a regional dominance nearly unheard of in Montana high school athletics. The years when a team other than Columbia Falls or […]

GREAT FALLS – District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock will again hear arguments regarding funding for Montana’s schools during a bench trial in Helena that begins Sept. 22. The Montana Quality Education Coalition, the Montana Rural Education Association and other education groups renewed their lawsuit against the state in February, arguing the state has failed to come […]

Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph Biden walked up to the lectern before an audience of nearly 2,000 in Flathead High School, and told the group gathered there they were “crazy” for crowding into a hot gymnasium to hear him speak on a sunny Sunday afternoon. “A magnificent day like this, in the most magnificent place […]