Anybody who follows the endlessly volatile wolf issue – and it’s hard not to follow it with all the news coverage – knows the greens won a big victory last month. Judge Donald Molloy of the U.S. District Court sided with Earthjustice and 12 conservation organizations and essentially relisted, albeit temporarily, the wolf as an […]

In the throes of a debate over how to best deal with the current $500,000 shortfall in Kalispell’s budget, city council member Tim Kluesner seized on an idea at a recent meeting, proposing that the city borrow some property tax revenue from tax increment finance districts to give the general fund a much-needed cash infusion. […]

BILLINGS – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday that his Republican rival, John McCain, deserves gratitude but not votes for his years of military service. Appearing before a largely partisan crowd of several hundred veterans and their families, Obama said that McCain, since leaving the military and joining the U.S. Senate, has not done […]

COLUMBIA FALLS – A Montana Highway Patrol trooper died in the line of duty in a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 2 near Columbia Falls, authorities said Wednesday. A second man also died in the Tuesday night crash, and a woman was gravely injured, said Lynn Solomon, a spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Justice […]

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK – The search for a hiker missing in the backcountry of Glacier National Park since last week will be scaled back. The National Park Service says that searchers have not been able to find any more clues about the fate of 27-year-old Yi-Jien Hwa of Louisville, Ky. He was reported missing on […]

HELENA – When Barack Obama comes to Billings on Wednesday, he will be hosting a town hall meeting with an invited group of veterans and military families. The visit is Obama’s final stop as he makes his way to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Obama is set to accept his party’s nomination on Thursday […]

Flathead County commissioners voted last week on two contentious policy issues stemming from a Montana Supreme Court ruling last January over a West Valley community group and a West Valley gravel pit. The commission voted 2-1 to approve a zoning text amendment that states all neighborhood plans are non-regulatory. In another 2-1 vote the same […]

Good morning and happy birthday Branford Marsalis. On the Beacon this morning, Flathead County Commissioners voted to weaken neighborhood plans, and make clear that such plans do not override zoning designations. The search for a missing backpacker in Glacier Park has been scaled back, with no sign of the missing 27-year-old man from Kentucky. Copperleaf […]

5:19 a.m. Music was blaring from a parked car. The owner of the car wound up in jail charged with his fourth DUI. 11:01 a.m. Someone stole a sign on Electric Avenue in Bigfork. 12:50 p.m. A 17-year-old boy was threatening his girlfriend and her family. 1:39 p.m. An employee at an Evergreen box store […]

A man wanted for a string of cabin break-ins in the Polebridge area has been arrested after apparently spending almost a week in the backcountry along the U.S.-Canadian border. John Lynn is accused of breaking into several cabins and shooting at the long-closed Trail Creek border station north of Polebridge. The 44-year-old Lynn is also […]

This year Montana students should expect more expensive lunches, fewer field trips and sparser classroom supplies because of a poor economy and high prices for food, fuel and energy. And unless the economy picks up soon, even bigger changes could be in store over the next couple of years. As the 2008-2009 school year kicks […]

HELENA – The state’s top education official says Montana students continue to score higher than the national average on the annual SAT college entrance exam. State Superintendent Linda McCulloch said Tuesday that Montana students scored on average a 541 in reading compared to a national average of 502. In math, Montana topped the national average […]

HELENA – A judge has finalized a $168 million settlement between the state and Atlantic Richfield Co. for cleaning up pollution in the upper Clark Fork River area. Attorney General Mike McGrath says the settlement, first announced earlier this year, was finalized this week. He says the state should start receiving payments from Arco within […]

GREAT FALLS – It should come as no surprise that 19-year-old Raphael Graybill of Great Falls is Montana’s youngest Democratic National Convention delegate. His father, Turner Graybill, held the same honor in 1972, also at age 19. The younger Graybill, a Great Falls High graduate and Barack Obama supporter, is one of four Great Falls […]

Flathead County authorities say they have recovered the body of a 25-year-old man who went missing while swimming in the south fork of the Flathead River. Flathead County Sheriff’s Cpl. GW Schneider says the body was recovered Saturday evening, a few hours after the man went missing. The man’s name has not been released pending […]