Good morning and happy birthday to the late, great Louis Armstrong. On the Beacon this morning, a federal judge has halted helicopter logging on a portion of the Kootenai Forest out of concern over its potential effect on grizzly bear habitat. In Polson, Rich Hayes is preparing to travel the globe after winning the world […]

RED LODGE – Fire crews are mopping up a wildfire that burned 10,165 acres west of Red Lodge and some are being transferred to a fire southwest of Nye. The Cascade fire ignited Wednesday and burned to within six miles of Red Lodge and within a quarter-mile of the Red Lodge Mountain Ski Resort, prompting […]

Kalispell City Council meets tonight at 7:00 p.m. and will take public comment on the city-wide parks maintenance district, to raise money to support services at Kalispell’s parks. If the city receives protests from more than 50 percent of the property owners, the district cannot be established. The city is facing a budget pinch this […]

HELENA – The BNSF Railway line 45 miles east of Libby is blocked by a derailment. BNSF says 10 cars in a train hauling corn from Minnesota to the West Coast derailed at about 5:30 a.m. Monday. Company spokesman Gus Melonas says the track is likely to reopen early Tuesday. The disruption means passengers on […]

This weekend, as I drove into the southern end of Kalispell, I heard the distinctive sound of rumbling motorcycle pipes behind me. The sight in my rearview mirror was enough to make even the most macho of men a little nervous: Bikers, riding two abreast and eight deep, clad in black leather, bandanas and one […]

651 swimmers converged on Fort Benton this weekend for the Montana Federation of Swimmers State swim meet. Swimmers in this league can practice daily and be coached only between June 1 and September 1, so they have a narrow window to fine tune their strokes. Despite the short season, the team performed well, dropping seconds […]

HELENA – Former Lt. Gov. Allen Kolstad has died after battling cancer. Kolstad, 76, died Sunday evening at an assisted living facility in Chester. The Montana Republican Party says services are planned in Chester on Thursday afternoon. Kolstad had been farming in the Chester area in recent years, retired from public service. He was a […]

Two University of Montana economists are reducing their growth forecast for Flathead County, now anticipating significantly slower economic growth than they predicted at the beginning of the year. Economists Paul Polzin and Pat Barkey of UM’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research also revised their forecast for Montana’s economy from 4 percent to 3.3 percent […]

Next time you’re in a restaurant, ask your server or the manager how many of the people in the kitchen have been through a formal food safety training course. If even one of them has not, then I might reconsider eating in that establishment. I’ve been through food safety training, and I can tell you […]

SOMERS – Waiting to begin at the North Flathead Yacht Club, racers are wandering between boats, discussing the last race and how many people will be competing tonight. And, as always, they’re talking about the wind. “It depends on the wind,” says John Frommer. “A lot of times we’ll just go out and bob around […]

MISSOULA – A Spokane, Wash., man has been arrested in Montana in connection with a gang-related homicide last September in Washington state. Officials with the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI arrested 28-year-old Freddie J. Miller just after 3 p.m. Saturday at the Rock Creek Lodge east of Missoula on a fugitive warrant for […]

For a different kind of biking experience, visit the Armory Dirt Jumps east of Whitefish and try out your aerial skills. Mimicking the surrounding vistas, three lines of jumps rise and fall stretching east to west parallel to Armory Road. Built from more than 70 dump truck loads of dirt, the tabletop designs are intended […]

I keep hearing people say, unless we find a really good deal we are going to wait for a while before purchasing a home or property. I receive emails from other agents in the business that they have people looking for a great deal. My experience has shown me that great deals are not found, […]

Rich Hayes is not your typical retiree. Instead of going hunting or casting a line, the 66-year-old former heavy equipment operator from Polson prefers flying Birmingham Roller Pigeons. And 13 years after he began competitively breeding and flying the English specialty pigeon, he’s the best in the world after winning the 2008 World Cup Fly. […]

It’s late afternoon at the Flathead Youth Home, a shelter for local kids in crisis, but on this particular day the only apparent crisis seems to be that the house’s sole ping-pong ball is dented. The five kids staying at the house are back from working at Purple Frog Gardens, but dinner preparation has yet […]