Having served as both interviewer and interviewee at various times, I can attest to the difficulty of getting inside the black box that forms a writer’s innermost thoughts. Like paint applied to canvas, finely crafted words are the pigments in a scrivener’s artistic statement. But what about the invisible, ineffable elements that readers don’t generally […]

7:55 a.m. A woman in Kalispell called in to report that someone threw a beer bottle at her car in the middle of the night. 9:48 a.m. A concerned person on Tamarack Lane called in to report a suspicious vehicle. 1:35 p.m. A commercial raft was reported stolen from the Tally Lake campground. 2:02 p.m. […]

The road to Tally Lake may be a dusty nine miles, but it is well worth the grit in your teeth to be out and enjoying one of this area’s true gems. Located west of Whitefish, its 492-foot depth makes it the deepest in Montana. With 1,326 acres of water surrounded by Flathead National Forest, […]

A federal judge in Montana has ordered gray wolves in the Northern Rockies be returned to the endangered species list. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy granted a preliminary injunction today, restoring federal protections for the wolves. The predator was removed from the endangered species list in March, following a decade-long restoration effort. Environmentalists sued to […]

Last night’s Alpine Theater Production showing of the “The Full Monty” was lacking – in clothes that is. But rife with talented actors, big voices and aptly delivered comedic lines, the show left its audience completely satisfied. The musical is an Americanized adaptation of the 1997 British film of the same name. In the theatre […]

WEST GLACIER – To work as a raft guide on the rivers surrounding Glacier National Park is to lead a kind of charmed existence. For a few months out of the year, these young people spend their days floating the Middle or North Fork, steering a few boatloads per day of giddy tourists from places […]

A 51-year-old Hungry Horse man who pleaded no contest to fatally shooting his wife has been sentenced to 80 years in prison. Charles Smith was sentenced Thursday for the death of his 46-year-old wife, Jody Smith. “I think justice demands that you spend a substantial period of time in the state prison,” District Judge Stewart […]

MISSOULA – A 13 year-old boy has died, after being hit by a truck while he was riding a motorcycle in the Seeley Lake area. It happened at about 2:30 p.m. Friday. The truck was southbound on Montana Highway 83. Authorities say it struck the motorcycle near the Big Larch Campground entrance, a mile north […]

A Kalispell teen accused of killing a 67-year-old man told authorities the man’s death was linked to a dispute over money and sex. Heather M. Henson, 19, is charged with deliberate homicide in the death of Larry Kingsley. She is being held on $250,000 bail. According to investigative reports, Henson used a rifle and a […]

Graffiti scars the warehouse door and wall of Adam Bigelow’s business, Biggy’s Landscaping. While it’s not likely the source of this vandalism is the same that struck Cedar Pointe, the signs that some big city ugliness has crept into Columbia Falls have increased over the summer. At the very least, it’s annoying. When a successful […]

The state Department of Natural Resources changed its process for reviewing new water rights applications for the Flathead River and lower Clark Fork basins last month, opening up the possibility for appropriations that have been held up over the past year and a half. “This particular ruling for exemption in the Flathead is huge,” Sen. […]

Every week, loose-knit hiking groups from Whitefish hit Glacier National Park trails. For one hiking group of women, Wednesday upped the ante of their adventures when they scaled 9,513-foot Rising Wolf Mountain. For a few of the six women, it marked their inauguration into climbing big peaks. Via the south route, they ascended 4,500 feet […]

On Thursday evening, a substantial crowd of Columbia Falls folks could be found at the band shell in Marentette Park listening to the sounds of the Montana Highlanders, a bagpipe band. For the brief time I was there, the band provided some info about playing the bagpipes and what the parts are named and then […]

A third man implicated in a weekend attack on migrant workers that authorities say was racially motivated has been charged with committing hate crimes. Karl Trent, 46, was charged with felony malicious intimidation for the Saturday attack on a group of Asian mushroom pickers at a campground in Marion. Also charged were Edward L. Hubbs, […]

HELENA – Glacier National Park officials, citing concerns about wildlife habitat, have rejected a BNSF Railway proposal to use explosives for preventing avalanches that could send snow onto railroad tracks. Instead, the railroad should spend millions of dollars to build more snowsheds — canopies over segments of track — to keep snow from blocking the […]