The Safeway store in Whitefish plans to close Sept. 1 for an eight-month, $17 million remodeling and expansion project. Store officials had planned to stay open during the remodeling, but decided to close in the interest of employee and customer safety. When the store reopens in May 2009, it will have an expanded organic-food section, […]

MISSOULA – A Missoula-based trucking company with more than 400 employees planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, following similar filings by two subsidiaries. Jim Palmer Trucking Inc. will file for bankruptcy Friday in Butte, company attorneys said. The filing had not been made by midmorning. Two subsidiaries, Jim Palmer Equipment and Jim Palmer […]

The First Best Place Task Force (FBP) hosted a standing-room-only Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event at their newly purchased Glacier Discovery Center last night. Despite schedule overlaps with the circus, Farmers’ Market and other events around town, the former First Citizens Bank building was packed to the gills with community members […]

Among all the people relaxing on the beach at Marco Island, Fla., earlier this month, Chuck Casto might have ranked as one of the happiest. And why not? His five-day trip with his wife and 7-year-old daughter marked his first major vacation in nearly seven years. “It was a great opportunity for us to recharge […]

1:37 a.m. Someone called in to report that they thought two suspicious males were gas thieves. 7:59 a.m. A woman called authorities two times to report that her boyfriend was drunk and being verbally abusive. Deputies responded twice. Both times the man opted to leave before they arrived. 9:00 a.m. Someone called in to report […]

Live Music: Friday: Mission Mountain Wood Band Reunion Concert at Majestic Valley Arena; Blue Oyster Cult and Foghat at Montana Raceway Park; Glacier Symphony and Chorale Summer Pops Concert at Harbor Village Saturday: Rockin’ for Ravenwood at Rocky Mountain Roadhouse; Andre Floyd and the Mood Iguana, The Lodge at Whitefish Lake; Silver’s Platter at The […]

No, there isn’t a special session of the Montana House, it’s a real, live circus with heffalumps, er, I mean elephants, and a big top and everything. The Columbia Falls Kiwanis brought the circus to town today, and there are two shows under the big top tonight. Shows start at 5:00pm and 7:30pm, so be […]

A mosquito swarm has descended on the Flathead, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in years. Arriving with the warm weather, the gossamer-winged pests have burdened every barbecue with their buzzing bloodlust. The attack of the “skeeters” forces those who wish to enjoy the long summer evenings to choose between fleeing indoors or suffering […]

Everyone has their own methods for dealing with mosquitoes, many of which lean toward the obscure or downright odd. Some smear Vick’s VapoRub on themselves. Others stop eating bananas. A few years back, Avon’s Skin-So-Soft bath oil was the miracle cure. Applying Listerine or dryer sheets to the skin is the foolproof home remedy of […]

The ski lifts had shut down for the winter and I nervously eased my rented car out onto the noisy freeway. I was headed for a wedding in Palm Springs and it had been two years since I had driven on the Southern California freestyle, high-speed freeway race to see who can get to somewhere […]

MISSOULA – Cooler temperatures early Thursday have helped slow the spread of a 300-acre wildfire on Mount Sentinel near the University of Montana. The fire started at the base of the mountain behind the university’s married student housing complex on Wednesday evening. Fire Chief Tom Steenberg the fire was apparently started by two children who […]

Good morning and happy birthday to Marcel Proust and Alice Munro. On the Beacon this morning, the Mission Mountain Wood Band is hitting the road again for a statewide tour after a roughly 30-year hiatus. No, it’s not just you – the mosquitoes really are bad this year, due to a cool, wet spring and […]

Each week the Echo Lake Café used to fill two dumpsters with trash. Bob and Christi Young, who own and run the café, are now down to one dumpster and one cardboard recycling bin. Bob Young says just about everything they get, from oranges to napkins, comes in cardboard, and half their dumpster would fill […]

Lincoln County officials have identified the 34-year-old woman who was killed in a car crash near Libby. The coroner’s office says Luanne Graves died in a one-vehicle rollover on Secondary Highway 260 on Tuesday morning. A male passenger in the car refused medical treatment.

HELENA – The director of the Montana Department of Revenue says wise mortgage decisions and a relatively strong economy have largely kept the state’s housing market above national turmoil. Dan Bucks says the agency is intensely focused on the issue as it prepares for a statewide reappraisal of property taxes. Lawmakers are worried that the […]