Tuesday evenings are fast becoming the night to be in Whitefish. The Downtown Farmers Market hops with shoppers and those just out to chitchat with neighbors. But now, piggybacking on the market’s popularity, Whitefish Theatre Company plans to take advantage of that buzz, adding to the evening’s hoopla with its Tuesday Market Concert Series. The […]

London’s The Guardian newspaper (June 11, 2004) gave extensive ink to the words of Tony Hayward, CEO of BP-Global. This is the same BP-Global that intends to develop coal bed methane (CBM) just north of the U.S.-Canada border at the Flathead/Elk River divide near Fernie, B.C. Out of self-interest, we should pay attention to what […]

Good morning and happy 75th birthday to Glacier Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road! On the Beacon this morning, citizen scientists are helping out with research projects at Glacier Park. A Wisconsin man was killed in a crash at the intersection of Montana Highway 82 and U.S. 93. A diverse coalition has formed to offer a reward for […]

A 29-year-old Wisconsin man was killed in a crash at the intersection of U.S. 93 and Montana 82, just north of Flathead Lake in northwestern Montana. Flathead County officials say Toby Heikkila of Madison, Wis., died at the scene of the crash just after 5 p.m. Thursday. The Montana Highway Patrol says Heikkila was attempting […]

Despite dwindling state and regional participation, a small hub of puppetry – spurred largely by one woman – has stayed alive in the Flathead Valley, especially in the area’s schools and libraries. When Kalispell resident Sherry Johns joined the newly formed Montana Puppet Guild in the early 1980s, the group boasted about 65 active members. […]

WEST GLACIER – Glacier National Park officials say they expect to be able to open the Going-to-the-Sun Road to Big Bend by noon Saturday. The 29-mile section of road from the park’s west entrance will only be open from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. Outside those hours, west side vehicle travel will end at Avalanche, […]

1:08 a.m. Someone in Whitefish said they could hear cars racing around but could not see them. 1:41 a.m. Two youths reportedly were playing with a fire extinguisher. 5:03 a.m. In Evergreen two skateboarders dressed in all black were thought to be sketchy. It turned out that nothing was suspicious aside from the black apparel […]

Live Music: Friday: Can’t Hardly Playboys at Red’s; Belton Boys at Belton Chalet; Silver’s Platter at The Cottage; Bluestone Trio at Blue Canyon; Rudy and Gena Mendez at Los Caporales; Brad Lee at Scotty’s; The Insomniacs at Eagles; Full Moon Prophets at Ricciardi’s; AM String Band at Great Northern; Christian Johnson Project at Garden Bar; […]

WASHINGTON – Montana Democratic congressional candidate John Driscoll says he would vote against future funding for the Iraq war if elected, splitting from the state’s two Democratic senators. Driscoll, who is challenging Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, has years of military experience and has worked in the Pentagon. But he says he has opposed the war […]

I’ve extensively chronicled my illustrious adult amateur athletic career in the Beacon before. You may recall my misadventures on a B-league Stumptown Ice Den hockey team with cursed jerseys. I’ve also written about our office’s embarrassingly ill-fated foray into recreational dodgeball. But while team sports allow you to dilute your humiliation among several people, for […]

GREAT FALLS – A former Great Falls dentist accused of having methamphetamine in his car was given a three-year deferred sentence Wednesday. District Judge Julie Macek sentenced Robert Bronecki on a felony count of criminal possession of dangerous drugs. Prosecutors dropped two misdemeanor drug charges as part of a plea agreement. Great Falls police received […]

APGAR – Glacier National Park has a new boss. Charles “Chas” Cartwright replaced outgoing superintendent Mick Holm on Wednesday during an informal ceremony at the park. Holm retired in January after six years at Glacier and 32 years with the National Park Service. A similar ceremony was held earlier in the day for park employees. […]

As the nation’s economic woes mount, many Americans plan to stay close to home this summer. Six in 10 Americans say they will spend less on vacations this summer or not take one at all, according to a new report by TrueCredit.com. Among those rethinking travel plans, 72 percent cited fuel costs as their primary […]

Chris Caye can’t wait for July 16. On that date, she and seven other families will celebrate moving into their newly built houses in Somers. They will be homeowners in the Flathead, an area where finding so-called “affordable housing” can be a notoriously difficult task. But these families didn’t find these homes, they built them, […]

Good morning; today is the anniversary of the creation of the United Nations in 1945. On the Beacon this morning, build-it-yourself affordable housing programs are struggling to find qualified buyers for the homes. A judge ruled that the downtown Kalispell business improvement district was established in a fair and legal manner, defeating a court challenge […]