Good morning. Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the War of 1812. On the Beacon this morning, Keriann Lynch writes about the graduating seniors around the valley who have enlisted in the military, and their feelings about a war in which they may soon be fighting. And in Beacons on the stands all […]

HELENA – Gov. Brian Schweitzer said the only people pushing his name onto lists of potential vice presidential candidates are Internet bloggers with too much time on their hands, and dismissed the speculation as “ridiculous.” Schweitzer occasionally surfaces as someone Barack Obama might pick for a running mate. However, he rarely is at the top […]

A story in the Christian Science Monitor discusses the growing trend of dogs in the workplace. My dog, Penny, is probably unaware that she is part of a national trend since she chooses to focus on matters local to her, like the floor or dog biscuits. But indeed, she is a working dog, showing up […]

Pigs stink. But that doesn’t stop mountain bikers from going to the Pig Farm. Just north of Farm To Market Pork, nestled between the Lodgepole Pine trees and rock cliffs of Tally Lake, are miles of rolling single-track dirt trails known collectively as the Pig Farm. And on Saturday, June 21, Great Northern Cycles and […]

A few weeks ago, down at the saloon where I regularly get lots of advice about what to write about, I heard about the major western Montana landowner switching focus from timber management to real estate development. Everybody already knows about Plum Creek, I replied. But they weren’t talking about Plum Creek Timber Company, the […]

A meeting last week – meant to flush out an alternative to the proposed sale of a parcel of school trust land near Woods Bay – was by turns civil, heated and combative as east shore residents again made their opposition to the sale clear. A possible solution, meeting both community concerns and the Department […]

WASHINGTON – President Bush on Wednesday vetoed a $290 billion farm bill for a second time, sending it back to Congress after a printing error threatened the delivery of U.S. food aid abroad. Most of the bill was enacted in May, when both the House and Senate easily overrode Bush’s first veto of the legislation. […]

The opening of a pharmacy by the parent company of Kalispell Regional Medical Center, Northwest Healthcare, has the city’s independent pharmacists fuming that competition from a non-profit corporation will soon be cutting into their business – and in one case, already has. Last week signs at the entrance to the KRMC medical complex advertised “The […]

The Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Tuesday included the following: 2:15 p.m. Expensive prescription medication was stolen from a residence on Church Drive. 3:45 p.m. A coat, camera, shoes and a cell phone were stolen from a home in Lakeside. 4:49 p.m. Three aggressive people in Columbia Falls were separated after two woman fought and […]

BISMARCK, N.D. – A single successful oil well tapped below the Bakken shale formation in western North Dakota has spurred speculation that a separate — and perhaps rich — oil-producing reservoir may be buried in the state’s oil patch. Enid, Okla.-based Continental Resources Inc. says its new oil well in Dunn County produced an average […]

A recent University of Montana study of dust on North Fork Road supported what residents there have been asserting for years: Airborne particulate matter often exceeds nationally regulated amounts and could lead to health problems. The study helps further quantify the risks and severity of the county’s dust problem, local officials and board members say, […]

Good morning and happy birthday to M.C. Escher. On the Beacon this morning, volunteers have signed on to help Glacier Park with a program to observe and monitor the loon population in the park’s lakes. The victim of a fatal car accident near West Glacier Sunday was identified as Michael Robert Willcut, a 22-year-old from […]

Whitefish may have a long railroad tradition, but it doesn’t quite know what to make of a little train that could fit through your front door. At its Monday night meeting, the Whitefish City Council unanimously approved the first reading for the Railtown Gardens planned unit development, an innovative project that is proposing a community […]

If you’ve made it to the end of the Beacon summer guide, then perhaps you’re feeling a pang of anxiety because there are so many ways to spend your time in the Flathead, and the summer is simply too short to fit them all in. Those of us who live in Montana feel such pangs […]

On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. But unlike most Americans glued to their televisions that day to watch Armstrong’s “small step for man,” Montana boys Bill Crawford and Bob McConnell were doing some exploring of their own, pushing a sailboat out onto Flathead Lake. Crawford and McConnell were part of the […]