For anglers visiting Northwest Montana, one fact can’t be ignored: There’s water everywhere. Turquoise rivers cut through the densely timbered valley floors and deep blue lakes carve into mountainsides with sprawling fingers. These many waters hold resident fish populations that serve as studies in diversity, with everything from Arctic grayling to northern pike to, of […]

The Flathead Valley won’t offer you everything you would find at other golf destinations, like South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head. Here, in the northwest corner of Montana, golfers won’t pay $150 green fees or lust envyingly after scads of private courses they could never hope to play. And, a cold brew in the […]

KALISPELL Sitting smack in the center of the valley, there is more to Kalispell than what you see from along U.S. Highway 93. As Northwest Montana’s largest city and the Flathead’s economic hub, Kalispell is undergoing rapid expansion, with national retail stores springing up in the north complemented by independent merchants in the historic downtown. […]

CASPER – The Wyoming Meth Project has launched a campaign to prevent young people from trying the highly addictive drug with a barrage of television, radio and print advertisements. Project leaders announced the beginning of the campaign Monday in Casper, hoping to dissuade teens from trying methamphetamine, a synthetic stimulant that can be swallowed, snorted, […]

The Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Monday included the following: 5:27 a.m. A drunken man called in to report that his girlfriend’s 10-year-old son was beating him up. When deputies arrived they found that the drunk had actually punched the boy in his nose. He was arrested for assault on a minor. 7:09 a.m. A […]

COLUMBIA FALLS – As part of continuing efforts to revitalize Columbia Falls’ uptown district, area residents have organized a summer farmer’s market at the planned site of a former, popular Whitefish pizza place. Beginning June 19, about 20 local vendors will cluster booths at the corner of First Avenue West and Seventh Street, offering everything […]

Well, summer took its sweet time getting here, but now that it has arrived you might as well make the most of it. Inserted into this week’s newspaper and distributed throughout the valley you’ll find the Flathead Beacon Summer Guide 2008, a magazine dedicated to some of the best activities on offer in the Flathead. […]

The victim of a single car accident that occurred Sunday near West Glacier was identified Monday morning. Michael Robert Willcut, a 22-year-old from Columbia Falls, was driving west on U.S. Highway 2 when his vehicle drifted off of the road and rolled several times. Willcut was not wearing his seatbelt and was ejected out of […]

Columbia Falls’ Pinewood Park pool opened for the season today and it wasn’t long before it was doing a booming business. Open swim starts at 1:30pm. Swim lessons are starting, so get signed up soon!

The Montana Highway Patrol reports two men died in separate weekend highway accidents. The Patrol says a 35-year-old Great Falls man died in a motorcycle accident around 2:45 Saturday afternoon on the Seeley-Swan Highway. Trooper James Snyder said the Great Falls man was driving too fast to get around a righthand curve on Highway 83. […]

SANDPOINT, Idaho – Former Senator Conrad Burns of Montana told delegates at the Idaho State Republican Convention that he’s thrown his support behind presumptive GOP presidential candidate John McCain — even though he originally would rather have seen the party choose somebody else for chief executive. Burns said Friday, “I’m sitting here campaigning for John […]

WHITEFISH – Whitefish High School officials say they are backing away from a controversial mandatory drug testing plan in favor of a proposal that features voluntary testing. The school board recently decided to take the new direction after the original proposal got bogged down in criticism. The plan would have required any student involved in […]

Good morning and happy Bloomsday! Our top story in the Flathead this morning looks at the decision by Whitefish High School officials to back away from random drug testing for students in favor of voluntary testing. Meadow Gold Dairy has shut down its production facility in Kalispell, laying off 43 workers. And in Bigfork, plans […]

“Loons are the epitome of the wild,” says Anne Zavadil, “especially when you hear their call.” Zavadil, a Whitefish resident, is starting her third season as a loon volunteer for the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center. Zavadil joined the growing number of volunteers trained for field work in the popular citizen science program […]

WHITEFISH CITY COUNCIL The city of Whitefish needs more than $350,000 to compensate for the construction-related revenue losses caused by a national economic slowdown, City Manager Gary Marks said. A public hearing is scheduled to discuss the revenue losses at tonight’s Whitefish City Council meeting, which begins at 7:10 p.m. at City Hall. The council […]