BILLINGS – Presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s wife will campaign for her husband in Billings on Monday — a day before voters go to the polls in one of the nation’s last primaries. It will be Michelle Obama’s first visit to Big Sky Country. Tickets to the morning event are free and available on a first-come, […]

HELENA – The Rocky Mountain region represents friendly terrain for Barack Obama, who is angling to add Montana to his string of victories on Tuesday. Demographically, the state would seem to suit rival Hillary Rodham Clinton almost perfectly — overwhelmingly white and rural. But political observers and a statewide poll suggest Obama has the advantage […]

The Kalispell Police and Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Wednesday included the following: 1:28 p.m. A Somers Bay resident called in to complain of an oil slick on the lake. The slick was not oil at all, just a gathering of wood chips that had been stirred up. 2:45 p.m. A man ate a doughnut […]

Two firefighters were hospitalized after being hit by lightning while working on a prescribed burn west of Whitefish. The firefighters — a 25-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man — are members of the Flathead National Forest Hot Shot fire crew. Forest spokeswoman Denise Germann says lightning hit a couple of trees near where the two […]

DILLON – A judge ruled Thursday that the estranged wife of the Yellowstone Club’s founder will not be allowed to intervene in a lawsuit against her husband filed by former cycling champ Greg Lemond. District Judge Loren Tucker’s ruling stalls Edra Blixseth’s attempts to have her husband, Tim Blixseth, removed from the helm of the […]

HELENA – Montana Lottery officials say a Columbia Falls woman has claimed a $30,000 Hot Lotto prize from the May 21 drawing. Shirley Cameron bought her winning ticket at Smith’s Food & Drug in Columbia Falls. Cameron says she was in the store checking old tickets and buying new ones when she found out she […]

A 50-year-old Hungry Horse man accused of fatally shooting his wife changed his plea Thursday to no contest. Charles Smith, who appeared in Flathead County District Court, told the judge that he wanted the case to be over. He had previously pleaded not guilty to deliberate homicide in the death of his 46-year-old wife, Jody […]

Good morning and happy anniversary of the first American daily newspaper ever published. On the Beacon this morning, there’s a profile of the GOP candidates for county commissioner, Gary Hall and Jim Dupont. Speaking of that race, editor Kellyn Brown blogs about the tough choice many will face in the primary: choosing between voting on […]

O’Brien Byrd has coached Whitefish High School to two straight boys soccer state championships. Though the core players from those teams have already wrapped up their high school careers, Byrd isn’t done with them yet. Now he’s their teammate. Five players from the championship teams of 2006 and 2007 play alongside Byrd on the Flathead […]

“What Makes You Think We Read the Bills?” was the tongue-in-cheek title of a book written about 30 years ago by long-time California lawmaker H.L. Richardson. The book is a chronicle of slip-ups, snafus and shenanigans from our national and state capitols. The stories are amusing but also outrageous. They amply illustrate the shortcomings and […]

The Montana Highway Patrol says a 58-year-old Kalispell man has died after a motorcycle crash. The crash happened at about 7 a.m. Friday, north of Kalispell. The man was pronounced dead at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. His name hasn’t been released. Troopers are still investigating the cause of the crash. The cyclist was wearing a […]

BILLINGS – Chelsea Clinton wrapped up two days of campaigning for her mother in Montana’s largest city on Friday with the state’s presidential primary less than a week away. Hillary Rodham Clinton is hoping to keep her bid for the Democratic nomination alive by defeating Barack Obama in Montana’s June 3 primary — the last […]

From final touches to final signatures, today, Friday, May 30 marks the final step to providing six Columbia Falls families safe, decent and affordable homes. Since 2004, Habitat for Humanity has been working in partnership with the City of Columbia Falls, building material suppliers, contractors and volunteers from all over the Flathead Valley to help […]

Amid a torrent of depressing headlines about the rising cost of groceries, gas, and just about everything else you need to subsist in a free society, a tiny kernel of good news revealed itself this week, with a story about how Wal-Mart has pushed back against big food producers to keep prices low. But the […]

HELENA – Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday she expects uncommitted superdelegates to begin making the choice that will decide her marathon Democratic primary race against Barack Obama soon after Tuesday’s primaries. In a conference call with Montana reporters, Clinton was asked about the effort by top Democratic leaders to push for a quick end to […]