Live Music: Friday: Can’t Hardly Playboys at Red’s; Silver’s Platter at The Cottage; Rudy and Gena Mendez at Los Caporales; Good Wood at Scotty’s; Xtra Sauce at Ricciardi’s; Big Daddy and the Blue Notes at Raleigh’s; Russ Nasset and the Revelators at Great Northern; DJ Q at Finish Line; Sonny King at Blue Moon; Mobile […]

Summer 2007 was quiet on top of Big Mountain with Chair 1 under construction. But this year, the lift—now called the Big Mountain Express–will be running again to the summit for sightseeing starting June 21. Winter season passholders and hikers, however, will find new lift policies in place. In prior years, the winter ski pass […]

Welcome back, students. My esteemed colleague, Professor Schneider’s recent lecture (May 21 Beacon: “Wilderness is Multiple Use”) redefining wilderness as the fullest form of multiple use has changed our lesson plan. Today, we’ll backtrack a bit in our study of wilderness politics and take a fuller look at the Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960 […]

An Evergreen man is charged with mitigated deliberate homicide in the strangulation death of a neighbor earlier this week. Flathead County officials filed the charges late Wednesday afternoon against Michael Cuchine, 35, in the death Steven Maycumber, 47. According to court records, Cuchine said he and Maycumber were arguing in Maycumber’s yard Monday night when […]

The extraordinarily high interest in this year’s presidential race is what’s likely to draw most Flathead voters to the polls for the June 3 primary election in record numbers. Once in the voting booth, Montanans will find themselves confronted by a very long ballot, with the opportunity to pull the lever for offices ranging from […]

Police are looking for a man who robbed a casino at knifepoint early Wednesday. Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset said a masked man entered the back door of Lucky Lils Casino at about 12:55 a.m., showed a knife to a clerk and made off with between $400 and $500. Police arrived about five minutes after […]

Good morning; today is the birthday of JFK and Patrick Henry. On the Beacon this morning, we look at three local legislative primaries with the potential to tip the balance of power in the next session. In Evergreen, a man has been charged with homicide in the death of his neighbor earlier this week. Whitefish […]

A man hunting black bear shot and killed a wolf near Olney, northwest of Whitefish. Zachary Harms of Kalispell was driving his truck up a forest road Tuesday when he saw movement. He walked along the road with his rifle, thinking he may have seen a black bear. Two wolves then ran out from the […]

For Scott and Diana Blair, owners of Going to the Sun Fiber Mill, life working in a mill is more of an exercise in creativity and artistic freedom than just manning the necessary machinery. “We’re different because we’re specialized; we’re not just the typical wool mill,” Diana said. “A lot of people, I think, are […]

It was Aug. 15, 1968, and I had been living in Southern California at the time. Now, however, I was half way around the world from my surfboard and the hollow, glassy waves. Instead, I was looking up at the slope in New Zealand of the 12-mile long Tasman Glacier and knew that rising above […]

With Montana’s June 3 primary election approaching, the Beacon interviewed Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama May 24, and Hillary Clinton May 26, via phone, while the senators campaigned in Puerto Rico, on issues ranging from gun rights to federal land management. Here is the transcript of those interviews: Q: Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer has said […]

Growing up I spent half my time in Nyack, a New York suburb, the other half on the edge of the Rocky Mountains in Montana. I was born in Whitefish. “Like a fish that is white?” my NY elementary school classmates would ask incredulously. “Yes, it’s named for the lake there,” which is named for […]

There are a slew of factors that will be analyzed ad nauseam between now and Tuesday when Montana voters head to the polls. And while national pundits will repeat their talking points in regard to the Democratic presidential primary – categorizing us as working class, rural and college-aged in their prized exit polls – what […]

The Kalispell Police and Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Wednesday included the following: 8:43 a.m. A Whitefish woman called to report that her neighbors have been watching her. 10:12 a.m. A man reported that while he was standing on his ladder he heard a large crash. Apparently, another man had driven threw a fence and […]

Near the end of a Flathead County commissioner forum last week, the three candidates appeared temporarily stumped when asked to name the county’s bright spots. After almost an hour of giving detailed answers on everything from conservation bond referendums to impact fees, they offered vague praises of the people and environment that make up the […]