A little over five years ago, Cory Cullen, owner of New World Recycling, started the valley’s only curbside recycling service with a Subaru, a small trailer and a $5,000 loan. The business was meant to be just a holdover while he looked for jobs related to his photography degree. He walked the streets of Whitefish […]

BOISE, Idaho – A man who once served as a mayor in Montana has been convicted by an Idaho jury of raping a 20-year-old woman last fall. An Ada County jury deliberated for four hours Thursday before finding 72-year-old Eugene Ray Cobell guilty of one count each of rape and forcible penetration with a foreign […]

As I reported last year (here and here), the Columbia Falls tennis courts were not only in bad shape, but had damage that could cause injuries due to fissures and uneven surfaces. The 40-year-old courts were in such bad shape that the Columbia Falls High School tennis team could not host home meets. Not anymore. […]

Good morning. Today is the anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride. On the Beacon this morning, Keriann Lynch profiles the Flathead’s only glass recycling service. The Center for Restorative Youth Justice has begun a project to hang three large murals in downtown Kalispell. In Columbia Falls, the tennis court reconstruction is nearly complete, and the Lions […]

For the last few years, the issue of global warming has risen to the forefront of our country’s political debate. Here in Montana, the Legislature will probably have dozens of bills in the 2009 session to address the concerns surrounding climate change. As the discussion over the scientific opinions on global warming continues, a new […]

HELENA – A state parks official says Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks will likely postpone a plan to electrify campsites at four state parks. The agency planned to begin work later this summer to electrify campsites at Salmon Lake, West Shore, Placid Lake and Lewis and Clark Caverns state parks. But those plans […]

This is a weekend where I regret that Montana never hosts events like the Comic Con, the national comic book convention taking place in New York City for the next three days. It comes at a time when the medium of comic art is undergoing a boom, thrusting young artists into the national spotlight, and […]

HELENA – The Labor Department says recent job losses are behind an increase in the state’s unemployment rate. The Montana unemployment rate was 3.6 percent in March, up from 3.3 percent in February. The national unemployment rate rose from 4.8 percent to 5.1 percent. Labor Commissioner Keith Kelly says job losses announced in the wood […]

BILLINGS – Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is planning to make a campaign stops in Billings and Bozeman later this month for Republican gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown. Brown’s campaign says the former Arkansas governor is scheduled to speak at a 7:30 a.m. breakfast for Brown and his running mate Steve Daines on April 30 in […]

MISSOULA – A federal jury has ordered an insurance company to pay a Bigfork woman $5.3 million in damages in a bad-faith lawsuit that accused the company of failing to pay her medical expenses after a head-on car crash in January 2003. “This was a very intelligent jury and they weren’t fooled by any of […]

The Kalispell Police and Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Wednesday included the following: 8:25 a.m. A bed caught on fire in Columbia Falls. 8:48 a.m. Two brothers, ages 24 and 18, fought each other on Liahona Lane. Deputies told them to behave. 9:09 a.m. After a Lost Creek Drive resident called in because they thought […]

Flathead County is seeing a surge in neighborhood planning that hasn’t occurred here in more than a decade. But questions over a recent state Supreme Court ruling have held up one plan already and may leave others in limbo. In the early 1990s, a move for a county-wide growth policy failed, but there was still […]

After winning their 10th State Speech and Debate Championship in a “rebuilding year”, the CFHS Speech and Debate Team took a few weeks off. Tonight the team got together to reflect on their season and recognize team members for their accomplishments, including National Forensic League recognition. The team members select several awards, such as Newcomer […]

Last year’s Mountainfilm Festival was such a fast sellout in Whitefish that the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation (BMWF) added more shows to this year’s tour. The annual fundraiser for the foundation goes to support their summer trail work projects. Volunteers provide the sweat while the foundation brings the leadership and supplies. “Despite all the fires […]

As gusts of wind blasted over the Great Bear Wilderness late last month, a golden eagle hitched a ride. Wearing a transmitter no bigger than a tiny matchbox, he surfed high above Great Northern Mountain, catching updrafts that rocketed him north over the Polebridge Mercantile. The eagle is the first golden to carry a satellite […]