As the weather warms up the green thumbs start throbbing and the soul aches for the color of flowers and buds on the trees. This is the time of year to practice patience before blindly installing the summer garden, according to the expert employees at Hooper’s Garden Center. “We will sell no plant before it’s […]

In a work session following its formal meeting tonight, Kalispell City Council will discuss the preliminary stages of development for the Bloomstone proposed subdivision. Bloomstone would be situated on 85 acres just west of the Kids Sports Complex in north Kalispell. The developer is requesting preliminary plat approval for the first two phases of the […]

Montanans enjoyed a rare jaunt in the national election foray this weekend, with Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton making appearances throughout the state. In a race where the candidates may actually need some of the state’s 17 delegates at stake in the upcoming primary – one of the last in the nation […]

Hold off on the ritual burning of your Whitefish Mountain Resort season pass. While the resort shut its lifts down for the season Sunday, skiers can still ski at Blacktail Mountain where the Whitefish season pass is good for a discount. Blacktail Mountain reports that its lifts will be open next weekend, April 12-13. “If […]

The Kalispell Police and Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Sunday included the following: 7:10 a.m. A coffee stand on U.S. Highway 2 was broken into, torn apart and ransacked. 9:18 a.m. A Kalispell woman called because she thinks her daughter’s friend may have stolen her purse. 9:20 a.m. A man who reported his gun stolen […]

HELENA – U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg is asking the Transportation Security Administration to provide screenings at Montana’s smaller airports. Seven small-town airports say they have been waiting six years for the passenger screenings. They argue it is inconvenient for passengers to go through screenings when they try to get connecting flights in larger cities. The […]

HELENA – Barack Obama picked up the support of a key Montana superdelegate Monday following his weekend visit to the state, while another superdelegate was forced to retract her endorsement of the Illinois senator because of party rules. With the backing of Jeanne Lemire Dahlman, a national committeewoman from Forsyth, Obama now has the support […]

BUTTE – The state’s Democrats flooded this storied mining town Saturday for back-to-back speeches from presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, reveling in a rare moment in the national political spotlight. Obama, the senator from Illinois, was the first to address some 4,000 Montana Democrats gathered at the state party’s annual dinner to […]

MISSOULA – Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton laid claim Sunday to Montana’s famed female trailblazer — Jeannette Rankin, who in 1916 became the first woman ever elected to Congress. “Remember, Jeannette Rankin was elected before women could vote. So who says men don’t vote for a woman?” Clinton told an audience crowded into an airport hangar […]

When Janet Szabo moved to the Flathead Valley 15 years ago, she wasn’t planning a career as a professional knitter. A biology major with work experience as a tech support specialist at a software developer in Baltimore, she interviewed for a similar job in Kalispell. The offered pay was half her former income and would […]

HELENA – The six-year-old school funding lawsuit was the focus of a court hearing in Helena where advocates asked a judge to reopen the case. The state argued Friday that the lawsuit is moot because the Legislature has made many changes to the school funding system. The arguments from both sides mirrored briefs they have […]

MISSOULA – A Libby man who was found guilty of plotting to have his estranged wife killed was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison. Shane D. Sichting, 39, was also sentenced to five years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy. Federal prosecutors said Sichting paid an employee of his auto body […]

MISSOULA – They came from all over to see him, some driving hundreds of miles from across the state, others waking up at dawn and simply walking across campus. U.S. Sen. Barack Obama was in their backyard and they weren’t going to miss it. About 8,000 people packed into the Adams Center on the University […]

My 30-year professional history has focused on destructive thinking and behavior patterns in sexuality and drugs and alcohol. I wish to comment on the proposed Whitefish High School mandatory drug and alcohol testing policy for all youths in any sanctioned activities. Though exaggerated in some recent media articles, I agree with the committee that there […]

A Creston man accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend before involving authorities in a daylong standoff pleaded not guilty Thursday to deliberate homicide. Robert Kowalski, 46, entered his plea in Flathead County District Court. He is accused in the March 16 shooting death of his girlfriend, 45-year-old Lorraine Morin. Morin, a mother of six children […]