HELENA – Presidential candidate Barack Obama is setting up campaign offices in Montana. Campaign spokesman Matt Chandler says they hope to have offices set up in Helena and Missoula by the end of the week, with about 10 staffers working in the state. Montana is getting a full dose of presidential politics. Bill Clinton campaigned […]

“We arrive and go with the flow. We’re just rafting the river of life,” laughs Hillary Smith whose words tumble out fast on top of each other. Her excitement bubbles from the phone as she describes two upcoming radio shows. Smith and Jay Crowley are co-owners of Glacieradventure.com—a web site devoted to sharing local fun. […]

When Sen. Hillary Clinton arrives in Montana this weekend, I’d like her to answer one question: Has she ever seen the academy-award winning, 1976 movie “Rocky”? She likened herself to the boxer this week, but I reckon the answer is “no.” And while I am not an expert on the presidential candidate’s taste or habits, […]

It must be spring. After all, environmentalists have “sprung” at least six or seven new lawsuits on the Northwest court system the past couple weeks – and Earthjustice is about ready to file against delisting Northern Rockies wolves. But it’s a just-dismissed lawsuit that has my attention, especially since I just got “carded” for this […]

The fate of a proposed major subdivision along Montana Highway 82 remained in limbo last week when the Flathead County Planning Board postponed their vote to sort through a deluge of written and verbal public comment. But even as the subdivision moves forward, plans are afoot to preserve the north shore of Flathead Lake, including […]

HELENA – Former U.S. Sen. John Melcher says he is going to cast his key Democratic Party superdelegate vote for Barack Obama. Melcher is one of eight Montana superdelegates who can vote for whoever they please at the party’s national convention this summer. Melcher says he chose Obama because he believes the Illinois senator has […]

The Kalispell Police and Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Wednesday included the following: 6:32 a.m. There was a wayward log in the intersection of Meridian and U.S. Highway 93. 8:57 a.m. Gas caps were stolen off some machines at a Kalispell business. 11:49 a.m. Graffiti was sprayed on the wall of a Kalispell business. 3:33 […]

A major fire in downtown Kalispell destroyed a home at 520 First Ave. East, Wednesday evening, and damaged a neighboring home at 528 First Ave. East. There did not appear to be any serious injuries. Because the house was one block south of the downtown fire station, the fire was extinguished promptly. Shortly after 5 […]

PHILADELPHIA – A bankruptcy judge has refused to shield the state of Montana from lawsuits over its alleged failure to protect residents from the dangers posed by W.R. Grace & Co.’s mining operations. Judge Judith Fitzgerald, who is presiding over Grace’s Chapter 11 proceedings, rejected a bid for an injunction barring lawsuits against the state […]

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accused rival Sen. Barack Obama and his allies of trying to stop people from voting as some of his backers have called on her to drop out of the presidential race. The Obama campaign rejected the charge, dismissing Clinton’s criticism as “completely laughable.” In a series of […]

Good morning and happy “Buy a Reporter a Beer Day.” April Fool’s. It’s a relatively slow news day in the Flathead so far, with our top story coming out of Philadelphia, where a bankruptcy judge has refused to shield Montana from any lawsuits resulting from its alleged failure to protect the public from the mining […]

Sam Collett says brace yourself – the big strike is coming. Across the country, owner-operator and independent truck drivers have been orchestrating isolated strikes and holdouts to protest soaring diesel prices, including a large informal effort recently started by a truck driver in Missouri named Dan Little. Collett, who has been a truck driver for […]

KALISPELL – Police say a man armed with a pistol tried to rob a Taco John’s restaurant in Kalispell but then sat down for a meal, which he paid for, after an employee refused his demands for free food and money from the till. Police later found and arrested a suspect outside a motel. Twenty-seven-year-old […]

April Fool’s Day, for me, is more like a continuation of my constant state of being rather than an atypical day. Good-natured pranks and joking have always been fundamental elements of my daily social life. I can trace this back to my grandfather, who was born on April Fool’s Day in 1919. He entered the […]

HELENA – The Montana Meth Project has unveiled the latest phase of its in-state media campaign, including three TV ads directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (een-YAR’-ee-too). Inarritu’s works include “Babel,” ”21 Grams” and “Amores Perros.” The graphic, 30-second ads are built around the theme “This isn’t normal, but on meth it is.” One […]