HELENA – Efforts failed again on Wall Street to resell $233.4 million in bonds previously issued by the Montana Higher Education Student Assistance Corp. to finance student loans. Failed auctions over the past week included $181.5 million in previously issued tax-exempt MHESAC-issued bonds, and $51.9 million in taxable bonds. It was the second go-around for […]

View the updated story “Creston Standoff Continues“. Flathead County sheriff’s deputies were negotiating with a 46-year-old Creston man Monday morning, trying to end a standoff that began Sunday. Robert Kowalski’s roommate called 911 at about 11 a.m. Sunday to report that Kowalski told him he shot his girlfriend and was feeling suicidal. Sheriff Mike Meehan […]

One man was killed in a single-vehicle crash near Bigfork early Monday. The Montana Highway Patrol says the crash happened just after midnight, on Montana Highway 35. The patrol said the man lost control of his vehicle, which rolled into a ditch. He was not wearing a seat belt and died at the scene. His […]

Good morning and happy St. Patrick’s Day. This morning’s Buffet will be an Irish breakfast. On the Beacon this morning, a Creston-area man has been in a standoff with police for almost 24 hours after his girlfriend was found killed. Reporter Keriann Lynch is on her way to the standoff and will be reporting on […]

The Whitefish City Council is expected to vote on the conceptual design plans of a large downtown improvements project at tonight’s 7:10 p.m. meeting. The proposed $10.8 million plan includes a three-level parking garage and a streetscape facelift that would widen sidewalks and add landscaping downtown, among other features. The council tabled discussion on the […]

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo – A general contractor from Montana has won the contract to build a new $27 million visitor education center at Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. The two-story, 26,000-square-foot building will be built on the site of the old visitor center, which was demolished last summer. A temporary visitor center is […]

UPDATE 3/18/08 Creston Man Surrenders after Standoff. UPDATE: 4:50 PM After nearly 27 hours of negotiations, a standoff was still under way late Monday afternoon at a Creston area house with a man suspected of killing his girlfriend. There was little action throughout the afternoon as special assault weapons teams maintained positions surrounding the home […]

You might never have thought that someone could make a musical from a labor dispute at a factory, but that’s just what you’ll find at the Columbia Falls High School Little Theater late next week. Players from Columbia Falls High School will present their interpretation of The Pajama Game (link goes to a movie synopsis), […]

HELENA – The Montana Quality Education Coalition is renewing its request for a court hearing on the six-year-old school funding lawsuit, and disputing state arguments that the problem has been fixed. The arguments came in a court filing the group made Friday in the case, where it is seeking another hearing and more money for […]

HELENA – Former U.S. Sen. John Melcher has been named a Democratic Party “superdelegate” who will get a direct vote on the party’s presidential nomination. The Democratic National Committee says that Montana now has eight such delegates. These party officials can vote for any candidate they prefer. Melcher gets his superdelegate vote by virtue of […]

The Kalispell Police and Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Sunday included the following: 1:34 a.m. Someone drove through a gate in Meadow Manor. 9:15 a.m. A call was made about two llamas running down Foys Lake Road. 9:42 a.m. Another call was made about the llamas. 3:51 p.m. A resident from Gunsight Loop called in […]

“The competition was about what I expected…maybe just a little harder,” muses Stella Holt of Whitefish’s Glacier Nordic Ski Team. Holt just returned from the 2008 Junior Olympics in Anchorage, where she sailed into the top 10 in the nation in three events and placed 11th in a fourth event. Competing in the 14- and […]

With spring weather arriving, Lawrence Park in Kalispell is a great place to dust off the bikes, rollerblades or walking shoes. A little more than a mile of blacktop trail winds its way around pavilions, playground equipment and ball fields. The trail is accessible from anywhere in the park and ends at North Main Street […]

GREAT FALLS – The federal Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers to take fragile soil out of production, is causing friction between hunters and wildlife supporters and the landowners who put their crop land into the program. The primary issue is the length of time CRP should be undisturbed each summer so that pheasants and […]

Nine skiers veered off the trail at Blacktail Mountain Ski Area on a recent Saturday, and did not come back to the resort. They weren’t lost; they went out of bounds to descend the roughly 3,600 feet, over 15 miles, from the summit of Blacktail Mountain to the gates of Herron Park in Kalispell. The […]