The Whitefish City Council is ready to look at a long-awaited critical areas ordinance at tonight’s 7:10 p.m. council meeting. But first the council will gather input from the public at a work session starting at 4:30 p.m. Both meetings will be held at council chambers at Whitefish City Hall. The work session and the […]

At the stroke of 10 a.m., the political season in the Flathead officially kicked off this morning, with candidates for several elected offices climbing the stairs of the old county building to file. Former Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont filed to run as a Republican for county commissioner. He will be challenging Gary Hall, a […]

Brie Webber loves structure. At school, from her locker to her binders, everything has its place – creating a kind of functional, aesthetic beauty in organization, just like ballet. Webber began dancing at age 3 and has been with Northwest Ballet School and Company ever since. “I guess I just grew to love it,” she […]

The Kalispell Police and Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Monday included the following: 7:57 a.m. When a Columbia Falls woman walked outside to take her kid to school she found a woman covered with a blanket passed out behind her car. She was taken to North Valley Hospital. 10:54 a.m. A woman called in because […]

HELENA (AP) – Dr. Rand Paul, the son of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, is scheduled to visit Montana this week to stump for his dad. The younger Paul will arrive in Montana on Saturday. He’ll start the day in Bozeman, at an 11 a.m. public rally at Montana State University. From there, he heads […]

While many were hunkering down this weekend, 116 Boy Scouts from the Flathead Valley were competing in the Northwest District Klondike Derby. All that wind and single digit overnight temperatures werent enough to keep them from a weekend campout at the Coram Horse Pasture. The draw? A Saturday full of activity that included snow sumo […]

WASHINGTON (AP) – Farm-state lawmakers say tough congressional negotiations lie ahead for the five-year farm bill, mostly due to strong White House opposition to the $286 billion legislation. Members of the House and Senate agriculture committees say two issues stand out above the others as Congress tries to hammer out a deal: how the bill […]

As an arctic front blasted into northwest Montana, conditions at the top of Big Mountain on Sunday morning, Jan. 20, sounded more akin to Antarctica than the northern Rockies. With morning summit temperatures barely scratching negative 3 degrees and winds gusting at 30-40 mph, Whitefish Mountain Resort closed five lifts. Pounded by northern winds, the […]

Good morning and happy Martin Luther King day. It’s a frigid morning in the Flathead, but there’s still news afoot. A Kalispell logging trucker received a refund after winning a dispute against the Teamsters Union in Butte. Conditions at Whitefish Mountain Resort were hellacious yesterday, due to cold and wind. Flathead boy scouts were undeterred […]

The largest storm so far this winter arrived Saturday and Sunday, covering the Flathead Valley – and many other parts of the state – with several inches of snow and dropping area thermometers to sub-zero temperatures. This weekend’s storm began Saturday evening, dumping an estimated 4 inches of snow in Kalispell by Sunday night, according […]

BIG SKY (AP) – An avalanche killed a backcountry skier in the mountains west of Big Sky. The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center says the body of the man killed Sunday was recovered within 10 minutes of the avalanche. The center says the snow swept the man into trees, and he was dead from trauma […]

If the Kalispell City Council grants approval Tuesday night, the controversial Glacier Town Center will have passed its biggest hurdle – but with months of debate over traffic concerns related to the development still unresolved, it’s difficult to see what solution might manifest itself over the next day. That isn’t to say people aren’t working […]

In Montana, it’s not uncommon to hear disparaging remarks or jokes about snowbirds, people who flee the state in the winter for the warmer climates and snow-free driveways of states like Arizona. But, in light of this weekend’s storm, and all the sub-zero temps I’ve endured in my 23 years in this state, why exactly, […]

Harness a household mutt, throw on a waxed pair of cross-country skis, strap yourself to Spot, and fly. It’s a quick recipe for speed – inducing thrill-screams like a roller coaster. With natural pulling instincts, Spot tows you up hills and down suddenly surging placid Nordic skiing with adrenaline. Much like Laplanders who for centuries […]

An avalanche north of Whitefish Mountain Resort on Jan. 13 capped off a deadly week of avalanche activity throughout western United States and Canada in which at least 10 people died. Two men, Anthony Kollmann, 19, of Kalispell, and David Gogolak, 36, of Whitefish, were confirmed dead following an avalanche at a popular out-of-bounds ski […]