HELENA (AP) – Montana Democrats learned this week that culling through pages of Republican campaign donors to find political ammunition to use against opponents is a tricky business that can help but also backfire. Democrats had to backpedal from a news release that insinuated a donor to gubernatorial hopeful Roy Brown was a tax cheat […]

The people of the greater Whitefish area are united in our love for the land and water. From Happy Valley to Big Mountain, around the lake, and all along the Whitefish range we share a common bond. We love our hills, lakes, and streams. We are truly grateful to the heart of downtown, to aquatic […]

KALISPELL – (AP) An Evergreen man convicted of killing a woman and then shooting himself in the face was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison. Kenton Weimer, 19, also must pay more than $10,000 in restitution, District Judge Ted Lympus ruled. Weimer pleaded guilty in November to mitigated deliberate homicide for causing the May […]

Recently on a flight to Denver I sat next to a young lady who told me she was on her first ever ski vacation. After being served the standard, miniature airline meal, she pulled out a copy of Ski Magazine and acted as if she didn’t understand a word she was reading. So after telling […]

COLUMBIA FALLS – After escaping from communist Vietnam in a crowded fishing boat at night, Tien Pham Windauer and 49 other kids floundered in the Gulf of Thailand for four foodless days, occasionally gathering enough rain for drinking water. When the Malaysian coast guard picked them up, Windauer was nearly too sick to move. Then, […]

Good morning and happy Pooh Day (that’s Winnie the Pooh). Happy Friday, too. There’s a lot of news on the Beacon this morning. An Evergreen man was sentenced to 40 years for shooting a woman in the head and killing her. Myers Reece writes about the fascinating life of the owner of Tien’s Place in […]

Flathead County detectives made three arrests Thursday in connection with the burglary of the Whitefish Mini-Mart and five Kalispell-area coffee kiosks last month. Curtis Bower, 20, was arrested for an existing warrant out of Kalispell and also charged with the burglary and misdemeanor possession of marijuana and a concealed weapon. Timothy Beck, 19, was arrested […]

It’s easy to believe that hoary old chestnut that all people, all over the world, share much in common. Heck, I even believed that about France, a country I have visited several times. But is there a more profound indicator of difference between our two cultures than the fact that the media still cannot figure […]

The Kalispell Police and Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Thursday included the following: 9:06 a.m. An intruder broke the window out of a wrecking business and stole a fancy muffler. 11:36 a.m. A woman called in from an assisted living home in Bigfork to report that someone had stolen her Dad’s hearing aid. 1:14 p.m. […]

HELENA (AP) – Montana’s unemployment rate ticked upward in December to its highest level in two years, but remained below the national rate and economists said they do not find the Montana economy slowing down. The state unemployment rate rose to 3.6 percent last month, the highest rate since December 2005, according to the Montana […]

HELENA (AP) – A Kalispell logging trucker has received a refund of just over $300 from a Teamsters’ local in Butte, after he filed a complaint over the dues he was being charged, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation says. Michael Weller, an employee of Hanson Trucking and Resin Haulers Inc. of Columbia […]

Live Music: Friday: Silver’s Platter at The Cottage; Badwater Bill at Scotty’s; Bad Larrys at Blue Canyon; Déjà Vu at the Great Northern; Good Wood at Rocky Mountain Roadhouse; DJ Mobile Beat at Red’s Saturday: Chris Bailey at Belton Chalet; Can’t Hardly Playboys at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake; Rocky Mountain Rhythm Kings at The […]

On Dec. 10, U.S. Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) introduced the S. 2438, the Fee Repeal and Expanded Access Act. The introduction of this landmark legislation by Baucus, a moderate Democrat who currently chairs the Senate Finance Committee, and Crapo, a conservative Republican from perhaps the reddest state of them all, Idaho, […]

Lex Hilliard has taken up cycling. Twice a day. Hopefully it gets him into the NFL. Hilliard, the bruising running back who shattered records at Flathead High School and the University of Montana, is in Indianapolis training for February’s NFL Scouting Combine, an invitation-only camp where pro coaches and scouts get a look at potential […]

Good morning and happy birthday to Benjamin Franklin. Topping local news this morning, the search for two reported victims of Sunday’s Canyon Creek avalanche has been suspended. Two ballot initiatives introduced by Northwest Montana citizens are already facing mounting opposition from powerful groups in Helena. Myers Reece checks in with Kalispell football phenom Lex Hilliard, […]