HELENA (AP) – Funeral services for former Lt. Gov. Karl Ohs have been scheduled for Friday. Ohs, a rancher from Harrison, died Sunday morning at his home in Helena of complications from brain cancer. He was 61. He served as lieutenant governor from 2000-04 under Republican Gov. Judy Martz. He also was a three-term state […]

HELENA (AP) – A Missoula Democrat said Monday he is not going to challenge incumbent Rep. Denny Rehberg, leaving Democrats to keep looking for someone to replace Bill Kennedy. Montana Democrats were left in the lurch when their sole candidate for the U.S. House, Kennedy, of Billings, said he was getting out of the race […]

The Kalispell Police and Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Monday included the following: 5:36 a.m. Someone hurled a rock through a window of a liquor store in the canyon. Nothing was taken. 7:15 a.m. Someone tried to pry the door off of a residence on Whitefish Stage Road. 8:05 a.m. Someone stole a large quantity […]

Good morning and happy birthday to Jimi Hendrix, who would have been 65 today. A dusting of snow has fallen on the Flathead, but the news on the Beacon is heating up. Becky Lomax describes the recipe for man made snow, soon to be blowing on the Big Mountain. A Kalispell woman has pleaded not […]

After the Flathead Braves’ record-shattering season last year, the best wrestling team in Montana history expects to be even better this year. With 15 returning state placers out of last year’s remarkable 18, and four returning state champions, it’s hard to argue against the 2007-2008 Braves. But as Flathead enters the season as the obvious […]

Ready or not, signs of the Christmas season are beginning to spring up around the valley: Carols and ornaments fill store aisles, Christmas lights are going up and in the Dance Art Studio in Kalispell, dancers are wrapping up months of practice for this year’s production of the Nutcracker. The ballet performance became an annual […]

Ben Donner’s favorite event is the 400-yard freestyle. “It’s such a grueling event,” said the junior at Columbia Falls High School. “Even if you have a bad race, you’re proud you finished it.” In a race that long, the mind has a tendency to wander, and Donner’s usually strikes a chord with some classic rock […]

My superintendent in high school, amid our school’s consistently low test scores and high dropout rate, could always take pride in the fact that he never once canceled school because of snow, despite snowdrifts that devoured small pickups and road conditions so dangerous that even those perplexing kids who cherished each moment of the school […]

In my real estate experience, I am approached with all kinds of questions about the real estate market. Lately, the questions most people seem to ask are, how’s the market? Is this a good time to buy or sell? I always give my honest opinion, even when it isn’t what people want to hear. However, […]

SPOKANE (AP) – Matt Martin scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the second half, carrying Montana past winless Mississippi Valley State 69-62 Sunday in the Cougar Hispanic College Fund Challenge. Ceylon Elgin-Taylor added 11 points for the Grizzlies, including seven during a key 11-2 second-half burst that helped the Grizzlies (5-2) turn a […]

One thing is for sure about the 2009 property tax reappraisal; Montanans want their property taxes regulated, mitigated and expect to be treated equally. The free market approach to paying for required local services needs simple regulation and oversight. Folks across the political spectrum are saying that deregulation has not worked. Deregulation has been bad […]

WHITEFISH (AP) – Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commissoner Vic Workman survived a close encounter with a grizzly bear Sunday. Workman says he was hunting with a friend north of Whitefish Lake when the grizzly charged from about 30 feet away. He yelled “Whoa bear, whoa bear, whoa” before shooting from the hip with his […]

6:15 p.m. While at a bar in Kalispell a man and his soon to be ex-wife got into an argument. When they got back to his residence he was angry and began to fire shotgun rounds into the air and threaten his wife. The enraged man then took his 17-year-old daughter hostage. The woman, feeling […]

You’ve probably heard the murmurings. Newspapers are dying. Profits are down. The physical size of pages is shrinking. In the past year, The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a slew of smaller papers have downsized their staffs. As a journalist I get […]

Good morning and happy birthday to the late Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts. I hope you enjoyed the long holiday break; there’s lots of news on the Beacon today. Former Lt. Gov. Karl Ohs died Sunday of brain cancer in Helena. Tony Berget, the mayor of Libby is recovering after a Nov. 17 accident which […]