Good morning and Happy Friday. I’m sure everyone is looking forward to celebrating Elephant Appreciation Day and Hobbit Day this weekend. If you see either, be sure to express your appreciation, then maybe lay down and rest for a few minutes. Topping regional news, the legal wrangling in the ongoing asbestos case by the U.S. […]

Yesterday, I was lost in a weather-induced coma. The rain, the colder temperature: I welcome with an open umbrella to our valley. But the effect on my mood I do not. At about 2 p.m. yesterday, while sipping my fresh Rock Star energy drink, I found attentiveness was just about impossible. Looking up, I discover […]

The Legislature met in special session earlier this month, and no one hardly noticed. The reason is that the legislators completed a simple task in a single day. They did so amicably, intelligently and without partisan rancor, and so they made no news. I suppose it follows, then, that it’s good news that they made […]

Cheryl Richards, Flathead Valley Community College nursing director, almost fell out of her chair when she was told last June the school wanted a Licensed Professional Nursing program up and running by January. “A new program hadn’t been developed in years, and I had months,” she said. But Richards pulled the transition off, and FVCC […]

If you can judge a society by its garbage, then maybe you can judge its ability to improve by what it recycles. If that’s true, then the Flathead is on the right track – as the amount of materials processed by the valley’s recycling businesses increases exponentially. In the four years since Bob Morrow began […]

LIBBY (AP) – An Arlee man has been found guilty of assault on a sports official for punching the varsity basketball coach after a season-ending loss. Francis Pierre was found guilty in city court in Libby after a daylong trial Friday. He faces up to six months in jail and a fine of up to […]

Akin to wine tasting, cupping is the process of pairing up coffee bean against bean. “Cupping doesn’t try to mimic the wine industry,” notes Scott Brant, a roastmaster for Montana Coffee Traders, “but the wine industry has done such a great job of putting words to traits that it’s a place to start.” A group […]

The Kalispell Police and Flathead County Sheriff’s reports for Wednesday and Thursday morning included the following: 11:14 a.m. A man with a brain injury from Fargo, N.D. threatened to kill someone in the Spruce Park Trailer Park. 12:31 p.m. An argument ensued when two dumpster divers were arguing over the same discarded treasures at the […]

Good morning and to our New York City Italian readers, I hope you’re enjoying the Feast of San Gennaro – I wish I could have competed in last week’s cannoli eating contest. It’s downright cold in the valley this morning, and the Swan range is dusted with snow. It’s enough to get you giddy or […]

My love affair with the Flathead got a little more serious last weekend. After a day in Glacier I dined at Mama Blanca’s in Whitefish for the second time, and finally, I tried the grilled corn that I have been hearing so much about. Let me say this about the grilled corn, and I mean […]

KALISPELL (AP) – Nearly half a million people visited Glacier National Park in August, and overall visitation continues to be well above last year. The National Park Service says 492,343 people visited Glacier last month. That’s compared to 493,092 visitors in August 2006. This year, there have been close to 1.7 million visitors to Glacier. […]

HELENA (AP) – A federal appeals court panel reversed a number of pretrial rulings Thursday in the government’s asbestos case against W.R. Grace & Co. The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s ruling that federal prosecutors could not allege the company and former top officials conspired to […]

Don’t blame Steve Daines. The Republican to whom many in the party were pinning their slim hopes has opted not to run against Gov. Brian Schweitzer – thus saving the Bozeman tech mogul’s face and time devoted to campaigning, fundraising and lowly partisan bickering. Daines, instead, said he will spend more time with his family; […]

David Diffenderfer wakes up at 4 a.m. to go to work at Costco. When he’s done there, he goes to Flathead Valley Community College to save its athletic program. While FVCC isn’t exactly an athletic juggernaut, it does, contrary to what some people think, have an intercollegiate athletic program. Diffenderfer, the college’s new athletic director, […]

FLATHEAD HIGH SCHOOL The record books aren’t safe with junior quarterback Brock Osweiler. Osweiler tacked on four more touchdowns against Butte in a 34-21 victory, giving him 13 for the season with only 2 interceptions. He was 20-26 for 213 yards for the 2-2 Braves. He also ran for a touchdown, accounting for all five […]