A 1900s arts and crafts home and its carriage house are nestled alongside a creek in the farmland off LaSalle. They used to be in a neighborhood on the northeast side of Kalispell, the carriage house leaning onto an adjacent chicken coop. Pete Gross bought and moved the home and carriage house, his fourth such […]

Wednesday nights storm knocked down branches, trees, and clipped the power for Bigfork for the better part of Thursday. “In Bigfork; definitely the biggest impact,” says Stephanie Wallace with Flathead Electric Co-op. Pine trees ripped through a power pole on Holt Drive that had both Transmission and Distribution lines. This caused a domino effect knocking […]

It’s heartening to see 30 people celebrate because somebody brought them a huge mound of bar rags. In Flathead Industries’ production area, it’s a common sight. It means there’s work for the day. Flathead Industries is a nonprofit organization that works with developmentally disabled clients and other people with special needs to teach them job […]

KALISPELL (AP) – One person has died following an accident on Flathead Lake, authorities said Friday. Larry Engelken, 58, of Morrison, Colo., died Thursday after he was thrown from his personal watercraft in the Bigfork Bay area, said Sgt. Ernie Freebury, deputy coroner with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Department. The incident occurred after Engelken collided […]

In theory, if the part-time residents left all at once, Flathead County’s population would plummet 11 percent. That’s according to numbers compiled by the Montana Department of Revenue in 2006 that measure the number of nonresident homeowners using property tax mailings. Flathead County easily topped the list with 3,745, or 11 percent, of its dwelling […]

The following is a sporadic timeline of events from Wednesday night into Thursday afternoon, when the worst storm many here can remember thrashed the Flathead Valley. From the crackling police scanner and phone calls to the newsroom, to the downed power poles and the popping lightning, this is what we’ve seen and heard. 4:50 P.M.: […]

On some trails in Flathead National Forest, every hiker has a companion…the furry sort. When the thermometer soars, you’ve got to be sure Fido isn’t baking on the trail. Veterinarian Jim Thompson of Whitefish Animal Hospital explains that dogs don’t have sweat glands. Rather than perspiring to cool their bodies via evaporation, like humans do, […]

For more local coverage of the storm from the Beacon staff, see the updated story Winds Ravage the Flathead. POLSON (AP) – A tornado touched down northwest of here Wednesday night, part of a large storm that brought lightning, damaging winds, hail, rain and flash flood warnings from the Swan Valley to Libby, the National […]

HELENA (AP) – People in Polson and beyond cleaned up tree limbs, fencing and other debris Thursday after a tornado blasted the area and storm damage extended north and west to Libby, toppling a screen at a drive-in theater. “My yard is trashed,” said Beth Smith of Polson, whose 7-year-old daughter frightened by the storm […]

The old cliche goes “It was a dark and stormy night…” Seems that we’re living that cliche this week. The Boy Scouts of Troop 41 are in summer camp at Melita Island on Flathead Lake and are getting quite the adventure. Not only board sailing, small boat sailing, canoeing, kayaking and other Scout activities, but […]

You’ve probably heard me say it before. For the last two years, in Washington and all over our state, I have repeatedly called on President Bush to come up with a plan to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home. President Bush refuses to do so. His only plan was to escalate […]

KILA – Rock climbers tend to be enormous boosters for their hometown crags, arguing doggedly of its merits over cliffs in other areas. The Kila crags, however, invoke a different – almost sheepish – description from the small but loyal numbers who spend weekends and evenings scaling its walls. Jandy Cox, an employee at Rocky […]

COLUMBIA FALLS – On a blistering Friday afternoon at the LaSalle RV Park, all is quiet. Guests are either out exploring the valley or shut up tight in their vehicles with the air conditioner pumping. Behind the front desk, an electronic board studded with a dozen green blinking lights belies the apparent inactivity. For every […]

A Flathead District Court jury’s ruling last month against the city of Whitefish brought only a limited degree of closure to the uncertainty and controversy surrounding a temporary critical areas ordinance. The jury ruled that the city unfairly denied William and Theodora Walton equal protection under the law when it denied the couple a permit […]

As a photographer, I live in a very visual world. With the advancements of technology, I am learning to use another sense when I make photos – sound. I’m really falling in love with sound. I’ve always loved music, loud movies and things like that, but I have never really stopped to just listen to […]