Kids are smart these days. I would have never thought to have a pizza personally delivered to me as I stepped off of the stage, just a moment after receiving my diploma. Then again, I’m not sure if they had delivery pizza in 1978 (yep, I’m that old). But today, that’s exactly what happened at […]

It’s four o’clock on Wednesday afternoon and there’s a group of kids watching a skateboarding movie in Spirit Skate Shop, joking around with a decidedly older kid. He’s 25, to be exact. But he’s not out of place. In fact, he manages the shop. His name is James Reeves and he is working with his […]

“It’s completely the opposite from the Flathead,” said 17-year-old Hannah Hayes about Les Champs Elysées. As she and five other students browsed through Paris’ elite fashion district, they were wowed by wares the likes of Gucci, Armani, and Dior. “It was amazing,” laughed Hayes. “But we didn’t touch anything because it was all thousands of […]

Last night, graduation week wound down to Saturday’s finale with one of the last steps – the CFHS Senior Band concert. Seniors in the Columbians Jazz Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble select the music they want their band to play, and in some case, they get to be the band’s guest director for a […]

Bob Horne may have stepped down as Whitefish’s city planning and building director, but his work is far from done. Earlier this month, Horne resigned as the city’s first planning director, but he is still under contract with Whitefish to oversee the adoption of a new growth policy that he helped write over the past […]

KALISPELL (AP) – A Hilton hotel scheduled to open here later this month has a conference center that can accommodate 700 people, which the owner and local promoters hope will draw more convention traffic to the Flathead Valley. Bob Voelker, president of the Cleveland-based Gateway Hospitality Group, has Hilton hotels finished or in the works […]

The backdrop is a Montana farm, in Big Sandy this time, and the story is familiar: A politician on recess from his voting duties has returned home. His jeans are dirty. He’s working on a tractor. Antelope prance nearby. And I think I’m about to get sick. You could fill a Herman Melville-length book with […]

For some, the game goes on. The Flathead Bravettes’ softball team ended its season with a tough 5-4 loss to Helena Capital at the state tournament in Kalispell. But for senior stars Brianna Compton, Leslie Quay and Christina Zorn, college ball awaits them, though this doesn’t soften the sting from May 25. “I keep thinking, […]

In my new job here at the Beacon, my desk is a stone’s throw from Main Street in downtown Kalispell. The glass display cases of our storefront translate a lot of sound to our office: the flabby growl of logging trucks, the high-pitched whine of Japanese motorcycles and the squeal of brakes accompanying every red […]

On a warm Wednesday afternoon, two Columbia Falls families got a new start and took their first steps on the road to home ownership. After a brief welcome, Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Patti Gregerson introduced the newest Habitat for Humanity families, a few board members, donors and volunteers and then the fun began. Construction […]

HELENA (AP) – General Electric Co. plans to open a new facility in Montana next year, creating about 150 jobs, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Thursday. The new operation will be a customer care center for GE Commercial Finance, dealing with the leasing and financing of commercial equipment, said company spokesman John Oliver. Oliver said […]

KALISPELL, (AP) – A new proposal to drill for coal-bed methane north of Glacier National Park has Montana officials looking for a permanent solution to energy development issues in southeastern British Columbia. “We’re tired of fighting this project after project after project,” said Rich Moy, water management chief with Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and […]

On a fishing trip on the South Fork of the Flathead River, I caught a small cutthroat trout on my fly line only to witness a large bull trout inhale the fish as I reeled the cutthroat to the boat. You hear them all the time — fishing stories like these, of more anglers hooking […]

Kalispell City Council broke out the big, white binders Tuesday night and began tackling the city’s operating budget for fiscal year 2007 and 2008. Any talk of Memorial Day weekend barbecues evaporated in the face of a two-hour presentation by City Manager James Patrick and other staffers detailing their proposal to maintain Kalispell’s level of […]

With a National Trails Day work project on June 2, the Whitefish-based Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation kicks off their summer volunteer program. The group will hit the Middle Fork of the Flathead for trail clearing and celebrate afterwards with a barbecue. Saturday’s trail work is just a prelude to 17 foundation-run volunteer work trips scheduled […]