The Whitefish boys soccer team has amassed 11 straight wins and needs only one more to earn its fourth state championship in 10 seasons, the most of any program in Class A. But first the Bulldogs (12-2-0) will need to stop the underdogs in Saturday’s state championship game in Whitefish. Polson (9-3-2) enters the noon […]

Two weeks ago, 83-year-old Ivan O’Neil completed a 12-mile hike in Glacier National Park. It would be hard to say whether his age makes the feat more impressive or the fact that he’s legally blind and uses poles to navigate the terrain. O’Neil would say neither. He’s not impressed. “Well, there wasn’t much elevation and […]

Whitefish Mountain Resort is proposing putting up beacons in downtown Whitefish to signal skiers when there are ideal conditions at Big Mountain. The Missoulian reports resort marketing director Nick Polumbus presented the idea to the Whitefish City Council. Under the proposal, a pair of beacons would be installed on the Great Northern Brewing Co., the […]

Fire officials in Kalispell are investigating whether a stray bullet accidentally fired from a new hunting rifle may have struck a natural gas line, eventually leading to an explosion that destroyed a house over the weekend. No matter the cause, Art and Diane Wright feel very fortunate they were not home at the time of […]

LIBBY – Lincoln County officials say an 84-year-old man died in a house fire in Eureka, but his wife was able to escape without injury. Sheriff Roby Bowe says Collin Maclean died in the fire Monday afternoon. The house was fully involved when firefighters arrived, but 74-year-old Sharon Delong had escaped. An investigation determined the […]

HELENA – A new legislative audit says the state Department of Transportation hired unqualified applicants for agency jobs. Lee Newspapers of Montana reported Wednesday that auditors reviewed five recruitment files and found that in three cases, the person who was hired didn’t meet the minimum qualifications. Two of the three jobs were in management. Department […]

Environmentalists are flogging Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg’s co-sponsorship of Utah fellow-Republican Rob Bishop’s National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act, HR 1505. Bishop’s bill, which passed out of committee 26-17 on Oct. 5, is aimed at enabling Homeland Security to reach “operational control” defined in section 2(b) of the Secure Fence Act of 2006: “the […]

On a crisp fall day in mid-October, Shannon Fraleigh sat in front of a sewing machine and some curtains, transforming the fabric into a pile of men’s knickers as Cleopatra lounged across the room and a mermaid began to take shape nearby. It’s a typical day in the costume shop. Fraleigh owns and operates In […]

During the summer of 2010, I developed a workshop, A New ACEF Valuation Workshop for Angels and Entrepreneurs. To provide some reference points, I surveyed thirteen angels groups in North American to determine their recent experience in negotiating the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue companies. See the 2010 data reported here: Current Pre-money Valuations of Pre-revenue […]

Following a week of public outcry, the U.S. Forest Service has withdrawn its decision to deny a permit renewal for the statue of Jesus Christ that sits on a patch of federal land at Whitefish Mountain Resort. Since 1953, the Knights of Columbus Council No. 1328 has maintained a special-use permit to maintain the Jesus […]

HELENA – Wildfire contractors told the governor Monday that if they don’t get more state work, some of them could be out of business the next time Montana experiences a heavy fire season. The group met Monday with Gov. Brian Schweitzer and the head of the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, which often leads […]

The U.S. Forest Service has closed a two-mile section of trail in the Lewis and Clark National Forest southwest of East Glacier Park after a grizzly bear attacked an elk hunter over the weekend. The grizzly chased 31-year-old Anthony Willits and 29-year-old Greg Louden of Kalispell off an elk carcass on Saturday. The bear was […]

Colleen Karper watched her sister-in-law live a happy life and raise two children, all while battling Type 2 diabetes. It can be done. That’s the message spread by Karper and the staff at the Diabetes Care & Prevention Center at the Kalispell Regional Medical Center. The local diabetes center is hosting its first health fair […]

“We wanted to establish a business for the ages,” Will Schmautz, CEO of Nomad Global Communications, said rather frankly in front of a crowded room at the Hilton Garden Inn last week. No one in the audience could dispute the results. Schmautz appears to have done that. Last month Nomad Global Communications Solutions, based in […]

BILLINGS – The Billings City Council is getting closer to banning medical marijuana storefronts in the city. The council voted Monday night to extend for another year an ordinance that prohibits the opening of any new businesses that grow, sell or distribute medical marijuana. The council also approved, on first reading, an ordinance that would […]