HELENA – Six year ago, farmer Jon Tester ran as an outsider fighting lobbyists and corruption in Washington D.C. — even promising a unique ethics platform that has since pushed other elected officials to publicly post meetings held with lobbyists and others. But after nearly five years in the U.S. Senate the Democrat’s pledge is […]

HELENA – Elouise Cobell, the Blackfeet woman who led a 15-year legal fight to force the U.S. government to account for more than a century of mismanaged Indian land royalties, died Sunday. She was 65. Cobell died at a Great Falls hospital of complications from cancer, spokesman Bill McAllister said. Cobell was the lead plaintiff […]

COLUMBIA FALLS – Flathead County officials say a 48-year-old Columbia Falls man was killed when a rented tractor slipped down an embankment and rolled south of Columbia Falls. According to a press release from the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, Wesley Cobb died after being pinned between the tractor against a tree. He had been working […]

The weekend was a successful one for local Class A soccer teams. In the first round of the Class A playoffs last Saturday, the Northern A champion Columbia Falls girls scorched Missoula Loyola/Valley Christian 13-0. Senior McKenzie Kiser and junior Danielle Delventhal each had five goals apiece and the defense limited its opposition to zero […]

BILLINGS – Wildlife advocates on Monday asked for an emergency injunction to stop state-sponsored gray wolf hunts that have claimed at least 71 of the animals in the Northern Rockies since late August. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was asked to halt the hunts in Idaho and Montana within 21 days. Hunting harvest […]

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK — After a couple final switchbacks, Jake Bramante emerged from the woods at the Lincoln Lake trailhead on Oct. 15 to find a crowd of almost 50 cheering people. “Where you been, Jake?” a voice in the crowd asked. “Oh, I’ve just been out walking,” he said, smiling. With his arrival at […]

Wednesday 10/12 7:29 a.m. An employee at a Kalispell store said that two suspicious youngsters came in and cashed out $500 in change in a Coinstar machine. 11:54 a.m. Two huskies with dangling leashes were running at large on Highway 2 East. 3:09 p.m. A Bigfork woman reported that last Friday night she heard someone […]

With Halloween a couple of weeks away, there is still plenty of time to visit the Sweet Pickin’s Pumpkin Patch to find that perfect pumpkin for carving or decorating. Before picking your pumpkin, take time to explore the DeVrieses’ farm. Learn about farm animals at a petting zoo that includes goats, alpacas and sheep, or […]

I love to use Cornish game hens in place of chicken whenever I get the chance. Because they are smaller they cook faster and more evenly, which keeps them nice and moist. I also find that when they are split in half they are a good portion for one person and that makes for a […]

A fine layer of rust is covering Montana Rail Link’s tracks from Dixon to Polson, which hasn’t had train service in almost five months, and that is forcing farmers to look for other ways to ship this year’s harvest. Trains used to run on the Polson line, which splits from MRL’s main line at Dixon, […]

HELENA – U.S. Sen. Jon Tester is touting a “record of opposing all bailouts” in a recent mail piece sent to Montana homes, despite his support for the mortgage rescue. Tester argues that he does not consider the Bush Administration-era rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a bailout since they had government backing prior […]

SPOKANE – To the resume of former Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf — college football star, first round NFL draft pick, pro football bust — you can add another entry: Author. Leaf has written a book about his Washington State years, focusing on the 1997 season when he led the Cougars to their first Rose […]

BILLINGS – Montana has had a good tourism year despite high gas prices and a struggling economy, a state tourism official says. “The majority of our areas of the state said they had good business all the way through September,” Sarah Lawlor, communications director for the state Office of Tourism told the Billings Gazette. The […]

HELENA – A 911 call captured two women’s voices saying, “Don’t do it,” and, “You took my husband,” before gunshots rang out in a shooting that left a man and a woman dead in a Helena apartment, according to court documents filed Friday. The documents provided new details into the Thursday morning slayings of Joseph […]

The writing is on the wall, literally, at post offices in Dixon, Elmo, Stryker and Olney, which have been deemed expendable by the U.S. Postal Service as it looks to make significant cuts across the country. The small retail offices in Northwest Montana are four of 69 in the state that received proposals of closure […]