How could any one person have been so dumb as to spend two winters living in the Sun Valley parking lot, in an eight-foot long teardrop trailer without heat? Simply because there was another guy just as dumb as I was. Ward Baker is his name and we slept in that trailer in temperatures as […]

When it comes to state parks, the Flathead Valley wins the popularity contest. Park sites in the Kalispell region had the most visitors in the state last summer, according to data released by Montana State Parks, a division of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Despite a wet, cooler spring, roughly 287,000 people visited the 12 state-run […]

HELENA – U.S. Sen. Jon Tester released campaign fundraising reports Thursday showing that the Democrat continues to stockpile cash in his closely watched re-election battle against U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, again topping the Republican challenger. In reports covering the fundraising quarter that ended Sept. 30, Tester maintained an edge in the critical race to pile […]

KILA – Even if the chemotherapy has slowed her down, Julie Van Sant won’t stop; the ever-growing stack of orders won’t let her. But when Van Sant is swinging around her chair in the workshop behind her house – a length of silver wire in one hand and a rubber mallet in the other – […]

HELENA – Former Montana Transportation Director Jim Lynch has announced plans to run for governor. Lynch is the ninth Republican to join the 2012 governor’s race along with two Democrats. Term limits prevent Gov. Brian Schweitzer from seeking re-election. Schweitzer asked Lynch to resign as transportation director in August after the administration confronted Lynch about […]

It’s just about my favorite time of year. I’m not a winter sports nut and not extremely fond of sub-freezing temperatures. And since I live in the woods near a mountain at the end of a 100-yard driveway off an unmaintained gravel road, I don’t especially like abundant snowfall. But I do cherish the overlap […]

HELENA – A Helena man who was shot to death in his apartment Thursday was denied a temporary restraining order last month and filed for divorce two days before his estranged wife was arrested on suspicion of killing him and another woman. Joseph Andrew Gable, 48, sought a temporary order of protection from Michelle Coller […]

Dave Bennetts, a Park Manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks in Kalispell, has received the Innovative Thinker Award for 2011. Only three FWP workers statewide received the award. As a Park Manager in Region One, Bennetts stretched limited resources and increased revenues through the following innovations: • Secured a $200,000 Jump Start II federal […]

Tuesday 10/11 9:23 a.m. A surveyor was in the Justice Center to report that a man in a purple van accused him of videotaping his house. He claimed that the purple van followed him and was waiting for him in the parking lot. 10:12 a.m. A mule was loose on White Basin Road. 10:48 a.m. […]

Before winning awards, before becoming an innovator in customer service, before branching out to Washington D.C. and partnering with some of the largest companies in the country, Travis Pine was an entrepreneur starting up a new company in his house. In Seattle in 2005, Pine and Theresa Johnston co-founded Torrent Technologies, a flood insurance provider […]

Here’s a follow-up on the Great American Beer Festival: At seven feet tall, The Ultimate Beer Fan Trophy is pretty hard to miss sitting in the corner of the second floor taproom at the Great Northern Brewing Company in Whitefish. The trophy was made by the local brewer earlier this month for the Great American […]

Live Music: Friday: Jerry Clemens at Scotty’s; Tumbledown House at the Raven; Brother Music at Symes Hot Springs Hotel; Barton & Brick at Rocky Mountain Roadhouse; Smart Alex at Great Northern Bar; Off in the Woods at Craggy Range Bar and Grill Saturday: Live Classic Country at Eagles Lodge; Gent Treadly at Moose Lodge; Jerry […]

It is said that “facts are stubborn things.” So are the figures on which facts are based. The following example didn’t originate with me, but in revising and verifying it, I consulted the highly respected, bipartisan Concord Coalition. It is headed up by former Republican Sen. Warren Rudman of New Hampshire and former Democratic Sen. […]

Drivers who get arrested for at least a second DUI in Flathead County will now face more supervision as a new law takes effect across the state. The “24/7 Sobriety” program, sponsored in the 2011 Legislature by Kalispell Rep. Steve Lavin, became law Oct. 1. It requires that anyone arrested for a second or subsequent […]

Monday 10/10 9:17 a.m. A man in Kila complained that the neighbor’s dog was running around while he was trying to operate his excavating machines. 10:47 a.m. Someone from Cooperative Way reported that their fishing poles had been stolen. 11:15 a.m. A Coram resident reportedly had a dead llama in the back of their truck […]