When the books are in the black and coffers are overflowing with tax revenue, cities hold sway over developers. In boom times, a steep upfront fee is a small price for potential commercial tenants to pay to do business within a thriving city. Well, times have changed. At a Kalispell City Council meeting last week […]

As a recession takes root, it’s an ominous time to break bread and reflect on that for which we are most thankful. From plummeting 401(k)s to skyrocketing jobless claims, a litany of concerns squeezes a general public already feeling pinched. Add to that the stress of the holidays – mall crowds, picky spouses and plump […]

As Semitool, Columbia Falls Aluminum Company and Plum Creek Timber scale back their respective operations, many of our Flathead Valley neighbors are carrying pink slips in their pockets. It has been a brutal couple months. The stock market has fallen off, banks have failed and mortgages have gone unpaid. Yet the vast majority of locals […]

As prominent Republicans began gathering in Washington, D.C. last week to brainstorm the best way to revitalize their party’s brand – after losing the presidency, at least 19 House seats and six Senate seats – a similar, albeit less high-profile, group gathered at the Red Lion Inn on Kalispell’s Main Street. For Republicans in the […]

As I write to meet the Beacon’s deadline, this year’s ballots have yet to be counted. As you read it, chances are, the results are in. Half of you are feeling much better about the direction of your city, county and country – the other half, not so much. And a few of you are […]

Jim Patrick’s tenure as Kalispell city manager came to an abrupt end earlier this month. The circumstances surrounding his firing remain murky, as Kalispell city councilors have instead chosen to explain his dismissal in the broadest terms possible, taking the high road, I suppose, in what was a likely bitter divorce. “We just determined it […]

At the beginning of October, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced California may need an emergency $7 billion-loan from the Federal Treasury because his state is running out of cash to pay for basic services. A week later, Montana’s Legislative Fiscal Division projected a budget surplus of nearly $1 billion through the middle of 2011 for our […]

Neither John McCain nor Barack Obama is a big hunter. Despite Halloween’s rapid approach, it appears the blaze orange vests will remain closeted. There are no plans by candidates to slog through the woods, rifles in hands, with photographers creeping a few dozen yards behind. And that’s a relief. In 2004, when Democratic presidential candidate […]

The accusations are damning, yet the accused aren’t likely to be held accountable for anything. As the lungs of Libby residents choked on asbestos, as 200 of them died, as 2,000 more fell ill, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sat on its bureaucratic hands. Documents and e-mails obtained from the EPA last week by U.S. […]

As the city of Kalispell has stared down unhappy unions, frustrated developers and a budget shortfall, its staff and council have appeared severely out of sync. There’s either a communication gap among these decision-makers, or they have opted to ignore each other. In late July, when city officials announced that Kalispell Fire Chief Randy Brodehl […]

When Beacon writer Dan Testa and I sat down last week to start prepping for the peak election season, we began by making a list of every local race in our coverage area. It was daunting, more than three-dozen candidates deep, filled with men and women who sell shoes, manage restaurants and ranch as their […]

The eyes of much of the country, especially party insiders, last week were fixed on the GOP convention, for the rollout of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and on John McCain’s acceptance speech. Yet just a few days earlier in the town next door, thousands booed Republicans as loud as Democrats. Ron Paul supporters gathered […]

On the second day of a Democratic convention that even party loyalists had panned as dull, a sweating Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer took the podium. He yelled, waved his arms and brought a previously unenthused audience to its feet. He slammed the Bush administration’s energy policy while tying it to that of presumptive Republican nominee […]

City budgets across the state are in such dire straits that those in the unenviable position of managing municipal money have joked amongst themselves about which one will go bankrupt first. While not funny “ha! ha!” it is, perhaps, a way to lighten the mood when staring down untenable numbers. Right now, it appears Billings […]

When a Beacon reporter called planners in other Montana counties to get their perspective on conservation easements and a November initiative to preserve land in the Flathead, some were taken aback. They were likely surprised it was approved for the ballot at all, assuming that preserving land is not a priority here and that the […]