The race is on for Kalispell City Council and I’m eager to see who puts his or her hat in the ring. As my colleague Dan Testa wrote last week: “Here’s an opportunity to put your money where your mouth is.” On the comment threads at flatheadbeacon.com, perhaps no government entity takes as much heat […]

We should all thank state Rep. Joel Boniek. The Emigrant Republican rode a steed – part donkey, part horse and a “Democrat” – to the state Capitol in the waning days of the 2009 Montana legislative session. He said he wanted to lighten the mood. Lawmakers had become testy as the deadline for agreeing on […]

Few towns are as welcoming to felons as Hardin, Montana. Residents there have pleaded with Gov. Brian Schweitzer to send any and all criminals to their town. And since that hasn’t worked out, they have turned to alleged terrorists to fill their empty prison by recently proposing shipping accused members of Al-Qaeda to Eastern Montana […]

Burlington Northern Sante Fe is up to something. The railroad giant has approached property owners in Whitefish and Somers, offering to buy their land. No one knows why, exactly, not even those who have been asked to sell. And BNSF isn’t talking – leaving entire neighborhoods apprehensive about what their backyards may soon look like. […]

There is a time for relevant debate of cultural issues. And there are merits to arguments when actual laws that affect abortion, guns or privacy are on a ballot or being considered by elected officials. Then there’s this: Rep. Tom McGillvray, a Billings Republican, has proposed that an interim committee made up of lawmakers study […]

There is an effort afoot headed by congressional Republican leaders in Washington to shed the label increasingly used against them that they are members of the “party of no.” Whether fair, Democrats have effectively used the GOP’s opposition to the stimulus plan, and now the national budget, to paint the party as one devoid of […]

A lot has happened since March 9. It was then that the Kalispell City Council approved traffic impact fees in what council members called a compromise and developers panned as anything but. The decision was supposed to settle an issue that had been debated for two years; how much to charge developers for the added […]

Just days after the city of Kalispell announced that it had narrowed to three its list of candidates for city manager, two of them withdrew from consideration. With just one man left standing, the council opted to push back a scheduled meet and greet and widen its search. Better that, I suppose, than making a […]

It’s difficult to accurately measure a recession by everyday anecdotes. We tally vacant storefronts, count new job listings and scan local real estate prices. They’re subjective, but the signs of hard times are there. What we tend to overlook – or at least I do – are other indicators; the ones that point to optimism, […]

Despite their many critics, Montana lawmakers do well representing their constituents’ varied opinions. This state is quirky and impossible to pigeonhole left or right. Don’t touch our guns, but smoke marijuana once approved by your doctor. The politics mix progressive and conservative views with staunch libertarianism. This legislative session lawmakers, by and large, have again […]

Judging by their remarks on the recently passed federal stimulus plan, it’s hard to believe Rep. Denny Rehberg, Republican, and Sen. Jon Tester, Democrat, voted on the same piece of legislation, are in the same profession or work in the same city for that matter. The two men, in separate interviews at the Beacon last […]

The much lauded and criticized federal stimulus plan has now passed. Montana’s U.S. lawmakers are back on the trail to defend their votes one way or another. The bill will either “bloat the federal government” or “create millions of good-paying jobs” – depending on who’s talking. What exactly is in the plan is still not […]

Partisanship is trickling downward: from the federal stimulus plan; to the race for Montana’s lone U.S. House seat; to the timeline and makeup of the state budget. The political creed – advanced by President Barack Obama – that elected officials would compromise for the good of the country, economy and its constituents’ respective psyches lasted […]

During this recession I have most often received two complaints that generally contradict each other: That the media is portraying the economy as worse than it actually is, or that we are too optimistic about what is happening locally. Both views are warranted. The economic health of Northwest Montana is something that no one, especially […]

Gov. Brian Schweitzer has come out of hiding. He’s putting pressure on Montana lawmakers to begin crafting a state budget as only he can – by comparing himself to an off-road vehicle: “I was in 2-wheel drive, and now I have put it in 4-wheel drive. I am going to use the strength of the […]