Republican candidate Roy Brown, upon hearing the news last week that Stan Jones is running for governor, welcomed the quirky Bozeman Libertarian to the race. If genuine, Brown’s response was certainly gracious. Former U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., must not yet have warned him. Third-party candidates are often chastised for playing spoiler and Burns could […]

The prospects of British Petroleum drilling for coal-bed methane in the Canadian Flathead appeared to dim last week when Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., boasted that the oil behemoth had quivered under intense U.S. pressure. “I made it clear,” Baucus told a boisterous Kalispell crowd, “Ain’t no way that this is going to happen, period.” Cheering […]

Ed Tinsley, so far, is the only Montana superdelegate to have pledged his support to a Democratic presidential candidate. The Lewis and Clark County commissioner has endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama – in a vote weeks premature. Obama is a formidable politician, but with the race between him and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton still […]

In the litigious Flathead Valley, there are myriad reasons – good and bad – to sue local municipalities. In recent months complaints have been filed over whether politicians live in the jurisdictions they serve; whether public meetings were, in fact, public; and the degree of slope upon which a landowner can build a mansion. Some […]

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, emphasizing good news on a bad night, told supporters in the early goings of Super Tuesday to cheer up. He may have been trounced by his opponents in several states, but things were looking up in Montana. Montana? Mitt mentioned Montana? It was a desperate attempt to highlight good news; […]

Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger’s relationship with his own political party is an awkward affair. The state’s Republicans are a large extended family and Bohlinger plays the brazen uncle who often riles his cousins. But the latest spat, contrary to previous ones, appears more calculated than predictable: reoccurring in-law infighting. Bohlinger is upset over the fact […]

It’s fitting that earlier this month the Great Falls Sox minor league baseball team opted to change its name to the Voyagers, an ode to UFO sightings – specifically from the grounds where the team plays and reoccurring cow mutilations happen nearby. Fitting because every so often the unexplained invades the news cycle in America […]

The holiday season, to the dismay of some, hasn’t officially ended. The abundant pink and red hearts and cupid decorations are a reminder that Valentine’s Day approaches. In the Flathead, like elsewhere, the time is ripe to assess a dating scene that seems – wherever you are – in dire straits. This time of year, […]

On a dark street in suburban Whitefish, something sinister was underway. A private eye, sipping cheap coffee from a dirty Styrofoam cup, peered through binoculars at a neighborhood window, smirking at the apparent scandal he had uncovered. His eyes slitted, he pulled a cigar from his rumpled trench coat and lit up, the smoke climbing […]

Montana Supreme Court rulings are, on their face, often perplexing. That’s part of the problem. To simplify one of its most recent decisions is arduous, but the following is the brunt of an inane reversal that involves alcohol, intimacy and a couple of Constitutions: A deputy spotted a man legally driving a Chevy pickup in […]