From the editor’s desk: It’s been way too long! Over the last few months, as Flathead Beacon staffers have settled into our new digs at 69 North Main Street in Kalispell, it seems we were continually thrown a curveball. Desk delivery was delayed, our exterior sign installation took longer than expected, then winter’s sporadic cold snaps slowed our move even further. But finally, as spring arrives in earnest, I feel like our team can finally catch its collective breath as we return to a familiar routine in a new building not far from our old one.

There has been a firehose of news to start 2025, and each of us at Beacon headquarters has tried to deliver stories important to you while keeping our heads above water. The year began with a new Legislative Session gaveling in at the state capitol, where several Flathead lawmakers assumed leadership roles, including Senate President Matt Regier, a Republican from Kalispell. And there has been no shortage of drama in Helena this year. There are several bills aimed at Montana’s judiciary, as the Legislative branch continues to accuse the state’s highest court of political bias. The state Senate has been mired in internal conflict as the current and past GOP Senate presidents have exchanged barbs and investigations have been launched. We just sent two of our journalists back to the capitol. So stay tuned for more political coverage.

Stories on the fate of local federal workers and programs have also kept us busy as the Trump administration has fought to pare back spending. Scores of Glacier National Park and U.S. Forest Service employees were told they had been laid off as part of mass firings, then some of them were told that they would be rehired. Also, the Kalispell Social Security office had its lease terminated, but the office has not been informed of any disruption of service at this point. Then there are the off-again, on-again tariffs and how they will impact northwest Montana. We’ve written about how the nascent trade war could increase building costs and how it is souring the relationship between Americans and our nearby neighbors in Canada.

In other words, it’s been a busy few months at the Beacon. And we couldn’t do this work without your steadfast support.

Here are the Beacon’s most-read stories over the first quarter of the year …

1) Federal Judge Rules in Favor of McDonald Creek Homeowners (54,008 views)
2) Goodbye, Ranger Doug (27,083 views)
3) Yaak Valley Landowner Places Conservation Easement on Homestead in Critical Grizzly Habitat (22,696 views)
4) Wilderness Workers and Park Employees Reel from Layoffs as Cuts to Federal Workforce Manifest in Montana (21,107 views)
5) Call of the Wild Woman (18,469)
6) Gianforte-backed Property Tax Measure Would Offer Homeowner Relief by Raising Taxes on Second Homes (17,860 views)
7) In the Flathead Valley, Wealthy Private Landowners Leave Former Timberland Unlocked to the Public (15,591 views)

8) As Longtime Seasonal Workers Emerge as Casualties of Mass Firings, Stakeholders Warn of Dire Consequences to Public Lands (11,415 views)
9) Lawsuit Alleges Kalispell Schools Retaliated Against Parent of Wrestler Who Reported Sexual Assault (9,833 views)
10) Temperatures Plunge as Arctic Airmass Arrives in Northwest Montana (9,149 views)

* numbers from Google Analytics

Our spring edition of Flathead Living is currently being delivered to newsstands across the valley. As I read and edited pages before we sent them to the printer, I was struck by Managing Editor Tristan Scott’s note at the front of the magazine. I’m a few years older than Tristan, but we are from the same late-90s generation that sought (in fact, needed) to connect to others through shared experiences. Here’s an excerpt …

A friend recently sent me an internet meme with the message, “In the end it’s all about the person you want to send new music to,” which got me thinking about the absurd grammatical rule that warns us against ending sentences with prepositions. But it also made me consider the profound human need to connect with others through shared experiences, especially art, language and music.

It’s an impulse that I recognized within myself at an early age. For most of my childhood, my parents either read aloud or played a record for me at night before bed. They did not play the music passively; instead, they’d drop the needle, let me listen to a few verses, then pause the song for discussion. Sometimes, the tune of the night resonated deep within me, tapping a reservoir of curiosity and prompting a volley of questions — Bob Dylan’s “Talkin’ World War III Blues,” for example, or Oscar Brown Jr.’s “Bid ‘Em In.” Others, like Leo Kottke’s “Busted Bicycle” or Jefferson Airplane’s “Embryonic Journey,” transported me on an odyssey of self-discovery that I didn’t want interrupted by my parents’ pedantic lectures.

Even so, the next morning on the school bus I’d be eager to share my sonic storytelling awakening with a friend or, as I sometimes fantasized, by performing the number live in the school cafeteria before an audience of my peers (I began learning to play guitar in fifth grade and imagined myself as exuding frontman swagger, a la Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler or the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger). 

Despite my vivid imagination, my aptitude for playing music was middling. Instead, it was my love of language and writing that commandeered my attention as I matured, defining both my academic as well as my extracurricular pursuits.

In hindsight, I doubt my talent as a writer out-measured my musical potential; rather, I discovered familiar rhythms that cross-pollinated disciplines — in reading, I heard music, and in music, I saw poetry and verse. 

Read the rest of Tristan’s editor’s note here.

Speaking of Flathead Living … here is the cover of the spring edition that I would encourage you to pick up on stands across the valley. The  image, as always, was taken by our uber-talented Media Director Hunter D’Antuono.

This story: While it didn’t quite make the most-read story list, this piece on how mounting reporting mandates are placing an undue burden on Montana’s small school superintendents is worth a read.  

This event: There is no better way to close out the ski season than heading up to Whitefish Mountain Resort for the annual pond skim on April 5. Find out more here.

This meal: There’s a rumor that Pete’s Fried Chicken Sammy at an unassuming drive-up lunch spot near the airport is the best in the valley. Staff writer Denali Sagner has the details.

These newsletters: If you haven’t already, you should consider signing up for our other newsletters, the Daily Roundup and Best of the Blotter.

Your feedback: As always, we welcome (and even encourage) your feedback and story ideas. Some of our best journalism started with an idea sent to us by readers like you. Our inbox is open at [email protected].