Page 6 - Flathead Beacon // 9.23.15

DATA POINTS
Increase$inthe5costofaweekly pass for vehicles entering Glacier National Park. It will cost $20 in the winter and $30 in the summer, marking the first time the park has raised rates since 2006.
10,700
192
Yards of a par 3 hole at a golf course in Colorado where Kalispell’s Scott Larson hit a hole-in-one in his first shot as a collegiate golfer. The freshman at Montana State Billings is a Glacier High School graduate. It was his second lifetime ace.
More jobs in Montana this year compared to a year ago, according to the latest statewide employment statistics. There were 754 more jobs in Flathead County than a year ago.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester in a letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Tim Tidwell and Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze. Several recent events, including
the strong dollar and looming expiration of the Softwood Lumber Agreement, have made state lumber manufacturers less competitive and forced layoffs at sawmills.
THE GOOD
AIRPORT TRAFFIC
Glacier Park International Airport set another record in August when it boarded 39,710 revenue passengers. It was the third month in a row that GPIA set a ridership record.
THE BAD
RABID SKUNK
A skunk infected with rabies bit
a woman in Missoula earlier this month, leading the Department of Livestock to place the county under a pet quarantine. It was the first case of non-bat rabies reported in the county in nearly 20 years.
“Clients get hurt by this. They sit in jail longer than they need to, which causes people sometimes to plead guilty.”
Chris Abbott, a public defender of eight years based in Helena. Overworked public
attorneys and a civil rights group last week told Montana lawmakers and lawyers that funding problems may be seriously hurting the defense of those accused of crimes.
“In order for commercial timber harvest to remain a cost-effective tool for the Forest Service to achieve management objectives, we simply must have operating mills.”
THIS WEEK’S POLLS FROM FLATHEADBEACON.COM
SHOULD THE FEDERAL RESERVE RAISE INTEREST RATES?
TOTAL VOTES
DO YOU THINK THE SECOND GOP DEBATE HELPED NARROW THE FIELD OF VIABLE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES?
TOTAL VOTES
ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?
TOTAL VOTES
168
141
198
50% YES 6
50% NO
52% YES
35% YES
65% NO *READER POLLS ARE NOT SCIENTIFIC
48% NO
SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON