It is no coincidence that the five Kalispell city councilors – Jim Atkinson, Randy Kenyon, Jeff Zauner, Kari Gabriel and Wayne Saverud – who voted to cancel a referendum on the future of the City Airport, are the same five who defeated a motion to maintain the airport as it is and who voted instead […]

For decades, the Kootenai has been caught in a tug-of-war between factions wishing to set the future of this lush and productive piece of national forest. The good news is, some of those folks – including loggers, timber mills, local communities, and conservationists – have realized they can get further when they pull together, instead […]

Congressman Denny Rehberg is doing a lot of chest-thumping about how he’s in the fight to repeal Obamacare. While thousands of Montanans suffer without access to affordable health care and health insurance, he and the GOP are using words like “socialism” and “unprecedented” to alarm their base. What they call socialism is actually similar to […]

I’d like to respond to State Sen. Verdell Jackson’s recent thoughts on climate change (July 4 Beacon: “We Do Not Control the Climate”). 1) Mr. Jackson asserts “there is no replicable (verify by reproduction) scientific evidence that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions cause climate change. It doesn’t exist.” I don’t know whether he’s lying on purpose, […]

I appreciated the “health care” reporting by Myers Reece (July 4 Beacon: “Mixed Reactions to Health Care Ruling”). As part of the team who facilitated several preliminary public meetings regarding the so-called, “Obamacare” issue, I was privileged to listen to public officials (including U.S Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, and Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger […]

Scientists pay attention to a very specific scorecard that most clearly indicates how the battle against man-caused global warming is going. That scorecard is the measured level of CO2 in the background atmosphere. That number is presently 393 parts per million (40 percent higher than the preindustrial era) and is rising at an alarming rate […]

We have been flooded with global warming and climate change claims stating that the evidence is clear, that the debate is closed, that we must act immediately, etc., but in fact there is no replicable (verify by reproduction) scientific evidence that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions cause climate change. It doesn’t exist. Studies of a variety […]

Glacier National Park is a sanctuary to wildlife, backcountry enthusiasts, and international visitors. Teddy Roosevelt and his contemporaries guaranteed us access to and preservation of such lands in the spirit of both protecting the natural landscape and inviting individuals to enjoy it in a leisurely fashion. HR 1505, supported by our Congressman Denny Rehberg, is […]

Greg Gianforte of Right Now Technologies in Bozeman stated, “It is clear our states policies are not in line with the needs and desires of its citizens,” regarding school choice (June 20 Beacon: “Montana a Battleground for School Choice”). In canvassing hundreds of homes in the Columbia Falls area, as a Senate candidate, I ask […]

I am guessing that everyone who reads this newspaper has inherited and needed to fix a difficulty that was generated by someone else. The tendency in that situation is to rail against/whine about the person responsible for the trouble. But most sensible people end up doing their best to fix the problem. Sadly for people […]

How do you like political ads now that corruption and lying are legal? In 2012, conservatives dismantled Montana’s ban on knowingly lying in political ads. Conservatives, led by American Tradition Partnership, Montana Right to Life, and Beaverhead and Lake Republican Central Committees, also attacked Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act, a law 75 percent of Montana voters […]

At what point is government, any government, no longer necessary and outlived its usefulness? At what point does it go beyond constructive and become destructive? At what point does the average human being finally say, “I will no longer accept corrupted control over my life”? When does the moment arrive when we wrest back control […]

Enough already! The Democrats really need to stop their escalating assault on women. I, for one, have had enough. First, the Democrats insulted every woman’s intelligence by trying to convince us that a legitimate discussion about First Amendment rights – specifically the protection of religion from government intrusion – was an attack on a woman’s […]

I am just as interested in national security as the next guy. By the next guy I am referring to Mr. Cory Swanson. Mr. Swanson’s guest column in the May 23 Beacon, “Security Bill Needed to Protect Northern Border,” was long on praising Congressman Denny Rehberg but short on details of HR1505, the bill Mr. […]

I read recently where Kalispell’s mayor and city council could not come to a decision on the city airport, so they are going to “let the voters decide.” So, what do we get to decide? Whether we pay for the improvements to the airport with taxes taken directly from our wallets by the mayor and […]