After the financial collapse of 2007, I readily consumed information on how the economy blew up; how half the stock market was wiped out; how new subdivisions were abandoned and left for dead. A lot has changed in six years. A lot hasn’t. Here, it appears we experienced a necessary dose of cautiousness. Elsewhere, not […]

Before leaving for his five-week summer recess earlier this month, Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., wanted to make one thing clear: This is not a vacation. He posted a YouTube video declaring this is an “August district work period” despite what is “reported in the media.” It’s a smart move on Heck’s part, since, according to […]

I often joke with our summer intern, Izzy Makman, that her time at the Beacon will be the best summer job she ever has. “The best!” I say, “The last summer intern refused to leave until we hired him.” I’m referencing full-time staff writer Justin Franz, who really did refuse to leave until we hired […]

Since 2013 is going to be a boring election year, with a number of uncontested races for citywide offices, let’s look ahead to 2014 in what could be an incredibly fun year for politics, at least for those of us covering them. Let’s just assume Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Daines opts to run for retiring […]

The National Collegiate Athletic Association slapped the University of Montana’s football program on the wrist last week, placing it on probation for the next three years and reducing its scholarships by four over that same time period. Embarrassment aside, UM escaped harsh penalties at the conclusion of an investigation that somehow took more than a […]

The problem with law enforcement and governing matters on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation is you often only get one side of the story. And there’s a good reason for that. It’s only one side doing the talking. This latest instance, in which a Great Falls man was arrested for posting critical comments of the Blackfeet […]

For those of us who call the Flathead home year-round, it’s easy to be selfish in the summer. Every day off is already accounted for. There are rivers to float, mountains to hike and festivals to attend. The season speeds by and when obligations arise, they tend to rain on our precious sunny days. How […]

The revelation that the National Security Agency has been gathering our private data is like a fantastical movie made believable. Remember “Mercury Rising,” “Enemy of the State” or the Bruce Willis action flick “Live Free or Die Hard?” Those were exciting, except I scoffed at the overall premises. My bad. We now know that programs […]

When you consider the history of oppression against Native Americans, it’s understandable that they would resist any attempt to weaken their sovereignty on tribal lands. Why give up more than they already have? On the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, conservationists and National Park Service officials have expressed concerns about oil and gas development near Glacier National […]

Each year, before walking across a stage for a handshake and a diploma, graduates sit quietly as their top-performing classmates give them a pep talk. Then it’s the commencement speaker’s turn to tell the students the best way to follow their dreams, conquer their goals and live their lives to the fullest. While well intentioned, […]

It’s construction season in Montana and, while at times maddening, it’s at once a welcome sight. As the nation’s infrastructure continues to crumble, our state is spending $372 million building and repairing roads and bridges through the fall – a hefty and much-needed sum. With the collapse of the Interstate 5 bridge crossing the Skagit […]

Earlier this month, I ran Bloomsday in Spokane along with 47,000 other people. While I grew up there, this was my first time participating in the event, and its sheer size is astonishing. But how the city oversees such a huge race, one of the largest in the country, is equally impressive. Spokane is a […]

There’s a story I like to tell about my colleague Myers Reece. It involves how I “discovered” him after he had spent months backpacking through the jungles of South America. How I set him on the straight and narrow by making him my first hire at the Flathead Beacon. Of course, this story is largely […]

It’s difficult to understand the actions of the Flathead County commissioners in regard to the Agency on Aging, which also makes it easy to speculate. And that speculation has run rampant following two recent tense commission meetings. At the first, Commissioners Pam Holmquist and Gary Krueger voted to halt a grant process for a new […]

It should be a lawmaker’s easiest task, pressing the correct button that indicates which way they want to vote on a procedure or piece of legislation, “yea” or “nay.” But that’s not always the case as evidenced by Great Falls Democrat Rep. Tom Jacobson’s vote that may have sunk Medicaid expansion in Montana and which […]