For almost three years, since the economy tumbled and layoffs spread across the Flathead Valley, you have read a series of bleak headlines here and elsewhere. There were false starts, and perhaps this is another one. But signs that the local job picture may be brightening locally is, for a change, worth talking about. True, […]

A narrative is emerging from Montana’s 2012 U.S. Senate race that contrasts with the last general election when dozens of new lawmakers were swept into office riding a wave of Tea Party support. Instead, the early plotline for this contest pitting incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester against Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg is focused on the […]

Montana’s U.S. delegation responded with a series of predictable prepared statements following Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the credit rating of long-term U.S. debt. Glaringly missing from those responses were the politicians’ opinions of a ratings agency whose own approval rating deserves to be as bad as that of Congress. That’s not to say […]

The federal government has a public relations problem. And while much of this is unavoidable, equal parts can be blamed on its failure to explain complex policy and its knack for responding to legitimate questions with an air of indifference. Let’s look at the proposed floodplain update in Evergreen. Recently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency […]

In February of 2007, when I was beginning to round up a small staff to launch this newspaper, I met Dan Testa at a coffee shop in Missoula. The interview was short. The job was his. And we headed next door to Charlie B’s to toast our new venture, which would later be called the […]

State unemployment numbers were released last week and – guess what? – Flathead County’s is exactly the same as it was one year ago. The non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in June was once again 11.4 percent. Meanwhile, as places like Northwest Montana tread water, Washington is doing its best to make things worse. Before now, […]

The environmental activists who barged into Montana’s capitol last week to chant, dance and chain themselves together did little to persuade anyone to join their cause. In fact, they quite likely accomplished the opposite. Protests like these – a cocktail of theatrics, trespassing and often vandalism – largely make the opposition look like a joke. […]

President Barack Obama had apparently planned a trip to Whitefish last weekend. His near visit was news around town and local law enforcement for weeks had been preparing for his arrival. The president canceled, of course, after the debate over the debt ceiling ended how things in Washington do – with more debate. There are […]

There are so many questions surrounding the proposal to implement a so-called retail transaction fee to pay for Kalispell roads that it’s now clear the idea is simply an awful one. City Manager Jane Howington emphasized that the fee is just “the very beginning of a community conversation” about how to address the fact that […]

It’s easy to condemn Whitefish’s ban on drivers using handheld cell phones as just another example of the “nanny state” gone wild. After all, we’re told she’s everywhere these days: telling us what to eat, where to smoke and who to insure. But was the council’s vote a real act of so-called protectionism? I saw […]

Last week following the Boston Bruins’ win over the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, Canadians took to the streets to riot away their disappointment. The images were surreal: smashed storefronts, burned cop cars, dozens of injuries. I mentioned, mostly joking, on my Twitter account: “I always thought Canadians were pacifists,” to which […]

Whether Sen. Jon Tester was genuinely concerned about community banks in his failed proposal to delay the implementation of caps on swipe fees those institutions can charge, expect his opposition to frame it as another Wall Street bailout. Introducing an amendment delaying the caps was a risky move for the freshman Democrat, who faces a […]

Summer recently showed up, if only briefly, on a weekend no less, when the temperature reached 80 degrees. It was warm and comfortable, except that the snowpack hasn’t melted and the riverbanks and dams can’t hold all the runoff if we have a heat wave. The governor has declared a state of emergency and anxiety […]

The Public Service Commission has an important, if often overlooked, job. It’s responsible for regulating everything from Montana’s utilities and private water companies to taxi and phone services. At one point, the 2011 Legislature considered tapping the PSC to oversee the medical marijuana industry. That, thankfully, didn’t happen since the five-member board struggles to hold […]

Hundreds of Flathead Valley Community College students graduated earlier this month and many of them will have a better shot at getting a job than they did two years ago. It was the school’s largest class ever, attributable partly to economic necessity. Many so-called nontraditional students returned to class when the recession swept through the […]