Is the Solyndra fiasco a “scandal?” Well, a half-billion is chump change compared to the expected $14 billion hit taxpayers will get from the auto bailout – or gosh-knows-what for “saving” Wall Street. Even here in Montana just a few years ago, Sen. Max Baucus gifted the tax-exempt Nature Conservancy and Trust for Public Land […]

In a recent column (Sept. 14 Beacon: “Choose Wisely, Whitefish”) David Skinner inaccurately “reported” on the upcoming Whitefish referendum. It was reported in his column that the referendum to repeal a city council decision, which changes the interlocal planning agreement between the city of Whitefish and Flathead County got the required signatures for placing this […]

The Kalispell Center Mall turned 25 recently and, considering the times, that’s quite an accomplishment. Recent years have been rough on malls coast to coast, as consumers’ buying habits have changed and developers and merchants have increasingly embraced “lifestyle centers,” code words for open-air malls often set in the suburbs. We almost had one of […]

The state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is once again trying to lead the public into believing that an increase in state land revenues results in increased funding for Montana’s public schools. And unfortunately, when the department goes fishing for news coverage of this incorrect assertion, the media often accepts the assertion with little […]

If you’ve been reading about the economy, it seems like a fair percentage of the new jobs being created out there are going to technical people. Even today, the number of applicants in the Silicon Valley job pool for a specific technical skill are roughly equal to the number of open jobs in that niche. […]

The prospect that politicians may move City Hall out of the downtown, and onto the highway strip, will come as a shock to many residents. Whitefish has been pondering a newer City Hall for years, and by all accounts improvements are much needed to the aging structure. The city will mostly use urban renewal funds […]

Few were surprised when Democratic Attorney General Steve Bullock entered the contest to be Montana’s next governor. Still, his announcement assured that our gubernatorial race will be one of the most closely watched, and competitive, in the country. Politico’s David Cantanese wrote, “Bullock’s entry was widely anticipated for months and is likely the Democrats’ best […]

During this last summer in Montana thousands of locals and visitors from around the world streamed into Glacier National Park every day. Er … make that Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. It’s an important distinction that illustrates just how special this place is. Glacier National Park is the U.S. side of the Peace Park. Waterton Lakes […]

Every so often, I’ll get into a conversation about blogging with a business owner and they’ll ask me what they should blog about. Why did they ask? Because the conversation led to me persuading them to start blogging, of course. Asking me what to blog about is low-hanging fruit, because I’ve always got answers to […]

It’s an off election year, meaning it’s time for city council elections. After a slow filing start, Kalispell has contests in three of four wards, and Columbia Falls wound up with six candidates for its three slots. These will be “nonpartisan” elections to select folks who will find the best way to fix our potholes, […]

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, […]

John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner was vice president under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He observed that the vice presidency was about as satisfying as “a pitcher of warm spit.” Cactus Jack also declared that New Deal-era Montana U.S. Sen. Burton K. Wheeler possessed the single most important attribute of a senator: “guts.” We now have […]

One of the things I help business owners figure out is how to tell their story (and why they should bother). Sometimes, business owners don’t have a story, or at least, they think they don’t. Many times, the work people do is a means to an end, or at least it seems that way on […]

In 2005, less than a quarter of Whitefish voters went to the polls for city elections. By 2007, Whitefish held a mail-in election and turnout more than doubled. Compared to Kalispell, where one in ten locals voted, the 2007 Whitefish turnout was a wild success. In the 2007 election, hydrologist John Muhlfeld bested a commercial […]

Once again the time has come to welcome over 80 million students back to school across the nation. The Flathead Valley community ushers in approximately 10,000 kindergarten through twelfth grade students through our doors this month. Students return to school anticipating success; and it is the intent of all of your local schools to provide […]