Last week I was talking with a friend who was celebrating, or at the very least – remembering, the fact that a certain day that week marked his 10th year on the job. A decade or two ago, it was commonplace to have the same job for 10 years. In the decades of my parents’ […]

There were political lessons that Montana voters learned after watching legislators debate laws in Helena during the first part of this year. In five weeks the Flathead will see how that debacle translates for city voters on Election Day. Most of us get the “taxed enough already” motto preached during the campaigns. But the balance […]

When GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, campaigning in Iowa last month, was pressed by a heckler to raise corporate tax rates, he responded that “corporations are people, my friend.” The crowd of supporters cheered. Whether you agree with him, the high court already essentially did. In early 2010, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled […]

Ever walk out of a store or ended a phone call with a business and thought “Man, what a hassle. Why do they make it so hard for me to give them my money?” For example, I mostly read the news online but I like an old school Sunday paper. Problem is, I can’t get […]

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, […]