A Daily Taste of Top Stories: Monday: Building Slump, Property Reappraisal, Igniting Snow Globes

Good morning; on this date in 1937 the Irish Free State became Ireland.

On the Beacon today, the Flathead Building Association says the national construction slowdown has officially hit the Flathead. Three football players from Flathead High School were chosen for the 63rd annual East-West Shrine Game, an honor reserved for the state’s best seniors on the gridiron. Learn to knit on Saturday mornings at Camas Creek Yarns in Kalispell. A retired Chicago professor originally from Montana has published a book of collected obituaries of residents of the Saco area from the early 1900s.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer says he has no plans for any major initiatives in the upcoming Legislature. Erik Iverson has resigned as chairman of the Montana Republican Party; State Republican Vice Chairwoman Liane Johnson, a farmer and rancher in Glacier County, will succeed him. Reconstruction of Glacier Park's Going-to-the-Sun Road is still in limbo heading into 2009. Property tax reappraisal looks set to dominate the Legislature's tax issues for the upcoming session, and it's likely to have big impacts on the Flathead. And the Missoulian's Rob Chaney writes about the quest by Montana's American Indians to define their respective tribal histories.

And finally, check out these giant snowglobes, being recalled because they're capable of igniting any combustible materials in your house on fire. Make sure one of these wasn't in your stocking!