Friday Feb. 10, 2012
State Dept. IG to Review Oil Pipeline from Canada
By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 11-08-11
 

WASHINGTON – The State Department's inspector general will review the Obama administration's handling of a Canadian company's request to pipe oil from western Canada to Texas, following complaints from Democratic lawmakers about possible conflicts of interest in the review process.

Deputy Inspector General Harold W. Geisel said the special review will center on whether the State Department "and all other parties involved" in the project followed federal laws and regulations related to the $7 billion Keystone XL project. The 1,700-mile pipeline proposed by Calgary-based TransCanada would carry oil derived from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.

 
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Creating Opportunity and Community for People with Disabilities
By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 11-07-11
 
Adaptive Exercise Program Coordinator Michaelann Lee, right, works with Kevin Reid on adaptive exercise equipment at The Wave in Whitefish. Lee is organizing the Flathead Disability Health and Wellness Fair in Whitefish. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon

Internet search engines can aggregate information at the touch of a button, but there’s nothing quite like learning about new options and ideas in real life and interacting with knowledgeable sources face to face.

That’s the idea behind the first annual Flathead Disability Health and Wellness Fair, scheduled on Nov. 12 from noon to 5 p.m. at The Wave in Whitefish. Event organizer Michaelann Lee said the fair’s purpose is to raise awareness about resources available to people with disabilities in the Flathead Valley.

 
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A Montana Drone’s Maiden Voyage
By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 11-04-11
 
Justin Sands, left, and Don Bintz communicate as they pilot the Sandstorm, an unmanned aircraft, while demonstrating the technology at an airstrip south of Columbia Falls. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon

COLUMBIA FALLS – The Wright brothers would have appreciated the milestone that unfolded behind a small airplane hangar on Middle Road south of Columbia Falls earlier this week.

A battery-powered, fixed-wing aircraft with a 15-foot wingspan and weighing about 40 pounds buzzed down the runway past a group of onlookers and climbed into the empty sky. The airplane’s two pilots remained seated on the tarmac more than 100 feet below, guiding every move with handheld devices.

 
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Fresh Flavors
By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 11-03-11
 
Marty Stuehler, left, and Pam Cole, center, have their table cleared while dining in the new Rising Sun Bistro space in Kalispell. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon

The menu choices keep growing in downtown Kalispell.

A fresh crop of restaurants opened recently in the historic center of town, shepherding in a new set of flavors that business owners hope will last.

 
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What’s With These Funny New Barcodes?
By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 11-02-11
 

You may have seen those odd-looking square barcodes in newspapers and magazines, on product boxes, etc.

You might have even noticed them in the middle of the star-shaped signage in some Macy's television commercials.

They're called "QR codes."

Why should business owners care about them?

 
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Judge Allows Montana Lawsuit Against BP to Go Ahead
By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 11-01-11
 

HELENA – A judge allowed a lawsuit filed by Montana against oil giant BP to go ahead but cautioned the state has a long way to go to prove its claims that the company committed fraud in collecting money to clean up spills from leaky storage tanks beneath its service stations.

Montana has accused the British company, its subsidiaries and predecessors of "double-dipping" by allowing state money to be used to clean up contamination from the tanks without disclosing they had also collected insurance money for the same spills.

 
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Libby Project Honored for Use of Tax Credits
By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 10-28-11
 
Stinger Welding, Inc., employees work on steel while constructing bridge girders in an old central maintenance facility at a former lumber mill in the Kootenai Business Park in Libby. Earlier this year, Stinger moved into a brand new facility. – Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon

A project by the Montana Community Development Corporation has been awarded top honors by the Novogradac Community Development Foundation for using new markets tax credits to assist Stinger Welding in Libby.

Montana CDC, a Missoula-based nonprofit small business lender, helped secure $17 million for Stinger Welding to complete a steel fabrication plant earlier this year in Libby. Stinger is an Arizona-based company that fabricates infrastructure for bridges.

 
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Handcrafting Campers
By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), 10-27-11
 
Patrick Robertson puts the finishing touches on a camper door frame on at S&S Campers south of Kalispell. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon

Doug Sieler remembers when and where he earned his first paycheck. It came from his father Elmer in 1984 when Doug was a freshman at Flathead High School. Almost 30 years later, Doug remembers when and where both his son and daughter earned their first paychecks. They’re still earning them today right where Doug did.

The Sieler family business is S & S Campers on U.S. Highway 93 south of Kalispell. With Doug as its president and the rest of his family working in a variety of positions, the company builds slide-on truck campers, the kind that sit on top of a pickup truck as opposed to being pulled behind like a trailer.

 
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