Columbia Falls Montana News | Columbia Falls Newspapers

HELENA – The Montana Land Board is accepting a resolution that is part of a bigger plan to protect the North Fork of the Flathead River from oil and gas development.

Thursday's move is part of the agreement Gov. Brian Schweitzer sighed with British Columbia last month to protect the valley from industrial scale mineral development.

Glacier National Park has long been an ideal destination for movies, with films using the park’s sensational settings for decades as a background for drama and adventure.

As a part of the park’s 100th birthday celebration, the Glacier Centennial Film Festival will offer seven chances to look into the back story of some of these films and their place in the park’s history.

The conventional wisdom, according to most economists, is that the United States is currently enjoying a gradual, but fragile, economic recovery from the damaging recession of the last few years. Montana is also widely expected to begin to see economic growth during the second half of this year. But while sweeping generalities may be comforting, the on-the-ground realities of the economy in the Flathead are harder to parse.

At a recent meeting of the Flathead Area Young Professionals – a group dedicated to fostering networking and socializing opportunities within the valley’s younger, working community – interviews with several people revealed observations of a local economy still largely struggling, despite the broad optimism of its workforce.

Last week, I had the pleasure to speak with this year's Leadership Flathead (LF) class about business trends and challenges - and discuss strategies to tackle them.

I only had 15 minutes to speak, so I didn't get to share nearly as much as I would have liked. The upside was that it made my talk short, sweet and to the point - eating dessert first, as Norm's News says.

HELENA – Gov. Brian Schweitzer has ordered state and national flags to be flown at half-staff on Friday and Saturday in honor of a soldier from Hungry Horse who was killed in Afghanistan.

Private First Class Nicholas S. Cook died on March 7 after his Army unit came under insurgent fire in Konar province. His body arrived in Montana on Monday with a memorial processional through Columbia Falls.

The body of Pvt. Nicholas Cook of Hungry Horse arrived in the Flathead Valley early Monday afternoon.

Cook, 19 and a 2008 graduate of Columbia Falls High School, was killed on March 7 when insurgents opened fire on his unit in Konar province in Afghanistan.

Plane-side honors were conducted upon Cook’s arrival at Glacier Park International Airport. There was also a public tribute for Cook at the St. Richard’s Catholic Church parking lot and Columbia Falls High School as his hearse traveled from the airport to the mortuary.

RELATED: Hungry Horse Soldier Was Killed by Insurgents

It was a tough weekend of state tournament basketball for Flathead Valley high schools.

The five local teams – boys and girls – that played in state tournaments on March 11-13 went a combined 1-10, with the Columbia Falls girls claiming the only victory. The Wildkats beat Frenchtown 46-41 in a loser-out contest at the Class A tournament on March 12. The next day, they lost out of the tourney, falling 62-48 to Anaconda.

On Nov. 8 last year, Thomas White failed to dim his brights as he drove on Highway 2 near Coram, catching the attention of a deputy from the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office.

According to court records, the deputy pulled him over and, after smelling alcohol, administered a preliminary breath test. The results showed a blood alcohol content of .297, nearly four times the legal driving limit of .08, despite White’s claims that he had only had four beers.