A daily taste of top news stories
Weekend Buffet: Fly Fishing, GNP Blasting Denied, Robber Turned Jingle Rapper
 |
Good morning. Happy birthday to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, who turns 90 today. A third man was charged for his alleged role in a weekend attack on migrant workers. For five days, Whitefish will be the fly fishing capital of the world. Glacier National Park officials have rejected a BNSF Railway proposal to use explosives for preventing avalanches that could send snow onto railroad tracks. A Montana coal mine gets a face lift. A state investigation into livestock hasn't turned up any more brucellosis. And a robber turned jingle contestant.
[read more]Park Blasting
Glacier Park Officials Reject Blasting Plan
HELENA – Glacier National Park officials, citing concerns about wildlife habitat, have rejected a BNSF Railway proposal to use explosives for preventing avalanches that could send snow onto railroad tracks.
Instead, the railroad should spend millions of dollars to build more snowsheds — canopies over segments of track — to keep snow from blocking the route along the park's southern edge, according to an environmental document released Thursday by park officials, in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service and the Montana Department of Transportation.
Hate Crime
Third Man Charged in Attack on Asian migrant Workers
A third man implicated in a weekend attack on migrant workers that authorities say was racially motivated has been charged with committing hate crimes.
Karl Trent, 46, was charged with felony malicious intimidation for the Saturday attack on a group of Asian mushroom pickers at a campground in Marion. Also charged were Edward L. Hubbs, 26, and Daniel J. Devine, 25, both of Marion.
Columbia Falls Lions Club Summer Concert Series
Bagpipes In Marentette Park
The Highlanders knock out a military medley honoring Veterans in the crowd. Mark Riffey photo for the Beacon.
On Thursday evening, a substantial crowd of Columbia Falls folks could be found at the band shell in Marentette Park listening to the sounds of the Montana Highlanders, a bagpipe band.
For the brief time I was there...
Summit Fever
Summer is for Peak Bagging
Mary Schwada works her way through the diorite just below the summit of Rising Wolf Mountain. Marcia Litchfield and her daughter Terri follow close behind. - Becky Lomax for the Beacon
Every week, loose-knit hiking groups from Whitefish hit Glacier National Park trails. For one hiking group of women, Wednesday upped the ante of their adventures when they scaled 9,513-foot Rising Wolf Mountain.
For a few of the six women, it marked their inauguration into climbing big peaks. Via the south route, they ascended 4,500 feet straight up from Two Medicine Lake, scrambling through scree and cliff ledges. They encountered steep snow below the summit, which forced them onto an exposed knife of diorite.
New water permits to be reviewed without Avista case
Policy Change Frees up Flathead Water Rights
The state Department of Natural Resources changed its process for reviewing new water rights applications for the Flathead River and lower Clark Fork basins last month, opening up the possibility for appropriations that have been held up over the past year and a half.
“This particular ruling for exemption in the Flathead is huge,” Sen. Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell, said. “We’ll hopefully be able to make some progress in terms of the log jam in applicants. There are lots of people who’ve been left in limbo, sometimes after spending thousands of dollars on these applications.”
Graffiti painted on local business
Vandalism hits Columbia Falls again
Vandals left these unsightly tracks on a Columbia Falls business just North of the tracks in Columbia Falls. Mark Riffey photo for the Beacon.
Graffiti scars the warehouse door and wall of Adam Bigelow's business, Biggy's Landscaping.
While it's not likely the source of this vandalism is the same that struck Cedar Pointe, the signs that some big city ugliness has crept into Columbia Falls have increased over the summer.
Premiere Fly Fishing Conclave Comes to Whitefish
For a Week, Flathead as the World’s Angling Hub
Jeff Yost, center, with Lakestream Fly Fishing Shop, casts while guiding Virginia residents Juliette Arnold and her father, David Arnold, down the Flathead River. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon
For five days, Whitefish will be the fly fishing capital of the world.
The 43rd Annual International Fly Fishing Show and Conclave is coming to Whitefish High School on July 22 and will run through July 26. Put on by the Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF), it is the premier event in the sport of fly fishing.
Lurching from one near disaster to another ...
How Old Would You be if You Didn’t Know When You Were Born?
 |
Years ago, when I was romancing my wife Laurie, I convinced her that “I was a 14-year-old kid trapped in a senior citizen’s body.” That was then and this is now. I have just completed writing a book that is full of advice about how to live the second half of your life. This, incidentally, starts when you are 38.5 years old. The anticipated life span of Americans today is 78.5. In comparison, in 1900 the life span of Americans was less than 40 years of age.
[read more]Election 2008
Obama Campaign to Open Six Montana Offices
HELENA – Barack Obama's campaign is holding events over the next week for the opening of six offices in Montana.
The campaign is opening offices in Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, Helena and Missoula. It has previously announced the hiring of full-time staff.
