Columns
Explore Daily Inter Lake Columns featuring local sports commentary, outdoor adventure stories, lifestyle tips, and community perspectives from Northwest Montana.
Giving Together: Turning Tax Season into Opportunities for Students
On a spring morning in Kalispell, a group of elementary students huddle around a table, testing a small robot they…
Blending the old and new in China
Nearly unrecognizable from my last trip there 13 years ago, I found the place at the end of 2025 to be fluidly modern and easy to navigate. Despite the rush to embrace technologies and alternative energy sources, s…
Full Count: To sum that up, we need to borrow a word
Gorgeous in spots and dragging in others, Montana State’s 35-34 overtime win over Illinois State Monday in the NCAA Division I Football Championship was, once …
History makes a capital trip
The centerpiece exhibit mixes the universal and the particular as it makes a grand tour of our state’s people, including 13 sovereign nations and immigrants, and a land of incomparable beauty and industry.
Full Count: Some regrets, but plenty of great highlights
As 2025 winds down, I have come to the uncomfortable conclusion that mistakes were made.
Giving Together: A community that cares
The holiday season has a way of revealing what truly matters. Long after the decorations are packed away and we’ve sworn off sugar until spring, what stays with us are the moments of connection, compassion and comm…
Full Count: Pretty much the same thing over and over
Most people would celebrate their team’s 13-2 season, as they should, but man did the Bobcats knock some shine off that record.
The story of two cultures meeting in the Rockies
“I want to learn about De Smet!” said outgoing President Ed Byrne at the Nov. 17 meeting of the Northwest Montana Westerners as he introduced ethnohistorian Sally Thompson.
Full Count: Of Bobcats, Grizzlies and butterflies
The beautiful Great Divide Trophy is not at stake Saturday when the Grizzlies and Bobcats battle in what we’re now calling “The Super Brawl” in Bozeman.
Full Count: A beginning, a middle and a next game
Much has already been made about the postgame dust-up between Montana State running back Julius Davis and an opposing player, and his coach, and his teammate, and I don’t mean to pile on.
Learning to avoid scams is a good investment
“We can work together to be smarter than the scammers,” emcee and Rep. Courtenay Sprunger, R-Kalispell, told a capacity crowd at Immanuel Living ready to learn about scams — and how to avoid them.
Full Count: Officially official for Bravettes’ coach Downing
When Amber Downing was named head coach of Flathead’s girls wrestling program on June 1, it was a first for the high school.
Giving Together: Helping Our Neighbors in Need
Recently, a family from Eureka visited the North Valley Food Bank (NVFB) for the first time.
Full Count: A (chicken or) Egg Bowl of our own
The 124th Cat-Griz game, lately known as the Brawl of the Wild, brought back that chicken-or-the-egg question about Montana’s offense:
Full Count: Not even mad; just disappointed
The ESPN College GameDay program that airs each Saturday morning during football season seemed like it would be in Missoula this week.
Nature knows how to nurture
"The no. 1 question the office receives about this class is, ‘Do I need to bring a towel?’” instructor Ellen Horowitz said as we gathered at Flathead Valley Community College, which offers forest bathing through it…