Local News
Your source for reliable, in-depth reporting on Northwest Montana’s communities, government, and daily life—delivering the stories that matter most to you.
New owner begins renovating former Outlaw Inn, details plan for extended-stay rentals
Columbia Falls developer Mick Ruis has begun renovating the former Outlaw Inn after its previous owner left the bu…
Man charged with crashing into grocery store pleads not guilty
A Columbia Falls man accused of driving through a grocery store and running naked in an assisted-living home last month pleaded not guilty Thursday in Flathead…
Kalispell Regional preparing site for non-COVID patients
An alternative care site on the vacant third floor of Montana Children’s that had been prepared for a potential surge in COVID-19 patients is now being set up …
Toys for Tots coordinator confident despite COVID
Like Rudolph’s red nose lighting the way through a blizzard, Kelley Hamilton is leading Flathead County’s Toys for Tots program through the tumult of the COVID…
Sun Road could get makeover along Lake McDonald
The U.S. Department of the Interior has proposed rebuilding a 9.3-mile stretch of Going-to-the-Sun Road and replacing a bridge over McDonald Creek in Glacier N…
"Heroes of the Bob Marshall Wilderness" book signing Friday
Terry Lee McCoy and John Fraley were good friends and college students at the University of Montana...
Fairgrounds takes $535,000 hit due to COVID
Low turnout at the Northwest Montana Fair and Rodeo and other effects of COVID-19 have cost Flathead County roughly $535,000 in revenue, nearly twice what the …
Montana could receive first vaccine doses by Dec. 15
HELENA (AP) — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said Wednesday that the state could receive around 9,750 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by drug company Pfizer …
Wildlife advocates sue agency to protect Canada lynx
BILLINGS (AP) — Wildlife advocates sued the federal government Tuesday in a bid to force officials to do more to conserve Canada lynx, a snow-loving cat that h…
Bigfork man in jail following armed standoff
A Bigfork man is in jail after allegedly engaging in an armed standoff with law officers Tuesday night. Ronald Dean Clackler, 63, is facing pending charges of…
Whitefish Chamber leads Christmas 'shopping spree'
The Whitefish Chamber of Commerce’s “Christmas Tree Shopping Spree” will run through Dec. 11.
Pilot project to help CSKT tribes address missing person cases
At a council meeting of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation Tuesday in Pablo, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme and the CSKT Council launched a pilot project to develop a Tribal Com…
County begins tough task of replacing health officer
The Flathead City-County Health Department is in flux after the Interim Public Health Officer Tamalee St. James Robinson announced she will step down at the en…
Flathead mother accused of cancer scam
A Flathead Valley divorced mother of three and former operator of a daycare business is facing allegations she falsely said she had cancer and scammed donors o…
Board of Canvassers certifies Montana election results
HELENA — Montana’s 2020 election came to its anticlimactic-but-official end in a mostly empty hearing room Monday as the state Board of Canvassers met in the s…
FWS proposal would list whitebark pines as endangered
BILLINGS (AP) — Climate change, voracious beetles and disease are imperiling the long-term survival of a high-elevation pine tree that's a key source of food f…