Flathead Beacon

As Montana’s State Auditor, I have a remarkably multifaceted and interesting job. In addition to regulating Montana’s insurance and bail bonds industries, I am also tasked with promoting capital formation in order to foster business growth and free enterprise. As a fourth-generation Montanan, this is a duty I both enjoy and value. That’s why I […]

After a weekend full of competition and weather delays, the 2025-2026 high school sports year came to a close with three Flathead Valley teams walking away with state titles. In the first-ever Class A/B state baseball tournament, the Bigfork Vikings eclipsed a previously undefeated Dillon Beavers 7-2 to take home top honors, while the Whitefish […]

Carolyn Wieringa, her colleagues, former students and current ones say, has made her mark after more than three decades of teaching at the school.

Kalispell City councilors approved a public participation plan Monday night that lays out a set of standards for notifying residents of new developments. The plan is born out of the Montana Land Use Planning Act (MLUPA), a state law that required certain cities including Kalispell to update their growth policies this year. Kalispell adopted a […]

Nearly a month after the Columbia Falls planning commission gave the OK to a series of measures that began clearing a path for the development of Teakettle Heights — a 421-unit subdivision on former Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. (CFAC) land being backed by local developer Mick Ruis — the city council followed suit by giving […]

In soccer, nothing is worse than an own goal. That goes double for politics. There’s a difference in how athletes and politicians react to their mistakes, however. Most soccer players, burdened as they are with self-awareness, are anguished when they put the ball in their own net. Now consider your average politician’s reaction to a […]

According to OnX, Montana has more than 1.5 million acres of inaccessible state lands. Many of these are acres that hunters, anglers and recreationists can’t get to, and may be less profitable for the state. Land swaps – or trades of isolated state parcels for private lands elsewhere – are, in theory, a useful tool […]

A Flathead County District Court judge on Wednesday denied a convicted murderer’s request for an acquittal and a separate motion for a new trial, ruling against the defense who argued there was insufficient evidence to support the guilty verdict, and that prosecutors introduced improper character evidence and gave improper jury instructions. On November 3, 2025, […]

Authorities have released the identity of a suspect who died in an officer-involved shooting at the Emery Bay Campground near Hungry Horse Reservoir on May 29, according to a Kalispell Police Department news release. Kenneth Ardagna, 57, was pronounced dead as a result of injuries sustained during the incident after Flathead County Sheriff’s Office deputies […]

Tuesday night’s election results showed a mixed bag on the weight the Flathead County GOP’s endorsements and the state GOP’s Honor Roll designations carried with voters.