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Hungry Horse News
Landowners have until March 15 to apply for PALA and UPL programs
HELENA – Landowners have until March 15 to apply for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ Unlocking Public Lands (UPL) Program or the Public Access Land Agreement (PALA) Program.These programs are designed to provide recreational public access to state (Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation) or federal (Bureau of Land Management or United States Forest Service) land where no or limited legal public access currently exists. For enrollment in UPL, landowners will receive an income tax credit in the amount of $750 per agreement and up to a maximum of $3,000 in tax credits in exchange for allowing access across...
Glacier National Park seeks public comment on fire management plan
Glacier National Park is seeking initial public scoping as it looks to update its fire management plan crafted 20 years ago.The 2003 plan was signed off on just as the Park saw a historic fire year that burned some 310,000 acres across the region, including massive blazes inside the park.Since then, Glacier has seen even more wildfires, both east and west of the Divide and some areas have burned twice in the past 20 years.The Robert Fire, for example, burned up the north shore of Lake McDonald in 2003; in 2018, the same area burned again in the Howe Ridge...
War comes home to my small town
At the coffee shops in Talent, the little Oregon town where I live, the conversation is often about the high cost of housing or the way the weather has been dramatically changing.But lately another topic has crept in—the escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine.That might seem surprising since my town is more than 7,000 miles from Gaza, where in just a few months more than 29,000 people have been killed and nearly 2 million have been driven from their homes. But what is happening there reverberates here in its own way.For one thing, much of the funding for Israel’s...
CFHS senior Colton Little challenges Braxton Mitchell for House District 5
Two-term Republican state Rep. Braxton Mitchell faces a youthful, independent challenger in House District 5 this year — 18-year-old Colton Little.Mitchell, a 23-year-old from Columbia Falls, has balanced carrying bills benefiting his district with bolstering his culture war bonafides. During the 2023 session, he secured a future veterans cemetery for Flathead County, but received the most recognition for a bill restricting drag shows and banning drag reading events in the state. The latter piece of legislation, though signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte, is on hold while legal challenges work through the court system. “I have been effective,” Mitchell said this...
Tester also raises concerns about CFAC cleanup; hopes to get EPA brass here
Montana Sen. Jon Tester said last week that the “waste in place” cleanup plan for the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. Superfund site “was not much of a cleanup plan at all.”His views are in-line with Columbia Falls community leaders and an ongoing petition drive by The Coalition for a Clean CFAC. The Coalition, which is made of of representatives from several community groups including Citizens for a Better Flathead and the Upper Flathead Neighborhood Association, recently garnered 1,000 signatures to a petition requesting that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality take a “timeout” to fairly...
Community Market finds new home
The Columbia Falls Community Market will have a new home this summer adjacent to St. Richard Catholic Church on Highway 2.Market director Melissa Ellis said the board will lease about 3 acres of vacant land that is owned by the Glacier Country Boys and Girls Club.The club is looking to eventually build a facility on the property, but that looks to be years down the road.The market will run Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m. starting May 16 and running through Sept. 26 and it will be open July 4. Ellis said they already have about 114 vendors interested. Josephine’s...
Happenings: March 6
A Columbia Falls Firefighter team will climb Columbia Center in the Seattle Stairclimb March 10, to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. To support to the C-Falls team, visit the Columbia Falls Fire Department Facebook page and Instagram, or visit https://www.llswa.org/site/TR/LLSWA/llswaFF?team_id=75022&pg=team&fr_id=1750. The Northwest Montana Photographers would like to invite you to our March 12, meeting in Columbia Falls at the fellowship church. Our speaker will be Robert Hanson, well-known local photographer. He will be teaching on putting slideshows together for public shows and viewing. Everyone is welcome. Meeting will start at 7 p.m. Columbia Falls American Legion Post 72 is having their...
Don Lawrence, founder of Don Lawrence Orchestra, Columbians Jazz Band, dies
Don Lawrence, the musical soul of Columbia Falls and founder of the Don Lawrence Orchestra, died on Friday.From 1959 to 1984 Lawrence was the band director at the Columbia Falls High School. He left a legacy not only at the school, but with his musical arrangements he performed with the DLO and other groups.Lawrence founded the Columbians, the high school jazz band that continues to win awards today.Lawrence grew up in the Flathead Valley after his family moved up here from South Dakota when he was young.He started playing a beat-up baritone at the age of 6, but switched to...
Sun Road, North Fork reservations selling out in a couple of minutes; Many Glacier reservations available now
Going, going, gone.Glacier National Park’s advanced reservations for the Going-to-the-Sun Road from the west side as well as the North Fork sold out in about two minutes, the Hungry Horse News found when it attempted to get one on Friday, March 1.The newspaper recently tried to purchase a ticket for the Sun Road right at 8 a.m. Mountain Time to no avail — the recreation.gov site at first said it was trying to make the reservation, but traffic volumes were higher than normal, and then, after refreshing, the site simply said none were available.Demand has surged as the advanced reservations...
Services March 8 for Kilman
A memorial service for Josiah Kilman of Columbia Falls has been set for 5 p.m. March 8 at the Canvas Church in Kalispell.Kilman, 18, was allegedly strangled to death by classmate Charles E. Escalera, 21, in Kilman’s dorm room at the Campbellsville University campus in Kentucky on Feb. 24. Escalera was charged with murder and second-degree burglary, according to Taylor County records. The burglary charge stems from Escalera allegedly breaking into a home and stealing food after the incident with Kilman, according to the Associated Press.Police found Escalera hiding in a barn later in the day of the incident.A motive...
C-Falls Junior High student wins Flathead County Spelling Bee
Columbia Falls Junior High seventh-grader Lily Aveson is the 2024 Flathead County Spelling Bee champion. The winning word was “bereavement.”Runner-up was St. Matthew's School eighth-grader Matthew Bliven. Somers Middle School seventh-grader KorKor Collins placed third at the bee which was held Feb. 21 at Glacier High School. All three advance to the Treasure State Spelling Bee March 9 in Bozeman.
Coalition for a Clean CFAC 10,000 strong and growing
The Coalition for a Clean CFAC is pleased to announced that over 1,000 Columbia Falls and Flathead area residents have signed a petition requesting that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) take a timeout to fairly re-evaluate the cost-benefits of removing, (not leaving), the toxic waste at CFAC (Columbia Falls Aluminum Company). Additionally, the following organizations have joined the call for this timeout including, American Rivers, Flathead Lake Protection Association, Flathead Rivers Alliance, Flathead Lakers, Swan View Coalition, and West Glacier Community Preservation Association, with a number of others considering joining pending approval...
Money for what?
As it is about tax time again, I think these thoughts need to be expressed. Before I start into the main meat of this piece, I am going to throw out these statistics: The U.S. debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio as of December 2022 is now 129% which is very close to what it was at the end of World War II. In other words, it would take everything the U.S. produced in 1.29 years to lower our debt to zero; that’s $100,000 per every living person in the U.S. Ukraine’s debt to GDP ratio as of December...
NWE Plans Protect Montana Customers
Over the last several weeks we’ve seen a number of articles—both editorial and from news reporters—that lay blame for the need to purchase electricity on the open market at the feet of NorthWestern Energy and their recent efforts to expand their portfolio to include more reliable energy from coal and natural gas. In no uncertain terms, the litany of articles published since the beginning of the year have accused NorthWestern of poor planning, of not acting in the best interest of their customers, and of intentionally increasing their prices.These accusations couldn’t be further from the truth.Anyone who takes more than...
Yesterdays: Wild turkeys
70 years agoFeb. 26, 1954A HHN survey found that 41 out of 57 Columbia Falls sixth graders could not swim 40 feet, a problem for a community surrounded by water bodies. As solutions, Columbia Falls Lions Club was looking to build a concrete pool with the help of the Works Progress Administration, and a bus schedule was suggested to get kids to Lake Five, Lake Blaine, or Whitefish Lake during the summer. 60 years ago Feb. 28, 1964Twenty-eight wild turkeys were captured in Roundup and transplanted in Eureka by Montana Fish and Game. The hope was to have a turkey hunting...
Blotter: Kindergartener brings joint with Valentine's cookies
Feb. 9A man was cited for disorderly behavior walking down Nucleus Avenue kicking cars and yelling. On Highway 2, a man was trespassed after stealing three items from a business, theft charges were not pursued. Feb. 10A woman called after a man helped her get into her vehicle, which she was locked out of. Her complaint was that he had dented the car in the process. Feb. 11On Twelfth Avenue, an ongoing issue of a barking dog was reported, with the caller threatening to blare Taylor Swift music every morning to get even. A vehicular hit and run was reported on Nucleus...
ImagineIF Libraries returns to original Flathead County Libraries name, Dugan hired as new director
Imagine if the library system changed its name back to Flathead County Libraries? On Thursday, it did.The library system’s board of trustees voted to drop the ImagineIF Libraries brand and revert back a moniker last used a decade ago.Implementation of the change will occur over the course of two years, according to the motion passed. Flathead County Library Director Teri Dugan said the timeline is in line with how long it took the library system to rebrand as ImagineIF in 2014. She said employees had mixed opinions on the proposed change and asked for time to implement it. “I would ask for...
PHOTOS: Fourth graders ice fish
Glacier Gateway Elementary School fourth graders ice fish with FWP’s Hooked on Fishing program at Murphy Lake Thursday, Feb. 22. Glacier Gateway fourth graders ice fish with FWP’s Hooked on Fishing program at Murphy Lake Thursday, Feb. 22. AVERY HOWE Lillialla Benner (right) politely declines to kiss the fish she caught on Murphy Lake Thursday as Max Flickinger helps her release it. (Avery Howe photo) AVERY HOWE GGES fourth grader Jameson Solorio and Hooked on Fishing's Kirk Rasmussen celebrate Solorio’s catch on Murphy Lake Thursday, Feb. 22. (Avery Howe photo) AVERY HOWE Bain Johnson, Deon Rakestraw and Clint Grangroth work together to free Johnson’s fish at Murphy Lake Thursday, Feb. 22. (Avery Howe photo) AVERY HOWE Elias Hilliard shows off his catch — one of the largest of the day — on Murphy Lake Thursday, Feb. 22. AVERY HOWE GGES fourth grader Lily Barnett pulls a fish up from Murphy Lake Thursday, Feb. 22. (Avery Howe photo) AVERY HOWE GGES fourth grader Kason Hall catches his first fish on Murphy Lake with FWP’s Hooked on Fishing program Thursday, Feb. 22. (Avery Howe) AVERY HOWE A fish gets released back into Murphy Lake by a GGES fourth grader.
Wildcats advance to state
The Wildcats won two games at the Western A Divisional Tournament in Butte, qualifying for the state tournament on March 7-9 at the same site.The journey through the bracket had plenty of twists and turns, just like the road to Butte, as Columbia Falls lost two games by a total of six points as well. In its first game of divisionals, Columbia Falls downed Dillon 51-49 in a close and hard-fought game on Thursday, February 22. The Wildcats trailed by two points in the first quarter but battled back for a 25-23 halftime lead. Dillon would then take the 37-36 lead heading...
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The Hungry Horse News has been in publication since 1946. It is the only weekly newspaper in Montana to win a Pulitzer Prize and has a reputation for fine photography of the Flathead Valley and Glacier National Park. It is housed in a log cabin in Columbia Falls. Visitors with story ideas are always welcome to stop by.
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