Blogs, Missoula News

Camping dirty at the Sasquatch scene

Dameon Matule — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:30:00 -0600

The first day of Sasquatch feels like the first day at summer camp, only everyone is soaked with booze and often wearing silly costumes that resemble plushy animals. Every Memorial Day weekend 23,000 people, roughly three times the population of nearby Quincy, flock to Central Washington for four days of sun, bands, and parties.…

Hangriest Hour: Deep fryer genius at Double Front Cafe

Jamie Rogers — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:30:00 -0600

There is regular “comfort food” and then there is food of such sublime unctuousness that a different term is necessary: let’s just call it “fried.” Two offerings at Missoula’s Double Front Cafe fall into this elevated category, and they aren’t chicken.

Offering #1: Kids love macaroni and cheese. Grownups also love mac and cheese but pretend to love it less when their kids love it way too much (or the appropriate amount, depending).…

Fifteen years later, the New Yorker's story on Missoula's Sputniks is online

Erika Fredrickson — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:50:00 -0600

In 1998, a Missoula band called the Sputniks went on tour with a writer from the New Yorker. Those of you who remember the band and read the article might be interested to know that it's now online and available to read on photographer Mary Ellen Mark's website.…

Real possibility

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:50:00 -0600

Have you ever heard of Otter Creek? If not, you may want to know what is happening in eastern Montana and how it will impact those of us who live near railroad tracks in different communities across the state.…

Horses have feelings

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:49:00 -0600

With regard to Ari LeVaux's "Harvesting horses" column (May 16), I hope that his idea remains no more than a "Flash in the Pan."

While the euphemistic phrase "harvesting" sounds amenable, the brutal slaughter of horses for human ends is anything but.…

Never give up

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:48:00 -0600

I am saddened, sickened and outraged by the decision of the Supreme Court regarding my cousin Kim Nees' murder (see "No redemption," May 16). Barry Beach, Centurion Ministries, Montanans for Justice and several key witnesses have proven Barry's innocence.…

Highway Technologies run off the road; estimated 80 jobs lost

Jamie Rogers — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:05:00 -0600

On May 20, Steve Zetterberg leaned back in a chair and propped his boots on what used to be the receptionist’s desk at Highway Technologies’ Missoula branch office. Nearby, the office manager paced as he talked on a cellphone, while another group of employees stood idly in a group, speaking quietly.…

Your future, a little early

Rob Brezsny — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:00:00 -0600

Find Rob Brezsny's "Free Will Astrology" online, every Wednesday, one day before it hits the Indy's printed pages.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): "I'm still learning," said Michelangelo when he was 87 years old.…

Happiest Hour: Al's and Vic's patio

Kate Whittle — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:00:00 -0600

Where You’re Drinking: It’s summertime (sorta) and the living is easy. During the glorious bright, warm days of late spring, all we want to do is find a place to relax outside, sip a cold one and feel the breeze on our skin.…

How to make your nut with Tide (and more from In Other News)

Roland Sweet — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:06:00 -0600

Curses, Foiled Again
Authorities charged Carolyn James, 55, with assaulting her 96-year-old mother in Dickson City, Pa., after a neighbor recorded James slapping the invalid woman on the back and neck, screaming obscenities and threatening to break her arm. Mark Gruss told investigators he was testing webcams when he picked up a live feed from a webcam in James’s living room.…

Rockies Today on break until June 3

Mountain West News — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:25:00 -0600

The Rockies Today, a project of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West at The University of Montana that provides daily links to top news stories, will be on hiatus until Monday, June 3.

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Rockies Today, May 17

Mountain West News — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:01:00 -0600

Top news links, courtesy of Mountain West News.

U.S. Interior Department releases new version of hydraulic-fracturing regs
The new proposed federal regulations for hydraulic fracturing were released by the U.S. Interior Department on Thursday, and public comment will be taken for 30 days, but environmental groups already said the new rules, which allow companies to shield some chemicals used in the process from disclosure, are too lax, and the oil and gas industry are already saying the regulations are too onerous.
New York Times; May 17

Wyoming gets a head's up on federal fracking rules
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell called Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead to give him a brief description of federal rules on hydraulic fracturing, rules Mead said are not needed given the state's regulations on the drilling process.
Casper Star-Tribune; May 17

Annual survey in Montana's Bitterroot Valley finds more elk
The annual spring aerial survey of Montana's Bitterroot Valley found 7,373 elk, up from the 6,238 elk counted last year, and the fourth highest number since the survey began 48 years ago.
Ravalli Republic; May 17

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Rockies Today, May 16

Mountain West News — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:53:00 -0600

Top news links, courtesy of Mountain West News.

Montana man arrested, charged with arson in wildfire starts near Helena
Lewis and Clark Sheriff Leo Dutton said a Helena man is in custody and will face multiple counts of arson for a series of wildfire starts near Montana's Capital City, including the 55-acre fire that started Tuesday near the historic McMaster ranch.
Helena Independent Record; May 16

Montana county commission wants to talk water with USFS, DNRC
After learning that Ravalli County's objection to the U.S. Forest Service's attempt to gain in-stream water rights on two streams had been denied by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, the county commission has invited Tom Tidwell, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, and the top officials of the DNRC to come and talk with them about the Forest Service's plan to pursue in-stream water rights on 11 streams in the Bitterroot National Forest.
Ravalli Republic; May 16

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Appalling testimony

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:00 -0600

This letter responds to Alex Sakariassen’s article about the physician who admitted during a legislative hearing to assisting three suicides (see “Cowardice to courage,” April 11). I was at that hearing and I was appalled with the doctor’s testimony and his goal to legalize assisted suicide.…

New questions

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:00 -0600

It is really alarming to me that the focus of the recent mass shootings has been on gun control instead of the broader and more relevant subject of “What the hell is wrong with people?” And I don’t mean the people pulling the triggers. I mean the people arguing about what to do and holding everyone and everything, including inanimate objects, responsible while not removing the beams from their own eyes.…

Hardly legendary

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:00 -0600

I must take exception to Gabriel Furshong’s stunt to paint Montana Sen. Max Baucus as an unrelenting conservationist (see “Lasting impression,” May 2). It might be true that Baucus used some back door sway to protect Montana’s wild areas, such as his creation of the Montana Legacy Project.…

Graduation Party Dos and Don'ts

Kate Whittle — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:22:00 -0600

Here in Missoula, a town dominated by the presence of the university, graduation day is a big deal. Perhaps you are graduating, after working hard/hardly working for a long four/six/23 years, or perhaps you know someone who is. Families are in town.…

Rockies Today, May 15

Mountain West News — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:01:00 -0600

Top news links, courtesy of Mountain West News.

House panel begins digging into wind-power's pass on eagle deaths
On Tuesday, the House Natural Resources Committee announced it plans to find out why the wind energy industry has seemingly received a pass from the Obama administration for killing hundreds of thousands of birds, including eagles.
Denver Post (AP); May 15

USFWS plan for Idaho wildlife refuge sparks water fight with Canyon County
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working on its management plan for the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge that includes rules for the 9,000-acre Lake Lowell, but on Tuesday, the Canyon County Commission laid out its position that the lake belongs to the irrigators and the state, and the county will not enforce any federal rules on the lake, and will withdraw any aid provided to the refuge should federal agents be brought in to enforce on-water rules.
Idaho Statesman; May 15

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Your future, a little early

Rob Brezsny — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:00:00 -0600

Find Rob Brezsny's "Free Will Astrology" online, every Wednesday, one day before it hits the Indy's printed pages.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the alternate universe created by Marvel comic books, there is a mutant superhero called Squirrel Girl.…

BREAKING: Montana Supreme Court reinstates Barry Beach conviction

Jessica Mayrer — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:27:00 -0600

The Montana Supreme Court ruled today in a 4-3 decision to reinstate Barry Beach’s 1984 conviction for murdering 17-year-old Kim Nees on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Beach was released from prison in December 2011 while the Supreme Court considered his case, and has been living and working in Billings.…

Staffers at Partnership Health Center in Missoula allege harassment, wrongful discharge

Jessica Mayrer — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:19:00 -0600

Since February, six Partnership Health Center staffers have filed lawsuits alleging a range of grievances against the Missoula clinic including harassment, wrongful discharge and that management required employees to perform tasks without pay.

“We consider this to be a serious and pervasive problem in this workplace and felt that we had a responsibility to file these lawsuits,” says Great Falls attorney Elizabeth Best, who represents the plaintiffs in six separate cases.

Partnership provides healthcare and dental services to roughly 10,000 repeat patients each year and more than half of those patients are uninsured.…

Rockies Today, May 14

Mountain West News — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:50:26 -0600

Top news links, courtesy of Mountain West News.

BLM completes series of meetings on Montana Hi-Line management plan
Monday evening's meeting in Great Falls was the last of five the Bureau of Land Management hosted to gather public comment on its proposed management plan for 2.4 million acres of public land along Montana's Hi-Line, with 140 people in total attending the five meetings that addressed sage grouse habitat and energy development.
Great Falls Tribune; May 14

As Ag, Interior secretaries vow to find wildfire funds
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell were the bearers of bad news in Boise on Monday, where they said Bureau of Land Management funds for fuels reduction may have to be diverted to fight wildfires.
Idaho Statesman; May 14

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Rachel Maddow calls out white "nationalist" nonprofit in Flathead

Alex Sakariassen — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:56:00 -0600

Late last week, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow took a deep look at a white supremacist think tank in the Flathead Valley and its ties to the nation's ongoing debate over immigration reform. Her May 9 segment called out a Whitefish-based nonprofit known as the National Policy Institute, a group that bills itself as "an independent research and educational foundation" working for "the people that bears the unique heritage of Europe, Christianity, cultural excellence, and the scientific awakening"—or, more concisely, "White Americans."…

Rockies Today, May 13

Mountain West News — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:06:00 -0600

Top news links, courtesy of Mountain West News.

Water-rights issue snarls Montana town's project
Last Friday, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation put funding for the Conrad/Brady pipeline project, designed to provide Brady residents until the Pondera County Canal and Reservoir Co.…

Why you shouldn't gamble at a carnival (and more from In Other News)

Roland Sweet — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:00:00 -0600

Curses, Foiled Again
A teller at a Washington, D.C., bank failed to comply with a robber’s demands because she didn’t understand them. The holdup note read simply “100s 50s 20s 10s.” Authorities said the teller handed the note back to the robber, who added “all mona.” Still not comprehending, she told him to leave.…