Helicopter crash kills Whitefish banker

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Two men, including the founder of a Whitefish bank, were killed Wednesday in a helicopter crash at a Southern California airport.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 9 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

Appeals court to hear Glacier Park murder case

A federal appeals court will hear arguments in the case of a Kalispell woman who pleaded guilty to pushing her new husband to his death from a cliff in Glacier National Park.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 9 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO

Wildfires across Montana have covered 334,000 acres

HELENA — Montana’s fire season has grown to the second-largest so far this decade after lightning storms last month ignited a rash of fires that spread rapidly amid bone-dry conditions.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 9 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO

Crowds pouring into national parks

Visitors heading to the Grand Canyon lately know they are going to get two things when they arrive: breathtaking views and long waits, whether it is to get into the national park itself or to find a parking spot inside. A few frustrated tourists have even turned around and left.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 9 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO

Settlement may allow logging to resume

The state Land Board on Monday approved a proposed lawsuit settlement between Montana and three conservation groups that would protect grizzly bears while still allowing logging in two state forests west of Glacier National Park.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 9 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO

Yellowstone joins Glacier in rising visitor popularity

As Yellowstone National Park moves into the busiest part of the year, June saw record-setting attendance numbers.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS AGO

Unemployment report includes reservation data

HELENA — Montana officials for the first time are compiling monthly unemployment rates for the state’s seven Indian reservations.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO

Lincoln County native at center of race dispute

SPOKANE — Rachel Dolezal, a native of Lincoln County, leads the Spokane chapter of the NAACP, teaches African studies to college students and sits on a police oversight commission.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO

Court upholds $618,000 restitution for crash

HELENA — The Montana Supreme Court has upheld a ruling that a Bigfork man must pay over $618,000 in restitution to a woman whose leg was amputated after a vehicle crash.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO

Bigfork man guilty of crashing into bus

A 19-year-old Bigfork man has pleaded guilty to criminal endangerment and drunk-driving charges for rear-ending a school bus that had stopped to drop off students near Polson.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO

Judge dismisses tribes' lawsuit over Flathead water

A federal judge has refused to get involved in a fight over water rights between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and nontribal farmers and ranchers on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 2 MONTHS AGO

Bird flu detected in Judith Basin County chickens

State Department of Livestock officials say bird flu has been confirmed in chickens in Judith Basin County less than a week after the disease killed a captive falcon in Columbia Falls.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO

Jazz great DeFranco dies at 91

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Renowned jazz clarinetist Buddy DeFranco — who collaborated with Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and other top singers and musicians of his era — has died at the age of 91, his family said Friday.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO

Spending bill leaves out county money

Montana counties could lose $20 million — including $9.8 million in Northwest Montana — in federal funding for schools and roads under a spending bill moving through Congress.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

Fog complicates flight plans at airports

Airline flights resumed Monday after thick fog delayed planes across Western Montana for the second day in a row.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

West Valley youth dies in highway crash

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

Whitefish man drowns in Missouri River

GREAT FALLS — A Whitefish man has drowned while fishing along the Missouri River.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO

2013 tourism: 11 million visited Montana

Gov. Steve Bullock’s office says more tourists visited and spent money in Montana last year than ever before.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AGO

Study finds mercury in national park fish

Federal scientists have found high amounts of mercury in sport fish caught in remote areas of Western national parks, including Glacier National Park, according to a study released Thursday.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AGO

Eclipse produces spectacular 'blood moon'

Sky-gazers in North and South America were treated Tuesday morning to a full lunar eclipse.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AGO

Newlywed killing: Murderer appeals sentence

The Associated Pressand The Daily Inter Lake

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO

Wolf census steady

Gray wolves in the U.S. Northern Rockies are showing resilience even as states adopt increasingly aggressive tactics to drive down their numbers through hunting, trapping and government-sponsored pack removals.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO

Flathead Valley killer now on trial in Alaska

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO

Storm hammers Montana

A winter snow storm blanketed Montana on Friday, bringing blizzard warnings, bitter wind-chill temperatures and heavy snow that led to cancelled classes and postponed basketball games.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AGO

Nicole Waller: Woman missing one year

Montana and Flathead County officials are again asking for help solving the February 2013 disappearance of a 32-year-old Kalispell woman whose maroon Ford Expedition was found abandoned near Poplar with her children’s pet guinea pigs inside.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 6 MONTHS AGO

Health program for asbestos victims expanded

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 6 MONTHS AGO

Stabbing victim's father can make medical decisions

A Kalispell judge has granted the father of a hospitalized Whitefish man the authority to make all medical decisions for his son, including removing him from life support.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO

Schools close in West Glacier, Polson

Heavy snow that fell in Western Montana led to the closure of several schools on Tuesday.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

Medicaid expansion bid revived

Medicaid expansion — a proposal which narrowly failed in the Montana Legislature earlier this year — is back on the front burner in Helena.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

Crews ready for rising threat

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO

Wildfire situation dire across state, West

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO

Four homes razed by Lolo fires

Fires have burned four homes so far in Western Montana, with high temperatures and increasing winds making the fires likely to keep spreading, a state fire official said Tuesday.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO

Man with bomb-making chemicals detained in Kalispell

MISSOULA — Residents in a three-block area of northern Missoula were evacuated Monday after a landlord found bomb-making chemicals in a tenant’s apartment.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 11 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO

Four fires burn more than 36 square miles

Four wildfires are actively burning in Western Montana and have led to some evacuations and road and trail closures.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS AGO

Evacuation zone widens near Superior fire

The Mineral County Sheriff’s Office issued more evacuation orders Thursday afternoon as temperatures rose and the humidity decreased on the West Mullan Fire burning north of Superior.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS AGO

Erratic winds hit Superior fire

SUPERIOR — Firefighters battling the West Mullan Fire near Superior used bulldozers and other equipment Wednesday to cut a fire line to prevent the fire from advancing on a Bonneville Power Administration line along the northern edge of the fire.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS AGO

Fire near Superior grows to 700 acres

A wildfire that started near Interstate 90 about two miles northwest of Superior had grown to an estimated 700 acres by Monday afternoon.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS AGO

Brewery battles

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO

FAA to close 149 air traffic towers under cuts

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO

House changes mind on gun bill

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AGO

Corporate campaign limits pass 1st hurdle

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AGO

Kalispell man dies in oil-rig accident

A young Kalispell man died Thursday afternoon after an accident at an oil-drilling rig in western North Dakota.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS, 6 MONTHS AGO

Warming may imperil wolverines

The tenacious wolverine, a snow-loving carnivore sometimes called the “mountain devil,” could soon join the list of species threatened by climate change — a dubious distinction putting it in the ranks of the polar bear and several other animals the government says will lose crucial habitat as temperatures rise.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS, 6 MONTHS AGO

Derailments halt train traffic

The main rail route across northern Montana was closed Friday after two freight trains derailed — one near West Glacier and one near Cut Bank.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS, 6 MONTHS AGO

Judges burdened by heavy workload

An annual study again shows Montana judges are overburdened by a workload that sees them handling as many as 85 matters a day and more.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS, 8 MONTHS AGO

CEO: Bankrupt Vann's has potential buyer

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO

Vann's stores facing closure

Vann’s Inc., the appliance and electronics store that filed for bankruptcy last month to reorganize its finances, asked the court to convert the bankruptcy to a liquidation and has given its employees 60-day layoff notices.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 12 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO

Suspect in arson fires arrested

Officials in Lake County have arrested a St. Ignatius man suspected in a string of recent fires in St. Ignatius and Pablo.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 13 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO

Fugitive search renewed

The Missoula County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday launched an extensive ground search southwest of Missoula, where officers engaged in a shootout with convicted felon David Burgert just over a year ago.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 13 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO

Blast levels Dayton house

An explosion and fire over the weekend destroyed a house and damaged three others in Dayton on Flathead Lake’s west shore.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 13 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AGO

Blackfeet soldier killed in Afghanistan

A 31-year-old soldier from Great Falls has been killed in Afghanistan, becoming the second member of the Blackfeet Indian Tribe to be killed in the Afghan war.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 13 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO

Two face charges in girl's disappearance

Two California men arrested when FBI agents located a missing Evergreen girl face custodial interference charges.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 13 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AGO

More snowy owls appear in Montana this winter

More snowy owls appear to have migrated from the Arctic to Montana and other states this winter in search of food.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 13 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO

Two survive crash of small plane

Flathead County officials say two people escaped serious injury when a small airplane crashed shortly after takeoff from an airstrip at West Glacier.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 14 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO

Burgert search scaled back

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 14 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO

Amtrak train evacuated; rail traffic backs up

An unruly passenger who was removed from an Amtrak train in Northwest Montana later made a threat that led to the train’s evacuation, an Amtrak official said Tuesday.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 14 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AGO

Court: Triathlon not responsible for Kalispell man's death

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 14 YEARS, 9 MONTHS AGO

Woman arrested for art vandalism

LOVELAND, Colo. — A Kalispell woman accused of taking a crowbar to an art museum display that has spurred protests and been denounced as obscene was arrested Wednesday on a charge of felony criminal mischief.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 14 YEARS, 10 MONTHS AGO

Reconstruction of Barkus boat crash finished

Prosecutors in the case against a state senator accused of piloting a boat drunk on Flathead Lake and crashing it onto a rocky outcropping, injuring five people, say they have completed their reconstruction of the accident.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 15 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO

Group aims for repeal of medical marijuana law

BILLINGS — A group trying to repeal Montana’s medical marijuana law started gathering signatures over the weekend.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 15 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO

Idaho man sentenced in Montana drug case

An Idaho man was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison for drug crimes after charges that he ordered the killing of three women at a western Montana hair salon were dropped because of misconduct by authorities.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 15 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AGO

Governor to release local grant money

HELENA — Gov. Brian Schweitzer finalized about $40 million in state government budget cuts on Monday — but said he would release several million dollars in local stimulus grants that had become the focus of tense disputes with local officials.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 15 YEARS, 4 MONTHS AGO

Bartender charged after crash that killed trooper

A bartender who served a drunken driver who was responsible for a head-on crash near Somers that killed a Montana Highway Patrol trooper has pleaded not guilty to several misdemeanors.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 15 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO

Race organizers not liable in Ironman athlete's death

A jury in Panama City, Fla., has determined that the organizers of the 2006 Florida Ironman competition were not responsible for the death of a 35-year-old Kalispell man who collapsed during the race.

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 16 YEARS, 1 MONTH AGO

Wild weather in the West

Weather Service extends winter storm warning for Flathead

DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 16 YEARS, 7 MONTHS AGO