The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
Sorted by date Results 676 - 700 of 1092
HELENA, Mont. – Kathy Bushnell of Helena, Mont. has accepted a permanent position as the Helena District Ranger on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. Bushnell has worked in the District Ranger position since September in a temporary role, and was offered the permanent position by Forest Supervisor Bill Avey after a competitive application process. "Kathy's strategic thinking skills, leadership capability, and integrity will serve both the Helena Ranger District and t...
HELENA, Mont. – The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest has finalized plans for the Stonewall Vegetation project near Lincoln, Mont. following additional environmental analyses that were deemed necessary after wildfire burned portions of the project area in 2017. The final project decision, signed December 19, authorizes forest management activities including timber harvest and prescribed burning on nearly 1,400 acres in the larger project area. "We have taken the time t...
If your group needs to raise money for upcoming projects, then plan on attending the Grant writing webinar at the Lincoln Library on Tuesday, Jan.14 from 9-10 a.m. This is a free course for any group or organization that needs to find more funding. “Grants can offer valuable opportunities for small communities, nonprofits, and other organizations to extend their reach and accomplish their goals. The Lincoln Library is working together with the Lincoln Council for the Arts to provide several opportunities for Lincoln r...
Upcoming board elections and Skijor Lincoln were the main topics discussed at the Dec. 12 meeting of the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce. With the resignation of one director and terms for two other directors coming to an end, the Chamber is still seeking to fill empty seats. Normally, the board consists of seven seated directors, but has been running on less than that for this past year. Although there are three new individuals running for some of the open positions, an...
As the holidays near, Christmas lights are going up around Lincoln and along Main Street, the lights at several businesses will be coordinated to music. Aaron Birkholz, owner of Coyote Coffee, has been working on synchronizing the lights at his business and home to music for the last couple of years. This year, he's working with other local businesses to try to light up the entire Main Street. A few years ago, Birkholz started noticing elaborate Christmas light displays and...
There's a lot going on at the Lincoln Branch of the Lewis & Clark Library. New Hours For the first time in at least 15 years, the Lincoln Library will have new hours of operation. Over the summer, the library conducted a survey regarding their hours of operation, and to gain input on the types of programming and events the community would like to see from the library. Last Thursday evening, Dec. 12, Lincoln Librarian Kate Radford held a public meeting to go over the survey...
MISSOULA - Chad Bauer, a member of Gov. Steve Bullock's Grizzly Bear Citizen Advisory Council, expressed a sense of urgency and unease on the second morning of the council's Dec. 4-5 meeting in Missoula. Bauer and Bullock sat across from each other in a crowded conference room on the University of Montana campus. Bullock had recently announced the end of his presidential campaign, and Bauer, who works as a municipal market manager for Missoula waste hauler Republic Services,...
A suggestion by Lincoln's new librarian Kate Radford could improve the safety at the crosswalks near Lincoln School. At a meeting of the Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council two months ago, Radford suggested improving the school crosswalks with the use of a button that could activate the flashing warning lights as needed. The crosswalk lights are currently timed to activate at the start and end of the school days, when students are most likely to be crossing the highway....
A 911 dispatcher in Helena received a Distinguished Service Award from interim Helena Police Chief Steve Hagen Thursday, Dec. 4, for his role in helping to save the life of a Lincoln Man in October. Zack Slattery, a lead dispatcher for Helena 911, answered an Oct. 13 call from a woman in Lincoln who thought her 73-year old husband was having a seizure. When the man stopped breathing, Slattery talked the woman – who had completed CPR training several years prior - through the CPR process. “It was one of those things where we...
The Lincoln Valley Public Lands Proposal took a step forward last week as the Lewis and Clark County Commission unanimously approved a resolution in support of the plan at their regular Dec. 5 meeting in Helena. Commission Chairman Jim McCormick applauded the community involvement in the proposal as he announced the board's action during the Dec. 6 Lincoln Government Day Meeting at the Lincoln Library. "The group of folks have been working for years to bring the whole Lincoln...
Tim Jensen, a farrier from Drummond, is now working in Lincoln and the surrounding areas. He’s traveled to Lincoln often after living here for a while during the 90s. Jensen learned his trade while growing up on a large ranch in Alberta. His dad was a farrier and a horseman who taught Tim how to trim and shoe horses and how to handle them. His father would pick the nicest horse for Jensen to work on, while he was working on another horse, then he would come back and help Jensen finish. Hands on learning under a talented h...
As the result of recent fraud takedowns, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) identified a group of beneficiaries whose Medicare numbers were being fraudulently used to bill Medicare for unnecessary medical equipment and services. This was not due to a breach of personal information. To protect them from continued Medicare fraud, CMS gave them new Medicare numbers. New cards (with new numbers) for affected beneficiaries will arrive with an accompanying letter that explains the situation and further actions to...
Impeachment may be all the rage in Washington DC these days, but public land funding was the reason Laurie Richards made a trip to the nation's capitol last week. Richards, owner of the Wheel Inn and president of the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce, flew to Washington Monday, Nov. 11 at the invitation of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition to talk to lawmakers about the impact the CDT and public lands have on Lincoln and other small towns in Montana. Richards joined Aust...
A collaborative program between the Montana Veterans Affairs Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Park's Montana WILD has earned national attention and has been proposed as a positive treatment option by the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The program provides veterans with an opportunity to learn about animal rehabilitation and then to use that experience in the veterans' own recovery process. Each week, veterans in...
Impeachment may be all the rage in Washington DC these days, but public land funding was the reason Laurie Richards made a trip to the nation's capitol last week. Richards, owner of the Wheel Inn and president of the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce, flew to Washington Monday, Nov. 11 at the invitation of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition to talk to lawmakers about the impact the CDT and public lands have on Lincoln and other small towns in Montana. Richards joined Austin Phippen of Chama, N.M. and Kevin and Patrick We...
HELENA – Christmas tree permits are now available at Forest Service offices on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. Permits cost five dollars and can be used to harvest a tree on public lands managed by the USDA Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Each family can purchase up to three permits. The Forest Service is happy to once again offer FREE Christmas tree permits to fourth graders through the Every Kid Outdoors program (formerly known as Every Kid in a P...
(StatePoint) Research shows that afterschool programs not only help keep kids safe, but also help them succeed in school and life. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough such programs in the country today, experts say. While participation in afterschool programs has increased to 10.2 million students nationwide, for every child in an afterschool program, two more are waiting to get in, according to “America After 3PM,” a household survey commissioned by the Afterschool Alliance, a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organ...
Local sewers have come together to support the Lincoln Public School's Christmas concert, Jingle Bell Juke Box. The school needed 32 poodle skirts in five different sizes, so members of the school, the Lincoln Council for the Arts, and the Rippin' Stitchers, a local sewing group, pooled their resources for the project. On Monday, Nov. 18, Judy Spath from the Lincoln Council for the Arts worked with 5th grade teacher Stacey Mannix and Rippin' Stitcher Jesse Sallin to develop a...
The Lincoln branch of Citizens Alliance Bank will nearly double in size this winter, with work set to begin in the next few days on addition to the south side of the current building. "For those who don't know, we have no storage here, no additional office space," said Citizens Alliance Vice President and Lincoln Branch Manager Shayne Lindsay. He said most of the addition will be dedicated to offices, but about a third will be onsite storage space. The staff kitchen will also...
Lincoln's newest service club, the Blackfoot Valley Optimists Club, made its first contribution back to the community with a $400 donation to the Lewis and Clark County Heroes & Helpers, program. Heroes and Helpers is a nationwide program that pairs needy kids with law enforcement officers to help kids buy gifts for their families during the holidays. "We take 120 kids shopping every year," said Deputy James Turpin, the Sheriff's office D.A.R.E Coordinator. who accepted the...
Lewis and Clark County will be the 17th county in Montana to hold nonpartisan elections for county offices, after nearly 56 percent of voters approved the measure in the Nov. 5 election. According to preliminary county election results on the county website, more than 18,000 voters cast ballots on the questions, with more than 10,000 of those votes favoring nonpartisan elections. Provisional ballots were added to the vote total yesterday afternoon, after our press time. The offices affected by the change include the three...
Lewis and Clark County Commissioner Andy Hunthausen reminded people the 2020 Census is on the horizon, and the accuracy of the count could have lasting consequences for the state, the county and for Lincoln itself. "It is super-double-triple important," Hunthausen, a co-chair of the county's Complete Count Committee, said at Lincoln's Nov. 1 Government Day meeting. He said the goal of the Complete Count Committee is to be sure people understand the importance of the census,...
Lisa and Ron Gibson began their new business, Keep Cool Greens, Sept. 24, 2019. The Keep Cool Greens farm is a complete hydroponic farming system inside of a refrigerated, eight foot by 40 foot standard shipping container. The container farm can hold up to 4,000 heads of lettuce. The Gibson are serial entrepreneurs who have a quality needed in a self-employed business – grit. They married in 1985 and the next year they packed up and headed to Montana. When they made the trip f...
Letter to the Editor: Hell yes I am going to vote for Bernie Sanders!! He is going to give me free medical, free dental, free housing. B.S. is going to buy me a new car – free, free, free! Meals on Wheels will pull up to my door free-times a day – but wait, if you order right now you can get a second dose of B.S. free! And last, but not least, a free education! But wait – B.S. is going to do all my thinking for me so I won't need an education. The Democrats have spent the l...
In the coming weeks, the Montana Department of Transportation will begin soliciting design consultants for work on a new Dalton Mountain Road Bridge, Roger Balz, Lewis and Clark County Chief Administrative Officer, reported at the Lincoln Government Day meeting Nov. 1. County Engineer Dan Karlin told the BVD earlier last week that MDT accepted the bridge replacement project into their off-system bridge program in July, when they began requesting the county send them...
