Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye

As you enter Kalispell from the south, Highway 93 slows as it becomes Main Street, and divides as it curves around the old Flathead County Courthouse and Jail. For nearly a year a fence has encircled the old Courthouse as contractors gutted and renovated the building. Katrin Frye reports the renovations merge history with the present on all three stories of the old brick courthouse.

No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used without attribution to Montana Public Radio.

What to do when bullying leaves the school halls, and follows students online to their phones and homes is a problem schools across Montana struggle to address. Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye sat in on a community forum in Kalispell that brought together elected officials, educators, parents, and students to ask questions about online safety, and to hear messages on how to prevent bullying.

No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used without attribution to Montana Public Radio.

One year, and international award, and the market continues growing for one of the Flathead Valley’s new distilleries. Reporter Katrin Frye takes us back to Whistling Andy’s in Bigfork, which we first visited just before their grand opening, on the eve of 2011.

No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used without attribution to Montana Public Radio.

The firearms industry has been in the headlines in the Flathead lately as new organizations and businesses take root. But manufacturing guns in the Flathead has been going on for decades. Katrin Frye reports there are many businesses either building parts, or entire rifles in the Valley, and some are working to have the Flathead identified as a hub for firearms manufacturing.

No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used without attribution to Montana Public Radio.

            The winter solstice tomorrow marks the shortest day of the year, and the longest night.

            Communities across the nation and Montana will take pause to remember the homeless as winter begins.

            Katrin Frye reports in the Flathead people will gather to remember 3 homeless people who died this year.

No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used without attribution to Montana Public Radio.

            A freelance photographer based in the Flathead Valley started getting ink in newspapers around the state, and the country, and not for his photos as much as for his story.

            Whitefish resident Craig Moore was a Top 10 finalist for a Canadian competition that drew more than 200 applications to become The Ultimate Ski Bum.

            He didn’t take home the top prize which includes season passes to 8 Canadian ski hills, accommodations at area hotels, backcountry ski packages, a rental car and gas card.

            But, he tells Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye it was still a good opportunity to make connections in the ski world on both sides of the northern border, and to tell his story of almost 50 months in a row of skiing within 100 of his home.

No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used without attribution to Montana Public Radio.

            A literary journal established in Whitefish celebrates 5 years, and its tenth issue this weekend.

            The Whitefish Review comes out twice a year, with submissions from across the flathead valley, and the world, and featuring both established and emerging writers and artists.

            Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye caught up with the review’s founding editor, and one of its emerging writers, a freshman from Columbia Falls High School.

No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used without attribution to Montana Public Radio.

Two “Giving Trees” at the Flathead Valley Community College aim to get Christmas presents to children in foster care this holiday. F-V-C-C’s Service Learning and Campus Corps office teams up with the Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, each year to set up the giving trees. The college started collecting gifts at the end of November, and the deadline is Friday. Katrin Frye reports many ornaments remain, especially for teens.

No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used without attribution to Montana Public Radio.

The homes have been bought, the renovations completed, and now they just need owners. The Northwest Montana Community Land Trust includes 16 homes in Kalispell. The Trust started buying foreclosed homes in 2010, hiring contractors to fix them up, and attracting buyers to tour the available homes. A Land Trust aims to create long term affordable housing by taking the land cost out of the equation in buying a home and securing a supply of homes considered to be in the affordable range. Now, Katrin Frye reports these homes are on the market with more funding recently received to help the fledgling Land Trust grow.

No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used without attribution to Montana Public Radio.

Skiers and snowboarders in the Flathead will have to wait a little longer to hit the slopes in Whitefish this year. Big Mountain at the Whitefish Mountain Resort says it does not have enough snow to open on Saturday, December third as scheduled. Katrin Frye reports how much longer skiers will have to wait remains unknown.

No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used without attribution to Montana Public Radio.