Flathead County

A Flathead County board has denied state officials’ request to start a pre-release center for Montana State Prison inmates. The state will now have to look for a new location.

Flathead County election administrator Debbie Pierson says an administrative error led to more than 170 people casting ballots in the wrong ward. Broadwater County Attorney Cory Swanson has entered the Montana Supreme Court race. Montana’s reps in the U.S. House split their votes over the expulsion of now-former Republican Rep. George Santos.

Thirty-seven counties have locked-in their plans to collect less in property taxes than the state has requested, according to Montana Association of Counties director Eric Bryson.

Persistent rainfall in northwest Montana has subdued large wildfires in the area.

The federal government has declared Flathead and Lincoln counties as primary natural disaster areas due to ongoing drought.

A Kalispell teenager has been accused of beating to death a 60-year-old homeless man. Officials say this wasn’t an isolated incident and there’s been an increase in violent attacks recently. Unsheltered locals and homeless advocates said those attacks started after Flathead County’s three Republican commissioners wrote a public letter in January calling for the closure of local shelters.

Western Montana experienced unusually high tectonic activity Wednesday. The U.S. Geological Survey reports a 3.7 magnitude earthquake occurred at 6:47 a.m. just a few miles southwest of St. Ignatius.

Local option sales taxes on recreational marijuana appear to have been favored during Montana’s midterm election. Efforts to ban recreational sales had a more mixed response.

State livestock officials announced this week they have confirmed cases of the avian flu in Flathead County. The highly contagious virus was found in a backyard poultry flock.

Montana’s Secretary of State has announced a recount will take place in the Republican primary for a seat on the state’s utility oversight board.