Kalispell Downtown

A move by Gov. Brian Schweitzer to hold back spending on $3.5 million in grants for infrastructure projects across Montana is causing major financial headaches in the Flathead, leaving the county and Columbia Falls on the hook for road projects completed last fall with the understanding that the state would be reimbursing their cost. Last week, Flathead County Administrator Mike Pence learned grant funding from the state Commerce Department was on hold for improvement projects on Mennonite Church Road and elsewhere in Creston totaling $423,650. Though some follow-up work remains to complete the projects, they are mostly done.

Flathead County commissioners voted 2-1 Monday to pursue a settlement on the North Shore Ranch Subdivision lawsuit, with an amendment that provides for a 30-day deadline that allows various entities to purchase the entire property and make it protected land. The commissioners also voted 3-0 to release all depositions related to the settlement to the public.

For the first time since Kalispell has had a two-high school format, both Flathead and Glacier are going to the Class AA boys state basketball tournament. That’s the exciting news. The less exciting news is that they face the two best teams in the state right off the bat: Billings West and C.M. Russell, winners of the last three Class AA state championships. The Class AA basketball tournament is held March 11-13 at the Billings MetraPark and Billings Skyview High School. Games begin at noon on Thursday and run until the championship game at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. It is a double-elimination tournament.

When he retires from Plum Creek Timber Co. at the end of the month, Hank Ricklefs will feel much better about stepping down from his position as vice president of northern resources and manufacturing than he would have a year ago at this time. “It was absolute turmoil,” he said of 2009. “No one had a solid feeling for where the bottom was.”