Free Republic

A plane has crashed on the runway at Kalispell Airport in Montana, triggering a huge fireball and sending smoke billowing into the sky, with two passengers suffering minor injuries. Shocking video shows a giant fireball exploding into a massive, pillowy cloud of black smoke into the Montana sky. The small craft was approaching the runway when it burst into flames, with the fire spreading onto the infield of the runway. Eventually, the plane crashed into a second, stationary plane that was sitting on the runway. Fortunately, all four passengers survived the collision and only two were being treated for minor...

Although Montana’s leftwingers claim that anti-police protests around the Big Sky State are peaceful and that citizens being on guard for potential lawlessness amounts to “intimidation,” it appears that there is indeed an ugly side to the activists. They just pulled down a monument to the Ten Commandments, chained it to a pickup, and drove off with it being dragged down the street. Flathead 411 posted a video (credit: Dusty Jones) of workers placing the monument, abandoned in the middle of the street across the yellow line, into a skid steer bucket to be transported out of the way of...

A very lucky cat in Montana is happy and healthy after thawing out -- literally -- at an animal clinic over the past week following a miraculous rescue. The owners of Fluffy, who live in Kalispell, Montana, in the far northwest of the state, found her in a snow bank on Jan. 31 -- unresponsive, with her fur matted with ice. The low in nearby Whitefish was a bone-chilling 8 degrees on Jan. 31, and they had received about 16 inches of snow for the month.

A 42-year-old Salish Kootenai College student who was attacked and mauled by a grizzly bear Friday near campus continued to recover in a Kalispell hospital Monday, while the sow grizzly reportedly retreated into the mountains following the attack and has not been spotted since. Wildlife managers will not take action against the bear, which they say was with two yearling cubs and acted defensively after a surprise encounter with the male student. Karen Sargent, public information officer for the Lake County Sheriff’s Department, said the student’s injuries were serious but not life-threatening. He is recovering at Kalispell Regional Medical Center,...

When it comes to high-end weapons, there's a new company in town that's changing the way people think about rifles. Founded in 2010, Proof Research of Kalispell specializes in creating lightweight, accurate weapons using carbon-fiber barrels and stocks unlike anything else on the market. “Large gun manufacturers know we have the technology and we're being courted by some big names,” said Pat Rainey, chief executive officer of Proof Research. “We've changed the gun industry, just like the polymer pistol did. The cool factor of our weapons is off the page.” Joining forces in the Flathead While Proof Research may only...

PASTOR AND POLITICS Author: Kari Kintner (11/05/08) A sign outside a church in Kalispell is causing a stir. It says, "USA...One Abomination Under God." Causing many to bring up the idea of separation of church and state. A pastor in Kalispell says he has good reason for putting a sign up outside his church Wednesday. It says "USA...One Abomination Under God." Now, he didn't spell "abomination" the smae as "Obama-Nation," but it is his reaction to the election. "As long as we still have free speech, we need to use it, to tell people that the nation is going in...

KALISPELL, Mont. -- Until he was arrested this year in his underwear in a motel room with a nearly naked young woman who was behind in her payments to his finance company, no businessman in this town was more respected than Richard A. Dasen Sr.