Valley Journal
Valley Journal

This Week’s e-Edition

Current Events

Latest Headlines

What's New?

Send us your news items.

NOTE: All submissions are subject to our Submission Guidelines.

Announcement Forms

Use these forms to send us announcements.

Birth Announcement
Obituary

Columns

Valley View

Flathead Lake is one of the most beautiful places on earth; however, this summer’s low lake levels severely impacted residents, irrigators, fishermen, recreators, marinas, land and dock owners, and many other businesses directly or indirectly.  The economic impact is huge. So, what happened, and how can it be avoided in the future?  One thing we can all agree on is that there was a very low snowpack last winter that resulted in record-low inflows into Flathead Lake. Despite low snowpack and other early strong indications of a drought year, the SKQ Dam (formerly Kerr Dam) Drought Management Plan (DMP) was not implemented by Energy Keepers (EKI), the current operator of ...


Slices of Life

Life isn’t easy. And the epitome of that, perhaps, might be parenting.  (Okay, maybe the epitome is death, but let’s take a week away from that topic, shall we?) In regards to parenting being difficult: stop the judgmental comments already. I know what you’re thinking. People ...


Slices of Life

In simple terms, life can be summed up as moments of “good news” and “bad news.” I’ve come to believe it’s best to embrace both: the good and the bad because each makes us who we are. Each molds us. Each helps us grow as we are supposed to, meant to, during our time here o...


Legislative Notes

Recently opinion pieces and information sent to legislators regarding the counties decision to levy 77.9 mills instead of the State directed 95 mills has been circulating in both statewide newspapers, and internal legislative correspondence. It appears that the message being distributed is counties are gi...


Can political foes be personal friends?

Heads probably turned as we entered the early 1900s red brick town house in Warrenton, Virginia on a warm September morning. It happened to be the headquarters of the Fauquier County Republican Committee. Its chairman, Greg Schumacher, was welcoming me along with his Democratic counterpart, Max Hall. This...


Valley Views

LEWISTON, MAINE — Eighteen killed, 13 injured in a rampage by a guy with an assault rifle. The shooter: a certified firearms instructor and a member of the US Army Reserves. The community locked down until he’s placed in custody. Press conferences; school classes cancelled; politicians falling al...


Valley Views

As the first snow is falling, and freezing temperatures hit, we are getting pummeled with another huge energy rate increase, thanks to the five Republicans on the Montana Public Service Commission. On Wednesday, the Commission unanimously approved a 28% rate increase from last year, the majority of which ...


Peace Voice

Don’t let all the bad news get you down. True, we’re facing lots of crises, some of which even carry a risk of human extinction (nuclear war, climate change, maybe even AI). But there is hope, and you can start experiencing it simply by chatting with your neighbors.  A few months ago, I w...


Legislative Notes

Montana collects $2.1 billion in property tax, with allocations as follows: 56% to schools, 28% to counties, 11% to cities/towns, and 5% to special districts. The 6 statewide university mills stay at the state, while the 95 statewide school mills are redistributed to local community schools, accounting for 3...


Legislative Notes  Legislative  Notes

Hunting season has arrived! As hunters flock to the hills in pursuit of Montana’s treasured big game species, we want to take a moment to acknowledge the good work that was done in this spring’s legislative session for hunters, landowners, and conservationists alike.  Wildlife issues have...


Sponsored by: