Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 1332
The football season just keeps getting sweeter for the Hot Springs Savage Heat. The team is headed to Box Elder this weekend for the 6-player semifinal round after beating Highwood last weekend in Hot Springs 46-8. Senior quarterback Nick McAllister is excited that the Savage Heat get to continue their season. "This team is a really close knit family. It's like a group of brothers," he explained. "This has been one of the funnest years." As last Saturday's contest in Hot Springs kicked off, it...
Six-player football teams put on the miles during the season. With the trip to Box Elder this weekend, Hot Springs will have racked up over 3,500 miles this season on a bus. They started the season in Centerville (514 miles round trip), then went to White Sulphur Springs (532 miles), Gardiner (711), Alberton (176), Hysham (991) and now are headed to Box Elder (658). Add it all up and that's 3,582 miles. If Hot Springs wins this weekend and goes on to the state championship game, they will play...
UPDATED 1:28 p.m. Wednesday, November 6 When the ballot counting completed about 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning, a total of 8,107 ballots had been counted from Sanders County voters in Tuesday's general election. As of Tuesday morning, there were 9,218 registered voters in the county, resulting in a voter turnout of 87.95%, a new record for the county. County elections staff said that more than 85 people had been at the courthouse Tuesday to register to voter and cast ballots. Among notable races,...
Click "View PDF" to see Sanders County Election results by precinct.... Full story
Sanders County has a new county attorney. Jania Hatfield was sworn in Thursday by County Commissioner Tony Cox and started her new position last week. The county attorney position was open after Megan Hansen, who was appointed earlier this year, recently resigned. Prior to moving to Sanders County, Hatfield served as a deputy county attorney for Broadwater County in Townsend. She also previously worked in Helena for the state Office of the Public Defender, and has worked for the state's Child...
Sanders County recently signed on to participate in the 20th Judicial District Adult Drug Court (JDADC). The court has been active in Lake County since 2016. The program was created to restructure judicial participation in cases involving chemically dependent offenders. The goal of the JDADC, according to District Judge Molly Owen, is to ensure participants will have more success in maintaining law-abiding behavior, reducing the number and duration of relapses while increasing the duration of their sobriety, and increasing their life skills....
As you read this, the election is over and hopefully we know who the president is, we know how people voted on the constitutional initiatives, and life can get back to normal. Hopefully our mailboxes are less full of campaign materials that end up in the trash and the television ads are back to promoting medicines and the latest model of trucks. I feel like I'm suffering from election overload, though it's till one of my favorite times of the year as a journalist. It's been interesting this year to see people get so involved as the election dre...
A new daycare in Thompson Falls is offering child care Monday through Friday. Holly Sanders opened Tiny Bees Daycare in May. She said last week that she is licensed to care for up to eight children, and currently has half of those spots filled. Tiny Bees came about when Sanders saw a need in the community and took the opportunity. She previously worked for Town Pump in Plains for 20 years, so the idea of opening a daycare in the community where she lives was appealing. Tiny Bees operates out of...
You may not be able to tell from the score, but Hot Springs had quite a battle in their 78-51 playoff win last weekend. The Savage Heat traveled to Hysham to face the Custer-Hysham-Melstone Rebels in the first round of the 6-man playoffs Saturday. The Savage Heat struggled in the first half with some injuries and some penalties, but they were able to stay focused and secure the win at Hysham, giving them home-field advantage for round two of the playoffs. Hot Springs will host Highwood this...
Thompson Falls held its annual Punt, Pass, Kick event on October 27, giving kids an opportunity to show off their skills on the football field and have a chance to advance to the regional competition. The winner in each division advances to a regional event, the location of which will be disclosed in January. “It was an awesome, fun day and the weather didn’t end up being too bad,” said organizer Jake Mickelson. A total of 34 kids participated in the 2024 event at Thompson Falls High School’s Previs Field. Age 6-7 Girls: 1, Zoe Eubanks...
Thompson Falls students will have access to the GEAR UP program for another seven years, high school Principal Jodi Morgan told the school board Monday night. Morgan said that Sen. Jon Tester pressured the Biden administration to fund the program for Monta’as students. “That’s really, really, really good news,” Morgan stated. “The Montana University System’s GEAR UP is one of the best tools we have to get kids ready for college, and it’s critical that it receives full federal support,” Sen. Tester said in a press release. “I’m glad to se...
Thompson Falls Elementary students decorated pumpkins for the Halloween holiday that were inspired by books. Students in grades K-4 voted on their favorites. Winner were (from left) Elora Moore, Sage Preston and Ryker Whittenburg....
Sanders County has purchased two properties adjacent to the courthouse in Thompson Falls in order to help ease increasing congestion in the county building. The commissioners purchased two properties along Jefferson Street between Main Street and Maiden Lane. One property was a private residence and the other is a commercial property that currently houses businesses including Clark Fork Title and the local probation and parole office. The residential property was purchased for $450,000 and the...
The general deer and elk hunting season kicked off Saturday, and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) reported a successful weekend with overall better success than last year in Region 1, which includes Sanders County. FWP operates check stations throughout the region, including at Thompson Falls near the rural fire station. Overall in the region, 10% of hunters reported game, a 3% increase over the 2023 opening weekend. The Thompson Falls check station saw 258 hunters come through opening weekend, up from 216 in 2023. Hunters reported 10...
Democratic congressional candidate Monica Tranel was back in Noxon last week, making a campaign stop to chat with about 30 people at the Noxon Senior Center. "I'm asking you to hire me to represent you," Tranel told the community members as she discussed the Noxon bridge, housing and other topics for over an hour last Tuesday. "I know rural Montana and I understand it." Tranel said that as an attorney, she thinks of herself as an advocate, joking that it was not her lifelong dream to be a...
It's almost over. I haven't heard anyone talk about how they wish they could see more political ads and mailers or listen to and read more about politics. On Tuesday, local, state and national races and issues will be decided. I get chills when I think about what a privilege it is to be in this country and help decide what happens here. Legislative bodies make laws and they are enforced, but we have a choice of who we put in office and what changes are made to the constitution. I love getting my ballot and feel proud when I walk in the...
Thompson Falls was buzzing with activity Saturday as Thompson Falls Main Street and the Sanders County Chamber presented the Fall Forest Festival at Ainsworth Park. The annual Trick or Treat, Move Your Feet run by Thompson Falls Community Trails was also held on the powerhouse loop trail....
The regular season of 6-man football came to an end Friday, with Hot Springs getting a commanding win in front of their home crowd over Noxon. The Savage Heat ended the game 57-6, allowing just one touchdown by the Red Devils in the fourth quarter. It was senior night for Hot Springs, and it took less than two minutes for the Savage Heat to put the first point on the board when Nick McAllister ran in for a touchdown. Noxon struggled to gain yards and was forced to punt on their first...
The Thompson Falls Police Department is warning residents about a potential scam involving someone posing as an election worker. According to Chief Chris Nichols, TFPD received a notification that on Tuesday, October 29, a man was going door to door in the 200 block of North Gallatin Street claiming to be with the election canvasser office. The reporting parting stated the man had a stack of blue secrecy envelopes. TFPD said that the Sanders County Elections office does not have anyone... Full story
The Montana Millionaire tickets went on sale at 5:30 a.m. Friday, and were sold out in less than three hours, the Montana Lottery reported. Town Pump in Thompson Falls reported a line of people waiting to get their tickets before they went on sale, and at 8 a.m. still had a short line inside the store. The three-hour sellout is a new record for the game, the Montana Lottery stated in a press release today. "The demand for Montana Millionaire this year has been absolutely incredible," said...
Construction on the highway probably isn't the highlight of anyone's day. But as FiberTel has been laying fiber optic lines through the county this construction season, travelers have been getting an extra dose of positivity. Samantha Whittington is from Kalispell. She is one of the flaggers that locals have encountered during construction this summer. Whittington, 28, is notable because she makes an effort to smile and wave at every car that drives by. "I always wave at everybody," said Whittington, who started working for Mountain West...
There was hootin' and hollerin' and celebratin' at the Clark Fork Valley Elks Lodge last Saturday as the annual Spaghetti Western Fundraiser was held. The event raises funds for the Rex Theater in Thompson Falls. It also served as a birthday party for the local landmark, as the theater turns 85 this year. Several of the more than 130 attendees put on their best western garb for the fundraiser, which features a live and silent auction, 50/50 raffle, and a gourmet spaghetti dinner sponsored by...
The Thompson Falls City Council awarded a contract for the Church Street emergency water project at its monthly meeting last week. The council met on Tuesday as Monday was a holiday, awarding the $338,960 contract to 40/50 Development of Ennis. 40/50 owner Michael Sprout said the company wanted to get started on the project as soon as possible. The company has a crew of 10 employees who will work on the project and is hoping to complete the project within three weeks. “We have a young, energetic crew. We’ll get it done,” Sprout said, addin...
As I was skimming the crowd at the Rex Theater fundraiser on Saturday, I saw several new faces. There were people I didn't know, and people who I had never seen at the Rex fundraiser before. The same was true of the organizers. "Head Wrangler" Rob Viens, who coordinated the event, moved to Thompson Falls in 2022. The primary forces behind the Save the Rex effort who got the community going were the Mundays and the Wilsons, two families who also moved to the area in the last decade. Before you get too excited, let me say that there were plenty o...
Noxon football players had added safety equipment thanks to some team fundraising and generous donations from local businesses. Coach Lucas MacArthur said the team purchased nine Riddell Axiom helmets that include new technology with added safety features. The company came to the school to analyze and measure players' heads for the new helmets. The Axiom helmets are custom fit to reduce impacts for players. MacArthur said Riddell will come each year and refit helmets. The Axiom helmets also incl...
