Reporter Katrin Frye

Covering the greater Flathead Valley in Northwest Montana.

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As you enter Kalispell from the south, Highway 93 slows as it becomes Main Street, and divides as it curves around the old Flathead County Courthouse and Jail. For nearly a year a fence has encircled the old Courthouse as contractors gutted and renovated the building. Katrin Frye reports the renovations merge history with the present on all three stories of the old brick courthouse.

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What to do when bullying leaves the school halls, and follows students online to their phones and homes is a problem schools across Montana struggle to address. Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye sat in on a community forum in Kalispell that brought together elected officials, educators, parents, and students to ask questions about online safety, and to hear messages on how to prevent bullying.

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One year, and international award, and the market continues growing for one of the Flathead Valley's new distilleries. Reporter Katrin Frye takes us back to Whistling Andy's in Bigfork, which we first visited just before their grand opening, on the eve of 2011.

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The firearms industry has been in the headlines in the Flathead lately as new organizations and businesses take root. But manufacturing guns in the Flathead has been going on for decades. Katrin Frye reports there are many businesses either building parts, or entire rifles in the Valley, and some are working to have the Flathead identified as a hub for firearms manufacturing.

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            The winter solstice tomorrow marks the shortest day of the year, and the longest night.

            Communities across the nation and Montana will take pause to remember the homeless as winter begins.

            Katrin Frye reports in the Flathead people will gather to remember 3 homeless people who died this year.

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            A freelance photographer based in the Flathead Valley started getting ink in newspapers around the state, and the country, and not for his photos as much as for his story.

            Whitefish resident Craig Moore was a Top 10 finalist for a Canadian competition that drew more than 200 applications to become The Ultimate Ski Bum.

            He didn’t take home the top prize which includes season passes to 8 Canadian ski hills, accommodations at area hotels, backcountry ski packages, a rental car and gas card.

            But, he tells Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye it was still a good opportunity to make connections in the ski world on both sides of the northern border, and to tell his story of almost 50 months in a row of skiing within 100 of his home.

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            A literary journal established in Whitefish celebrates 5 years, and its tenth issue this weekend.

            The Whitefish Review comes out twice a year, with submissions from across the flathead valley, and the world, and featuring both established and emerging writers and artists.

            Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye caught up with the review’s founding editor, and one of its emerging writers, a freshman from Columbia Falls High School.

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Two “Giving Trees” at the Flathead Valley Community College aim to get Christmas presents to children in foster care this holiday. F-V-C-C’s Service Learning and Campus Corps office teams up with the Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, each year to set up the giving trees. The college started collecting gifts at the end of November, and the deadline is Friday. Katrin Frye reports many ornaments remain, especially for teens.

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The homes have been bought, the renovations completed, and now they just need owners. The Northwest Montana Community Land Trust includes 16 homes in Kalispell. The Trust started buying foreclosed homes in 2010, hiring contractors to fix them up, and attracting buyers to tour the available homes. A Land Trust aims to create long term affordable housing by taking the land cost out of the equation in buying a home and securing a supply of homes considered to be in the affordable range. Now, Katrin Frye reports these homes are on the market with more funding recently received to help the fledgling Land Trust grow.

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Skiers and snowboarders in the Flathead will have to wait a little longer to hit the slopes in Whitefish this year. Big Mountain at the Whitefish Mountain Resort says it does not have enough snow to open on Saturday, December third as scheduled. Katrin Frye reports how much longer skiers will have to wait remains unknown.

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This Thanksgiving weekend marked the 18th annual performance of the Nutcracker Ballet in Bigfork, Montana. Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye takes us to the Northwest Ballet Company's rehearsal, at the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts.

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Montanans begin looking east for work with a lukewarm job market facing them at home. Places like the Flathead are looking at double digit unemployment numbers while neighbroing North Dakota has an unemployment rate around 3%. Much of the credit for North Dakota's low numbers is given to the booming economy surrounding the Baaken Oil Fields. Katrin Frye checks in with two Flathead families pursuing out of state work in the industry surrounding the oil fields.

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The manual for managing invasive lake trout is being written across the west. Fiseries managers have been testing out population suppression efforts over the past several years to curb the lake trout population boom, and encourage native fisheries to come back. Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye has more on one such test case in Glacier Park.

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A planning question for the Whitefish area has sparked controversy, a lawsuit, and a ballot referendum. The question on the ballot is whether to repeal a recent agreement between Flathead County and Whitefish regarding a two mile wide swath of land encircling city limits. Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye has more on the so-called Doughnut Area, and what voters are being asked.

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Social media and the internet are opening up new opportunities both for good and bad for young adults. A Flathead group is reacing out to those who work with teens and kids, hoping to give adults the tools to recognize online problems, and guide internet use. Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye has more on efforts to confront cyber-bullying and online predators.

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Efforts to eradicate the first Eurasian Water milofil found in the Flathead Basin are underway. State officials recently found the invasive weed in Beaver Lake, northwest of Whitefish. Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye has more from the lake where treatement includes hand pulling the weeds, and putting in barriers to keep it from spreading.

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Getting fresh foods into school lunches is the goal behind nation and statewide nutrition programs. Several of those efforts in Montana are looking to not just get fresh fruits and veggies, but to get them from local sources. Flathead Reporter Katrin Frye takes us to lunch at Somers MIddle School on the Northwest end of Flathead Lake.

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