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Kalispell City Council revoked the Flathead Warming Center’s conditional use permit on Monday night. In a 6 -3 decision, Councilors Kari Gabriel, Sam Nunnally, Sid Daoud, Jed Fisher, Chad Graham and Mayor Mark Johnson voted in favor of shutting down the low-barrier homeless shelter on North Meridian Road.
The councilors and mayor argued that the shelter failed to uphold its promise of being a good neighbor, contradicting its permit application submitted to City Hall in 2020. Councilors also cited the collapse of talks between shelter leaders and neighbors during a 60-day negotiation period over the summer. “What we were told is going to happen, isn’t happening,” Johnson said before casting his vote. Neighbors of the shelter complained of public defecation and loitering in the area. They also raised safety concerns for nearby residents and businesses. Councilors Ryan Hunter, Jessica Dahlman and Sandy Carlson voted against revoking the Warming Center’s conditional use permit. Dahlman and Hunter argued that the shelter did meet the conditions stipulated in its permit and held to promises made in its application.
Two candidates for Montana’s governor’s seat have agreed to debate in mid-October after incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte declined to participate in two earlier forums proposed by separate news outlets. Gianforte is scheduled to face off against Democratic challenger Ryan Busse, a conservation advocate and former firearms executive, in an Oct. 16 debate hosted by NonStop Local, an ABC-Fox affiliate, the campaigns said Monday.
Busse campaign manager Aaron Murphy said the two campaigns are still negotiating a precise time and format for the October debate, but that both are in agreement about the Oct. 16 date. Paul Bergen, news director for NonStop Local, told Montana Free Pree that the debate will be moderated by former statehouse reporter Mike Dennison and NonStop Local host Bradley Warren. He said the station is still negotiating details about the event with both campaigns. The announcement came after weeks of feuding between the Gianforte and Busse camps over whether any debates between the two would take place this election season.
As he perused 49 ads about Montana’s consequential U.S. Senate race, veteran political consultant Jim Messina was the struck by the absence of local issues. The ads, most of which were produced by political action committees acting independently of either incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester or Republican challenger Tim Sheehy, emphasized national subjects. It was the opposite of the way Messina said he’d campaigned decades earlier for former Montana Sen. Max Baucus.
"Per voter, there’s more money being spent in Montana than any place in the country. None of the ads today, 49 ads — none of the ads were on a local issue,” Messina said. The current CEO of the Messina Group was speaking on the second evening of MTFP’s Free Press Fest at the University of Montana in Missoula. He was joined (via Zoom, after a flight delay) by political consultant Matt Rhoades, co-CEO of CGCN Group, who managed Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012, the same year Messina managed President Barack Obama’s successful reelection bid.
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