Locals named to MSU’s Dean’s List
The Montana State Uni-versity- Northern’s Fall se-mester Dean’s List contains 364 students. To be included in the Dean’s List, students must carry a minimum of 12 credits and earn a grade point average of 3.25 or bet-ter. Students that received an incomplete or “F” during this semester are not included on the honor roll listing. Con-gratulations to :
Elijah P. Alspaw of Libby
Taylor L. Carter of Troy
Mason P. Chapel of Troy
CPMC welcomes
laboratory intern
Cabinet Peaks Medical Center announced in a press release last week that they are welcoming a new intern, Benjamen French in the La-boratory Department. He comes to Libby through the Montana Medical Laboratory Science (MMLS) Professional program.
According to MMLS, the program was developed in 2008 as the result of Work-force Development funds becoming available through the Montana State Legisla-ture. In addition to the grant from the state, many Mon-tana hospitals contributed money, equipment, and time to help make the program possible. This program has helped to alleviate the criti-cal need for medical labora-tory scientists in the state of Montana, especially in rural communities. 15 students are accepted each year; they train at MUS during the sum-mer, then move to one of eight hospitals in the state for two semesters of clinical laboratory rotations.
French received his asso-ciates of Science from Flat-head Valley Community Col-lege in 2013, and then went on to work toward his Bach-elors in Microbiology from MSU, which are prerequisites for the MMLS program. In fall of 2016, French was ac-cepted into the MMLS pro-gram, which he began in May 2017.
Students in the program can complete their education and training in four years, becoming eligible to sit for a national certification ex-am. Once certified, French can become a licensed Medi-cal Laboratory Scientists and work in clinical laboratories throughout Montana.
Roger Riddle, CPMC La-boratory Manager is thrilled that French is at Cabinet Peaks. “The program that Ben is a part of truly benefits the community in that it works to bring skilled tech-nologists to rural hospitals throughout the state of Mon-tana. We are thrilled to have him here with us at CPMC. Throughout the duration of his internship, our CPMC Laboratory Techs have not only acted as co-workers but also as teachers, raising the bar and ensuring a new level of accountability. This in-ternship has been a great experience for everyone, and Ben is always welcome here in our Laboratory.”
For more information on the CPMC Laboratory, or internship program, please call 283-7090.
Super blue moon eclipse this month
On January 31, the moon will be a very special sight. Three separate celestial events will occur simultane-ously that night. This astro-nomical rarity hasn’t been seen for over 150 years.
When the full moon is closest to the Earth in it’s orbit, it is called a super moon. A blue moon is when the moon is full for the sec-ond time in one month, and finally there will also be a total lunar eclipse on Jan. 31. Unfortunately, for most of the U.S., the event will come too close to when the moon sets for the eclipse to be visi-ble. The best views will be in central and eastern Asia, but Alaska and Hawaii will get a glimpse.
Tester demands VA to tackle backlogs
Jon Tester released a statement after the VA an-nounced it’s plan to catch up on delayed payments to community providers who serve veterans.
“This action is long over-due, and I will hold the VA accountable to ensure this is not a hollow promise.”
He went on to say that veteran’s health care is too important to let government bureaucracy get in the way of doctors who need to serve our veterans.
Tester’s Caring for Our Veteran’s Act would replace the Choice Program with one, easy to navigate, com-munity health care system that puts the decisions of where to seek care in the hands of the veterans and their doctors. It would cut red tape for community pro-viders that partner with the VA and create new standards for timely payments.
Artists encouraged to apply for the
artist-wilderness-connection program
The Flathead National Forest, Bob Marshall Wilder-ness Foundation, Hockaday Museum of Art and Swan Valley Connections invite artists to apply for the 2018 Artist-Wilderness-Connection Program. The artist-in-residence program connects artists and local communities with wild lands on the Flathead National Forest in Northwest Mon-tana. Two artists will be selected to participate in the 2018 program.
The program connects artists with the Bob Marshall and Great Bear Wilderness Areas. After completing the residency, artists select a format to share their talents and residency experience with the community and donate a representative piece of their art to the Artist-Wilderness-Connection Program.
For more information about the program or appli-cation process, contact Kathy Martin at the Hockaday Mu-seum of Art, 406.755.5268; Teresa Wenum at the Flat-head National Forest, 406.758.5218 or Jessica Evens at the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, 406.387.3822
Flathead Electric
Co-op looking for businesses to
partner in EV
Charging Pilot
Program
Flathead Electric Co-0p issued a statement last week announcing a partnership interest.
“Is your business inter-ested in partnering with Flathead Electric Coopera-tive to provide an electric vehicle (EV) charging station for your employees, custom-ers, or the public in general? If so, the Co-op wants to hear from you. “
Electric vehicles are a growing market, and there are an increasing number of EVs in Flathead Electric’s service territory. “Electric vehicles provide an oppor-tunity for FEC to expand services for members,” said Johnson, “and the explora-tion we’re doing now will allow us to do so in a manner that mitigates their impact on the Co-op’s costs and therefore on member costs.”
FEC has released a sur-vey to gather a list of busi-nesses interested in having electric vehicle charging at their workplace. The survey will be used to identify can-didates for an upcoming EV charging pilot program as well as to gather data for the Co-op to use in applying for grants to reduce installation costs of EV chargers. To add your workplace to the list, visit www.flatheadelectric.com/ev to complete the survey.
Capitol tree to return to Montana
The Capitol Christmas tree was taken down on Jan. 9 and will begin it’s trek back to Montana as early as next week.
U.S. Senator Jon Tester asked the Architect of the Capitol to allow the tree to be hauled back to Montana to help rebuild Sperry Chalet. The historic building built more than a century ago was destroyed during the 2017 wildfire season.
Tester acknowledged the generosity of corporate part-ners that will help to bring this idea to fruition. They will partner with SmartLam and F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. to bring the tree back to Northwest Montana. The Senator has also made arrangements for the Mon-tana made copper star that adorned the tree, to be shipped back to Montana Resources in Butte.
For more information on the rebuilding of the Sperry Chalet go to the Glacier Na-tional Park Conservancy website and click on Sperry Action Fund.
Time runs out for Frank Lloyd Wright building
Despite the efforts of the Montana Preservation Alli-ance and the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservan-cy, the FLW building was demolished on the night of Jan. 10. Both conservancy groups worked to procure the funding needed to save the Whitefish building and had reached what they be-lieved was a reasonable offer but, the developer, Mark Ruiz wouldn’t allow the needed inspections of the building. The building was destroyed less than two hours after the failed negoti-ations.