KRISTI NIEMEYER
Kristi Niemeyer is editor of the Lake County Leader. She learned her newspaper licks at the Mission Valley News and honed them at the helm of the Ronan Pioneer and, eventually, as co-editor of the Leader until 1993. She later launched and published Lively Times, a statewide arts and entertainment monthly (she still publishes the digital version), and produced and edited State of the Arts for the Montana Arts Council and Heart to Heart for St. Luke Community Healthcare. Reach her at editor@leaderadvertiser.com or 406-883-4343.
Recent Stories
Earth Day: Tribes host daylong celebration
The Earth Day Celebration, held last Friday at Salish Kootenai College, brought together scientists, activists and tribal officials to celebrate accomplishments and explore the challenges that lie ahead in addressing climate change.
Defrocking Miss Daisy: Sheep shearer and spinners share wool basics
Daisy announced her presence at the Boys and Girls Club in Polson last week by leaving a fragrant deposit on the floor of the entryway, which in turn caused a boy to squeeze his nose closed and scurry past.
Fentanyl: Changing the landscape
Fentanyl, the synthetic opioid flooding the illicit drug market in the U.S., is 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. For children, it’s even more lethal.
Sandpiper launches Art4Polson initiative
The community of Polson is about to become several shades more vibrant, thanks the Art4Polson public art initiative recently launched by Sandpiper Art Gallery and Gifts.
Tin Finley: Polson show marks homecoming for Montana-based band
For Polson native Kati O’Toole, the concert April 20 at the Theatre on the Lake in Polson marks a musical homecoming. The Polson High School grad joins another alum, bassist Eric Hogenson, and friends and bandmates Annette Strean and Kirk Cornelius in Tin Finley – a band named after Nashville’s famed Tin Angel restaurant (where three of the four members either met or worked) and inspired by the quartet’s Montana roots.
John Mercer applies to fill judicial vacancy
Longtime Polson attorney and former state legislator and Speaker of the House John Mercer has applied to fill the remaining office term of former District Court Judge Deborah “Kim” Christopher, who resigned from the bench effective April 5.
Partial solar eclipse hits Mission Valley April 8
Granted, Montana is not among the 15 states that will spend a moment in total darkness as the rare full solar eclipse passes overhead April 8. Still, the Mission Valley will be treated to a partial eclipse at around 12:40 p.m. as the Moon’s shadow glides across the Earth.
Civic Duty: Election judges play essential role
Election judge Paula Craft calls herself “an ambassador for elections and election integrity.” She’s worked for the Lake County Election Office since 2016 in the third-floor conference room that’s transformed into a place called Central Count.
Landowners object to FWS efforts to use conservation lands for new headquarters
Dean Vaughan, a biologist who has worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for more than 30 years, was finishing a conference call in his home office south of Charlo last October when he noticed something unusual happening at the property across the road.
Uncharted territory: U.S. Attorney paints bleak picture of 280 withdrawal
During a meeting that lasted more than an hour, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich and U.S. Assistant Attorney Ryan Weldon sought to map the law-enforcement landscape in Lake County after the county officially withdraws from Public Law 280 on May 20. They painted a rather bleak and muddled picture.