Working

Nervous laughter and anticipation filled the morning air Monday as a swarm of hobby beekeepers and University of Montana researchers patiently waited for 1.5 million honeybees - yes, 1.5 million bees - to arrive at the designated pickup spot at Fort Missoula. Joe Dunn, a first-time beekeeper from Stevensville confessed he was a little intimidated about working with bees, but was looking forward to learning from his brother, Nick, who has spent the past four summers as a hobby honey farmer.

By PAMELA J. PODGER of the Missoulian

Anna LaCroix, 2, marches purposefully toward the rocking horse in her sturdy orange boots.

About halfway to her goal, she encounters several women in the hallway of a language clinic on the University of Montana campus.

She wants the horse. But now, she has to navigate around adults.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. The pint-size girl, who was born deaf, advances toward the rocking horse.

By LORI GRANNIS of the Missoulian

Weeks before Rock Creek dog trainer Marielle Schmidt touched down in Bangladesh, news of her coming stretched far and wide through the tiny villages that surround the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans.

A “crazy American” was on her way to pair dogs with people to fend off tigers - a notion inconceivable to a culture that barely acknowledges dogs, let alone forges a relational bond with them.

By GREG PATENT for the Missoulian

If you’ve dined out in Missoula over the past 17 years or so, chances are you’ve eaten one of Margaret Ambrose-Barton’s fabulous desserts. A professional baker since 1991, when she graduated from Missoula’s Vo-Tech Institute (now the College of Technology), Margaret bakes all the special occasion cakes, including wedding cakes, at Pearl Cafe and Bakery. She also provides desserts for Biga Pizza and The Shack.

Downtown, which is known for its trendy boutiques, continues evolving. In fact, downtown Missoula was one of five “unsung shopping locales” featured in Lucky magazine last August. “It is still a rural place, but I think Missoula is becoming more and more cosmopolitan,” said Linda McCarthy, executive director of the Missoula Downtown Association.

By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian

We all have a general idea of a school bus: big, yellow, full of kids on their way to class.

“Big” is the only part that fits Kimberly-Clark Health Care's HAI education rig, which pulled up in front of St. Patrick Hospital on Tuesday. It's predominantly blue. It's full of doctors and nurses. And they're in class the minute they step on board.

By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian

Watch a video from the Multi-state Educator's Career Fair

Numbers were down, but business was brisk at the 23rd annual Multi-state Educator's Career Fair Monday.

“I'm a little surprised at the light traffic this morning,” Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent Jim Clark said while scanning the booths in the Hilton Garden Inn. Somewhere in the flow of students and recruiters, Clark hoped to find five special-education teachers who wanted to come to Missoula.

By PERRY BACKUS/Ravalli Republic

CORVALLIS - Linda Olson knows what it’s like to witness something miraculous.

It’s happened time after time almost right in her backyard.

She’s seen speechless children begin to babble. She’s watched wheelchair users learn what it’s like to walk. And Olson has witnessed the magic of an unspoken bond unfold between animal and humankind.

Llamas, originally from South America, are a member of the camelid family. They’re used to guard sheep and as pack animals on mountain treks. Other owners breed and show llamas, train them to pull carts, raise llamas for 4-H projects and have them as pets.

By PAMELA J. PODGER of the Missoulian

BONNER - Ninety-two workers at Stimson Lumber Co. who face an indefinite layoff in mid-May from the Bonner plant were briefed Tuesday on their options for retraining, education and other prospects by a variety of government agencies.

The briefings, held in two sessions at St. Ann's Catholic Church in Bonner, urged the millworkers to start considering their future plans.

“There are some of us who are just bamboozled by the ‘what next' step,” said Larry Keogh, a sawmill equipment operator since 1990.