With a grand total of 97 slopes to ski on; there are more than enough slopes for every capability. This ski hill has a vertical drop of 4,166 feet, which is sufficient for a great top to bottom run. Moonlight Basin has a much higher than average part of challenging ski trails and a much lower than average part of blue and green ski trails. Moonlight Basin is a conventional size ski mountain featuring a heap of vertical feet when you compare it to other ski hills in the region.     Moonlight Basin has scores of different runs and a decent quantity of good ski lifts. No other ski hill for 25000 miles has a ...

  California will not fix its deficit-ridden budget by endlessly reprising the irresponsibility that created the financial sinkhole. Legislators need to drop the narrow party agendas that dominate Sacramento debates and make the hard decisions required to stabilize state finances. There is no other feasible alternative, no matter what politicians say. Yet many legislators at Gov.-elect Jerry Brown's budget forum last week seemed oblivious to that point. Even as state finance officials unveiled a grim procession of dire numbers, legislators could not resist raising the same old arguments about taxes and spending. Anyone paying attention to the presentations would have noticed that the state is long past the point where such quarrels bear any connection to fiscal reality. California no longer has the dubious luxury of pretending that the state can avoid difficult decisions about deep cuts in programs or additional taxes. Legislators need to abandon that pernicious fantasy and recognize the truth: The s ...

 We often do not connect the dots--between the preservation of our precious state and the reality that those who are attracted to come here to vacation, travel, recreate, and live part of their life, base their decisions on the high quality of our wild spaces and the abundance of our great wildlife resource.   Big Sky's luxury buyers are also people who are keenly focused on helping to preserve the wild spaces of their new Montana home; whether that is at the Yellowstone Club, Big Sky, Spanish Peaks or Moonlight Basin.   By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Posted: 12/12/2010 09:36:57 AM PST Updated: 12/12/2010 09:44:51 AM PST       BILLINGS, Mont.—Philanthropist Hansjorg Wyss grew up in Switzerland and now spends the bulk of his time outside Philadelphia, but it is the wild landscapes of the Rocky Mountains where he could leave his most lasting mark. In recent years the publicity-shy billionaire has quietly donated tens of millions of dollars to the preservatio ...

  HELENA — Newly empowered congressional Republicans, elected on promises to rein in federal spending and eliminate oft-criticized spending “earmarks,” are working on how to do that while still ensuring local needs are met. “Congress doesn't need to earmark money to direct it to states if we write funding requirements for programs with greater care,” Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., wrote on Twitter on Thursday. Rehberg has been critical of earmarks — the numerous amendments to spending bills that direct money to specific projects — in the latest federal budget cycle, joining other Republicans in abstaining from such requests. Conservative critics of spending say the incoming Congress could be backsliding on the no-earmarks pledge, and Democrats who support the practice of earmarks say some of the Republican plans amount to earmarks by another name — with possibly with less transparency than in the current system. “Thanks to the reforms we passed in 2007, all earmarks are public, including who asked for ...

          By SARAH KERSHAW In real estate, this is the season to obsess about the bonus season. Wall Street bonuses, in the pre-housing-crash years, were a major economic engine driving sales in the city from January through the spring. They can be a broker’s bread and butter — brioche with brie, really, when you’re talking about multimillion-dollar bonuses and multimillion-dollar apartments. Enlarge This Image Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times 2280 Frederick Douglass Boulevard offers concessions tied to bonuses. iPhone App The New York Times Real Estate App A recently updated, free app offering in-depth property search tools and mobile features to help you navigate the real estate market. Available on the iPhone App Store »   Enlarge This Image Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times A penthouse at 100 11th sold at a discount. In real estate, this is the season to obsess about the But since the economy melted down, bonuses h ...

  Originally built in the 1850s, the Kings Point Estate hit the luxury real estate sale block in mid-October. The asking price, listed by Coldwell Banker Previews International, is $39.5 million. What does this hefty sum get you on Long Island’s illustrious North Shore? A sprawling 20 acre estate (only 14 acres are buildable since the other 6 sit under water) with nine residences and 180 degree breath-taking views of the New York tri-state area.  Oh yeah, and it’s the likely inspiration for a literary masterpiece.   While no written documentation actually exists to confirm this story, local legend has it that the Point (as it’s called by locals) was the infamous  location of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald’s West Egg mansion in the classic tome, The Great Gatsby. Around town, it’s known as the “Gatsby House” and indeed the property offers a unique view shared by none in the area.  In fact, the only other piece of real estate touting a similar location and view is the fiction ...

  I have reprinted this entire article from the Wall Street Journal.   It is unfathomable to you or I the pain that must be felt by Bernie Madoff's victims--to wake up one day and realize that your entire financial plan is a mirage--all your savings evaporated.  My six degrees of separation is three degrees.  A very good friend is in the business of placing money with hedge fund managers.  He could not get capacity to place money with Bernie Madoff--and I can't remember how hard he tried.   In his town of Fairfield, Connecticut, another family was in the same business and could get hundreds of million of capacity in Bernie Madoff's fund.   They and their investors have been wiped out, like everyone Bernie's criminal activity.   Today it is his own son. Dead from suicide.   i don't know if he was complicit or not complicit.  Others will determine this in due time, but regardless, so tragic. Some in our local area would categorize Tim and Edra Blixseth, o ...

  By BILL SWARTZ KIRO Radio/710 ESPN Seattle Listen to Bill's report The titles of Warren Miller's ski and snowboard movies symbolize his goal in life: Look for freedom. Miller has always been searching, "whether it was surfing, snow boarding, or cruising in my boat in the San Juans." Miller grew up in Hollywood during the Depression. He learned how to snow ski in California's San Bernadino mountains. After a hitch on a Navy submarine during World War II, Miller hooked up a teardrop trailer and drove his buddy to Sun Valley, Idaho. As Miller told me, he lived in the parking lot, and "taught ski lessons to young ladies. They taught me table manners when they took me to dinner." Sounds like a fair trade. "It was for me in those days, my golly!" Miller exclaimed. Miller has many famous ski students, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In fact, Warren doubled as a chiropractor to help his friend "Bibi" loosen up on the slopes of Yellowstone, Montana. As Warren tells it, Netanyahu w ...

  By BILL SWARTZ KIRO Radio/710 ESPN Seattle Listen to Bill's report The titles of Warren Miller's ski and snowboard movies symbolize his goal in life: Look for freedom. Miller has always been searching, "whether it was surfing, snow boarding, or cruising in my boat in the San Juans." Miller grew up in Hollywood during the Depression. He learned how to snow ski in California's San Bernadino mountains. After a hitch on a Navy submarine during World War II, Miller hooked up a teardrop trailer and drove his buddy to Sun Valley, Idaho. As Miller told me, he lived in the parking lot, and "taught ski lessons to young ladies. They taught me table manners when they took me to dinner." Sounds like a fair trade. "It was for me in those days, my golly!" Miller exclaimed. Miller has many famous ski students, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In fact, Warren doubled as a chiropractor to help his friend "Bibi" loosen up on the slopes of Yellowstone, Montana. As Warren tells it, Netanyahu w ...

  By MATTHEW BROWN STORY TOOLS order a reprint digg this save to del.icio.us BILLINGS, MONT. Real estate mogul Tim Blixseth is acting as his own attorney as he seeks to disqualify a bankruptcy judge who slapped the former billionaire with a $40 million fraud judgment. Blixseth founded Montana's Yellowstone Club, a private ski resort that fell into bankruptcy after Blixseth pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars. His move to oust U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph Kirscher comes after an appeal's court last month faulted the judge's approval of the club's 2009 sale. That $115 million deal passed control from Blixseth's ex-wife, Edra Blixseth, to Sam Byrne of Boston-based CrossHarbor Capital. On Monday, Tim Blixseth alleged he was cheated in the deal -- and that Kirscher allowed it to happen. Tim Blixseth said he filed the disqualification motion himself because his own attorneys and others he had contacted in Montana feared retaliation if they took the case. The ...