Aaron Bolton

New research indicates the uptick in requests for sterilization following the Dobbs decision on abortion was not a temporary trend. Nationally, numbers of tubal ligations and vasectomies are up.

A long waiting list at Montana's only state-run psychiatric hospital has left inmates untreated and stuck in county jails. To fix it, health officials want changes to involuntary commitment laws.

New ideas like "safe storage maps" show gun owners where to put their firearms in safekeeping if a mental health crisis happens. The idea has support, but obstacles are in the way in some states.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, medical providers are encountering more legal and political battles — and escalating threats from the anti-abortion movement.

In Montana and across the nation, homeless shelters report the worrisome trend that seniors are a growing proportion of their residents.

Doctors say more of their patients are seeking permanent sterilization procedures, but some patients are reporting that doctors are unwilling to operate on people of childbearing age.

Montana's Blackfeet Nation is experimenting with a new way to detect chronic wasting disease in animals and toxic substances in plants used by tribal members for food and cultural practices.

After 17 overdoses — including four deaths — this spring, Indigenous leaders in Montana and surrounding states look for ways to stop the fentanyl crisis and provide more treatment and care.

To keep emergency services afloat in rural areas, communities will have to go beyond volunteer-based programs to get people to distant hospitals, experts say. Meanwhile, some 911 calls go unanswered.

When the tribe closed some the roads to Glacier National Park, businesses worried for their future. But it worked, and with one of the nation's highest COVID-19 vaccination rates, they've reopened.