Montana Public Radio News

Montanans with marketplace health insurance plans will pay significantly more starting next year. That's because premiums are likely to spike just as federal benefits that help pay those bills expire.

Community Medical Center in Missoula is the latest hospital to stop offering treatments like puberty blockers or hormone therapy to kids. The Trump administration has subpoenaed hospitals for data on gender affirming care, and threatened to prosecute providers.

There have long been restrictions to protect Libby residents from drinking water contaminated by a former lumber mill. But a new report finds more properties outside the city may be at risk.

The Montana Supreme Court last year ordered state environmental regulators to redo their assessment of a power plant near Laurel. The new report is out, but environmental advocates aren't happy.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday argues Gov. Greg Gianforte unconstitutionally appointed a sitting legislator to lead an executive agency. It's the fourth time the governor has tapped a state lawmaker for a political appointment.

A federal judge Tuesday ordered wildlife managers to reevaluate whether wolves should be placed back under federal protections.

The manhunt for the suspected shooter who left four dead in an Anaconda bar continues five days after the incident. State officials gave an update on their efforts Tuesday as residents of the town struggle to come to grips with the shooting.

Thank you to everyone who donated, volunteered and sent words of encouragement this week. You raised nearly $495,000 (and our spirits)! Our funding challenges are far from over, but your generosity gives us room to maneuver as we navigate the new public media landscape. Supporters like you are why public radio works. Thank you!

As human-driven climate change makes winters shorter, ticks are spreading to new parts of the country. And when ticks find hospitable homes, they bring new tick-borne illnesses to the humans who live there. Now, surveyors in Montana are searching for invasive ticks to track and prepare for the diseases they can carry.

Law enforcement is still searching for the suspect accused of shooting and killing four people in an Anaconda bar Friday. Michael Paul Brown was last seen west of town in a heavily forested and mountainous area.

A U.S. Forest Service office in Missoula will close as part of President Donald Trump's push for consolidation. A department memo says all nine regional offices will be phased out over the next year.

Federal funding making up 11% of our budget has just been eliminated. The impact is immediate. Your support today is vital. Make a sustaining donation in any amount now to help keep MTPR strong for another 60 years!

Just about one year ago, hurricane-force winds blasted through Missoula county. They caused millions of dollars in damage to homes, business and trees. Extreme weather wasn't contained to Missoula last year. Late summer storms also blew through the Bitterroot Valley, causing severe damage along the way.

Today's question is about a huge pile of what turns out is not exactly dirt. It's actually a new specialty landfill at the center of a years long controversy over what we do with some of the stuff we throw away and who bears the environmental cost. Learn more now on The Big Why.

A mining company is exploring the possibility of building a new mine underneath a wilderness area in northwest Montana.

Montana's Flathead Valley cherry industry relies heavily on migrant labor. This year, President Donald Trump's immigration policies threw the industry into a new level of uncertainty. This year, workers hesitated to cross state lines.

The U.S. Forest Service is moving forward with a plan to roughly double the acreage for prescribed burns across the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.

The U.S. Department of Education Friday released billions of dollars in funding previously approved by Congress and withheld by the Trump administration. Montana schools were considering staff and program cuts to make up for the state's $26 million slice of funds.

Montana health officials will ask federal regulators to approve work requirements for Montanans on Medicaid expansion. The state also wants enrollees to pay premiums and co-payments for doctor visits.

A pair of Montana sisters grew up jumping rope together. Now, they're taking their shared sport to the world stage, competing for Team USA at the International Jump Rope Union World Championships in Japan.

The state psychiatric hospital has a new CEO. This will be the fifth leader of the embattled facility in the past four years.

The median home value across the state rose by two thirds in the last 4 years. Montana Free Press' Eric Dietrich crunched the numbers and joined MTPR's Elinor Smith to break them down.

More than 23,000 Montanans will soon see their student loan balance increase for the first time in at least a year. Interest will start accruing for borrowers on the SAVE plan next week.

A new report indicates the Jefferson River basin might be in trouble. The nonprofits behind the study hope it will spur change.

Helena Public Schools officials say a new partnership will bring dedicated art instruction to elementary schools for the first time in years.

A recent agricultural summit is teaching Montana farmers about regenerative and organic practices. Farmers hope those changes will improve the health of the land and their communities.

Economists, business owners and farmers gathered at the University of Montana Thursday to discuss how rising tariffs and declining exports are impacting already slim margins for Montana's agricultural producers.

Congress narrowly approved President Donald Trump's request to claw back $1 billion from public broadcasters. State public media leaders say the rescission will stretch station finances thin.

State lawmakers have overridden Gov. Greg Gianforte's veto of a bill that will pay county jails for holding inmates awaiting space at the state psychiatric hospital.

A Missoula judge has ordered the state to pay about $95,000 in attorneys' fees in a case over a state law defining male and female.

Forward Montana and the Montana Public Interest Research Group say new voting regulations unduly burden young voters. The groups have successfully challenged similar legislation in recent years.

The Trump administration is holding back more than $26 million that Congress already approved for Montana schools. The frozen funding represents more than 10% of what the federal government typically sends to Montana schools each year, according to an analysis from the Learning Policy Institute.

Have you ever looked at a mountain and wondered why there were trees on one side but none on the other? Or noticed different species growing on opposite sides? Well, you barked up the right tree. Find out how trees choose sides in the mountain face off, right here on The Big Why.

Montana policymakers made housing affordability a top issue at the statehouse, but mobile home park residents feel left out. After three legislative sessions of asking for more tenant protections, there's been little change to the law. Residents are facing rent hikes and insecurity as parks are sold, often to out-of-state buyers.

The Trump administration recently announced its plans to repeal a 20 year-old policy that prevented road construction and logging on some federal public lands. The Roadless Rule applies to 6 million acres in Montana.

Montana's largest electric utility has temporarily pulled back on increasing customer bills. NorthWestern Energy raised customer rates by 17% in May but has now agreed to apply a smaller increase for at least the next few billing cycles.

The Montana State Hospital lost its federal certification in 2022 due to patient deaths. That decertification means the state can't bill Medicaid or Medicare for patient services – a funding loss that has cost the state millions of dollars. State health officials plan to apply for federal recertification next year.

Montana's only statewide food bank warns that at least 12,000 residents are at risk of losing some or all of their federal food benefits. The overhaul of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, coincides with growing demand for food pantry services in Montana.

Missoula's largest music festival in decades brought in big bucks for the county over Independence Day weekend. County officials say the festival went off without any hitches, from the their perspective.

A new lawsuit claims the Montana Department of Environmental Quality failed to assess how nutrient pollution from septic systems near the town of Big Sky will harm the Gallatin River.

The state health department plans to request federal approval to enact both Medicaid work requirements and co-payments for doctor visits in September. The department opened a 60-day public comment period.