Aaron Bolton

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.

Montana has one of the country's lowest coronavirus infection rates, and is reopening to tourists. But the Blackfeet Nation, whose reservation borders Glacier National Park, is moving more cautiously.