With all the wildfire smoke in Montana skies this summer, have you been surprised it doesn’t always smell smokey? Or that it smelled like a campfire under clear skies? It turns out there’s a lot that goes into our perception of smoke and how it squares with the Air Quality Index.
Wildfire, fire management and air quality news for western Montana and the Northern Rockies.
Picture of the Week
August 27, 2026 - Thank you to Kylie Campbell for this week's picture of the week, a photo of the iconic fire tower overlooking Last Chance Gulch in Helena!
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The iconic Fire Tower overlooking Last Chance Gulch in Helena, MT.
Kylie Campbell
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Parton, who died at 80 on Tuesday, had charm, depth, beauty, wit and radiant goodness. She was also a songwriter whose work told the story not just of country music but of the country itself.
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Earlier this spring, host Lauren Korn had the pleasure of chatting with some of NPR’s most notable podcast and news magazine hosts about recently published books. She spoke with Manoush Zamorodi about her book, ‘Body Electric: The Hidden Health Costs of the Digital Age and New Science to Reclaim Your Well-Being’ (Flatiron Books); Scott Simon about his book ‘Ulysses S. Cat and Other Animals I Have Known’ (W. W. Norton & Company); and Alex Mayyasi and Sarah Gonzalez about ‘Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life’ (W. W. Norton & Company). Three books, four guests, one episode celebrating the bookishness of NPR.
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The U.S. and Venezuela have entered into an oil deal. And, NPR spent two years tracking heat-related deaths and found that people in the U.S. are dying from heat more than the official counts show.
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Parton, who died at 80 on Tuesday, had charm, depth, beauty, wit and radiant goodness. She was also a songwriter whose work told the story not just of country music but of the country itself.