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Shared State

A podcast about our current political moment and the complex people and beliefs that shape Montana.

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Shared State season 2
  • Join the Shared State podcast team for a Q&A. Bring your questions about the podcast, the current political climate in Montana or whatever else you’d like to know. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.
  • When Tucker Carlson was confronted in a Montana fly shop, it ignited a political firestorm across the country, providing one example of how today’s political disagreements can have far-flung consequences.
  • By October 2021, all of Montana was in severe drought — the worst the state had seen in decades. But Montana has seen bad dry spells before, forcing ranchers, farmers, conservationists and recreators to confront a collective dilemma: When water is in short supply, how can there be enough for everyone?
  • For many Montanans, the Badger-Two Medicine is synonymous with one of the most significant grassroots conservation successes in recent decades. That story is about Blackfeet tribal traditionalists, political leaders, and conservation groups coming together to defeat oil and gas leases in one undeveloped expanse of wilderness in Montana. Now, the coalition faces thorny questions — what does long-term protection and management of the Badger look like, and who gets to decide?
  • It’s not surprising for Montanans to have plenty of political disagreements. What’s more uncommon? Neighbors whispering about each other at grocery stores and disrupting entire public meetings with passionate tirades. Welcome to the era of COVID-19, when debates about public health, personal liberties and science have reached a fever pitch. Those disagreements are tugging at tightly-knit towns and counties, making some residents wonder how their communities will survive in more ways than one.
  • In recent years, more and more people have been drawn to the good thing Whitefish has going on. Locals fear that surging popularity — and skyrocketing cost of living — could push out the very characters that make this place so special.
  • For decades, housing affordability has been a hot-button issue in Bozeman politics, a clear community pain point where the city’s elected leaders haven’t managed to deliver significant relief. As insider and outsider candidates campaigned for city offices in 2021, housing policy became the election’s key issue. The solution, some residents argued, was to elect working-class advocates to positions of power. Key to getting the job done, others countered, is experienced, incumbent leadership.
  • Residents of Colstrip — a town that has grown and prospered because of coal — fear that any bad news for the industry will be even worse for them. Up against shifting markets and corporate interests, how can Colstrip's advocates ensure future stability for its residents?
  • In 2009, Montana was caught up in a heated national debate over whether terminally ill patients could expedite their deaths by taking lethal, physician-prescribed medication. More than a decade later, the state is still mired in disagreement about medical aid in dying, in part because courts and elected lawmakers have sidestepped the political hot-potato. Meanwhile, individual Montanans are confronting profound and personal questions about death in their own ways — including whether “good” deaths are even possible.
Shared State Season 1