Flathead Reservation

Lake County said it will no longer handle felony cases for tribal members on the Flathead Reservation come next spring. But there are many open questions about whether the state will fill that void.

One listener wants to know why non-Natives make up a majority of the population on the Flathead Reservation. Another listener asks how much land Montana’s reservations lost to White settlement. The answer goes back to an 1887 law that ramped-up the federal government's efforts to assimilate Native people and erase their cultures.

Dozens of people marched this week on the Flathead Reservation for Mika Josephine Westwolf, who was hit and killed by a vehicle along Highway 93 earlier this year.

Lake County commissioners delayed a decision Thursday about whether to stop county law-enforcement work on the Flathead Reservation. The delay comes as the county waits for a court to weigh in.

The funding bill would have used state money to pay Lake County $5 million for providing law enforcement on the reservation. County officials have argued residents can no longer afford to pay for those services.

A bill that would require the state to pay for the cost of law enforcement services on the Flathead Reservation passed through the state Senate Thursday.

Lake County agreed in the 1960s to provide law enforcement services on behalf of the state across the Flathead Reservation. But county commissioners say taxpayers can’t afford to pay for those services, estimated at $4 million annually.

A rare white buffalo currently mounted at the Montana Historical Society will be returned to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

The Biden administration awarded nearly $75 million to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai and Blackfeet tribes Tuesday to expand broadband access on tribal lands.

A large data center could be built near Polson in the coming years, according to a proposal pitched by entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary during a technology summit in Bozeman this week. O’Leary’s investment firm is working on the potential project with the Bitcoin mining company Bit Zero and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.