Kaiser Family Foundation

The four states bordering Montana have “trigger laws” in effect or pending now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ended federal protections for abortion, making conservative Big Sky Country an unlikely haven for women seeking to end their pregnancies. But Montana’s potential to become an abortion refuge has been diminished by the operator of three of the state’s five clinics, which are preemptively limiting who can receive abortion pills.

Since Native American tribes are sovereign nations, with their own laws, could they offer abortion services on Native land within states that may soon outlaw abortion? And would they?

A bipartisan U.S. Senate agreement negotiated after high-profile mass shootings in Texas, New York, and Oklahoma lacks gun access restrictions that advocates say are needed to prevent such attacks. But the deal’s focus on mental health has raised hopes — and doubts — that it will help reduce gun suicides, particularly in rural Western states with wide-open gun laws.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration greenlighted both Moderna and Pfizer’s shots for young children today and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to follow suit this weekend.

Montana state health department spokesperson Jon Ebelt says the state is ordering vaccines in anticipation of the approval, but didn’t say how many. He says providers could receive the vaccines by June 21, which is the earliest they could be administered following approval.

The survey asks participants to rate their communities based on access to public transportation, social events and long-term care facilities, among myriad other topics. Results are expected to come out in October.

A University of Montana economist estimates $35 million has been spent in the state caring for preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations among the unvaccinated.

Kids 5 to 11 years-old are now eligible for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine after federal regulators gave the final green light Tuesday. But public health and medical experts worry not enough kids in Montana will get the shot in the absence of a state-led campaign aimed at parents who are on the fence.

Political figures in the state have said over the last month that Montana isn’t getting its fair share of COVID-19 vaccines. "I still think we’re owed…

Well over a month into the school year, some public school districts are making decisions about whether they should move toward more in-person education,…