Sundown towns once drove out people of color or prohibited them from living within city limits. This practice started in the late 19th century, but the impact continues today. In Colorado, Chinese immigrants flocked to the state to find gold. They were tolerated in some mining camps and run out of others.

When hospital workers are overwhelmed by a public health crisis and unable to provide standard care, crisis standards of care dictate who gets what kind of treatment.

New research indicates newer homes and those constructed with central air conditioning may be better at keeping wildfire smoke out.

Last week, Idaho health officials activated crisis standards of care for North Idaho, and on Thursday expanded the declaration statewide. Other states and healthcare systems in the region, including the Billings Clinic, are considering similar emergency measures.

Higher elevations like mountain tops usually have more moisture, and fires historically hadn’t burned there very often. But that’s changing rapidly. The Dixie and Caldor fires in California are the first two wildfires ever recorded crossing the Sierra Nevada crest and burning down the other side.

President Joe Biden flew into Idaho today as the first of several stops around the West to talk wildfires, climate change and his infrastructure plan. In Boise, he visited the National Interagency Fire Center, a hub for agencies managing wildfires. He heard about the need for resources to fight and prepare for fires, and talked about bipartisan support for wildland firefighters. He’ll also be visiting California and Colorado during this visit.

The Biden Administration is starting the process of re-opening federal lands to oil and gas leasing. That comes after a federal judge ruled Biden’s across-the-board moratorium on the leases was an executive overreach.

As the COVID-19 delta variant drives case counts to their highest levels in months, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte amplifies misinformation about the effectiveness of masks in schools.

The U.S. Interior Department is expanding access to hunting and fishing on about 2.1 million acres of Fish and Wildlife Service land. That’s nearly the size of Yellowstone National Park. While hunters and anglers applaud the efforts, other conservation groups believe that refuges shouldn’t have hunting or angling at all.

An analysis by the Center for Rural Strategies found that many rural communities' vaccination rates are still lagging behind the national average, but some are closing the gap – including Montana’s conservative Flathead Valley.