Aaron Bolton
Aaron is Montana Public Radio's Flathead reporter.
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                        Gender-affirming health care for minors is becoming harder to get, even in states where it's legal. The White House is threatening to cut funding from hospitals that provide it.
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                        Famed Cellist Yo-Yo Ma has a project dedicated to promoting and celebrating ecological healing. That led him to Glacier National Park to play for a herd of newly reintroduced bison.
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                        Montana inmates with severe mental illness can languish for months in jail. They are too ill to stand trial, and there's only one state hospital that can treat them.
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                        As the climate changes, places where home air conditioning used to be rare are now seeing a need for artificial cooling. It's a new expense that's especially hard for people in low-income housing.
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                        Gun rights and gun control advocates are coming together over safeguarding gun storage in an effort to reduce suicides, which account for more than half of gun fatalities nationwide.
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                        The nationwide surge in homelessness means small towns are starting to see people camping on the streets. The murder of a homeless man in Montana highlights their challenges.
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                        The White House this week unveiled $42 billion in broadband internet funding from the infrastructure act. It's a rare example of mostly conservative rural leaders embracing big government spending.
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                        The Great Plains are facing increasing fire risks due to climate change, and efforts are underway to get prairie-dwellers to adapt to the new reality.
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                        After Roe v. Wade was struck down, abortion remains legal in Montana. But providers are defending against threats from lawmakers and possibly violent extremists.
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                        Conditions got so bad at Montana's state mental hospital in 2022 that federal officials withdrew support. The state says things are getting better; patient's families say there's no evidence of that.
 
