As a result of the pandemic more people than before have been behind bars for months at the Montana State Hospital’s forensic facility pending charges without adequate mental health treatment. Katheryn Houston of Kaiser Health News reports as of March 1st, 71 people were waiting for treatment or an evaluation at the 54-bed forensic unit ...
New Report Finds Nearly Half Of Montana Schools’ Water With Excessive Lead Levels
Of the 222 Montana schools that had turned in water samples by mid-February Kaiser Health News reports 110 had at least one water fixture with lead levels higher than 15 parts per billion. Montana Correspondent Katheryn Houghton reports a new state rule requires those fixtures be immediately be shut off. For many finding the money to fix the p...
COVID-Protection Funds For Montana Prisons Not Yet Spent
Kaiser Health News reporter Katheryn Houghton reports Montana has yet to spend any of the $2.5 million in federal aid it received last summer to boost COVID detection and mitigation in the state’s prison and jails. That’s because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised concerns about the state’s spending plan causing the st...
AG Knudsen Comments On Request To Reinstate Abortion Laws
As lawmakers prepare for the U.S. Supreme Court to weaken or void its landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, Nick Ehli with Kaiser Health News reports the right to privacy is written into Montana’s constitution so, even if Roe v. Wade is overturned, it wouldn’t affect the Treasure State. Attorney General Austin Knudsen has asked ...
Montana Ordered To Phase Out Medicaid Premiums
In late 2021, Montana was informed by the Biden administration that its plans to charge premiums to low-income adults enrolled in Medicaid would not go forward and the state had to phase out existing ones by the end of this year. Kaiser Health News reports the state has already eliminated its continuous eligibility for adults. The Biden admini...
Health Officials Worried Artificial Snow May Lead To More Injuries
100% of the snow at the Beijing Winter Olympics is artificial. Kaiser Health News reports that some Montana ski areas are beginning to explore similar options through wastewater. University of Washington Medicine orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mia Hagan says manufactured snow is far more likely to cause injury.
Montana Reportedly Holding On To Expired COVID Tests To Avoid Shortage
Some states have gone from donating surplus rapid covid-19 tests to states with shortages to hoarding them lately as demand driven by the spike in cases strains supplies. Kaiser Health News reports last January, North Dakota donated 1 million to Montana and Pennsylvania. This January, Montana held on to expired tests in hopes the federal gover...
Billings Clinic Facing New Shortage Of Nurses
According to Kaiser Health News Billings Clinic is hiring two dozen nurses from other countries to offset a nursing shortage that has been made worse by the pandemic. Billings Clinic is just one of scores of hospitals taking this strategy. Demand is so high and the nursing shortage is so great there’s a backlog of thousands of international he...
Wildfire Smoke & Delta Variant May Lead To Further COVID Outbreaks
In areas with low COVID-19 vaccination rates and the rise of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus, health officials are concerned the result will be COVID outbreaks. Already in Flathead County, health officials are tracking a roughly 50% increase in COVID cases over the past two weeks mostly from unvaccinated people catchi...
Health Department To Hold Public Hearing On Recent Transgender Law
Kaiser Health News reporter Andrea Halland informs us Montanans seeking to change the gender on their birth certificates will soon need a court order confirming they have had gender reassignment surgery, whereas now they only need to swear that they have undergone a gender transition meaning it will be much more difficult for transgender peopl...