U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Five-tour combat veteran Jestin Dupree works for the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes on the Fort Peck reservation in Montana. He aims to fill in gaps in VA care that often leave Native veterans behind.

The days of Missoula-area veterans seeking VA health care services in a cramped, undersized clinic are over. The new 60,000 square foot David J. Thatcher VA Clinic just east of Missoula International Airport opens Feb. 1.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Monday became the nation’s first major federal agency to require health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccines. Montana VA officials are now carefully reviewing the new mandate that applies to about 500 workers in the state.

Montana’s overstretched counties and tribal governments have developed a mishmash of policies and plans that require ingenuity and mutual support to work. A reporting project by KHN, Montana Free Press and the University of Montana School of Journalism finds the biggest test of that disparate system looms as vaccine eligibility expands. PLUS: a county-by-county guide to vaccine availability in Montana.

The new leader of the Biden Administration's Department of Veterans Affairs is visiting Montana this week in his first official trip as Cabinet Secretary.

The Senate veterans' affairs committee got an early progress report this week on a newly established program. Created by a new law, the program aims to...