As of Monday, February 14, 2022. Montana reports 257,852 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,173 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since Friday: 258 new cases in Cascade County, 142 new cases in Flathead County, 111 new cases in Yellowstone County, 102 new cases in Big Horn County, and more new cases in 41 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 4,587. All but one of Montana’s 56 counties report active cases; only Wibaux County has none. Currently, 266 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 3,072 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Five more people’s deaths have been reported since Friday. Nationwide, more than 918,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 77,600,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Shortly after the Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan was reopened Sunday, Canada’s most populous province announced plans to loosen pandemic restrictions. For almost a week, protesters blocked the North America’s busiest land border crossing and the nation’s key trade route, dealing economic blows to both the US and Canada.

The megadrought in the American West deepened so much last year that the countryside is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live, a new study finds.

Dogsled racers have begun the 37th annual Race to the Sky sled dog race in Montana. The 300-mile race ends where it starts at Hi-Country Snack Foods outside Lincoln. Every Race to the Sky musher and team carries a GPS beacon so people can follow along via a map on the race’s website, trackleaders.com.