Uken’s series of articles focused on Montana’s epidemic suicide rate, which is twice the national average with more frequent suicides than any other place in the nation. The series was called, “State of Despair.” Montana Sen. Max Baucus referenced the series on the floor of the U.S. Senate as he discussed what the government was doing to help curb the rising number of military suicides. One of the most significant findings of the series was that one of the highest rate of suicides in the state was among the elderly, not teenagers as we suspected when we started the series. All the anecdotal evidence pointed to the suicide rate being highest among teens.
