Greetings, relatives.
A lot of news out there. Thanks for stopping by ICT’s digital platform.
Each day we do our best to gather the latest news for you.
Okay, here’s what you need to know today:
It’s easy to dismiss the debate in Washington over the debt ceiling as irrelevant and crazy. Think about this: Democrats and Republicans are fighting over how to pay the bills for government programs that have already spent the money by promising to cut spending later. And, if you need more “what?” then subtract from those spending cuts the protected programs that cost the most, Defense, Social Security, Medicare and interest payments on the debt.
Yet the decisions made over the next few days will have huge implications for how the country navigates climate change – and what kinds of jobs that are created.
This is one of those debates that is multi-layered. On one level it’s about federal spending and about what’s important. But the costliest spending is off the table: Social Security, Medicare and tax cuts. Add to that interest on the debt because that cost is non-negotiable. So the fight centers on a tiny fraction of government, such as programs serving Indigenous people. READ MORE. — Mark Trahant, ICT
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Missing documentation for the alleged murder weapon in a 45-year-old case could provide a boost to a Monache man’s attempt to finally gain release from prison for a crime he has maintained he did not commit.
In response to an open records request from ICT, the Sacramento Police Department said it has no chain-of-custody records to show when or to whom a stolen handgun turned over to the department was released. Investigators in Fresno, nearly 170 miles southeast, say the gun was used in a 1978 murder in their jurisdiction.
Sacramento police have no record of the gun being sold or returned to its owner, officials said in response to ICT’s request.
Attorneys for Douglas “Chief” Stankewitz, a Big Sandy Rancheria man convicted of killing a young newlywed with the gun after a carjacking, say the lack of a documented chain of custody bolsters their belief that the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department had the gun as a “backup or ‘throwaway’ weapon” and used it to send Stankewitz to San Quentin Prison. READ MORE. — Richard Arlin Walker, Special to ICT
Martin Scorsese unveiled “Killers of the Flower Moon” at Cannes on Saturday, debuting a sweeping American epic about greed and exploitation on the bloody plains of an Osage Nation reservation in 1920s Oklahoma.
Scorsese’s latest — starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone who is Blackfeet and Niimíipuu, and Robert De Niro — is one of his most ambitious. Adapting David Grann’s nonfiction bestseller, it stretches nearly three and a half hours and cost Apple $200 million to make.
Nothing has been more anticipated at this year’s Cannes Film Festival than “Killers of the Flower Moon” — a historical epic, a bitter crime film and a Great Plains Western — which appeared to meet those expectations. It drew a lengthy standing ovation and repeated cheers for Scorsese, 80, who premiered his first film at Cannes since 1985’s “After Hours.” READ MORE. — Associated Press
A New Mexico task force charged with addressing missing person cases involving Native Americans is teaming up with researchers in Nebraska on a data collection project that they hope will begin to close the gaps when it comes to tracking cases and their outcomes nationwide.
The goal of the federally funded effort is to better define the scope of what many experts and activists have referred to as a “silent crisis.” The work began last week, said Melody Delmar, special projects coordinator with the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department.
One of the challenges for policymakers across Indian Country has been the lack of a consistent and sustainable system for reporting and tracking such cases. Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Omaha will be using a model first developed for that state to address data collection across multiple law enforcement jurisdictions.
It was only last year that the FBI started publishing a list of Indigenous people missing in New Mexico and the Navajo Nation. That list took six months to compile by validating different databases, and Delmar said this next phase of research will build on those efforts and help to guide future policymaking. READ MORE. — Associated Press
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On the Monday edition of the ICT Newscast, trade with Native businesses could soon move internationally based on a new partnership. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Hear about a recent summit held in Nevada. And meet the author of a new book that explores Indigenous peoples’ lack of access to the American Dream.
Watch:
When Kamryn Yanchick graduated, she hoped to decorate her cap with a beaded pattern in honor of her Native American heritage. Whether she could was up to her Oklahoma high school. Administrators told her no.
Yanchick settled for wearing beaded earrings to her 2018 graduation.
A bill vetoed earlier this month by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, would have allowed public school students to wear feathers, beaded caps, stoles or other objects of cultural and religious significance. Yanchick, a citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and descendent of the Muscogee Nation, said she hopes the legislature tries again.
Being able to “unapologetically express yourself and take pride in your culture at a celebration without having to ask a non-Native person for permission to do so is really significant,” said Yanchick, a Native American policy advocate and a former intern with the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. READ MORE. — Associated Press
- Montana TikTok ban brings questions about digital sovereignty: The state’s governor signed the bill banning the social media app on Wednesday. Opponents say they plan to challenge the law in court.
- Predatory healthcare scam targets Indigenous people: Reva Stewart and Coleen Chatter have been at the forefront of the issue for more than a year and are the advocates behind the #StolenPeopleStolenBenefits campaign.
- Cases for killing eagles decline as wind turbine dangers grow: US Fish and Wildlife Service field agent numbers are at historical lows amid growing concern that a proliferation of wind turbines to feed a growing demand for renewable energy is jeopardizing eagle populations.
- ‘This is the bare minimum’: Tucson, Arizona is the first city in the US to create a task force to explore the crisis of violence against Indigenous women.
- Caribbean island considers enshrining ‘rights of nature’: If lawmakers sign off, the ecologically rich island would become the second country to recognize that nature has inherent legal rights. Aruba became a country in 1986 and is mostly self-governing, it has been part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1815.
- Inmates continue to die in tribal jails despite promises of reform; Merkley calls it ‘deplorable.’
- Documents show candidates gov. passed over for Indian Affairs.
- Number of Persons in Indian Country Jails Increases for Second Year.
- Esteemed Oklahoma Native American artist Benjamin Harjo Jr. dies.
We want your tips, but we also want your feedback. What should we be covering that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know. dalton@ictnews.org.
