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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:
A thunderous roar echoed through Bear Butte State Park early Sunday, Aug. 6, as streaks of red ribbons flew in the wind and over 100 motorcyclists took off from the park to take part in the Medicine Wheel Ride.
Lynette Kills Back, Oglala Lakota, led this year’s ride. She rode for two family members, her cousin Leatrice “Leah” Jealous of Him, whose remains were found on the railroad tracks in Rapid City in 2008, and cousin Sharyn Kills Back, who was killed in 1985 and whose killer was caught. Fifteen years later, Jealous of Him’s murder still remains unsolved.
The Medicine Wheel Ride is an annual motorcycle ride to honor and bring attention to victims of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives crisis. Riders came from all over the United States, some from as far as Hawaii and several from the Navajo Nation. READ MORE.— Amelia Schafer, ICT + Rapid City Journal
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The nation’s lawyers have a new leader, Mary L. Smith, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. The gavel was handed to her Tuesday afternoon by the now former president, Deborah Enix-Ross, at the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates meeting.
“It means a lot to be representing the American Bar Association,” she told ICT. “We are the largest voluntary bar association in the world, and I’m particularly cognizant that I’m the first Native American woman to hold this role.”
Smith is a former president of the National Native American Bar Association.
“The National Native American Bar Association is immensely proud of Mary Smith’s achievements and her dedication to advancing the legal profession and empowering diverse communities,” Makalika Naholowaa, president of the NNABA, said in a news release. “Her historic presidency of the American Bar Association represents a significant milestone for Native Americans and the legal community. The NNABA extends its warmest congratulations to Mary on this momentous occasion and pledges its unwavering support in her efforts to shape a brighter future for the legal profession and the nation.” READ MORE. — Mark Trahant, ICT
Red Lake Nation College in north-central Minnesota is often a hub of activity on any given Saturday. But on this particular day, rez dogs and cats dominated the surroundings.
They had arrived in backpacks, wagons and even on foot with their owners for a makeshift veterinary clinic set up on campus, to be tended by veterinary students and their mentors.
Some needed medical attention after losing a chase with a car. Others needed vaccines or preventive care, or help fighting ticks, fleas and worms. Some just needed a check-up. READ MORE. — Dan Ninham, Special to ICT
Tribes across the United States are working to inform and relieve their communities who are experiencing heat advisories and extreme weather this summer.
The Southwest has been experiencing a heat wave, the Midwest and East have also been under some kind of heat advisory.
“Unless an ice age were to appear all of sudden out of nothing, it is basically virtually certain we will break the record for the warmest July on record and the warmest month on record,” Copernicus Climate Change Service Director Carlo Buontempo told The Associated Press. READ MORE. — Kalle Benallie, ICT
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On the Tuesday edition of the ICT Newscast, a Minnesota organization is raising farmers. A new novel recounts history through the eyes of young girls. A New Mexico chef previews the season of red and green chili.
Watch:
It’s an afternoon off work — an 82-mile round trip — for residents of Eagle Butte to visit the Dewey County Courthouse.
But it’ll now be a matter of minutes for Eagle Butte residents to visit Dewey County’s first ever satellite office opened earlier this month — the third county satellite office in the state. It’ll also serve as an early voting center during elections.
The decision, made by the county commission in February, was in response to a failed effort to move the county seat from Timber Lake (population 579) to Eagle Butte (pop. 3,152). Dewey County is one of a few South Dakota counties that is within a Native American reservation, in this case the Cheyenne River Reservation. The county’s population is 74 percent Native American, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. READ MORE.— South Dakota Searchlight
- Sacred bees are vital to Mayan culture: Melipona bees have medicinal, spiritual meaning to the Mayan people. The insects are threatened by pesticides and deforestation.
- Sober living fraud scheme targeted Montana tribal citizens: Indigenous people from Montana, Arizona, New Mexico and South Dakota were recruited to get treatment at fraudulent facilities, and experts estimate that at least 100 Native people from Montana are tangled in the scam.
- Museum returns Oneida Indian Nation ancestors: ‘Events like this allow us to move past these failures with a chance for cultural institutions to take accountability and make amends.’
- High court won’t block ruling favoring Native man cited for speeding: The justices rejected an emergency appeal by Oklahoma town to block the ruling while the legal case continues.
- American Bar Association awards John Echohawk: The legendary Pawnee attorney wins Thurgood Marshall Award.
- American Indian students engage with arts, design in ASU INSPIRE program.
- Federal judge upholds pause on pre-development oil work in Arctic refuge.
- Killing of Native American Man Stirs Anger at Border Patrol.
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.
