A Federal commission hears from Alaskans on the high rate of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Indigenous people in Alaska are murdered and go missing at higher rates than almost anywhere in the country. Vivian Korthuis, chief executive of Bethel-based Association of Village Council Presidents, said more than 300 Alaska Natives are on the missing and murdered registry. “To me, that’s the same size as a village. A whole village. And it’s shocking to know that there’s that many people we’re missing,” she said. “Something needs to be done.” Korthuis is a member of a panel created by Congress to address the tragedy. The Not Invisible Act Commission met in Anchorage this week to hear testimony from victims and from advocates working to prevent violence.
North Dakota lawmakers vote to guard Native American adoption rules as court decision looms. Rep. Jayme Davis, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, said she sponsored the bill to ensure Native American children grow up with strong family and cultural ties intact. North Dakota legislators have approved a bill that would cement decades-old Native American adoption rules in state law as a weighty federal court case hangs in the balance. Lawmakers voted nearly unanimously this week to pass House Bill 1536, which would weld the crux of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) onto North Dakota’s law books. The bipartisan legislation now goes to Gov. Doug Burgum, whose spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
