The Biden-Harris Administration Announces Sweeping Protections for Up To 16 Million Acres of Land and Water in Alaska.
President Biden has protected more lands and waters in his first two years than any president since John F. Kennedy. On Monday, the Biden-Harris administration took sweeping action to complete protections of the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean from any future oil and gas leasing. The Interior Department also announced that it is preparing new rules to provide maximum protection to millions of acres of lands in the western Arctic, including the area around Teshekpuk Lake, a vital home to caribou and other wildlife that are central to Alaska Native communities’ traditional way of life.
Marcella LeBeau, our own Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member, is being honored during March’s National Women’s History Month. Marcella has lived a long life that has been spent in service to others–in Indian Country and beyond–as a nurse, tribal councilor, and advocate. Born in Promise, South Dakota, her grandmother gave her Lakota name, Wigmunke’ Waste Win’, which means Pretty Rainbow Woman. She became a nurse in 1942 and one year later, LaBeau enlisted in the Army Nurse Corp, and served as a combat nurse during World War II where she served the “Greatest Generation” wounded soldiers. She provided medical care for soldiers injured during the Battle of the Bulge in Normandy, France on D-Day. For her heroic service, LeBeau was honored by the country of France with its highest honor, the French Legion of Honor medal.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
