Two Native Hawaiian men have been sentenced to years in prison for a federal hate crime conviction in the brutal beating of a white man who tried to move to a remote, traditional fishing village. A jury in November found Kaulana Alo-Kaonohi (cow-no-hee) and Levi Aki Jr. guilty of a hate crime, agreeing with prosecutors that the two men were motivated by Christopher Kunzelman’s race when they punched, kicked and used a shovel to beat him in 2014. His injuries included a concussion, two broken ribs and head trauma. The case highlights multicultural Hawaii’s nuanced and complicated relationship with race. Alo-Kaonohi was sentenced to 78 months while Aki received 50 months.
More power, in the form of energy could be coming to tribes in North Dakota. The Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs oversees the development and deployment of energy solutions on tribal lands across the country, including North Dakota. So, what types of assistance does the agency provide tribal communities? The department looks at three ways to help with energy development. Technical analysis, financial analysis, and overall strategic energy planning, this is when the department provides a roadmap for the entire tribe to remain successful for years to come.
Those are your headlines at this hour, I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.