The Great Plains Tribal Opioid Response program is preparing to release a third edition of its animated prevention series. It seeks Lakota and Dakota language speakers to help translate the material into both Lakota and Dakota. Skyhawk Reborn and Bravefox, the first two releases in this series, covered the dangers of opioids and meth. The subject matter in the upcoming comic has not been made public, but “Battle of the Ancestors” will continue the saga. This project, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), consists of translating 36 lines in the 3rd version of our comic book series.
Arizona’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Task Force met for the first time Monday. Gov. Katie Hobbs created the group in March by executive order. It’ll recommend ways to stop violence and exploitation against Indigenous people. The task force is made up of representatives and leaders from Southwestern tribes including Navajo Nation first lady Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren and Jerome Kasey III, vice chairman of the White Mountain Apache Tribe. The group will submit a report to Hobbs each year until 2026 containing recommended administrative or legislative actions to combat the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people. According to a study by Arizona State University, 160 Indigenous women and girls in Arizona are known to have been murdered between 1976 and 2018, but many more have likely gone unreported
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
