More than 2,300 rural Alaskans in seven communities along the Kuskokwim River will receive affordable, high-speed internet for the first time thanks to a tribal broadband grant funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. This transformative project will give rural residents access to virtual meetings, online classes, telehealth, and online jobs without having to leave their village or way of life. The communities served include Lower Kalskag, Upper Kalskag, Tuluksak, Akiak, Akiachak, Kwethluk and Napakiak.
Native American women go missing at an alarming rate, including a new case from Sioux City Iowa……A Winnebago, Nebraska, woman, who disappeared late last week, is now officially in the police database, and a coordinated search is underway. Thirty-six-year-old Brenda Jean Payer went missing from the McDonald’s parking lot in Sioux City …volunteers from both inside and outside the Native American community mounted a search effort. A Sioux City Police Department spokesperson says now that she’s in the database, any police agency that comes into contact with her will know she’s missing. Sadly, cases like this, in which a Native American woman goes missing, aren’t uncommon.
Data shows Native Americans in South Dakota receive longer manslaughter sentences…Native Americans who plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter in South Dakota receive on average 11 years longer in prison than their white counterparts, according to an Argus Leader analysis and investigation of court records spanning 10 years.
