Good Morning NUNAverse,
Lauren J. King (Muscogee) was confirmed by the United States Senate on Tuesday to serve as a federal district judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Nominated by President Joe Biden on May 12, 2021, she was confirmed by the Senate in a 55-44 vote. Upon taking her oath, King will be the first Native federal judge in Washington state’s history, the second in the United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit, and only the fourth active Native federal judge in the entire country. The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington is one of 94 U.S. District Courts. King will maintain chambers in Seattle, Washington.
President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday his intent to nominate Shelly Lowe (Navajo) as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). If confirmed by the United States Senate, Lowe will be the nation’s first Native person to serve as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Established by Congress in 1965, the NEH is an independent federal agency that supports research, education, and development across the humanities through partnerships with state and local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. She is currently a member of the National Council on the Humanities, an appointment she received from President Obama. Her career in higher education has included administrative roles such as executive director of the Harvard University Native American Program, Assistant Dean in the Yale College Dean’s Office, and director of the Native American Cultural Center at Yale University.
Top health officials knew of complaints about a doctor abusing Native boys at U.S. Indian Health Service hospitals years earlier than the agency has previously acknowledged, according to an internal investigation the agency released Tuesday after a legal effort by The Wall Street Journal’s publisher, Dow Jones & Co. The report shows that lawyers at the Department of Health and Human Services, which supervises the Indian Health Service, were notified of allegations against the doctor as early as 2009 and concludes that top regional officials also suspected him of abusing patients. In each instance, officials failed to act and protect children from further abuse by their doctor.
In a normal year, the smokehouses and drying racks that Alaska Natives use to prepare salmon to tide them through the winter would be heavy with fish meat, the fruits of a summer spent fishing on the Yukon River like generations before them. This year, there are no fish. For the first time in memory, both king and chum salmon have dwindled to almost nothing and the state has banned salmon fishing on the Yukon, even the subsistence harvests that Alaska Natives rely on to fill their freezers and pantries for winter. The remote communities that dot the river and live off its bounty — far from road systems and easy, affordable shopping — are desperate and doubling down on moose and caribou hunts in the waning days of fall.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Politics:
Muscogee Nation Citizen Lauren J. King Confirmed By US Senate To Serve As Federal District Judge
Native News Online, October 5
Lauren J. King (Muscogee) was confirmed by the United States Senate on Tuesday to serve as a federal district judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Nominated by President Joe Biden on May 12, 2021, she was confirmed by the Senate in a 55-44 vote. Upon taking her oath, King will be the first Native federal judge in Washington state’s history, the second in the United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit, and only the fourth active Native federal judge in the entire country. The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington is one of 94 U.S. District Courts. King will maintain chambers in Seattle, Washington.
President Biden To Nominate Navajo Citizen Shelly Lowe To Be Chair Of The National Endowment For The Humanities
Native News Online, October 5
President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday his intent to nominate Shelly Lowe as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). If confirmed by the United States Senate, Lowe will be the nation’s first Native American to serve as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency that supports research, education, and development across the humanities through partnerships with state and local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. Lowe is a tribal citizen of the Navajo Nation and grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Ganado, Arizona. She is currently a member of the National Council on the Humanities, an appointment she received from President Obama. Her career in higher education has included administrative roles such as executive director of the Harvard University Native American Program, assistant dean in the Yale College Dean’s Office, and director of the Native American Cultural Center at Yale University.
Law:
Senate Committee On Indian Affairs To Hold Hearing On Indian Water Rights Settlement Bills
Native News Online, October 5
The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will hold a legislative hearing on Wednesday, October 6 at 2:30 p.m. EDT to receive testimony on S.648, Technical Correction to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021, and S.1911, Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021. Chairman Bryan Schatz (D-HI), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and the committee will hear from the Department of the Interior and Tribal leaders on the two bills.
Canada Cites US Treaty In Enbridge Pipeline Dispute
AP News, Ed White, October 5
Canada invoked a treaty with the United States and asked a judge Monday to suspend litigation over Michigan’s effort to shut down a Great Lakes oil pipeline. Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau made clear that his government is backing Enbridge, the Calgary-based company that operates Line 5. Canada said it requested negotiations with the U.S. about the pipeline. It cited a provision in a 1977 treaty that says no public authority in either country can take steps to interfere with the flow of hydrocarbons. Line 5 moves about 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids daily between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, traversing parts of northern Michigan and Wisconsin. A section of the pipeline runs on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, which connects lakes Huron and Michigan at the top of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, both Democrats, say Line 5 is a grave threat to the Great Lakes and should be closed to prevent spills.
COVID-19:
Maryland Does Not Display Native American COVID-19 Data
AP News, Trisha Ahmed, October 5
Lumped into the “Other” racial and ethnic category, American Indians and Alaska Natives are effectively invisible on Maryland’s state website for COVID-19. More than 120,000 people who identify as Native live in Maryland, but without public-facing numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths, it is a mystery how many the disease has affected — and how many resources should be allocated to help them. The Maryland Department of Health puts American Indians and Alaska Natives in the “Other” category for COVID-19 cases and death numbers “due to low statistical occurrence given the population of Native Americans in the state,” department spokesperson Andy Owen wrote in an email to Capital News Service. However, American Indians and Alaska Natives are at the highest risk for death and hospitalization from COVID-19 among all races and ethnicities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Other:
Indian Health Service Repeatedly ‘Did Nothing’ To Stop Pediatrician From Sexually Abusing Patients, Report Finds
PBS, Christopher Weaver, October 5
Top health officials knew of complaints about a pedophile doctor abusing Native boys at U.S. Indian Health Service hospitals years earlier than the agency has previously acknowledged, according to an internal investigation the agency released Tuesday after a legal effort by The Wall Street Journal’s publisher, Dow Jones & Co. The report shows that lawyers at the Department of Health and Human Services, which supervises the Indian Health Service, were notified of allegations against the doctor as early as 2009 and concludes that top regional officials also suspected him of abusing patients. In each instance, officials failed to act and protect children from further abuse by their doctor.
Dwindling Alaska Salmon Leave Indigenous People In Crisis
AP News, Nathan Howard, October 5
In a normal year, the smokehouses and drying racks that Alaska Natives use to prepare salmon to tide them through the winter would be heavy with fish meat, the fruits of a summer spent fishing on the Yukon River like generations before them. This year, there are no fish. For the first time in memory, both king and chum salmon have dwindled to almost nothing and the state has banned salmon fishing on the Yukon, even the subsistence harvests that Alaska Natives rely on to fill their freezers and pantries for winter. The remote communities that dot the river and live off its bounty — far from road systems and easy, affordable shopping — are desperate and doubling down on moose and caribou hunts in the waning days of fall.
Tribes: New Evidence Proves Massacre Was At Mine Site
AP News, Scott Sonner, October 5
Tribal lawyers are asking a U.S. judge in Nevada to reconsider her earlier refusal to block digging at a proposed lithium mine near the Oregon line where they say newly uncovered evidence proves it was the sacred site of a massacre of dozens of Native people in 1865. The new motion filed in federal court in Reno includes an 1865 newspaper report and two eyewitness accounts of how at least 31 Paiute men, women and children were “murdered by federal soldiers” at Thacker Pass. The accounts were in an autobiography first published in 1929 by a well-known American labor organizer, Bill Haywood. One was from a cavalry volunteer who participated in the slaughter and the other by a tribal member who survived it.