Tuesday, January 9, 2024

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Scientists are sampling public water sources nationwide to test for what they call “forever chemicals,” which they estimate can be found in nearly half of the country’s tap water.

As Yellowstone Public Radio’s Kayla Desroches reports, scientists are also analyzing data from a river that’s culturally and recreationally significant to the Crow Nation in southeastern Montana.

The U.S. Geological Survey this summer wrapped up sampling in a study testing for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants in the Little Bighorn River.

USGS collaborated with Crow tribal member and Little Big Horn College Water Quality Project Director John Doyle, who has spent decades working to address water quality issues and environmental health on the Crow Nation and along the Little Bighorn River.

“It’s our drinking water, in Crow Agency we have a surface water plant. It’s agriculture, irrigation, it’s recreation, people swim in it, fish in it, and hunt along its banks, but it’s also used for many of our traditional ceremonies and uses.”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PFAS is a family of manufactured chemicals that in humans may, alongside other possible health effects, increase the risk of cancer and cause developmental delays in children.

Testing also includes a range of other chemicals like pesticides and pharmaceuticals.

Although Doyle says he hopes none will be found, he is concerned about impacts from wastewater treatment and other activity upstream.

“But it could be any number of things because there’s a lot of stuff that goes into the Little Big Horn River that we don’t know about.”

Analysis of the USGS data is still ongoing.

“My hopes and dreams are that we’re able to completely restore the Little Bighorn River to the state where we can drink it  and feel good about it.”

The trial of a 54-year-old St. Paul Island, Alaska man accused of strangling his wife gets underway in an Anchorage Tuesday.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more.

A grand jury indicted Joshua Rukovishnikoff on charges of second-degree murder in the killing of his 37-year-old wife Nadesda, who was known as Lynette.

She was found dead in the couple’s home on St. Paul Island in September 2021.

He told police the death was accidental and occurred when the two had been fighting.

The case drew attention after the couple’s two-year-old son, Joshua John, died a few months later after being medivac’d from St. Paul to an Anchorage hospital with a serious head injury.

The child’s guardians were later charged in the toddler’s death.

Alaska State Troopers say 33-year-old Steven Melovidov and his 30-year-old wife, Sophie Myers-Melovidov, initially told them they didn’t know how the boy was injured, but investigators say text messages between the couple told a different story.

The autopsy found multiple head injuries and bruising in the child’s genital area.

They are scheduled for a court hearing at the end of this month.

The back-to-back deaths rocked St. Paul Island, a remote community in the Pribilof Islands, which had not had any homicides since 2006.

For many on the remote island, the tragedy speaks to the deadly consequences of domestic violence that hits Alaska’s small, isolated communities, especially hard.

The new Marvel Studio’s featurette “Echo” streams Tuesday on Disney+ and Hulu.

Five-episodes follow the Native American lead, Maya Lopez, exploring her Choctaw culture and history.

Director and Executive Producer Sydney Freeland says they worked closely with the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma every step of the way for accurate on-screen portrayals.

Alaqua Cox, who’s Native American and deaf, plays the role of Maya.

She says this is their chance to uplift Indigenous voices, and let the world know Indigenous people are still here.

A number of Native actors star in the series.