Friday, January 31, 2025

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The issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people continues to be of national concern among tribes.

Now, tribes are hoping new measures will get bi-partisan support in Congress to help tribal law enforcement solve these cases.

These bills also coincide with the first-ever “Missing in Nevada Day” this weekend.  

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Yvette Fernandez has the details.

One bill is called Bridging Agency Data Gaps & Ensuring Safety (BADGES).

The other is called Invest to Protect.

Both would fund tribal law enforcement to combat violence and in particular address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis.

Tribal Chairman of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, Benny Tso says these funds would give them access to forensic resources and enhance data-sharing among tribal and non-tribal law enforcement.

He says it will impact their ability to solve these crimes. 

“A lot of our brothers and sisters go missing to no avail, with no help and no resources. It seems like a lot of those cases get swept under the rug. And, it’s troubling to hear all these cases that go unheard or unanswered.” 

According to the National Crime Information Center, murder is the third leading cause of death for Indigenous women and is ten times higher than all other ethnicities.

Both measures passed the U.S. Senate last year, but will have to be reintroduced with the current Congress.  

A nearly thousand-year-old cache linked to the Dene people was found near Cook Inlet this summer.

Researchers say it’s the oldest such find in the Anchorage Bowl.

Alaska Desk reporter Alena Naiden for our flagship station KNBA has more.

Archeologists discovered a cellar lined with birch bark in June at a known Dene site at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

They estimate that the cache was about three and a half feet across and was likely used for storing food.

Aaron Leggett is the president of the Native Village of Eklutna, located roughly 20 miles north of the discovery.

He says it’s another testament that the Dene people have been the stewards of the lands in Southcentral Alaska for at least a millennia.

“It’s further confirmation of Denaʼina oral tradition. It also shows that there’s still a lot more work to be done on Denaʼina archeology, and especially in Upper Cook Inlet.”

JBER archeologist Liz Ortiz was among those who first encountered the cache.

Ortiz says that she and her colleague expected it to be a couple hundred years old.

Instead, tests showed something extraordinary for Southcentral – a relatively densely populated region where ground conditions are less stable compared to other parts of the state.

“When we got the results back that said it was 960 years, plus or minus 30, we were shocked. I mean, Margan and I were jumping up and down in our cube in tears. It was very, very exciting”

Another JBER archeologist Margan Grove says that discoveries like this are important to discuss.

They highlight the long-standing Indigenous history of the urban landscape of Anchorage.

“Anchorage is a new town – you know, 1914 is when it’s first established, but there are people who were here much longer than that.”

Researchers collaborated with elders and knowledge holders from Denaʼina and Ahtna tribes to get more context about the place.

Today, half of Alaska’s population lives within the Dene homelands, and Leggett says careful analysis of the remaining sites – in consultation with the tribes – is crucial.

“We’ve always said that we know we can’t stop development, but can we use these opportunities to kind of fill in the picture?”

Archaeologists plan to further evaluate the soil samples in and around the cache.

Together with tribal leaders, they hope to go back to the site later this year.

 

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