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A first-of-its-kind report on missing persons in Alaska has been released.
The State Department of Public Safety and the Anchorage Police Department collaborated to collect this data.
Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more.
Austin McDaniel, a spokesman for the Public Safety Department, says the report maps out hundreds of cases going back to 1960.
“We think this is a good first effort, and we’re definitely interested in adding additional data points.”
McDaniel says the work, which is an outgrowth of Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK)’s People First Initiative, will be updated every quarter and can be found online.
In the last quarter, from April to June, 200 Alaska Native or American Indian people went missing in the state. Most of those have been found, except for 25.
The database has an important new feature.
It categorizes the circumstances surrounding the disappearances, identifying those which are suspicious.
As director of the Data for Indigenous Justice group, Charlene Apok welcomes the new report and says it’s what advocates for missing Indigenous people have been asking for – for years.
She worked on an earlier attempt to track their numbers.
“Sadly, I think what this really illustrates is a systemic issue of violence that’s being perpetrated in our community in the state of Alaska. And that should raise flags and alarms, and really start igniting justice.”
Apok hopes the database will continue to improve and provide more information about those missing, including their hometowns and Native cultural identities, so they become more than just points of data, but reminders of loved ones, lost to their families.
Indigenous groups in Guatemala say they’re preparing for massive protests if necessary to defend the results of last weekend’s election.
That vote saw a landslide by the anti-corruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo, which the Guatemalan government is now trying to overturn.
Maria Martin reports.
About a dozen Maya and other Indigenous groups met recently in the community of Totonicapan.
Later they issued a statement addressed to the people of Guatemala and the international community.
In it, the influential Maya Quiche organization “48 Cantones” – speaking for the collective, expressed “profound concerns” at Guatemala’s constitutional crisis, which they say is a result of quote “constant and flagrant” violations of the constitution by an entrenched corrupt group that seeks to hold on to power.”
It’s the first time for people to defend their vote says the 48 Cantones President Luis Pacheco Gutierrez.
“And to show that Native people…along with all Guatemalans are uniting to oppose wrong decisions that are being taken…enough is enough.”
The Indigenous authorities of Solola meanwhile say if Attorney General Consuelo Porras continues to “destroy democracy,” they’ll be forced to take over highways, airports, and offices of the Public Ministry.
They’re also calling for Porras’ resignation.
The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York has received an initial distribution of $1.3 million from a group of nationwide opioid settlements.
The tribe was part of the opioid settlements reached in 2022 with pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors.
According to the tribe, additional payments are to be made by some of the settling companies over a number of years.
The tribe filed suit in 2018 contending companies that manufacture, market, and distribute opioids carried out a scheme to make individuals believe that prescription opioids were safe, non-addictive, and could be used without long-term effects.
The complaint alleges that the scheme created an opioid epidemic that has ravaged tribal communities.
According to the tribe, the opioid epidemic created health effects on its members and their families, as well as increased instances of child welfare, foster care cases, and crime.
The tribe has been working to combat the impacts of the opioid epidemic.
The settlement will be used to support programs and services.
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