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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales
The Biden administration awarded nearly $75 million to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai, and Blackfeet Tribes, Tuesday to expand broadband access on tribal lands.
Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports.
A little over half of the Flathead Reservation has access to high-speed internet and that number is even lower on the Blackfeet Reservation at 23%, according to Broadband Now.
Tribal officials from both reservations say that’s about to change due to a massive infusion of cash from the infrastructure bill passed by Congress earlier this year.
The Blackfeet Nation is getting over $33 million for broadband buildout.
Blackfeet Tribal Business Council Secretary Lauren Monroe Jr. says roughly 4,500 homes on the Blackfeet Reservation will gain broadband speeds, but he says this is about more than just internet access for reservation residents.
“A lot of the stuff we’re focusing on is telehealth, online education systems, economic development, and things like that that would move the tribe forward in a direction of being competitive with the outside world.”
CSKT officials say the $41.5 million they are receiving will lay more than 300 miles of fiber optic cable, connecting hundreds of households to high speed internet.
The Blackfeet and CSKT grants are two of nearly 100 that have been given to tribes nationwide under the Internet for All program set up by the infrastructure bill, totaling $1.35 billion.
The Los Angeles Times reports the White House Tuesday said President Joe Biden is calling for the resignation of three Los Angeles city council members – Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo, and Kevin de León – after leaked audio revealed them allegedly engaging in racist remarks.
The newspaper over the weekend reported on a conversation said to be of the council members making racist comments about a Black child and Indigenous Oaxacan immigrants.
Native American councilmember Mitch O’Farrell (Wyandotte Nation) is among those also calling for their resignation.
He spoke out against the remarks during a press conference Monday.
“A group of elected officials that engaged in racism against an African American child, that engaged in horrific things said about Indigenous peoples from Oaxaca, that eluded to the old tropes against the LGBTQ community, I don’t see how that presence continuing in city leadership is going to allow the city to move forward, to heal, to reconcile.”
Councilmember O’Farrell reiterated his view of the scandal during a council meeting Tuesday, which included protests from the public.
“This is a heavy and deeply tragic moment for this city. A court of public opinion has rendered a verdict. And the verdict is they all must resign (crowd cheers).”
O’Farrell says their presence on the council will continue to be an obstacle.
The controversy comes as President Biden is set to visit Los Angeles this week on a trip that was reportedly already planned.
The conversation is said to be from last October when the council members were discussing redistricting.
All three have reportedly apologized. As of Tuesday, they were still on the council.
The Founders Museum in Massachusetts announced this week it’s returning more than 100 sacred Lakota items to the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Associated Press reports.
Clothing, pipes, and other items believed to be linked to the Wounded Knee Massacre will return home to South Dakota.
A ceremony is being planned for the repatriation in November.
The repatriation process has taken decades.
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