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Firefighters make fast work of Omak wildfire

A plane drops water on the edge of a fire near Omak Lake east of Okanogan Tuesday afternoon. World photo/Don Seabrook

Aug. 7, 2013, 9:53

OMAK — No lightning storms had passed over the Okanogan Valley since Sunday.

But a 200-acre fire on Tuesday afternoon was ignited by that storm. It’s called a holdover fire, and fire officials on the Colville Indian Reservation are expecting more will show themselves in the next day or two, said Ike Cawston, fire management officer for the Colville Tribes’ Mt. Tolman Fire Center.

Firefighters from the Colville Confederated Tribes, Bureau of Indian Affairs and Fire District 8 responded, along with air support from the state Department of Natural Resources.

With help from the air, firefighters surrounded the grass and sagebrush fire, Cawston said. But that was largely due to the fire’s close proximity to Omak Lake. “Being able to scoop water out of the lake with such a short turn-around really helped,” he added.

Cawston said close to 6,000 lightning strikes hit the reservation, and despite the heavy rain that came with it, fire can smolder for days while light fuels dry out, and then ignite a fire.

“Initially, as it passed over the reservation, our greater concern was three or four days out,” he said.

During Tuesday’s fire, officials were worried about one home in the area, but no structures were lost and no one was injured.

Violence against women, kids on MT reservations discussed

Aug 7, 2013

by Claire Anderson – MTN News

GREAT FALLS, MT – Senator Max Baucus met with Montana Tribal leaders and government officials Tuesday to hear more about the problem of violence against women and children on state’s Indian reservations.

The urgencies is that we have a cycle of violence occurring within our communities that needs to break,” Northern Cheyenne Tribal Councilwoman Jace Killsback said.

Statistics show that the number of cases of violence against women and children on Montana Indian reservations are remarkably high.

“We all have an obligation all of us in Montana, on and off the Reservation, to do something about [it],” Baucus stated.

Baucus says an average of 7,500 children on reservations are victimized every year, and more than one in three Native American women have been raped or sexually assaulted.

“It’s always been an issue. We look at it from a historical perspective that our value system of our family’s was broken down through government policies,” Killsback explained.

I see it every day. I live it at home. You know the social deals that we have – and the lack of funding to address the problems that we have – hopefully these types of [forums] that we have will help us,” Fort Peck Reservation Councilman Robert Welch said.

Montanans, both on and off the reservations, are now looking for solutions.

“It’s up to all of us to do our very best to solve this and to prevent all that from reoccurring as much as we possibly can,” Baucus added.

Reservation leaders are hoping to establish places like safe havens, youth centers, and substance abuse programs thanks to federal funding, but these can’t come to life without monetary resources.

“The biggest issue now is resources. We don’t have the resources to develop…to promote federal programs for substance abuse [or] for dealing with child abuse, Killsback stated.

While lack of funding isn’t a problem unique to Montana’s Indian Reservations, tribal leaders, along with Sen. Baucus, hope these listening sessions are the stepping stone to create solutions – not just empty promises.

2012 Broke Climate Records, New Report Says

Surface temperatures in 2012 compared with the 1981 to 2010 average.Credit: NOAA map by Dan Pisut, NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab — Surface temperatures in 2012 compared with the 1981 to 2010 average.
Credit: NOAA map by Dan Pisut, NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab

by Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer | August 06, 2013 04:17pm ET

2012 was a year of climate records, from temperatures to ice melt to sea level rise, a newly released report on the state of the global climate says.

Even though natural climate cycles have slowed the planet’s rising temperature, 2012 was one of the 10 hottest years since 1880, according to the report released today (Aug. 6) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

One reason the world’s warming is slower in recent years is because of recent La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean, which cause atmospheric and ocean temperatures to cool, said Tom Karl, director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center during a news teleconference.”There are a number of factors that cause climate to vary from year to year, but when you look back at long-term trends, temperatures have been increasing consistently,” he said.

But in the Arctic, surface temperatures rose twice as fast in the past decade as lower latitudes, said Jackie Richter-Menge, a report co-author and research civil engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “The Arctic continues to be a region where we have some of the most compelling evidence of the fact that global temperatures are warming,” she said.

Difference from average annual snow cover since 1971, compared with the 1966 to 2010 average. Snow cover has largely been below average since the late 1980s.Credit: NOAA — Difference from average annual snow cover since 1971, compared with the 1966 to 2010 average. Snow cover has largely been below average since the late 1980s.
Credit: NOAA

A strong and persistent southerly airflow in spring 2012 contributed to the Arctic’s record warmth, Richter-Menge said. The effects included a record-low summer ice pack extent in the Arctic Ocean, and surface melting across 97 percent of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Richter-Menge said researchers are also seeing long-term changes, such as more coastal vegetation growing in the Arctic tundra and rising permafrost temperatures.

“The near records being reported from year to year are no longer anomalies or exceptions,” Richter-Menge said. “They have become the norm for us and what we expect to see in the near future.” [5 Ways Rapid Warming is Changing the Arctic]

Ice melt from Greenland and glaciers elsewhere are contributing to sea level rise, according to the climate report. In the past year, sea level rose a record 1.4 inches (35 millimeters) above the 1983 to 2010 average, said Jessica Blunden, a climatologist at NOAA’s Climatic Data Center and lead editor of the report. “It appears ice melt is contributing more than twice as much as warming waters,” she said during the teleconference. As the ocean warms, water expands, contributing to sea level rise.

The annual State of the Climate report compiles climate and weather data from around the world and is reviewed by more than 380 climate scientists from 52 countries. The report can be viewed online.

The planet hit several records or near records in 2012, the report said. These include:

Record ice loss from melting glaciers. 2012 will be the 22nd year in a row of ice loss.
Near-record ocean heat content, a measure of heat stored in the oceans. When the ocean holds more heat than it releases, its heat content increases.
Record sea level rise of 1.4 inches above average.
Record-low June snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere. The June snow cover has declined 17 percent per decade since 1979, outpacing the shrinking summer Arctic sea ice extent by 4 percent.
Record-low summer Arctic sea ice extent. Sea ice shrank to its smallest summer minimum since record-keeping began 34 years ago.
Record-high winter Antarctic sea ice extent of 7.51 million square miles (19.44 million square kilometers) in September.
Record-high man-made greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. In 2012, for the first time, global average carbon dioxide concentrations hit 392 parts per million and exceeded 400 ppm at some observation sites. The number means there were 400 carbon dioxide molecules per 1 million air molecules.

Email Becky Oskin or follow her @beckyoskin. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Federal judge dismisses SD early voting lawsuit

AUGUST 6, 2013

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to ensure that residents of part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation have the same access to early voting as people in other South Dakota counties.

U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier dismissed the lawsuit after finding that state and local officials have agreed to provide an in-person absentee voting station in Shannon County for the 2014, 2016 and 2018 election cycles.

The judge said she couldn’t proceed to consider the case because no one knows whether election laws or other conditions will change after the 2018 election.

Shannon County, which is part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, has no courthouse, and it contracts with nearby Fall River County for some services, including elections. Twenty-five residents of Shannon County filed a lawsuit in early 2012 seeking to get the same 46 days of early voting as residents of other counties. Without a voting station in Shannon County, county residents would have had to travel nearly an hour or more to cast in-person absentee ballots at the Fall River County courthouse.

After the lawsuit was filed, state and local officials set up an in-person absentee voting station in Pine Ridge village for last year’s primary and general election. Those officials later pledged to use federal voting assistance funds to operate an early voting station in Pine Ridge through the 2018 election.

Those who filed the lawsuit criticized the judge’s dismissal of their case, saying there is no guarantee that early voting will be offered in Pine Ridge after 2018. They sought a court order permanently ordering the state to provide early voting in Shannon County.

But Schreier noted that no one knows whether election laws will change by 2020, whether federal funding will continue to be available for the early voting station, or whether Shannon County will continue contracting with Fall River County for election services. In addition, there is no substantial proof of impending harm to Shannon County voters, she said.

“For the court to adjudicate this claim now would amount to an advisory opinion based on assumptions and speculation,” Schreier wrote.

Attorneys for the state and the Shannon County residents did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

Google Teams with National Congress of American Indians for Indigenous Mapping Day

Source: Native News Network

WASHINGTON – Many tribal communities in the United States lack accurate mapping information pertaining to roads, buildings, and information on services available to tribal members and the general public.

This week there is an unique opportunity for tribes to give input into a mapping project through Google.

In honor of the United Nation’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, the National Congress of American Indians, Google Map Maker, Google Earth Outreach and the Google American Indian Network have teamed up and are proud to present Google’s first ever Indigenous Mapping Day on August 9.

A MapUp is a group of people coming together to improve how Google Maps represents their community. You and the members of your tribal community can add local roads, schools, health facilities, tribal offices and more. You can even map in your tribe’s native language. Google Map Maker currently supports Cherokee, Navajo, Inuktitut, Inupiaq, Kalaallisut, and Hawaiian languages.

Tribal Community Empowerment

Christopher Kalluk, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporation,
Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada

Google Map Maker is a tool that allows tribal governments, businesses, and individual citizens to take ownership of their communities as represented on Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Maps for Mobile.

This tool allows these entities to add to, edit, and improve digital local maps by mapping tribal offices, medical facilities, local roads, and everything in between! Anything from structures, landscapes, or ATM locations can be identified on Google Maps by using the Map Maker tool.

South Carolina Judge Orders Immediate Transfer Of Baby Veronica

Lacie Lowry, News on 6

CHARLESTON, South Carolina – A South Carolina judge Tuesday threw out the transition plan for Baby Veronica and ordered her Oklahoma family to immediately hand the girl over to her adoptive parents.

The judge said Veronica’s father skipped a mandatory meeting.

But Dusten Brown is at National Guard training in Iowa, and the Oklahoma National Guard confirms it wouldn’t make an exception and let him leave for any legal matters involving Veronica.

Veronica’s adoptive parents – Matt and Melanie Capobianco, of South Carolina – raised Veronica for two years before Brown gained custody.

Their adoption of Veronica has been finalized in South Carolina and they were scheduled to meet with Veronica and Brown on Sunday.

Brown and his daughter were a no-show and the Cherokee Nation says all parties knew of Brown’s mandatory training.

We asked an expert to weigh-in on what abrupt changes can do to a child.

“Cases such as these really lose sight of the fact that we’re dealing with 4-year-old child who has attachments to many people,” said therapist Cathy Chalmers.

Chalmers said cases like Baby Veronica’s are a lightning rod for issues like adoption and the historical trauma of Indians.

“The more the parties become polarized and divided, the harder it is to set aside personal needs and desires,” she said.

Chalmers didn’t write the transition plan, but was recommended as a resource for Dusten Brown. She’s also Cherokee.

She’s not allowed to talk about Veronica’s case, but she’s seen several cases just like Veronica’s, where a transition plan is thrown out and a child immediately transferred.

Chalmers said that’s when a child suffers.

“Abrupt change says to the child, ‘Where I came from wasn’t okay or I wouldn’t have been taken away from it,'” Chalmers said. “What brings them comfort, the routines, the rituals of their day-to-day life sometimes get lost in all the politics that are involved in a polarized court ruling.”

Cherokee Nation’s Assistant Attorney General Chrissi Nimmo issued the following statement:

It is disgusting to insinuate criminal misconduct or wrongdoing on Dusten’s behalf. He is in another state for mandatory National Guard training, which all parties and the court have known for a least two weeks. It is physically and legally impossible for Dusten to comply with the current order. This is another ploy to paint Dusten as the “bad guy.” It is especially appalling while he is serving his country. Legal steps have been taken by the Capobiancos to enforce the order in Oklahoma, and legal challenges will no doubt follow. To manufacture this media frenzy is unnecessary and harmful to all involved.

Brown returns from training on August 21.

The Oklahoma National Guard offered this statement Tuesday:

“The Oklahoma National Guard will not interject at this time in the legal matters of Baby Veronica and her natural father, Oklahoma Army National Guard Specialist Dusten Brown, who is attending military training in another state until August 21st. While we respect the request by Judge Martin to help enforce his order yesterday, we believe it inappropriate for the Oklahoma National Guard to take action in this matter until such time as it has been fully litigated by all parties. There are other legal mechanisms immediately available to the state of South Carolina to enforce the court’s order that have nothing to do with the National Guard or Specialist Brown’s military service.”

It’s unclear what happens next with Veronica, who is with her grandparents and step-mom in Oklahoma.

Navajo, Urban Outfitters fail to reach settlement

Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Navajo Nation and Urban Outfitters have failed to reach a settlement in a federal lawsuit alleging trademark violations.

The tribe sued the clothing retailer and its subsidiaries last year to keep them from using the “Navajo” name or variations of it on their products.

U.S. District Judge Lorenzo Garcia in New Mexico had thrown out all deadlines for discovery and responses to motions while settlement discussions took place. The parties wrote to the court this week saying that mediation has been unsuccessful.

The parties say no other mediation sessions are planned.

Urban Outfitters argues that “Navajo” is a generic term for a style or design and has asserted counter claims. It is seeking a declaration of non-infringement and cancellation of the tribe’s federal trademark registrations.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/02/3538199/navajo-urban-outfitters-fail-to.html#storylink=cpy

Steep tax difference between recreational, medical pot a worry

Dan Bates / The Herald At the Comcast Arena Conference Center on Tuesday, Jim Andersen, of Lynnwood, addresses concerns and asks questions regarding rules about Initiative 502. It was one in a series of public hearings by the Washington State Liquor Control Board .

By Sharon Salyer, The Herald

Washington received national attention last fall when voters approved an initiative to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana for adults.

Now officials are deciding how this new industry will be regulated.

At a public hearing on this Tuesday in Everett, some people asked how the state could have one system for medical marijuana and another system — with separate rules — for recreational marijuana.

And with recreational marijuana being taxed — and medical marijuana not — it could mean a steep difference in prices.

The new statewide system is expected to begin next year, legalizing recreational pot sales to adults. It will tax marijuana when it’s harvested, shipped to distributors and sold at state-licensed stores.

The concern is the taxes could make it more expensive than marijuana sold in medical dispensaries or in illegal street sales.

“You’ll compete against them,” said Shawn Scoleri, general manager of Canna RX, a medical marijuana dispensary in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood.

Sharon Foster heads the state’s Liquor Control Board, which is overseeing the enforcement of the state’s marijuana legalization. During Tuesday’s meeting, she acknowledged that it’s an issue that keeps getting raised as the state moves closer to legalization.

The Liquor Control Board is working with two other state agencies, the departments of health and revenue, to try to come up with recommendations to the Legislature on how to resolve the taxing issue, she said.

The hearing at a conference room at Comcast Arena on Tuesday is the first of five around the state to discuss the proposed rules. The state is scheduled in six weeks to begin accepting applications to grow, distribute or sell marijuana. Many questions remain to be resolved, as many of two dozen people who spoke at Tuesday’s hearing were eager to point out.

There were questions over how to find insurance, how marijuana entrepreneurs could legally bank their money, and what actions the federal government, with laws on the books making marijuana illegal, might take to legally challenge the state’s marijuana law.

“Anything we would say about federal law would be speculation,” Foster said, noting that the board is simply charged with implementing the new state law.

“There is a problem not having a clearer signal from the feds,” said Chris Marr, a member of the liquor control board.

Loren Simmonds, mayor pro-tem of Lynnwood, wondered if the city has to provide a license to operate a marijuana business if it didn’t meet the requirement to be at least 1,000 feet from schools and parks. Foster told him no.

Gloria Rivera, a Lynn-wood planner, wondered if the city could prohibit marijuana business entirely.

Liquor board staff, recalling terminology used during Prohibition, said that the state initiative does not allow for “dry” areas, but the city can regulate marijuana through its zoning.

Jason Bess, from Lynn-wood, said he came to Tuesday’s hearing to get more information on the production, processing and licensing of marijuana businesses. He said he plans to start a business growing the crop.

“This is a new era for the country,” he said. “In five years, every single state will have marijuana.”

Matt Barron, from Everett, said that the state will decide how many marijuana licenses to approve, and who gets them.

“This is like a lottery,” he said. “Who’s lucky enough to get a license? I want to be prepared.”

Are You a Chief? And 11 Other Zany Questions Posed at the Montreal First Peoples Festival Info Kiosk

Source: ICTMN

Plant someone behind a sign labeled “Information,” and people pose questions as if it’s the repository of all the knowledge in the universe. But station staffers at the Montreal First Peoples Festival information kiosk, and passersby jump at the chance to showcase the stereotypes they grew up believing. Below is a sampling of the whackiest queries that came the way of an anonymous dispenser of aboriginal trivia during the past week. The festival wound up on August 5 after a run that started on July 30.

1) I found dream catchers in the basement of my new house. Am I an Indian?

Sorry “Justin,” finding these in your new basement does not make you Indian. (Photo: Thinkstock)

“One guy came up to our information kiosk, and he brought over his camera [with photographs on it], and there were just regular dream catchers, and he was like, ‘What is this, what does this mean for me, does that mean that I’m an adopted Indian now, do I have rights? Do I get free tobacco?’ ”

Sorry dude, you’re no more eligible for free gas than Justin Beiber is.

2) What tribe are you from?

“It’s not the politically correct term. Here [in Canada] you’d say, ‘What First Nation?’ ”

3) Are you an Indian?

“Again, not totally correct but close enough. I’ll give you credit for trying.”

4) Can I take a picture of you?

“I just look like any old Jack. My skin’s a little darker, my hair’s black and my eyes are brown. That’s it. That’s the only difference.”

5) Do you dance?

“Which is appropriate, but not everybody dances.”

6) Do you have a medicine pouch?

“One guy specifically asked me that, and he said, and I quote: ‘You are not Native unless you have a medicine pouch.’ ”

7) A parade including Indigenous Peoples from Europe isn’t authentic.

“We had a parade, Nuestra Americana, and it was just a friendly meeting of all the Nations, and one lady was super offended. She was like, ‘These people aren’t Native, this isn’t what the First Peoples festival is all about, this doesn’t make sense, you guys are racist.’

“Lady, you’re white, you don’t know anything about anything, just stop talking and appreciate. She was a quite special lady.”

8) Where are your feathers and moccasins?

“One guy was kind of upset that at the information kiosk we didn’t have feathers, and we didn’t have moccasins, and a leather suit and a bow and arrow in the kiosk.

“We’re not in the 1800s any more. We appreciate that you read up on your history, clearly, but that was a couple of hundred years ago.”

9) Where are the feathers in your hair?

“It wasn’t me, but my colleague told me that one lady said, ‘Where are your feathers in your hair?’ And he was kinda like, ‘Well they grow back after a couple of days, I cut them to be proper for the festival.’ And she was looking at his head like, ‘Oh wow, really? Can I maybe meet you sometime for coffee and we can discuss your feathers in your hair?’ ”

9) You seem sober. How did you cure your abuse problem?

“Some people come up to us with genuinely thoughtful questions, just phrased wrongly. One lady came up to us, she was a sweet old lady, I’m sure she didn’t mean to be not politically correct, and she was like, So how did you—you seem sober, how did you [achieve] your sobriety?”

Okay, okay, so there was a canoe at the Place des Festivals during the Montreal First Peoples Festival. But that was just for show. (Photo: Theresa Braine)

11) Do you go hunting? Do you own a canoe? What kind of wood do you use for your bow and arrow?

“Not even asking if you own a bow and arrow—what kind of wood do you use for your bow and arrow?”

12) Are you a chief?

Guards with Automatic Weapons Are Back to Intimidate in Mining Country

Mary Annette Pember, ICTMN

Bulletproof Securities, the company whose paramilitary guards were pulled from the Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) proposed iron ore mine site in the Penokee Hills is now licensed to operate in the state of Wisconsin according to a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on August 5.

A spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services announced that the company is now licensed in the state and will not face any charges for operating without a license in Wisconsin.

Bob Seitz, spokesman for GTAC told WiscNews.com that the company plans to use Bulletproof Securities to guard mine sites in the future but would not divulge a date.

“They’re one of the options we have and we’ll use. The violent protesters didn’t announce to me their plans and I’m not going to announce to them mine,” Sietz said.

Bulletproof’s paramilitary style guards were hired by GTAC after a June 11 incident in which several masked protesters verbally threatened mine workers and damaged property. One female protester wrestled a cell phone away from a female mineworker. Katie Kloth of Stevens Point was charged with felony robbery by force, misdemeanor theft and two misdemeanor counts of damage to property in the incident.

GTAC was criticized for using out-of-state guards armed with automatic rifles as a means to intimidate mining opponents like the occupants of the Penokee Hills Harvest Camp. The Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe tribe created the Harvest Camp to draw attention to the natural resources under threat from the mine as well as underscore Ojibwe treaty rights in the area.

Sen. Bob Jauch, (D-Poplar) and Rep. Janet Bewley, D-Ashland publicly criticized GTAC for using the guards and wrote a letter to the company requesting that they withdraw them. Both voted against changing mining regulations that have allowed GTAC to begin mining efforts in the Penokees.

Paul DeMain, spokesman for the Penokee Harvest Camp decried GTAC’s decision to reinstate the BulletProof guards describing it as a “third world response to citizen actions.”

He further noted that the decision does not change discussions that need to take place about the land, treaty harvest, the quality or cleanliness of the resources or the future of Iron County vis-à-vis the Chippewa tribes.

Mining opponents remain concerned about the environmental danger presented by the proposed GTAC mine and disapprove of the dearth of information provided by the mining company regarding its plans and the chemical composition of the rocks in the area.

Joseph Skulan, a research professor at Arizona State University who works out of Wisconsin, says that GTAC is circulating deceptive information about both the content of the minerals at the site as well as their plans for mining.

Skulan currently conducts medical research in geochemistry and biology and has done postdoctoral work on iron chemistry.

GTAC representatives maintain that the proposed mining operation would not release sulphuric acid because most of the taconite they seek is contained within the region’s Ironwood Formation that contains little pyrite. Pyrite, (iron disulfide) creates sulfuric acid when exposed to water and air. Skulan, however, maintains that much of the proposed mine is actually located under the Tyler Slate, a pyrite bearing rock unit.

There is serious potential for acid rock drainage to reduce water quality and leach toxic metals from mining waste rock. The overburden would be dumped into huge piles and could generate acid-rock drainage directly into the Bad River watershed. Sedimentation-filling and hydrological disruption of streams and wetlands in the immediate vicinity of the mine may have indirect effects on wild rice and fish. The massive dewatering process associated with open-pit mining could lower the water table around the mine, seriously affecting the fragile wild rice beds of the Bad River slough, according to Bad River Tribal chairman Mike Wiggins Jr.

Similar mining operations in Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range have created high levels of mercury and sulfate levels downstream in the St. Louis River and resulted in fish-consumption advisories.

RELATED: Wisconsin Mining War