The Wrap: Cherokee Nation to continue issuing tribal car tags

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Cherokee Nation to continue issuing tribal car tags

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said Saturday his tribe will continue to provide car tags to its citizens, even if Gov. Kevin Stitt does not renew its state compact.

“No matter what happens with our compact come January the first of 2025, we will continue issuing car tags and titles to Cherokee citizens, no matter what,” Hoskin said during his State of the Nation address.

Stitt has pushed against the Cherokee Nation’s right to issue car tags for fear of losing money from state-issued tags. In his Saturday speech, Hoskin said the tribe will continue to print vehicle tags on its reservation and share tag revenue with the state next year, if the governor agrees to renew a “fair compact.” READ MORE. — Felix Clary, ICT

Alaska enacts law to reduce high rates of missing and murdered Indigenous persons

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Despite Alaska’s small population, a 2018 report by the Urban Indian Health Institute identified it as the state with the fourth highest number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and Anchorage as the city with the third highest number of such cases in the nation.

A new law aims to address some of the reasons for those high rates.

Experts say the causes are complex but clearly the lack of any law enforcement in a third of rural Alaska villages is an issue. Then, where there is law enforcement, there are various layers: including: Alaska police departments, village public safety officers, Alaska state troopers, and sometimes the Federal Bureau of Investigation. READ MORE. — Joaqlin Estus, ICT

Patients suffer when Indian Health Service doesn’t pay for outside care

When the Indian Health Service can’t provide medical care to Native Americans, the federal agency can refer them elsewhere. But each year, it rejects tens of thousands of requests to fund those appointments, forcing patients to go without treatment or pay daunting medical bills out of their own pockets.

In theory, Native Americans are entitled to free health care when the Indian Health Service foots the bill at its facilities or sites managed by tribes. In reality, the agency is chronically underfunded and understaffed, leading to limited medical services and leaving vast swaths of the country without easy access to care. READ MORE. — KFF Health News

Film shines light on search for student graves

RAPID CITY, S.D. – After taking home the U.S. Directing Award from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, “Sugarcane” co-directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie are touring Indian Country and hosting showings.

“We thought it was important to get the film to the community for whom the story really belongs,” Kassie said. “The idea of the Rez Tour is to bring it to those places and give Native communities an opportunity to present the film in a way that felt good to them.” READ MORE. — Amelia Schafer, ICT

Remains believed to be hundreds of years old found by wild rice harvesters

People gathering wild rice from Minnesota’s third-largest lake have stumbled across human skeletal remains that are believed to be several hundred years old.

Authorities suspect erosion caused the remains of at least three people to surface on the shores of Leech Lake, where they were discovered Saturday. Covering more than 100,000 acres, the lake is located mainly within the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in the north-central part of the state.

Several tribes have called the area home, most recently the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and remains periodically are found in the area, said the tribe’s police chief, Ken Washington. — Associated Press

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