KWSO News 5/21/19

The Warm Springs Higher Education office is reminding students and parents that Boarding School applications are being accepted until July 31st. Students who want to attend Chemawa in Salem, Riverside in Anadarko, Oklahoma, Sherman in Riverside, California, or Flandreau in South Dakota need to get those applications submitted by the end of July. Applications are available at the Higher Education office on the top floor of the Education Building.

Voters have until 8 p.m. tonight to drop off ballots in the special district election. The Jefferson County Clerk reported that about 25% of voters had returned ballots as of yesterday. Voters are also reminded to sign your ballot before you return it. Please fill out your ballot and bring it to the official ballot drop box – on the campus across from the post office in Warm Springs and at the Jefferson County Clerk’s office at 66 SE D Street in Madras.

VFW Post 4217 is offering families of veterans a flag to place at gravesites this Memorial Day. Folks are also welcome to help the VFW in setting flags. Stop by the VFW to find out more

(AP) Native American women have gone missing or been killed at alarming rates, federal and private studies show, and there is growing concern that confusion by law enforcement over who has jurisdiction can lead to lax pursuit of cases and insufficient data. Oregon, home to nine federally recognized tribes or confederations of tribes, has now joined a movement to account for and solve more of the crimes. Patricia Whitefoot, whose sister disappeared in 1987 in an unsolved case, was on hand as Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill Thursday that directs the state police to study how to increase and improve criminal justice resources on these cases. Whitefoot was involved in the effort to pass the bill in Oregon, and a similar one in Washington state earlier. Montana, Washington state, Arizona and New Mexico have passed similar legislation. A bill re-introduced in the House of Representatives last week would expand tribes’ access to some federal crime databases, establish protocols for handling cases of missing and slain Native Americans, and require annual reports.