KWSO News 4/3/19

On Tuesday, Congresswoman Deb Haaland introduced two amendments to the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization (VAWA), HR 1585, to combat the missing and murdered indigenous women crisis. One of the amendments works to provide victim advocate services to urban Indians in state courts and the other improves public safety in Indian Country through bolster accessibility Tribal Access Program (TAP) database that is available to Tribes and works toward ensuring law enforcement agencies share information to keep survivors of domestic violence safe. Native News Online cites a recent report by the Urban Indian Health Institute which identified 506 cases of missing and murdered indigenous women across 71 urban cities. These numbers are estimated to be extremely low due to the lack of resources to track cases of missing and murdered indigenous women in urban areas. Each of the amendments have bipartisan support and passed in the U.S. House Rules Committee Tuesday.

It is an Election Day in Warm Springs tomorrow.  Voters will decide who will sit on the 28^th Tribal Council. Voting will take place at the Community Center, Seekseequa Fire Hall and Simnasho Longhouse from 8am until 8pm. Ballots will be counted and results presented to the current Council in chambers Friday morning, when they are expected to officially certify the results. The 28^th Tribal Council will be sworn in on May 6^th.  Make sure and vote tomorrow Warm Springs!

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — As part of an ambitious Democratic agenda, Oregon lawmakers are considering a range of gun control measures, including a provision that would penalize gun owners who fail to safely store their weapons at home. Advocates from both sides of the aisle flooded the Capitol on Tuesday to weigh in on an omnibus gun control package, which, among other things, would tighten gun storage requirements and outlaw untraceable firearms.