News

WaPo: House Republicans Protecting Rapists and Murderers by Killing VAWA

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here.

California Network of Marine Reserves Now Complete

Ann Tweedy

The article from the LA Times, here, describes how the last section, which just became official today, required an agreement with tribes, fishers, and others.

Update in VAWA Reauthorization Negotiations

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

HuffPo article, with excerpt:

During a VAWA press conference earlier Tuesday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said she is “completely baffled” why House Republican leaders wouldn’t put the Senate bill on the House floor for a vote. She took direct aim at Cantor, who she said she heard is planning to put forward an entirely new VAWA bill this week that leaves out the Senate’s added protections.

“In negotiations over this bill, [Cantor] has indicated that he is set to leave out protections for tribal women … that he wants to leave off protections for the LGBT community once again, and that he will leave out many of the recent immigrants who find themselves with nowhere to turn when they are victims of domestic violence,” Murray said.

White House fact sheet.

Tulalip Tribal Vice-Chair Deborah Parker Press Release: DEBORAH PARKER VAWA PRESS RELEASE

Galanda Broadman blog post.

GAO: $3.5 Billion in Minerals Derives from Indian Lands

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

ICT report here.

GAO report here.

MSU Law Prof Study Helps N.C. Inmates (inc. a Lumbee Indian) Get Off Death Row

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Excerpts:

After the act was passed, researchers from Michigan State University studied the application of the death penalty in North Carolina and found that peremptory challenges had been used to remove blacks from juries at a rate more than twice that of whites, a rate that was even higher in Cumberland County. Removing potential jurors solely on the basis of race has been ruled unconstitutional.

***

Mr. Golphin and Mr. Augustine are black, and Ms. Walters is a Lumbee Indian. They were convicted of unrelated murders and have been on death row at least 10 years. Their victims included whites and blacks; in Mr. Golphin’s and Mr. Augustine’s cases, the victims were law enforcement officers.

A summary of the study is here.

A paper by the study’s authors, Catherine Grosso and Barbara O’Brien, in the Iowa Law Review about the study is here.

US Census Bureau Releases Alaska Native/American Indian Summary File

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Census Bureau Releases 2010 Census

American Indian and Alaska Native Summary File

Today the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2010 Census American Indian and Alaska Native Summary File. This summary file provides statistics for the largest number of American Indian and Alaska Native groups of any Census Bureau data product. For the first time, the summary file includes detailed information on individual Central American, South American and Mexican American indigenous groups.

The summary file provides statistics such as age, sex, household relationship and homeownership for more than 1,500 groups that include American Indian and Alaska Native tribal groupings, specific American Indian tribes and specific Alaska Native villages, with a population of at least 100 at the national level.

The 2010 Census American Indian and Alaska Native Summary File is available for states, counties, county subdivisions, places, census tracts, ZIP Code tabulation areas, congressional districts for the 111th Congress, metropolitan areas, American Indian and Alaska Native areas, tribal subdivisions and Hawaiian home lands.

To preserve confidentiality, only geographic entities with a population of at least 100 for the specified group are available in the summary file.

Accessing the Information

The 2010 Census American Indian and Alaska Native Summary File tables can be found on the Census Bureau’s American FactFinderwebsite by using the “Topics” filter to select the dataset “2010 American Indian and Alaska Native SF.” Next, use the “Race and Ethnic Groups” filter to select the American Indian and Alaska Native tribal groupings, specific American Indian tribes, or specific Alaska Native villages of interest. While a variety of tables will be available, a good place to start is the Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics, which shows a summary of characteristics for one geographic area at a time.

A summary file version of the information is also available for users who want to download the set of detailed tables for all geographies and run their own analysis and rankings. The summary file contains two parts: a file with the geographic headers (in fixed-length ASCII format) and a file with the statistical information (in comma-separated ASCII format). The summary file is available for download on the FTP site.

MI Legislature Moves Closer to Allowing Wolf Hunt

Kate Fort

Story here.

Lame duck giveth, and lame duck taketh away.

Heather Shotton on HuffPo: Indian Education in State of Emergency

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here. An excerpt:

The recent release of Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate data from the U.S. Department of Education was certainly shocking to the nation. But for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities, the data just confirms that education for our Native students is in a state of emergency.

In nine states — Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington — the graduation rates for American Indian and Alaska Native students in 2010-2011 are lower than 60 percent. And just 61 percent of Native students served by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education graduate from high school. Meanwhile in three states, one out of every two Native Hawaiian students graduates on time.