New boarding school report, child abuser sting, and tracking Indigenous health
VNN Weekly Digest August 5-August 11
Here’s a look at the week’s top stories:
DOI’s final Indian Boarding School report includes new data, next steps
(NATIONAL) The Department of the Interior continues to work to provide transparency and healing for Indigenous communities affected by Federal Boarding School Policies. With the release of the second and final part of the Federal Boarding School Initiative investigative report, new information about these dark times in our nation’s history is now publicly available.
Over two dozen child abusers indicted in Operation Clean Sweep II
(MVSKOKE RESERVATION) Clint Johnson, a U.S. Attorney, recently announced that at least 25 child predators have been indicted on various charges as a part of Operation Clean Sweep II. The operation involved the U.S. Department of Justice and at least 16 different federal, state, local, and tribal agencies, including the Muscogee Nation’s Lighthorse Police Department, and is designed to, in the words of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Oklahoma, hold child predators accountable for their actions all across the Northern District of the state.
Native American Public Health Officials Are Stuck in Data Blind Spot
(NATIONAL) It’s not easy to make public health decisions without access to good data. And epidemiologists and public health workers for Native American communities say they’re often in the dark because state and federal agencies restrict their access to the latest numbers.
The 2010 reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act gave tribal epidemiology centers public health authority and requires the federal Department of Health and Human Services to grant them access to and use of data and other protected health information that’s regularly distributed to state and local officials.
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WEATHER ACROSS AMERICA
(NATIONAL) A slight risk of excessive rainfall over parts of the Eastern Great Basin/Southwest, over parts of the Central/Southern Plains and Middle/Lower Mississippi Valley, and over parts of the southern Mid-Atlantic, a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms over parts of the Northern/Central High Plains, and Heat Advisories over parts of Florida, southeastern Georgia, and south-central Oklahoma/north-central Texas.
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