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Read or listen to news headlines for Wednesday, June 22, 2022.
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Read or listen to news headlines for Friday, June 3, 2022.
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Read or listen to the morning news headlines for Tuesday, March 15, 2022.
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Interior Dept official visits western cities to monitor wildfire challenges and tout federal fundingThe Interior Department’s Deputy Secretary is visiting several places around the West to tout federal funding for wildland firefighting. That included a stop in Boise on Monday, where he toured the National Interagency Fire Center and attended a briefing on this year’s upcoming fire season.
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A new report commissioned by the Interior Department provides a window into the fatal mistreatment of inmates in its tribal jails. The review comes on the heels of a Mountain West News Bureau and NPR investigation that found a pattern of neglect and misconduct contributing to at least 19 deaths at tribal detention centers overseen by the Bureau of Indian Affairs since 2016.
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The Interior Department ordered a review of tribal jail deaths, but the man who got the contract is a former agency official who oversaw the jails when some of the deaths occurred.
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After months of repeated written questions and public records requests from NPR and the Mountain West News Bureau, Interior Department officials said they now plan to contract with an outside agency to examine the troubles plaguing tribal detention centers.
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The National Congress of American Indians has urged the federal government to place medical personnel in its tribal jails, arguing that the current situation "exacerbates the already challenging problem of health disparities for American Indians."
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"The corrections officers are basically holding these lives in their hands with their decisions."
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Willy Pepion had a cracked skull, and guards at the federal jail on the Blackfeet Reservation dismissed his pleas for help. He died in his cell. Three hours went by until anyone noticed.