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In local news
- A new Oklahoma law slashes unemployment benefits, reducing the maximum amount of time someone can receive support from 26 to 16 weeks.
- Mississippi’s foster care agency has failed to prevent abuse and neglect of kids in state custody, according to reports obtained by Mississippi Today.
- Walgreens staff can refuse to sell birth control pills, condoms and other birth control methods to customers if they have “a moral objection” to the sale.
- The Kansas City Star spoke with 11 women about why they chose to end their pregnancies. And Reckon created a guide to abortion in states where the procedure is banned.
- At least 200 unhoused people are living in the Mojave Desert in Los Angeles County after bans against camping pushed them out of nearby communities. (Read more: Homelessness is rising nationally, and so are laws targeting the unsheltered.)
New from BigIfTrue.org
In June, the US Supreme Court ruled in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta that the state has the jurisdiction to prosecute non-Native Americans for crimes committed on tribal land, unraveling a 2020 ruling known as McGirt.
With Brittany Harlow of Verified News Network in Tulsa, I wrote about how the ruling connects with the United States’ centuries-long relationship with Native American communities—a relationship marked by broken promises, stolen resources, cultural loss, discrimination and violence.
Native American women are more likely than women in other racial and ethnic groups to experience violence. Some worry the Castro-Huerta ruling could make Indigenous women more vulnerable to violence.
“In determining who has the right to prosecute, does that mean cases are going to fall through the cracks?” said Karen Kaniatobe, education coordinator for the Native Alliance Against Violence.
Read more here. This story is part of a collaborative project with Verified News Network. It was funded by the Oklahoma Media Center with support from the Native American Journalists Association.
Thank you for reading Hard Reset. You can reach me here at bryant@bigiftrue.org and 405-990-0988.
– Mollie Bryant
Founder and editor, BigIfTrue.org