Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

Contact:

Mike Inacay (Schatz) at press@indian.senate.gov, Hannah Ray (Murkowski) at hannah_ray@indian.senate.gov

Schatz, Murkowski Lead Committee Passage of four Bills, Hold Nomination hearing

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), vice chairman of the Committee, led Committee passage of the following bills at a business meeting:

• S. 2695, Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act;
• S. 3857, Jamul Indian Village Land Transfer Act;
• S. 4442, Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2024; and
• S. 4505, Ohkay Owingeh Rio Chama Water Rights Settlement Act of 2024.

Following the business meeting, the Committee held a nomination hearing to consider President Biden’s nomination of Patrice H. Kunesh to serve as the Chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Kunesh, a descendent of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota, was nominated by President Biden to serve as the Chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission on July 23, 2024. She is currently serving as the Commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans at the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. If confirmed, Kunesh would lead the Commission in its mission to promote Tribal economic development and self-determination, support the integrity of the Indian gaming industry, and ensure that Tribes are the primary beneficiaries of their gaming activities.

“This hearing is an important first step in carrying out the Senate’s constitutional obligation to provide advice and consent. It’s an opportunity to learn how, if confirmed, Ms. Kunesh plans to carry out and uphold the United States’ trust responsibilities to Tribes and the oversight function of the National Indian Gaming Commission over Indian gaming,” said Chairman Schatz in the nomination hearing. “I am confident that Ms. Kunesh will bring the same strong leadership and ethics to the position as she does in her role as ANA Commissioner.”

“The Chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission is a position of great importance to preserving the integrity of Indian Gaming so that it can provide benefits to Tribal Governments and Native people at large. It is a big job but Ms. Kunesh, the nominee, has been a long-time public servant and is no stranger to the issues that come before the Commission,” Vice Chairman Murkowski said.  “It is certainly my hope that her nomination can move quickly through committee.”

The full video of the business meeting and nomination hearing is available here.

The post Schatz, Murkowski Lead Committee Passage of four Bills, Hold Nomination hearing appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Community Contributions are published as a courtesy. They can be provided by organizations or individuals but must meet accuracy standards. Community Contribution provided by Out Boulder County.

Community Contributions:

Out Boulder County applauds President Biden for his leadership in signing this executive order to help protect members of the LGBTQI+ community from real threats to our ability to survive and thrive. This executive order is a meaningful step forward on many issues that face our LGBTQI+ communities including addressing discriminatory state-level legislative attacks, conversion therapy, safeguarding access to healthcare, preventing LGBTQI+ youth suicide, adressing homelessness and housing instability, protecting all youth in our schools, and supporting LGBTQI+ youth in foster care and in juvenile justice systems. It will have a positive impact both immediately and over time on the advocacy and support services we provide to members of our community in Boulder County and beyond.

But, executive action is not enough. Congress must pass the Equality Act and President Biden must sign it into law to ensure that LGBTQI+ rights are not dependent on executive action by the President.

About Out Boulder County:

Working independently and in collaboration, we facilitate connection, advocacy, education, research and programs to ensure LGBTQ+ people and communities thrive in Boulder County and beyond. www.outboulder.org,

• Bruce Parker, Deputy Director
• Out Boulder County
• bparker@outboulder.org
• 225-588-7673 – cell

The post Out Boulder County Responds to President Biden’s Executive Order Advancing Equality for LGBTQI+ People appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation will be taking over the role of the Colorado Wild Rabbit Foundation.

•  Ten of our neighbors were murdered in cold blood at the Boulder Table Mesa King Soopers, including three employees and one responding officer. Our hearts are still heavy with the loss, even as the news cycle moves on to the hundreds of other shootings that are replacing the COVID death reports as America “returns to normal.”

•  Boulder King Soopers shooter, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 21, appeared before Boulder District Court Judge Thomas Mulvahill at the Boulder County Justice Center on March 25, 2021. Additionally, a gag order was rejected, DA Dougherty plans to introduce more charges, and the defense implied a mental health defense.

•  Restore Colorado launched with 17 participating restaurants and businesses beginning their direct support of regional regenerative farming. Restore Colorado is a groundbreaking public-private collaboration between Zero Foodprint, Mad Agriculture, Boulder County, the City of Boulder, and Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency, according to a Boulder County press release. The official launch day was Earth Day, April 22, 2021.

•  Boulder County Public Health announced Friday April 16th that the county was moving to Level Blue effective immediately, but with some modifications. The lower level of coronavirus restrictions includes increased capacities for events, restaurants, gyms and bars.

•  Boulder County launched the Boulder County Carbon Conscious Certification (BCCCC) for licensed commercial cannabis cultivators. The certification recognizes cultivators who exhibit a commitment towards saving energy and reducing their carbon footprint. The certification comes with a new package seal that “allows the consumer and others in the supply chain to know that they’re supporting a cultivator who is working towards carbon neutral cannabis production.”

•  Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation will be taking over the role of the Colorado Wild Rabbit Foundation, reports the Camera. That organization plans to close within the next few years, giving Greenwood time to finish construction on a brand new “bunny hotel” to house the rabbits.

•  Walter Mondale, 42nd vice president under the Carter administration from 1977–1981, died on April 19th, at the age of 93. Rest in Peace.

•  J&J Vaccines were pulled from shelves after 6 – of nearly 6 million doses – resulted in blood clots, one of which resulted in death. Women around the country were quick to point out that birth control has a higher rate of blood clot and death. The vaccine’s safety is being studied to understand the cause.

•  President Biden, after running on a platform of ending the border wall and releasing kids from cages has *checks notes* done neither of those things. More kids are in cages (meaning held beyond the legal 72 hour limit before they should be transferred to ORR), and border wall construction continues.

Small Talk

“We adopted a slightly modified version of the state’s dial framework to ease into recovery, taking data into account to ensure restrictions gradually ease and allow individuals and business to have guidance consistent with the state’s dial that we have been operating under up until this point.”
– Lexi Nolen, Executive Director of Boulder County Public Health

“That stays with you forever. You can’t unsee anything in this job. And Michael will remember forever what he saw in that King Soopers, as well as the conversations with victims. Those things will haunt him.”
– George Brauchler, former DA, on what DA Michael Dougherty faces in prosecuting the King Soopers Shooter

“Today I mourn the passing of my dear friend Walter Mondale, who I consider the best vice president in our country’s history.”
– Former President Jimmy Carter, in a statement from the Carter Center

“It shall be the policy of my administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall.”
– President Biden, who has removed border funding from his 2023 budget plan while continuing to use Trump appropriated taxpayer funds to build the wall

“The Fake News Media is attacking me for being TOO PRO-LIFE (100%). Last night, Congress passed a bill which is not clear about preventing buying of body parts of babies murdered in the womb. I voted NO.”
– Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, who, along with CO Rep. Boebert, voted against a bill to reauthorize a bone marrow transplant program

By The Numbers

The post Month In Review | April 2021 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Graphic by De La Vaca

There are still children in cages.
And more are coming.

As of the deadline for this column, it’s now been 92 days since Joe Biden has taken office. And while there’s no denying progress has been made since he assumed control of the flaming pile of wreckage left behind by his predecessor, it appears he’s made next-to-no progress on a key issue that galvanized support for his campaign.

“As of 21 March, US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents were holding more than 15,500 unaccompanied children in custody,” said an article published by the BBC that cited US media as the source.

What’s worse is that more than 5,000 of them have been detained longer than 72 hours in these border detention camps. That’s the legal time limit prescribed until an unaccompanied minor is to be transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said these camps, which are often compared to jails or warehouses, are “no place for a child.”

On March 23, Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar (D–Texas) released photos that certainly bear out Secretary Mayorkas’ claim. Dozens of children packed into holding areas, sleeping on thin plastic mats with foil emergency blankets.

In short, since Trump evacuated, things have only seemed to escalate. More immigrants fleeing violence in Central American countries are headed here for a better life, and our response has been to dam the flow at the border and isolate refugee children with no access to recreation, education and only the barest minimum of healthcare.

Meanwhile, even our own state representatives want no part of this influx. The Biden Administration floated the idea of housing some unaccompanied minor refugees at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo) spoke out against it.

“It is truly disturbing that the Biden administration would entertain the possibility of using Peterson Air Force Base as a location to house unaccompanied minor illegal immigrants,” Lamborn said in an article published by the Colorado Springs Gazette. “Peterson is critical to our national security and is home to both Space Command and Northern Command — defense entities with can’t-fail missions that occur daily.”

Quite frankly, this stance is abhorrent. And it’s an all-too-common refrain when it comes to American immigration policies which have continued to become needlessly more restrictive, xenophobic, and even racist under multiple administrations going back decades.

There are zero stats that lend support to the idea that national security is threatened by our growing immigrant communities. None. The actual data shows our immigrant communities trend towards lower crime rates — and, even including undocumented immigrants — is a net-positive gain to our economy. Myriad studies have proven this.

After four years of untethered nationalist and xenophobic rhetoric from the White House, the hope for change with Biden’s election was real.

“It is a moral failing and a national shame when a father and his baby daughter drown seeking our shores. When children are locked away in overcrowded detention centers and the government seeks to keep them there indefinitely. When our government argues in court against giving those children toothbrushes and soap. When President Trump uses family separation as a weapon against desperate mothers, fathers, and children seeking safety and a better life. When he threatens massive raids that would break up families who have been in this country for years and targets people at sensitive locations like hospitals and schools. When children die while in custody due to lack of adequate care. Trump has waged an unrelenting assault on our values and our history as a nation of immigrants. It’s wrong, and it stops when Joe Biden is elected president.”

That quote is a direct copy-and-paste from joebiden.com/immigration. Click the link to read more.

Well, President Biden, it’s been 92 days since you were elected President.

There are still children in cages.
And more are coming.

The post President Biden is for the kids… just not the migrant kids | Duly Noted appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

It was a strange morning. January 20th had been in progress since the midnight before and it was just after noon as I left I left my home in Erie and stopped by the local gas station for a cup of coffee and gas. President Biden and Vice President Harris had already taken their oaths of office, Jennifer Lopez had already sung, and Arlington cemetery was abuzz with cannon shots and the official presidential motorcade. As I drove the county roads on my way to the on-ramp, heading into downtown Denver, I noticed the city seemed much more alive than it has in quite some time. This is inauguration day.

It was a view of the town that struck me as being at odds with what I felt inside, knowing I was on my way to photograph and document at the Colorado State Capitol as left leaning rally-goers sought to send a message to Biden and Trump’s death cult pro-coup MAGA-stans were supposed to be massing to demand his installment as king…bit I digress. Here I was in Erie and there were kids walking down back roads where I’ve never really seen people walk before. The streets were bustling. Local work sites were filled up and busy. Maybe it was the 56-degree day, in the middle of winter, or maybe it was me projecting hope or optimism onto a day that, I have to admit, I have been slightly dreading. 

It was a nice reminder that even if parts of the world fall apart, not all parts of the world fall apart, that even if parts of America are falling apart, it’s not all of America. Even if Denver might be roiled with turmoil, lots of areas around the Front Range and across our state are holding it together; forward facing, gorgeous, and shining bright like a new administration on its way to the White House to hopefully (don’t hold your breath too long) undo the damage Donald J. Trump inflicted.

Arriving at the Capitol it was clear that none of the Trump supporters, the #MAGAcoup crowd, the white supremacist overthrow collective, were going to make it. I was pointed to a group of about five – “if you wanna see fascists, look over there” on the edge of Lincoln and 14th streets, with masks on, taking pictures and hanging out, but otherwise not engaging. I was also pointed to a “Karen” who had apparently been attempting to instigate, pretending to be a journalist, who had been escorted out a handful of times already. 

At this rally, hosted by Colorado Brown Berets and Denver Communists, there were about 200 participants, over the course of the day. They came with intention, to send a message to the newly-inaugurated Biden-Harris administration that the children in the cages needed to be released immediately, that oil and gas pipelines have to be killed, that wars have to be ended, that Black and Native lives matter, and that racist policing has to be curtailed. 

And that last part, in itself, is an excellent point because I was here at the state capitol on January 6th as the #GOPcoup acted in sedition and stormed the U.S. Capitol Building. I was here on the Colorado State Capitol lawn, surrounded by right-wing militia members, where I was ultimately shoved into traffic, which was summarily ignored by the Executive Protection Unit of the Colorado State Patrol. There were at least three times as many Trump supporters on that day, but a clear half of the total cops deployed for today’s peaceful rally. The CSP officers today were there from the beginning, not deployed later in the day, as it appeared on January 6th. 

Arriving January 6th I was able to hang out for hours before officers arrived or made their presence known. Today, officers were everywhere, obvious, on all four sides of the capital, on both balconies, on side streets, parked at the RTD terminal, willing to walk through the middle of a crowd to insulate a right wing agitator – instead of preventing his incursion – with pepper ball gun in a show of force; a show that told the crowds, yet again, that the officers are always on the side of white people, on the side of white supremacy, on the side of the violent agitators. 

There were also armed bike patrol officers on site and, as we know, bike units are there like mounted (horse) units as a riot control measure. The bikes are used as mobile barricades. I approached a sergeant with the bike division on the north side of the Capitol and I asked him if he could explain to me why there were multiple deployments of officers, including riot control measures, when this level of response wasn’t given on January 6th… but I didn’t get my question answered because he motioned to his officers to leave and they fled. That’s correct, they fled a member of the media asking reasonable questions. I later tried to ask the sergeant what his name was, but he ignored me. 

That is the Colorado State Patrol, exempted from the state law to hold officers accountable, SB 217, but tasked with and enforcing Denver City policies; a lovely loophole for Colorado state police repression to continue without accountability. 

To the final point, there were left-wing community defense organizations on site to help insulate and protect from white supremacist aggression. That was necessary because – apart from the fact that #MAGAtraitors had claimed intent to hold 50 capitols hostage today – on at least three occasions, excluding events that transpired while I wasn’t around, white supremacist agitators approach the crowd, attempting to engage and disrupt. The patrol members on site didn’t prevent that, didn’t engage them, didn’t protect. The agitators were all grown white men. There were children in the crowd at the rally. 

White supremacy attempted to rule the day, even though the crowd on the capitol grounds should be allowed to engage in their first amendment rights without threat of violence. That’s literally why the officers were on site, but it seems they only defend constitutional rights, First Amendment rights, when it’s the right wing demanding to be heard. It’s the same as January 6th, where officers were lined up and facing counter-protestors while the officers facing the MAGA crowd were just hanging out; this I witnessed after I was assaulted and shoved in traffic, but it was ignored by officers who told me to get out of the street. 

White supremacist agitators walk through, Brown Berets keep singing (lower left)

They came to disrupt but the Brown Berets, Latinx people, stood at the microphone and led the crowd in traditional songs till they left. And the event continued with the recitation of poetry, with Black and Brown performers singing and rapping, and with the group sending their message: that Joe Biden isn’t off the hook just because he’s not Trump, that Kamala Harris isn’t off the hook just because she’s a Black and Indian woman, that the United States government isn’t off the hook just because we have a new administration in place.

I’m reminded of watching Biden’s inaugural address this morning, and his claim of a peaceful transfer of power, the first in a long line of lies I expect from his administration. Power in America has never transferred as peacefully as people believe it has over the last 240 years but, if there ever was a violent transfer of power, this year was it. We should be clear that it’s Black and Brown bodies, Indigenous bodies across the nation, that fought tooth-and-nail to prevent Donald Trump from having a second term. We can’t forget that it was nearly one-hundred-thousand white supremacists who attended Trumps #SaveAmericaRally and tens of thousands who stormed the US Capitol, prepared to take hostages and execute members of Congress, in an attempt to install Trump as a dictator or King. 

For the last 529 years, through today, and as long as they’ve had breath in their lungs, regardless of white supremacy, regardless of white policing, regardless of white preferences in prosecutorial and judicial logic and outcomes, regardless of media, Indigenous people are still here, Black bodies are still here, and they’re going to be heard. They’re going to fight. And I thing they’re going to win. 

This is a letter from #DeLaVacasDesk.

Agitator is spoken to by officers, allowed to enter rally, officers follow to protect

The post On holding Biden’s feet to the fire, disproportionate policing, and white supremacists: the Colorado Capitol on Inauguration Day 2021 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.