cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8173607

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40170

This story was originally published by Source New Mexico.

Danielle Prokop
Source New Mexico

Three New Mexico Pueblos, Santa Ana, Zuni and Cochiti, recently received federal funding for tribal conservation programs and wildfire management that will be used to support efforts surrounding endangered birds, bald eagles and Bighorn sheep.

The awards, close to $200,000 each for Santa Ana and Cochiti, and approximately $180,000 for Zuni, come as part of $6.6 million distributed through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Tribal Wildlife Grants program, which funds more than 700 conservation programs operated by Native American and Alaska Native Tribes. The most recent grants, announced last week, will benefit 35 tribes.

“Tribes are vital partners in wildlife conservation, and we’re proud to support projects that reflect their connection to the land and leadership in protecting it,” U.S FWS Service Director Brian Nesvik said in a statement. “These investments support tribal sovereignty while advancing our shared conservation goals.”

Santa Ana Pueblo will use its funds to install wildlife recording devices along the Rio Grande to monitor two endangered birds: the Yellow-billed cuckoo and the Willow flycatcher.

Zuni Pueblo was granted the funds for Zuni Eagle Aviary, which houses debilitated gold and bald eagles. The funding will assess the facility’s wildfire risk, install safety systems and clear brush. Additionally, the funding will be used for expanding the aviary’s work to include “rehabilitation and release program” on site. Neither Santa Ana nor Zuni Pueblos responded to Source NM requests for comment.

Cochiti Pueblo will use its funds to track Bighorn sheep population, which the Pueblo and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish reintroduced in 2014 to the Cochiti canyon and the Jemez mountains after a century-long absence of herds in that area.

Specifically, Cochiti Pueblo will monitor the Bighorn sheep for the parasitic New World screwworm moving through Mexico.

The Pueblo will also restore the habitat devastated by the 2022 Cerro Pelado wildfires, which, in combination with drought, threatens the herd’s ability to move and much of their food, according to Earl Conway, the director of the Natural Resources and Conservation program at Cochiti Pueblo.

“These stressors combined have made it difficult for bighorn sheep to move safely across the landscape, maintain herd health, and sustain stable population levels,” Conway said in a statement.

The funding will help with targeted habitat restoration, replanting of fire-resistant vegetation and tracing the herd’s movements.

“Combined with wildfire prevention measures, these activities will reduce the risk of future habitat loss and ensure a more resilient and sustainable environment for Bighorn sheep herds,” he said.

The post New Mexico Pueblos receive federal grants for wildlife, habitat restoration appeared first on ICT.

From ICT via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8175124

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40071

Seattle (AP) — When tourists travel to Seattle, it’s common to take in the Space Needle and the downtown skyline from Puget Sound. It’s an itinerary that a newly arrived pod of killer whales appears to be following too. Three orcas that had not previously been recorded in the Seattle area have delighted whale watchers with several visits just off downtown this past month. They’ve also cruised by other shorelines in the region. “People … are all very happy to see this,” said Hongming Zheng, who photographs whales in his spare time. It took him 10 hours of driving to find the mysterious pod. “It was epic.” Researchers keep detailed records of killer whales that frequent the Salish Sea, the waters between Washington state and Canada, by identifying their fins and saddle patches — the grayish markings on their sides. So it was a surprise when this pod of three orcas showed up in Vancouver, British Columbia, in March. The three weren’t in any catalogs of local whales. After some digging, researchers located photos of the pod in Alaska waters last year, said Shari Tarantino of the Washington-based Orca Conservancy. The pod includes an adult female and what are believed to be her two offspring, including a large young adult male. They have now been designated as T419, T420 and T421 — the T standing for “transient,” not “tourist.” The visiting orcas have something that local whales don’t: circular scars left by cookie-cutter sharks, which latch on to larger animals and slice a…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8175125

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40077

Researchers in Hawai’i have described 10 new species and seven new genera of moths, highlighting how much remains unknown about the Pacific archipelago’s biodiversity. Hawai’i is home to a large number of endemic species, plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Discovery of a new species is so common, “nobody turns their head,” study co-author Daniel Rubinoff, an entomologist with the University of Hawaiʻi, told Mongabay in a video call. He said finding a new genus is considered “kind of interesting, but to find so many really reflects how poorly known Hawaii’s fauna still is.” Genus is a broader grouping than species, so species in different genera typically diverged much earlier in their evolutionary history than species of the same genus. “Hawaiʻi is a world-renowned laboratory for evolution ,” lead author Kyhl Austin of the University of Hawai’i said in a press release. “By identifying these seven new genera, we are showing that these insects crossed thousands of miles of open ocean to reach Hawai’i far more frequently than we ever imagined.” Karl Magnacca, an entomologist with the O‘ahu Army Natural Resources Program, not involved with the study told Mongabay in an email that “this is a really important contribution, as many of our native insect groups haven’t been looked at in around 100 years.” In their search for new moths, researchers examined century-old museum collections and conducted field surveys in remote areas. They combined detailed anatomic examination with high-resolution imaging and genetic testing to reveal a hidden diversity of moths.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8194075

Leo used the address to denounce a world ruled by “a diplomacy based on force” and “zeal for war.”

In January, behind closed doors at the Pentagon, Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre — Pope Leo XIV’s then-ambassador to the United States — and delivered a lecture.

America, Colby and his colleagues told the cardinal, has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.

As tempers rose, one U.S. official reached for a fourteenth-century weapon and invoked the Avignon Papacy, the period when the French Crown used military force to bend the bishop of Rome to its will.

That scene, broken this week by Mattia Ferraresi in an extraordinary piece of journalism for The Free Press, may be the most remarkable moment in the long and knotted history of the American republic’s relationship with the Catholic Church.

In the speech that enraged Pete Hegseth and top Pentagon officials, Pope Leo XIV said: “A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force.”

“War is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading.

“The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined.”

Pete Hegseth’s pastor and mentor says the United States should ban public Masses, Marian processions, and Corpus Christi devotions.

Hegseth invited the anti-Catholic preacher to lead a prayer service at the Pentagon on February 14.

https://www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/pete-hegseths-pastor-wants-to-ban

For the first time in modern history, the Pentagon offered no Good Friday services for Catholics this year.

While Catholics don't celebrate Mass on Good Friday, they do venerate the cross of Jesus Christ and receive the Eucharist.

Earlier this year, Pete Hegseth invited his pastor to speak at the Pentagon. That pastor has called for banning public expressions of Catholicism in the United States.

https://www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/trump-vance-white-house-escalates

Here is an Archive link with the full article

https://archive.ph/H3cfR

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8140021

Tlatoani: Aztec Cities has fully released!

It's an isometric citybuilder game in the style of Caesar and other Impressions Games titles, but with an Aztec theme, and is very well researched (I helped out a bit!)

Check it out if you can, it's 30% off for $13 for the launch!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3161270/Tlatoani_Aztec_Cities/

TLATOANI - 1.0 RELEASE TRAILER | PARADOX ARC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khkSv3SqlZU&lc=UgyR2uggCHE0apYEri54AaABAg

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8140021

Tlatoani: Aztec Cities has fully released!

It's an isometric citybuilder game in the style of Caesar and other Impressions Games titles, but with an Aztec theme, and is very well researched (I helped out a bit!)

Check it out if you can, it's 30% off for $13 for the launch!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3161270/Tlatoani_Aztec_Cities/

TLATOANI - 1.0 RELEASE TRAILER | PARADOX ARC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khkSv3SqlZU&lc=UgyR2uggCHE0apYEri54AaABAg

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8139424

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/39441

The Endangered Species Act is the bedrock law that protects threatened plants and animals in the United States, and in the 50 years since it became law it has prevented thousands of resource-extraction projects — oil drilling, mining, and logging — from moving forward. The law is difficult to circumvent, but it does contain a key loophole. If the federal government wants to move forward with a project even though it will threaten an endangered species, it can convene a committee known as the “God Squad” — the heads of six executive agencies including the Interior Department, the EPA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — to vote on whether to override the law.

The “God Squad” loophole is onerous by design, and it has only ever been invoked a few times. In 1978, the committee voted to deny an exemption for a small Tennessee dam; the following year, it voted in favor of a small Wyoming dam despite concerns about whooping crane habitat. The committee met again in 1992 to grant an exemption for a few thousand acres of timber land sales in Oregon, overruling threats to the spotted owl. That exemption was withdrawn after a lawsuit.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration convened the “God Squad” for the first time in more than three decades, seeking to grant a far larger exemption than the committee has ever considered. In a morning meeting that lasted around 15 minutes, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made the president’s case. “We cannot allow our own rules to weaken our standing and strengthen those who wish to harm us,” Hegseth said.

The committee then voted unanimously to waive all Endangered Species Act regulations on oil and gas extraction in the Gulf of Mexico. The administration has itself noted that oil and gas production in the Gulf “is likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the Rice’s whale.” Its analysis concluded that the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 killed 17 percent of the whale’s population and that vessel strikes could kill multiple whales per year. The decision to override the Endangered Species Act could cause the extinction of the Rice’s whale, a species that only lives in the northern Gulf of Mexico and which has only about 50 living members.

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Emily Jones

“It’s another example of this administration trying to figure out what the limits are on how far they can push the existing norms and authorities,” said Sally Jewell, who served as Interior Secretary under the Obama administration.

In granting the exemption, the committee cited a never-before-used section of the Endangered Species Act. The statute says in direct language that “the Committee shall grant an exemption for any agency action if the Secretary of Defense finds that such exemption is necessary for reasons of national security.”

As each member of the committee voiced their support for the waiver, they cited the national security implications of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, which Trump joined last month. The war has caused the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, blocked millions of barrels of oil from moving around the world, and raised fuel prices.

“Recent hostile actions by the Iranian terror regime highlights [sic] yet again why robust domestic oil production is a national security imperative,” said Hegseth during the committee meeting. “Production in the Gulf of America provides a vital buffer, insulating our economy and military from foreign instability and reducing the strategic leverage of our adversaries.”

The U.S. produces more oil than any other country, and the Gulf of Mexico only accounts for about 15 percent of the nation’s oil production, a far lower share than before the fracking boom and only around 2 percent of natural gas production. “Getting around environmental laws is not going to accelerate production and won’t solve any current challenge that our nation faces,” said Jewell. What’s more, the national security risk the administration cited would not exist were it not for Trump’s own decision to enter a conflict in Iran. “I just don’t view this as something that’s going to address any near-term national security crisis,” she said.

The Endangered Species Committee, or “God Squad”, meets in Washington, D.C., to discuss the Gulf of Mexico. Federal officials present included the Secretaries of Agriculture, Defense, and the Interior, and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Department of the Interior

What, then, does the Trump administration consider to be such a dire threat to national security? The supposed threat, in this case, appears to be litigation from environmental groups. “I feel like it’s a solution in search of a problem, but in the most harmful way,” Steve Mashuda, a lead attorney for oceans at the environmental organization Earthjustice, told Grist.

Last year, the administration concluded that oil producers in the Gulf could prevent harm to the whales by using new whale detection technology. Environmental groups sued over that conclusion, arguing that the technology is speculative and on its own would be insufficient. Limits on ship speed, the plaintiffs argued, would be the most effective way to prevent whale deaths.

The state of Louisiana, Chevron, and the American Petroleum Institute also sued the federal government over the proposed requirement to use whale-detection technology — calling it too stringent and arguing the Rice’s whale is not as threatened as the federal government thinks. According to federal disclosures, BP, which is pursuing a new offshore oil and gas platform called Kaskida in the Gulf of Mexico, lobbied the White House and three federal agencies on the issue at least once a quarter last year. (BP didn’t respond to a request for comment. The American Petroleum Institute said in a statement to Grist that it did not advocate for the God Squad meeting.) A federal court overruled the administration’s proposed requirement to use whale detection technology in January, and at the moment there is no active Endangered Species Act restriction on vessel speed in the offshore oil industry.

In the end, the Trump administration’s attempt to avoid litigation has already brought on litigation. Earthjustice and other environmental groups said on Tuesday afternoon they’re going to sue over the God Squad’s decision.

Editor’s note: Earthjustice is an advertiser with Grist. Advertisers have no role in Grist’s editorial decisions.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Trump’s ‘God Squad’ blocks endangered species protections in the Gulf of Mexico on Apr 1, 2026.

From Grist via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8166422

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40191

Before the war, our home garden was more than just a patch of green. It was a refuge I retreated to whenever the world felt too heavy. Bougainvillea climbed the walls, and flowers in every color filled the corners — tended by my mother as if they were her own children. In one corner stood a pomegranate tree we had brought from a nursery in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza — a city long known as the Strip’s food basket, with its fertile agricultural lands.

When the war began, our priorities shifted entirely. There was no longer space for beauty. Survival became the only goal. The flowers withered, and the once-vibrant garden turned into a silent gray space. We uprooted the blossoms and planted onions in their place, trying to ease the burden of hunger and soaring prices. Only the pomegranate tree remained — an enduring reminder of an agricultural city whose lands were bulldozed and whose residents were denied return.

Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, which once supplied much of Gaza with fruits and vegetables, have been reduced to devastated terrain. By late 2025 and into early 2026, satellite analyses from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Satellite Center show that up to 98 percent of fruit-bearing tree cropland — including olives and pomegranates — has been destroyed, while more than 87 percent of overall cropland and more than 80 percent of greenhouses have been damaged or wiped out. Only a tiny fraction of Gaza’s agricultural land — somewhere between 1.5 percent and 4 percent — remains both accessible and undamaged, mostly in limited southern areas, leaving the north largely off-limits due to restrictions, contamination, and military zones. This was not merely collateral damage. It was a direct assault on food security and livelihoods that continues to unfold even after the fragile ceasefire began in October 2025.

Source

From Truthout via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8137774

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/39712

The Iranian Ministry of Health said Thursday that a US-Israeli airstrike hit and severely damaged the Pasteur Institute of Iran, a century-old medical research center that has played a key role in combating and preventing infectious diseases in the country.

Photos posted to social media by a spokesperson for Iran's Health Ministry, Hossein Kermanpour, showed flames and smoke amid the rubble of a devastated building. Kermanpour called the attack on the Pasteur Institute of Iran "a direct assault on international health security" and a violation of international law.

Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, also condemned the attack on social media, blaming "the American-Israeli aggressors."

"Heartbreaking, cruel, despicable, and utterly outrageous," Baqaei wrote. "This is not merely another war crime committed as part of an illegal war; it is a barbaric assault on basic human core values."

Heartbreaking, cruel, despicable, and utterly outrageous: the American-Israeli aggressors have attacked the Pasteur Institute of Iran — the oldest and most prestigious research and public health center in Iran and the entire Middle East, founded in 1920 through an agreement… pic.twitter.com/DQvyiuxIw6
— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) April 2, 2026

News of the attack on the medical research center, which was founded in 1920, came hours after US President Donald Trump threatened in a primetime speech Wednesday night to bomb Iran "back to the Stone Ages."

Vali Nasr, an Iranian American academic and professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, wrote Thursday that the Pasteur Institute "has been an icon of Iran's healthcare system, a symbol of modern Iran, established a century ago along with foundational health and education institutions."

"Destroying it," Nasr wrote, "could have no other purpose than assaulting Iran’s history, erasing the history of its modernization and development—take Iranians back to the Stone Age."

The attack on the Pasteur Institute comes days after the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that airstrikes hit "near WHO's office in the Iranian capital, Tehran, shattering windows."

"Strikes impacting the operations and damaging the premises of WHO and other UN agencies, the locations of which have been clearly identified, cannot be tolerated and must be avoided at all costs," Tedros said in a statement.

Since the start of the deadly US-Israeli bombing onslaught on February 28, the WHO has documented more than two dozen attacks on healthcare infrastructure and personnel in Iran—part of a broader assault on healthcare that Trump's Iran War has unleashed throughout the Middle East.

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8136088

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/world/middleeast/lebanon-shiite-israel-evacuation.html

When Israel and Hezbollah last went to war two years ago, Israeli evacuation warnings came a few villages at a time for residents in southern Lebanon.

With the outbreak of a new war last month, the warnings came all at once. As fighting reignited, Israel issued blanket evacuation guidance for a vast stretch of southern Lebanon — extending 25 miles from the Israeli border — publicly urging all civilians to flee to the north.

But behind the scenes, Israeli officials have conveyed a more targeted message.

In private calls to local leaders across southern Lebanon, Israeli military officials have assured several Christian and Druse communities that they could remain in the evacuation zone. They have pressed them, however, to force out any Lebanese from neighboring Shiite Muslim communities who have sought refuge among them as Israeli bombardments flatten Shiite towns, according to local Christian, Druse and Shiite leaders who spoke to The New York Times. The Shiites make up the majority of southern Lebanon.

Local leaders took the messages as a clear signal: Israel is trying to force out one group in the south — Shiites, who are from the same sect as Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group that Israel is trying to vanquish.

“Israel wants to create a new buffer zone, it wants us out, what can we do?” said Ali Naser, 26, a Shiite from one border village, Aitaroun.

Mr. Naser and his relatives fled their farm there when the war broke out and sought refuge in Rmeish, a predominately Christian town within the evacuation area. About two weeks later, municipal leaders informed them they needed to leave at once. First they went to the city of Sidon, on the coast, and then, after being unable to find space in any of the government-run shelters there, a relative’s home in the eastern Bekaa Valley beyond the limits of the evacuation zone.

“The town received and hosted us, we are grateful for that,” Mr. Naser said of Rmeish. But, he said, local leaders told him the pressure from Israel to make them leave was too great. “I’m at a loss,” he said.

The Israeli directives are among the earliest indicators of the plans Israel appears to be laying in southern Lebanon.

Since Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel last month in support of Iran, Lebanon has been engulfed in its second major war in less than two years. Israel has struck many areas in the east, south and the capital, Beirut, killing more than 1,200 people and displacing more than a million others, according to Lebanese government officials. Israeli ground forces have also invaded deeper into southern Lebanon and clashed with Hezbollah militants there.

On Tuesday, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, laid out in the starkest terms yet that Israel plans to occupy Lebanese territory from the border up to the Litani River — nearly 10 percent of the country.

Mr. Katz said in a statement that Lebanese who had fled their homes in the south “will be completely prohibited” from returning “until the safety and security of northern Israeli residents is ensured.” He previously specified that Shiites would not be allowed to return and likened Israel’s strategy in Lebanon to that in Gaza.

That public messaging, along with the private push on local leaders, suggests that Israel is intent on redrawing not only the geographic map of south Lebanon but also the demographic one.

Over the past two weeks, Israeli military officials have called leaders of at least eight villages and told them to expel Shiites who had sought refuge in their communities, municipal officials and local Christian, Druse and Shiite leaders said in interviews. All complied, fearing that if they did not their towns could be hit next in the Israeli bombardment, they said. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive, private conversations.

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on whether they had directed local leaders to expel Shiites.

The warnings targeting Shiites have raised alarm among human rights groups, who say that they could amount to forced displacement.

“The Israeli military cannot claim to be safely evacuating the civilian population for imperative military reasons when, in some areas, its expulsions are based on religion and only Shia civilians are forced to leave,” said Nadia Hardman, senior refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8115626

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/39033

Amelia Schafer

ICT

RAPID CITY, S.D. – Sahela “Toka Win” Sangrait would have turned 22 on March 26. Instead,  more than 50 people gathered on her birthday to demand justice and systemic change.

Federal prosecutors have charged United States Airman Quinterius Chappelle with first-degree murder in connection to Sangrait’s homicide, which law enforcement say took place on the Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota on Aug. 10, 2024.

But those gathered say the crime could have been prevented.

Chappelle was convicted of aggravated assault following a February 2024 domestic incident not involving Sangrait, according to Jesse removederland, a sergeant with the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office. removederland testified during Chappelle’s November 2024 arraignment in the Sangrait case. The February 2024 incident was handled by Air Force authorities.

Additionally, local Box Elder law enforcement officials responded to a report of domestic violence at Chappelle’s residence on the night of Sangrait’s death but did not contact anyone inside the residence, removederland testified. Because the 2024 assault case was handled internally by the Air Force, it’s unclear if Box Elder police were aware of Chappelle’s criminal history.

Lorna Cuny, executive director of Indigenous motorcyclist advocacy group the Medicine Wheel Ride, holds a bundle of prairie sage and a lit candle at a vigil for Sahela Sangrait on March 26 in Rapid City, South Dakota.

“This should not have happened to her, there were signs, there were things that could have prevented her from facing this tragedy,” said Lorna Cuny, Oglala Lakota and the Executive Director of the Medicine Wheel Ride, a group of motorcyclists who raise awareness for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women epidemic.

Sangrait’s grandmother agreed.

“I don’t have a hard heart,” said Vonda High Hawk, Mnicoujou Lakota. “But this girl should have lived. I think they (the Airforce Base) should at some point be held accountable for the wrongful death (of Sangrait). There’s a chain of command…These senseless crimes need to be handled appropriately by their chain of command. There has to be some type of example made of that.”

Chappelle and Sangrait were in a romantic relationship, family members said.

“She was killed by someone she knew… someone she trusted,” Hillary Dubray, Sangrait’s mother said. **“**We want her story to get out. She was just (about to turn) 21, just getting her life started, but her life was cut short.”

Dubray, Mnicoujou Lakota, stood firmly, wearing a bright red hooded sweatshirt with her daughter’s face on it. Dubrary gathered with family members, friends and community in chilly below-zero temperatures and drizzling rain on March 26 to demand justice for her daughter.

Two young men sing at a vigil for Sahela Sangrait on what would have been her 22nd birthday. Federal prosecutors have charged a United States Airman with first-degree murder in connection to Sangrait’s death. Credit: Amelia Schafer, ICT

“We want people to know she mattered,” said Sangrait’s other grandmother, Phyllis Bald Eagle, who is Mnicoujou Lakota and Mdewakanton Dakota.

Community members are organizing a mid-April demonstration outside of the Ellsworth Air Force Basewhere Sangrait was killed. Organizers from local MMIW advocacy groups, the Medicine Wheel Ride and the Red Ribbon Skirt Society, said the demonstration will bring awareness to Sangrait’s murder as they await the accused’s trial in Rapid City in May.

“It’s for justice,” said Frances Dupris, Sicangu Lakota/Northern Arapaho and an organizer with the Red Ribbon Skirt Society. Dupris spent 24 years as a United States Airman before retiring. “The individuals that should be held accountable for Sahela’s murder are Airmen… I was an Airman, I retired, so this is not to say that all Airmen are bad. But the people who do bad things need to be held accountable.”

Nationwide, Indigenous women are reported missing at a disproportionately high rate. Further, homicide is one of the leading causes of death among American Indians and Alaska Natives, a significant proportion of which are the result of domestic violence.

Sixty-one American Indian/Alaska Native people were reported missing in South Dakota as of March 26, compared to 95 total missing individuals, meaning roughly 65 percent of all missing people in the state are American Indian/Alaska Native. Natives make up only 11 percent of the statewide population. This percentage of missing Native people statewide has remained steady for over two years.

Vonda HighHawk speaks at a vigil for her late granddaughter Sahela Toka Win Sangrait, who federal prosecutors say was killed by a United States Airman on the Ellsworth Air Force Base. Credit: Amelia Schafer, ICT

So far, two individuals are federally charged in connection with Sangrait’s murder. Chappelle and Drew Durand, both 25 and both residents of Box Elder where the Ellsworth Airforce Base is located. Chappelle is charged with first-degree murder and Durand with accessory after the fact and misprision of a felony.

Law enforcement believe that Chappelle and Durand transported Sangrait’s body to the Black Hills National Forest in the early hours of Aug. 11. Sangrait’s remains were found by a hiker in a remote area within National Park boundaries near Hill City on March 11, 2025.

Police charged Chapelle days later with Sangrait’s murder.

Due to the homicide having allegedly taken place on the air force base and the body being found on National Park Service land, Chappelle and Durand are charged in federal court.

Chappelle and Durand will both appear before a 12-person jury May 25 at Andrew W. Bogue Federal Building in Rapid City. Each has pleaded not guilty.

Authorities believe Chapelle killed Sangrait at his residence on the Ellsworth Air Force Baseon Aug. 10. That same night, local law enforcement responded to a report of a domestic dispute at his residence but left without making contact with Chappelle or anyone inside the residence, according police testimony at Chapelle’s to a March 28, 2025, arraignment.

A man hold a sign depiciting Lakota woman Sahela Sangrait. Federal prosecutors have charged a United States Airman with first-degree murder in connection to Sangrait’s homicide and say her death occured on the Ellsworth Air Force Base in Box Elder, South Dakota. Credit: Amelia Schafer, ICT

Due to Chappelle’s assault conviction on the air force base, his commanding officer required him to go to local law enforcement when he arrived at work on Aug. 12 with finger nail scratches across his face. Chappelle reported to Rapid City law enforcement officers that the scratches were the result of an Aug. 10 break-in at his residence. Chappelle declined to follow up with officers regarding an investigation.

Crimes committed on an Air Force base are often prosecuted internally by the base’s court, meaning records of the incident are not available to the public or civilians. Due to this, no court records regarding Chappelle’s assault conviction are available to the public. Information regarding the incident was only made available to the public through law enforcement testimony at Chappelle’s arraignment.

In February 2024, Chappelle was charged with aggravated assault via strangulation.

He was found guilty for these charges in November, two months after the alleged

murder, removederland said. Chappelle also broke no-contact orders two separate times, according to removederland.

Sahela’s story

Sangrait comes from a strong lineage of Lakota and Dakota warriors – a legacy that lived on through her, her family said.

Her great-great-grandfather was Mdewakanton Dakota Chief Little Crow, also known as Ta-Oyate-Duta, who led the six-week 1862 Dakota Uprising in Minnesota. Little Crow is remembered as one of the Dakota 38+2, a group of Dakota men killed by the United States Government in retaliation for the uprising.

Sangrait was also a descendant of Chief Dave Bald Eagle, a World War II veteran who parachuted into the D-Day invasion of Normandy.  Bald Eagle was awarded a Silver Star and a Purple Heart for his service. Bald Eagle was also the grandson of Hunkpapa Lakota Chief White Bull, who was Sitting Bull’s nephew. White Bull fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn.

“There’s a beautiful history this lady comes from,” High Hawk said. “She comes from a very strong lineage, and she will never be forgotten.”

Sahela was given her Lakota name, Toka Win, which roughly translates to Different Cheyenne Woman, by her great-grandmother Clarenda Little Crow, who was Chief Little Crow’s Daughter.

“Everyone needs to know who she was and who she came from,” Bald Eagle said.

High Hawk said it’s paramount to remember Sangrait’s ancestor’s battles and what they went through while fighting for justice for her.

Community members gathered in honor of Sahela Sangrait on March 26 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Federal prosecutors have charged a United States Airman with first-degree murder in connection to Sangrait’s death. Credit: Amelia Schafer, ICT

“These injustices and these atrocities go way back,” High Hawk said. “There needs to be more awareness, more events like what we just did. … We will continue to say her name.”

Sahela grew up in the Black Hills area and moved to Rapid City at 18 years old, her mother said. In Rapid City she worked to fundraise for youth programming and was a vocal advocate for Indigenous youth.

“She was beautiful, just so pretty,” said Sangrait’s other grandmother Vonda High Hawk, who traveled over two hours from the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, to attend the vigil. “Regardless of the odds that were against her in this life she still radiated with beauty.”

Community members gathered in honor of Sahela Sangrait on March 26 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Federal prosecutors have charged a United States Airman with first-degree murder in connection to Sangrait’s death. Credit: Amelia Schafer, ICT

At just 20 years old, Sangrait hadn’t quite figured out what she was going to do yet as an adult, her family said. She was passionate about helping others and volunteered at Ateeyapi, a local non-profit youth program for Indigenous students in the Black Hills area. She also wanted to raise awareness for domestic violence victims, her mother said.

Sangrait will be buried in April on the Cheyenne River Reservation, her family said.

The post Family demands justice, accountability for Lakota woman killed on South Dakota Airforce appeared first on ICT.

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