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US Senator requests audit of IHS

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A U.S. Senator has formally requested an audit of the finances of the Indian Health Service.

South Dakota's U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds has asked the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to conduct the audit.

Rounds' request on Wednesday comes at a time when the Indian Health Service is facing intense scrutiny after federal health inspectors uncovered severe quality-of-care deficiencies at some of its hospitals in the Great Plains.

The Health and Human Services Department oversees the Indian Health Service, which is responsible for providing health care services to Native Americans across the country.

During a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs last month, Health and Human Services acting deputy secretary Mary Wakefield said the agency “would welcome'' an audit.

 

Agency OK with race through Nevada desert; critics cry foul

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Conservationists are crying foul over U.S. land managers' initial conclusion that there are no environmental concerns with an off-road race that will cross 650 miles of Nevada desert and cut through a new national monument.

They say the Bureau of Land Management delayed releasing a study of the Aug. 19-20 race until last week to prevent legal challenges.

About 350 trucks, dune buggies, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles are expected to compete in this year's Best in the Desert Vegas to Reno Race. It's also expected to draw 5,000 spectators and 500 staff members.

The BLM issued its environmental assessment of the proposed race route July 1. Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the public has 30 days — or until Aug. 1 — to comment on it.

The agency then has until Aug. 14 to respond to comments and decide whether to issue a permit for the proposed route, which includes 37 miles of dirt roads inside the Basin and Range National Monument. That's just five days before the race is to begin near Alamo, 100 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

“By rigging the calendar, BLM is trying to preclude any legal challenge because there will not be enough time,'' said Jeff Ruch, executive director of the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Ethics.

“BLM has made a farce out of the entire process,'' he said.

The BLM said President Obama's monument proclamation allows for motorized vehicles on roads that existed when he created it last summer.

The monument stretches across more than 700,000 acres and is home to rare rock art from 4,000 years ago. It also is the site of “City,'' an array of abstract sculptures artist Michael Heizer has created for more than four decades.

The agency said it assessed the potential effects on wildlife, vegetation, scenery and Native American cultural sites.

“These analyses each conclude that direct, indirect and cumulative impacts would be minor and/or temporary,'' the BLM said in an email to The Associated Press.

The proposed route follows graded dirt roads, 4-wheel routes and dry sand and gravel washes. Within the national monument, travel is limited to existing dirt roads 12 to 16 feet wide. Racers must yield to wildlife. Discovery of any cultural resources or fossils would immediately suspend all operations within 100 yards.

“BLM will monitor the race to ensure participants and spectators are not harassing or harming wildlife or driving outside the approved race route on existing roads and trails,'' the agency wrote. 

Casey Folks, director of the Boulder City-based Best in the Desert Racing Association sponsoring the race for the 20th consecutive year, said he submitted proposed route maps in April 2015 — three months before Obama created the 1,100-square-mile monument northeast of Las Vegas. He said he paid the BLM $75,300 to cover the costs of a special recreation permit and for reviews of the same route last raced in 2006.

“I pride myself in running a safe and environmentally sound race,'' he said.

Folks said the event generates more than $15 million annually for rural Nevada's economy.

He described off-road recreation as a family-oriented sport that teaches children respect for the desert.

“We love nature,'' Folks said. “We aren't hooligans out destroying the desert.''

Ruch, of the public employees' group, argued the BLM should conduct an environmental impact statement _ much more extensive than an assessment — given the “potential loss or destruction of important natural resources.''

He said the agency devoted less than two pages of the 116-page assessment specifically to the monument, and didn't adequately consider two alternate routes it identified outside the monument.

 

Trump's 'Make America Great Again' target of minority satire

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A Navajo artist in New Mexico has created a hat that touts “Make America Native Again.'' A Mexican-American activist in Brooklyn, New York, is selling a cap with the words “Make America Mexico Again.''

As presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump prepares to formally accept the nod later this month, minority artists and activists are satirizing his "Make America Great Again'' slogan seen at rallies and on Trump hats and T-shirts.

They are turning the slogan on its head and questioning Trump's vision of the U.S. from yesteryear, which they say excluded blacks, Latinos, Native Americans and gays. But his supporters said such mocking will only help the billionaire businessman.

Navajo artist Vanessa Bowen said she developed the hat because she believes Trump's slogan speaks of a period when whites could legally keep minorities from jobs and restaurants.

“If he were referring to the 1960s and 1950s, it was an era that mostly catered to non-minorities,'' Bowen said. “So I said, ‘Let's turn this message that he preaches around and perhaps focus more on make America Native again.'''

It's a double meaning because it is a satire of Trump's slogan and a call to revert to American Indian values of respecting the environment and other cultures, Bowen said.

In New York, Jeronimo Saldana said he starting selling “Make American Mexico Again'' after seeing a post online and thought it was a good response to Trump's immigration ideas.

The 36-year-old initially went to a hat and apparel store in New York to make the hat but was turned down. He then started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money.

So far, he has sold around 1,000 hats, with proceeds going to the Latino advocacy group Mi Jente.

“I think it was a direct affront to Trump's anti-Mexican sentiment,'' said Saldana, a son of immigrants from Mexico. "Obviously, I don't want to make America Mexico again but this sends a message.''

Trump has drawn criticism for his previous statements about Mexican immigrants and his plan to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Last month, American Apparel and the Human Rights Campaign teamed up for “Make America Gay Again'' clothing line during Pride Month. Around 30 percent of the proceeds went to causes that fight discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Makeup artist Christopher “Tru'' Trujillo, who supports Trump, said the candidate has strong ideas on how to reform the country and people need to look at his record as a businessman.

“Trump employs more gay men than Hillary ever will,'' said Trujillo, who is gay and lives in Santa Fe. “You want to make America gay again? Vote for Trump.''

 

 


 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

July 15, 2016

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