Bones found in Wyoming in 1969 to be returned to a tribe

BOISE (AP) — Human bones excavated from a 4,000-year-old burial site in western Wyoming will be returned to a Native American tribe to be determined.

The National Park Service this week said the fragmentary human remains of an 8- to 9-year-old child and an adult will be returned to a tribe in Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana or Idaho following consultations.

The bones were removed from a site near the U.S. Forest Service's Dead Indian Campground in the Shoshone National Forest in 1969 during an archaeological excavation.

They're now being returned to a tribe under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

The National Park Service says the bones have been identified as Native American but cannot be reasonably traced to any present-day tribe.

The agency says the burial site is the aboriginal land of the Crow Tribe of Montana.

Montana DOJ hires missing persons specialist, grant coordinator

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana's Department of Justice has hired two people to oversee efforts to better report and track missing persons cases.

Attorney General Tim Fox announced Monday that former Glacier County Deputy Sheriff Misty LaPlant is the agency's new missing person's specialist. She is a member of the Blackfeet Tribe and was a police officer on the reservation.

Tina Chamberlain of Helena is coordinator of the Looping In Native Communities, or LINC, grant program. She is a former grants coordinator with the Montana Bureau of Crime Control.

Lawmakers created both positions along with the Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force, which is working to identify barriers to local, state, federal and tribal agencies working together on missing persons cases.

The task force will award grants to tribal colleges to better track missing Native Americans.

Oglala Sioux Tribe passes law aimed at hate crimes

PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) — The Oglala Sioux Tribe has passed legislation aimed at hate crimes on the Pine Ridge reservation.

The Rapid City Journal reports the law passed by the tribal council Wednesday makes hate crimes punishable with up to one year in jail, which is the maximum allowed under tribal law.

The law defines a hate crime as one where the defendant intentionally targets a victim or property because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person.

The law comes two months after the tribe legalized same-sex marriage on the reservation.