Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Member of the Senate Finance Committee, says recent “scoring” shows that the Committee’s proposed health care reform package can be paid for under their plan. (0:19)
Senate Finance Committee Member Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) says members of the Gang of Six are close to figuring out how to ensure illegal immigrants do not benefit from the proposed health care reform package. (:09)
Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) gives an update on the floods that caused much damage in North and South Dakota, along with Minnesota. Dorgan says that the recovery has gone well. Now the government is know looking at how to prevent this natural catastrophe from happening again in the future. (0:27)
by Candyce Torres, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service. Fargo, North Dakota Mayor discusses North Dakota floods with Talk Radio News Service.
Coffee Brown, University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News
Sen. Amy Klobuchar on redistributing flood waters between Minnesota and North Dakota.
00:32
by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
Talk Radio News Service speaks with Congressman Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) about the Red River catastrophe and what efforts he is making in Washington, D.C. for North Dakotans. Pomeroy also addresses the H1N1 epidemic and expresses what precautions Americans should take. (09:00)
by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico
Talk Radio News Service speaks with Congressman Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) about the natural flood disasters in North Dakota and his efforts to pursue recovery for the state and victims. Pomeroy indicated that recent floods have been record breaking. (11:48)
by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
“I came to the realization that suicide is a national problem. Not my problem, not my family’s problem, not my dad’s problem but a national problem.” said Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-Nev.) who lost his father when he committed suicide at the age of 60.
Today in a Committee on Indian Affairs Oversight hearing titled “Youth oversight: Suicide in Indian Country,” witnesses told stories of loved ones who took their own lives and expressed what needs to be done to help lessen suicide rates in tribal communities.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Suicide: Facts at a Glance,” among American Indians/Alaska Natives ages 15 to 34 years old, suicide is the second leading cause of death, and the suicide rate is 2.2 times as high as the national average for that age group.”
Among the witnesses was 16-year-old Dana Lee Jetty, an enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota who lost her younger sister to suicide. “Suicide has left me feeling lost, lonely and angry. I don’t understand why my sister felt that she had to do this and I don’t know why she didn’t ask me for help or tell me what she was thinking.” Jetty said. Now Jetty along with her parents are traveling thinking,” Jetty said.
Now Jetty along with her parents is traveling around the United States spreading a message they feel is important for youth who are considering ending their lives. “Tell the ones that are trying to end their lives this way that it is not the way to go,” Jetty said.
Robert Moore, Councilman of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, shared with the committee some information about his community where the suicide rate is over 38 per 100,000 population more than eight times the national rate. This cluster is claimed to have flourished because the youth live with poverty, witness extreme emotional high rates of infant deaths, and in some cases live within abusive households. Moore said, “The Indian health service currently does not maintain data regulated to suicides or ideation so to know the immensity of the problem. We still don’t really know how much of it really exists…It’s very important for the research and the data to be collected and be shared between the tribes…and useful for the tribe to respond in an appropriate way and useful for us to share with members of Congress who are the appropriators.”
