SEATTLE – Two people were killed and one was critically injured when a news helicopter crashed and burned Tuesday morning on Broad Street only yards away from the Space Needle.
Emergency personnel immediately rushed to the scene.
Two cars were struck in the crash. One man could be seen running from from one of the cars with his sleeve on fire, and he was extinguished by officers at the scene.
Huge flames and plumes of black smoke poured from the burning wreckage, about 50 yards from the base of the Space Needle. Fuel gushing from the wreckage caught fire and burned for a block from the crash scene.
The Seattle Fire Department said two people were found dead in the wreckage. A third person was rushed to Harborview Medical Center for treatment of critical injuries.
Fire crews were able to extinguish the flames within a half-hour. Traffic was diverted from the area.
Marvin Oliver is one of the Northwest Coast’s foremost artists with a 40-year career of working in a variety of media. “Most of my ideas involve something from the sea,” says the one-time Alaskan commercial fisherman, whose heritage is Quinault and Isleta Pueblo. While many of his creations are manageable in size, others are monstrously large — for instance, there are the two glass whales, 20 feet long and 18 feet high, weighing in at 8 tons that now belong to Bill and Melinda Gates. Or the 26-foot-long suspended steel and glass Mystical Journey piece at Children’s Hospital in Seattle. Then there’s a 23-foot-tall mixed media totem pole (Tetons) housed in Wyoming’s National Museum of Wildlife Art that incorporates elements of cast glass, etched copper, and cast bronze inlaid with abalone. Not to be overlooked is his cast bronze 26-foot-tall orca whale fin (Spirit of Our Youth) decorated with images of leaping salmon and rising above rolling grass meant to simulate ocean waves. To learn more about Oliver and see more of his work, visit marvinoliver.com.
How did you decide to become an artist, and how does your upbringing influence your work?
I was surrounded by Native American art growing up and started producing artwork early on. My works merge the spirit of past traditions with those of the present…to create new horizons for the future.
Your work has found its way to places far removed from the Pacific Northwest — where has it traveled?
I’m on display throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, and Italy where a city near Rome hosts a unique totem [30 feet tall, and made of bronze instead of wood], two thunderbirds going up to heaven carrying the sun in their beaks. I was the first non-Italian artist to be commissioned in 2,000 years.
How does your creative process work?
It comes from within, from my spirit, my inner feelings. I’m an edgy artist, somewhat eclectic. My creations belong in the category of art in evolution with a foundation of traditional spirit. People don’t say I’m a Native American glass artist, they say I’m a glass artist who happens to be Native American.
You’re also a teacher — what do you get out of that experience?
Teaching revitalizes me and takes me out of the studio to reflect and refresh my own perspective. But I can only teach the tools. From there, individuals have to supply their own creativity.
Source: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WFDW) is seeking the public’s help to identify the person or persons responsible for shooting and killing a gray wolf last month in Stevens County.
A 2-year-old black female wolf from the Smackout Pack was found dead Feb. 9 near Cedar Lake in northeast Stevens County. The condition of the carcass indicated it had died between Feb. 5 and Feb. 7, and a veterinarian’s examination confirmed it had been shot.
Wildlife managers had captured the wolf about a year ago and fitted it with a radio collar so they could track its movements and those of her pack members.
WDFW, with the help of three non-profit organizations, is offering a reward of up to $22,500 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. Conservation Northwest, the Center for Biological Diversity, and The Humane Society of the United States, have each pledged $7,500 to create the reward.
Gray wolves are protected throughout the state. WDFW is responsible for management of wolves and enforcement of laws to protect them. The illegal killing of a wolf or other endangered fish or wildlife species is a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
Sergeant Pam Taylor of the WDFW Northeast Washington Region is leading the investigation. She urged people with knowledge of the crime to report it confidentially by calling WDFW’s poaching hotline, 877-933-9847, or by texting a tip to 847411.
Beginning in the 2014 season, the Spokane Indians baseball team will sport the team name in Salish on home jerseys.
When the Spokane Indians baseball players take the field this summer, the team name will be blazoned across their chests: “Sp’q’n’i.”
That’s the Spokane Salish language version of the name. On opening day, June 13, this Short Season Class A minor league baseball team will become the first-ever professional baseball team to use a Native American language in this way.
The jersey is the fruit of an unusual collaboration between a team and a tribe. Unusual, because in several high-profile examples – the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians, to name two – the issue of Indian-related team names and mascots has generated more controversy than collaboration. In Cleveland, the “Chief Wahoo” mascot has been derided as a demeaning cartoon; in Washington, D.C., the team name has been derided as just plain racist.
In Spokane – or should we say Sp’q’n’i – both the tribe and its namesake team have worked hard in recent decades to establish the name Spokane Indians as a tribute, as opposed to just a mascot. In 2006, the tribe helped to create new circular team logo, with words written in the Salish language. This year, the tribe worked with the team in creating the new Sp’q’n’i jersey, and supplied the team with an accurate rendering of the word (which also includes a final symbol not found in the English alphabet).
Both Rudy Peone, chairman of the Spokane Tribe of Indians, and Otto Klein, senior vice president of the Spokane Indians baseball team, are acutely aware of how sensitive these issues can be. That’s why the two institutions have developed a collaboration.
“The team, the name, it’s not named for a vague group,” said Peone. “… This is the Spokane Indians, named specifically for our tribe. We’ve accepted that and have a very close working relationship, in a respectful way.”
“We work with them, not against them,” Klein said. “We meet with the tribal chairman each year and say, ‘What have we done to promote the tribe, and what can we do?’ “
Barry Moses, a Spokane Tribe member who teaches Salish language classes at the Salish School of Spokane, has mixed feelings about it.
“On the one hand, Indian mascots in general are problematic and troublesome,” Moses said. “But it is a positive thing that they reached out to the tribe. It’s also a positive thing that it will give the Salish language wider representation in the culture.”
Peone believes this is the first time a professional baseball team has used a native language in this way on a uniform.
“There have been Native American teams that have done it, but, yes, this is the first time that we know of that a professional team has done so,” said Peone.
Meanwhile, the baseball team is working on giving Salish an even higher profile throughout Avista Stadium. Many of the signs in the park will be in both English and Salish. The team is also expanding its existing historical exhibit about the tribe, and moving it to more prominent positions around the park. The game jerseys themselves will be auctioned off at the end of the season, and proceeds will go to tribal youth programs.
Klein said he thinks local fans will quickly grasp the meaning and significance of the name. But what about visiting fans from out of town? Might they be confused about that word on the front of the uniforms? Klein said the section leaders will have information cards about the name and they will be happy to use the question as a “conversation piece” about the team’s 100-plus year tribal connection.
The preservation of the Salish language is particularly close to the hearts of many tribal members, because, as the decades go by, fewer and fewer people are fluent in the Spokane dialect of Salish. Peone called the new jerseys a way to “educate thousands of baseball fans about the language and culture” of the city’s first inhabitants.
Many Northwest tribes shared the Salish language, yet many had their own distinct dialect. In Moses’ estimation, there are only five or six fluent Spokane Salish speakers left, most of them elderly. However, there has been a recent resurgence of interest among younger generations. The Salish School of Spokane even has full-immersion Salish preschool.
The team won’t be able to wear the jerseys in every home game – at least not this year. The baseball team originally hoped the new Salish jerseys could be their everyday 2014 home jerseys. However, the team didn’t get the designs submitted to the league office before the deadline, so the Sp’q’n’i jerseys can only be used as “alternate” jerseys in 2014, which means they can be worn in under half of the home games. Klein said the team will wear them at most of 2014’s “biggest” home games, including Fridays, Saturdays and holidays, and also at the home opener. Then, in 2015, the Sp’q’n’i jerseys will be the primary home jerseys.
Klein said the collaboration has given his team a unique identity, steeped in history.
“We truly found our identity when we came up with that logo,” he said, referring to the 2006 Salish language logo. “We truly found our home.”
Klein said that, in recent years, the team has not received any kind of “flak” about its name. Yet Peone is certainly aware that there are “folks sensitive to the mascot issue.” The American Indian Movement’s National Coalition on Racism in Sport and Media has issued the following statement about Indian-themed sports mascots in general: “American Indians are a People. Not mascots for America’s fun and games.”
The coalition decries the Cleveland Indians’ Chief Wahoo, the “tomahawk chop” and the name Washington Redskins. Yet there is no consensus on this complicated issue, as evidenced by the fact that the sports teams at Wellpinit High School, the main high school on the Spokane Reservation, are named the Redskins.
The Spokane Indians baseball team does not use an Indian-costumed mascot. The team’s mascot is Otto, a bright blue “reptile with style.” Nor does the team lead its fans in the tomahawk chop. To Peone, the use of the Salish language in the logo and jerseys makes the Spokane Indians “more than a mascot.” He said the tribe has been generally supportive of the partnership because of the way in which it kas been done.
Meanwhile, the unique Sp’q’n’i jerseys may prove to be a big hit at the merchandise store – although Klein said that was certainly not the team’s motivation. A portion of those proceeds, too, will go toward tribal youth programs.
MARYSVILLE, Washington — Marysville police say a man who impersonated a SWAT team member during a robbery last month has been arrested in Renton.
Detectives said Saturday the 27-year-old man had been working for a local bail bonding company and was trying to find someone who had skipped out on his bail. He placed a call to a female acquaintance of the bail jumper; she was heading to a Marysville parking lot to buy an electronic benefits card from two men.
According to police, the suspect showed up at the parking lot in a dark vehicle with tinted windows, a bullet-proof vest and a badge on his hip, and identified himself as “task force.” He ordered the two men out of a car at gunpoint, frisked them and took what was described as a large amount of cash from one of their wallets.
Detectives say they tracked him down through cell phone records and that he denied taking any money from the victims. He’s been booked for investigation of first-degree robbery.
Fry-bread is a native American all time favorite. It is the “Fry-Bread concessions that have the longest lines at the Pow Wows and Native American Dance and Drum Festivals. Fry-bread and especially fry bread Tacos will vary from tribe to tribe, band to band and family to family. Below is a recipe that is common to the Navajo and neighboring tribes.
INGREDIENTS: MAKES 2 – 4
INGREDIENTS FOR FRY-BREAD MAKES (4 ) “6 – 7″ or (2) 8″ INCH FRY BREADS
● 1 Cup(s) unbleached flour
● ½ Teaspoon(s) Salt
● 5 or more Cup(s) Warm Water
● 1 Tablespoon(s) powdered milk
● 1 ½ Teaspoon(s) baking powder (add another ½ Teaspoon for more rise)
● ½ Cup(s) water
● 2 Cup(s) Cooking Oil for frying
Makes 3-4 fry-bread depending on the size you make the bread.
● 1 lb. Ground Drained Hamburger
● 1 Packet Taco Seasoning or use your own recipe (cumin, garlic salt, New Mexico chili powder)
● 1 can Cooked Black Beans or Pinto Beans
● ½ cup corn kernels
● Chopped Tomatoes
● Shredded iceberg Lettuce
● Grated Cheddar Cheese, Monterey pepper Jack, or Mexican cheese.
● Salsa, your favorite blend, red or green, hot or mild (salsa verde goes well)
● Sour Cream
*COOKS NOTE*
Feel free to alter this recipe to your own tastes, especially the topping. Change the salsa, make it hotter or milder, use your favorite beans, use pork, chicken or fish for the meat. Add Jalapeños or Chipotlè or load it up with your favorite cheese.
DIRECTIONS FOR FRY-BREAD:
1. Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl together and whisk them together thoroughly.
2. Pour the water over the dry ingredients and stir them together with a fork until the mixture starts to clump up. I used a whisk in the video and that’s OK! to start with but it gets messy when the clumping starts so I have elected to always use the fork in the future.
3. Now while the mixture is still in the bowl flour your hands.
4. Now use your hand or hands and begin rolling the dough or moving it about the bowl to pick up all the excess flour in the bowl to coat the outside of the dough. Don’t knead the dough. You want to form a ball that is well floured on the outside and still doughy on the inside. Kneading this dough will make the resulting product heavy and take away from it’s flexibility and chew. You want the inside of the dough sticky after the ball is formed.
5. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and using your freshly floured hands you can stretch and shape and press the dough into any shape you want. Navajo Taco’s do not have to been perfectly round as they are not a perfect dish. If you want to roll the dough into a ball and use a roller for uniformity that is fine too. Form your dough into 6 to 7 inch rough diameters.
6. Heat your oil in pan. You want a minimum of ½ inch of oil in the pan. The skillet should be 10 -12 inches in diameter. Heat to 375℉.
7. Take your formed dough, and cooking each fry-bread one at a time gently place the dough into the hot oil so you don’t get any splatter.
8. Press your dough down with the flat of your spatula to get the fry bread to submerge in the oil to get some of the hot oil on the top of the dough. You may want to do this a couple of time for each side of the fry-bread.
9. Fry each side until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Make sure they are golden brown on the outside. They will be chewy on the inside.
10. The fry bread you make will stay warm in your oven while you make the filling. Do not heat in the microwave unless you know what you are doing, as this will make the fry-bread tough and impossible to eat.
11. Now this recipe will make 3 to 4 fry 6-7 inch fry-breads. This is for an open face taco. If you want to fold them like a usual taco, you will get two fry-breads about 8 inches in diameter from this recipe.
“The Three Sisters” are part of the traditional fare of Native Tribes in the American Southwest and Mexico. Corn, Beans, and Squash were mainstays because of their high nutrition and ease of storage — making them great for late autumn and winter cooking!
This recipe is sized for a MINI, 1 qt. crock pot. You’ll need to double it for a traditional crock pot.
Minutes to Prepare: 15 Minutes to Cook: 200 Number of Servings: 4
Ingredients
4 skinless chicken thighs (bone in or boneless, either is fine)
8 oz. cubed butternut squash (I suggest getting the pre-cubed kind!)
1 cup great northern beans (if dry, soak them overnight before using them in this recipe)
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/2 cup salsa
3/4 cup chicken broth
3 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. each cumin, oregano, and chili powder
1/4 tsp. each cinnamon and allspice
1/2 tsp. habanero sauce, optional
Directions
Whisk the broth, salsa, garlic, and seasonings together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Place the beans in the bottom of the crock pot. Layer the chicken breasts on top, followed by the butternut squash. Pour the broth over all.
Cook in the slow cooker over low heat for 5 hours. When there’s just 30 minutes of cooking time left, add in the corn kernels and let them heat up.
This stew is great on its own, but feel free to serve with a nice salad and either cornbread or (even better!) fresh flatbread.
Makes 4 servings of one chicken thigh with 3/4 cup of stew.
P.S. Lots of people will want to replace the chicken thighs with breasts. DON’T DO IT! Chicken breasts have no fat or connective tissue, so they get really dry and chewy when cooked for 5 hours. Chicken thighs are loaded with collagen, which makes the meat fall-off-the-bone tender when slow cooked. Plus, they have way more iron than breasts!
Courtesy Wellbound Storytellers Isadore Boni, San Carlos Apache, was diagnosed with HIV and hepatitis C in May 2002. After his disease escalated to AIDS in November 2004, he was cured of hepatitis C in 2013. Now he is an advocate for HIV prevention and HIV/AIDS treatment and care.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), of persons diagnosed with HIV, more than 38 percent of American Indians and Alaskan Natives progressed to an AIDS diagnosis in less than 12 months, which is the highest percentage among all racial/ethnic groups.
Many question why American Indians and Alaskan Natives progress so fast to an AIDS diagnosis, which also contributes to Natives having the shortest survival time among all racial/ethnic groups. AIDS/HIV awareness activist Isadore Boni blames the stigma attached to the disease.
“Stigma in Indian country in general is still very very strong,” Boni said. “Stigma prevents people from getting tested, prevents people from accessing the care they need and it stops people who are positive from going through the process of acceptance. That is more important than anything. Stigma to me in my opinion, is the reason, that Native people, have the highest death rates, among all other people according to the CDC.”
Boni, a San Carlos Apache tribal member, spoke to college students at Haskell Indian Nations University for their AIDS Awareness event.
Regardless of the statistics, Boni has gone on to lead a healthy and productive life. Since being diagnosed with HIV, he recently finished his fifth P.F. Chang’s half marathon this past January in Phoenix, Arizona, where he resides.
“I want the students to know, even the most educated and most successful people have HIV and it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a death sentence,” he said. “The sooner you get tested, the longer you can live.”
According the CDC, Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders and American Indians/Alaska Natives had the 3rd and 5th highest rate of new HIV infections, respectively.
One concern of Boni is making sure when someone does find out they are positive for HIV that they have support.
“Sharing with people makes me stronger,” Boni said. “It is also medicine, whether it’s words or a hug, that to me is medicine. That support, is more stronger than any medication that I have been taking.”
The National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is March 20. Organizers are looking for tribal communities to host events to help increase awareness. Anything from hosting talks, walks, runs or by going with someone to take a test as a form of support, National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day has materials ready for anyone at their website at www.nnhaad.org.
Tulalip Yelabted Talking Circle – This is a group for parents who are in dependency cases with beda?chelh, or have closed a case with beda?chelh. It is for Moms & Dads. The group is led by two parents who have been through the system and are receiving support and training through the Yelabted program. They are there to provide support and resources to parents working towards reunification or just to be with folks who are in a similar situation.
Please welcome Katie Longstreet and Mary Mattern, they are excited and dedicated to making the Talking Circle be a great place for our parents to meet.
A photo that made the rounds on Twitter Sunday evening has sparked backlash against a cheerleading squad from the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The squad tweeted a photo taken during a practice event that showed 18 girls wearing cowboy costumes and “Indian” themed regalia. The squad members wore clothing that looked like pieced-together buckskin dresses, parted their hair and wore long braids, and put on headbands with feathers in their hair.
Valerie Timmons, the president of the university, said that the cheerleading coach has apologized for the team’s “culturally inappropriate themes and costumes.
“Further steps will require that the team’s coaches and team members discuss this matter as a group with the university’s Executive Lead on Indigenization and take cultural sensitivity training,” Timmons’s said in a statement. “Once these discussions have taken place, the university will determine whether further disciplinary actions are required.”
The photo was also posted on Instagram and received 44 likes before it was removed. U of R faculty, staff and students were outraged by the photo.
“I was disturbed by the image, and I thought that the team, like all of us who live in Saskatchewan, likely need formal education on the topic,” Andrea Sterzuk, an associate professor, told CBC.ca, “because treating First Nations and Métis women as a costume objectifies them, and that behavior, I think, contributes to their dehumanization, which is a larger problem that I think all Canadians need to be concerned about.”
Ryan Deschamps, a doctoral student at the university, told CBC.ca, “I thought we were kind of past this issue. I think it was something that we’ve seen in the news that’s obviously insensitive to certain people and I don’t understand how that actually happened.”
At least 10 percent of the students at the university are of aboriginal descent. It is also home to the First Nations University of Canada.
Someone using the @UofRCheer Twitter account responded to the backlash on Saturday: “We apologize for the photos, they have been removed from all of our social media. Our last intention was to disrespect anyone.”
