Indigenous WWI honors
An Arkansas research center is helping to identify Indigenous veterans who might qualify for the Medal of Honor. About half of those eligible men are from Oklahoma.
12,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives served in World War I, which catalyzed the Indian Citizenship Act passing in 1924. But during that time they were overlooked for a Medal of Honor due to race.
Erin Fehr is Yup’ik and the Assistant Director at the Sequoyah National Research Center in Little Rock.
"These men once, once we discover who they are, they qualify for this extra review if they received a Distinguished Service Cross or a Croix de Guerre with palm," she said.
She said her team has found 25 men who qualify for review by the Department of Defense. Twelve of those Indigenous soldiers are from Oklahoma.
The list of eligible veterans will be submitted to the Department of Defense by 2028.
Cherokee Nation car tag agreement
After nearly two years of tumultuous negotiations over car tag compacts, the Cherokee Nation and the state of Oklahoma have reached a tentative agreement.
If formally approved, the ten-year agreement will grant the Cherokee Nation a unique compact for individuals living on and off reservation.
The existing compact will remain in effect for tribal members living on the Cherokee reservation. For citizens living at-large, they can still renew their tags at Cherokee tag offices, but revenue will be split between the tribe and state.
Gov. Kevin Stitt has repeatedly raised concerns about unpaid toll fees racked up by people with tribal car tags. When first implemented, the state’s new PlatePay system wasn’t able to access registration info for most tribal tags.
Under the tentative agreement, the Cherokee Nation will pay two-million dollars over a three-year course to PlatePay in exchange for the current charges being waived on tribal drivers.
If finalized, the new compact will go into effect January first.
Addressing homelessness in OKC
Twenty-six people living in encampments near downtown Oklahoma City are now receiving housing and case management through the Key to Home Partnership.
The Key to Home Partnership is a collaborative of local organizations working together to address homelessness in Oklahoma City.
Erika Warren from the partnership says the community recognized they “needed to do things a little differently” to address homelessness. The initiative was formed in 2023.
“Our goal with the encampment rehousing initiative is to house 500 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness by the end of 2025 and we just closed our 21st encampment, and we surpassed our halfway goal last month,” Warren said.
To date, Key to Home reports it has housed 332 people across those encampments, including the latest group of twenty-six.
Of those clients housed through the encampment rehousing initiative, Warren says only ten are again experiencing homelessness.
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