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Prosecutors in South Dakota have dismissed charges against an Indigenous rights advocate.
South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s CJ Keene reports.
Charges stemming from a 2022 incident against Nick Tilsen, CEO and founder of NDN Collective, were dropped.
In a statement, Tilsen said, “my freedom wasn’t granted by a judge, a jury, or the settler colonial court system. My freedom was won by the people, the movement, and the ancestors.”
Tilsen faced more than 25 years in prison, originally facing charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and obstruction. Ultimately, the trial resulted in a hung jury.
Tilsen maintained his innocence throughout, saying the incident was an effort to watch an interaction between police and an Indigenous member of the Rapid City, S.D. community.
NDN Collective spokespeople had contended the charges were excessive. In the same statement, representatives describe them as, “blatantly politically motivated effort to silence a movement leader by criminalizing his actions.”
In response, Pennington County State’s Attorney said, “the decision to dismiss this case was made after careful review and thoughtful consideration.”
The office adds they stand by the charging decision.
“While we believe the case was properly charged and presented, the jury’s inability to reach a verdict was an important factor in evaluating whether further prosecution would serve the interest of justice.”
A nearly empty critical care unit at Bartlett Hospital on April 7, 2020, in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo: Rashah McChesney / KTOO)
Alaska will receive about $1 billion from the federal government over the next few years to improve healthcare, but millions of that depends on the legislature passing several bills aligning Alaska with best practices for rural healthcare.
Alaska Native people are much more likely to live in rural areas than other Alaskans.
As Alaska Public Media’s Rachel Cassandra reports, a proposal to make it easier for out-of-state nurses to practice in Alaska is facing fierce pushback.
When you boil it down, Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association head Jared Kosin says joining a so-called license compact is pretty simple. He says there would be a set of criteria nurses would demonstrate.
“And if they do, then they are issued a license and then they can practice in any states that use those same standards.”
Proponents say joining a compact would help ease a nurse shortage across the state that is projected to worsen.
Kosin says it may be simple to explain, but actually getting a bill passed to join the nurse licensure compact has been anything but.
“It’s just so snagged up in politics.”
The last version of the bill was introduced in 2023. It was supported by most healthcare organizations in the state, but it was opposed by nursing unions. He says that created a toxic dynamic.
And this year there is new pressure on the legislature thanks to the Rural Health Transformation Program.
When the Alaska Department of Health (DOH) applied for the money, it told the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) the state would join the compact.
The state has been directed by CMS to create compacts for other health care positions too: physicians, emergency medical services, psychologists, and physician assistants.
The DOH does not know exactly how much money would be clawed back if Alaska does not pass all the required legislation, but a DOH official wrote over email that a ballpark estimate is that millions of dollars is at stake annually and tens of millions of dollars over the five years of rural funding.
Shannon Davenport is a union leader and a nurse. She says there are many problems with the nursing field right now, especially workplace safety, and she doesn’t think the nursing compact is the solution to them.
“It’s not the golden goose. It’s not the answer to everything.”
Even so, most nurses support a compact — almost 90% of nurses living in Alaska, according to a 2023 survey.
The federal deadline to join the compact is at the end of 2027.
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