Latest news with #IndigenousPeoples'Day
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Patty Pansing Brooks announces 2026 bid to return to Nebraska Legislature
Former State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska News Service) LINCOLN — Former State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks announced her 2026 candidacy Friday to return to the Nebraska Legislature, a day after the current officeholder said she would not seek reelection. State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln announced her decision not to run again Thursday, leaving the central Lincoln seat open, as first reported by the Nebraska Examiner. Just 24 hours later, Pansing Brooks 'enthusiastically' threw her hat in the ring with Raybould's support, one of more than 70 current and former officials to endorse Pansing Brooks. 'People keep calling me saying, 'What should I do?'' Pansing Brooks told the Examiner. 'And I keep thinking, 'Well, what should I do to help this country right now?' The main thing that I know that I can do is run for office.' Pansing Brooks, 66, said she hopes to be an example for others to run for office and get involved in these 'very strident times.' During her first two terms in office, 2015 to 2023, Pansing Brooks said she worked to be a voice to bring people together, elevate conversations and help people see other sides to issues. If elected back to Legislative District 28, Pansing Brooks said she would continue uplifting juvenile justice reform, combatting human trafficking, defending workers' rights, protecting public education, supporting small businesses, expanding correctional programming for successful reentry and ensuring access to and equity in health care, 'right where I left off in 2022.' Among Pansing Brooks' previous successes: protecting survivors of human trafficking from prostitution charges, mandating new juvenile room confinement standards and reports and shielding survivors of sexual assault and sex trafficking before criminal charges are filed. 'There's still work to do,' she said. Pansing Brooks has a history of working with conservative colleagues, such as with former State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan on dyslexia. The pair toured schools and passed laws to increase interventions for students with dyslexia and require teachers to be educated about the disability. Pansing Brooks also worked closely with former State Sen. Tom Brewer, a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe and the Legislature's first Native member, notably to help pressure the closing of four beer stores in the village of Whiteclay in Brewer's north-central Nebraska district. For decades, the stores helped fuel alcoholism for the neighboring Pine Ridge Reservation, home to the Oglala Lakota. The duo also worked to add 'Indigenous Peoples' Day' to state law alongside Columbus Day. Brewer is one of many former conservative colleagues of Pansing Brooks to have already endorsed her 2026 campaign. Pansing Brooks, if elected, would join a handful of lawmakers to return after being term-limited. She said she knows there will be 'horrible days,' as there were before and that it might be tough. However, Pansing Brooks said, 'There's goodness and kindness to share, important laws to make and ways to support our fabulous Nebraskans.' Since 2023, the one-house Legislature has been increasingly divided on partisan lines. Pansing Brooks would return as lawmakers have a heightened focus on the LGBTQ community that she advocated for during her time in office. She had proposed legislation attempting to outlaw discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, which other senators picked up after her absence. 'I care about the rights of people to live and to be who they are, to not have prejudice against them, no matter what group they're in,' Pansing Brooks said. 'But I'm also going to be there to learn and listen and try to figure out if there's new steps where I'm needed or new issues where I'm needed, then that's what I'll do.' Another lawmaker who returned after being term-limited, former State Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha, declined to seek reelection in 2022, in part because of how much the institution had changed in the four years he was gone. Lathrop endorsed Pansing Brooks, with whom he served. Just one lawmaker has been term-limited twice since the voter-approved restrictions took full effect after 2006: former State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha. Pansing Brooks said that, if elected, she would not return with any assumptions that she would be treated differently than other 'newbie' lawmakers. She said she knows she would need to make new friendships and gain trust, which she's ready to do, and that Nebraska could be a model for Congress on working together. In 2022, Pansing Brooks was the Democratic candidate for Nebraska's 1st Congressional District, falling short to U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb. Flood, a former colleague, repeatedly sought to tie Pansing Brooks to national Democratic policies and party leaders. Pansing Brooks in that 2022 congressional race won her legislative district by a slightly greater percentage of votes than Raybould did that year. It is Lincoln's most progressive legislative district. A bipartisan group of former senators endorsed Pansing Brooks, including State Sens. Kathy Campbell, Bob Krist, John McCollister, DiAnna Schimek, John Stinner, Tony Vargas and Lynne Walz. She is endorsed by current State Sens. Machaela Cavanaugh, John Cavanaugh, Danielle Conrad, Wendy DeBoer, George Dungan, John Fredrickson, Dunixi Guereca, Megan Hunt, Margo Juarez, Terrell McKinney, Dan Quick, Raybould, Victor Rountree and Ashlei Spivey. All but Hunt, a nonpartisan progressive, are Democrats in the officially nonpartisan Legislature. Other early endorsements include Bob Kerrey and Ben Nelson (former governors and former U.S. senators), former Nebraska Lt. Govs. Kim Robak and Maxine Moul and Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird. Pansing Brooks, who had been a Republican for much of her life until the 2000s, including a stint as Lancaster County GOP chair, said she's honored by conservative friends she made in the Legislature who have now endorsed her. 'It makes me realize that this is possible. We don't all have to be divided and in circular firing squads, just firing away at each other,' Pansing Brooks said. Pansing Brooks added that the Legislature is special and that she hopes lawmakers can continue to find common ground. 'We've done that in the past,' Pansing Brooks said. 'We can continue to do it.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Equal tax treatment among Wabanaki Nations poised to come to fruition this year
Participants in a Wabanaki Alliance rally on Indigenous Peoples' Day at the Maine State House in Augusta. (Photo by Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star) After a 2022 change left out the Mi'kmaq Nation from reform, legislation to ensure equal tax treatment among all of the Wabanaki Nations secured the approval of both chambers of the Maine Legislature this week. LD 982, sponsored by Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Cumberland), passed the House of Representatives and Senate on Tuesday without roll call votes. The bill would exempt the Mi'kmaq Nation from state sales and income tax for activities occurring on tribal trust or reservation lands and allow the Tribe to generate sales tax revenues from sales on their own lands — the same rights afforded to the other Wabanaki Nations. The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Penobscot Nation were granted these rights under a 2022 tax revision, also proposed by Talbot Ross, which brought them on par with the rules that apply to other tribal nations throughout the country. Compared to other federally recognized tribes, the Wabanaki Nations are treated more akin to municipalities than sovereign nations because of the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act. But the Mi'kmaq Nation was not referred to in the Settlement Act and only received federal recognition later in 1991. Last session, the Legislature passed a law known as The Mi'kmaq Nation Restoration Act that put the Tribe on par with the rest of the Wabanaki Nations. LD 982 therefore builds upon the restoration act and the tax revision. This change was previously attempted last session with legislation proposed by State Treasurer Joseph Perry, then representing Bangor in the Maine House. While that bill received favorable committee and chamber votes, it got caught up in end-of-session procedural fights and ultimately died without final action when lawmakers adjourned. The bill this session ultimately becoming law is not yet guaranteed. It has several associated costs, which means it's likely to go to the appropriations table, where bills with fiscal notes that are not already provided for have to vie for funding. This bill would decrease the state's general fund by $4,750 in fiscal year 2025-26 and $45,150 in fiscal year 2026-27. It would also result in ongoing annual transfers of $500 to the Mi'kmaq Sales Tax Fund and result in revenue decreases to the Local Government Fund. There would also be a one-time cost — $19,300 — to fund computer programming costs associated with the provisions of this bill. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Senate President Troy Jackson enters race for governor
Maine Senate President Troy Jackson speaks at a Wabanaki Alliance rally on Indigenous Peoples' Day at the Maine State House in Augusta. Oct. 9, 2023. (Photo: Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star) Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson is running for governor in the 2026 election. The fifth-generation logger announced Monday that he will join the Democratic primary, saying in a news release from his campaign that 'too many Democrats have lost touch with working people or shown they're not up to the fight.' 'I know what it's like to punch a clock, live paycheck to paycheck, be treated like I didn't matter while some billionaire got rich off my back – and how to turn that feeling of powerlessness into action,' he added. Jackson is the fourth Democrat to join the race. He will face Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who announced her bid in late March, as well as Kenneth Pinet and Angus King III, the son of independent senator and former governor Angus King Jr., who announced his run earlier this month. The Allagash-native said he is running for governor to help not only working families and seniors, but also to build a Maine where the children raised here can afford to stay. During his time as a legislator, Jackson focused on lowering prescription drug costs, passing universal school meals, as well as securing funding for rural hospitals and veterans' homes. He termed out last year. Jackson is kicking off his campaign with a statewide tour from Kittery to Madawaska. It starts Monday with a rally at the Kittery Town Wharf followed by a tour of Auburn Manufacturing, Inc. and the Lockwood Mill in Waterville. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Columbus Day dispute simmers in Nevada as lawmaker pushes Indigenous Peoples' Day change
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A day after President Donald Trump declared he was 'bringing Columbus Day back,' a Nevada Democrat presented a bill in Carson City that would officially move Indigenous Peoples' Day to the second Monday in October. State law currently designates Aug. 9 as Indigenous Peoples' Day, but it is widely celebrated on the same day as Columbus Day. Assem. Shea Backus, who represents District 37 in the northwest Las Vegas valley, calls herself an 'urban Indian,' one of 60,000 who call Nevada home. She noted there are 20 federally recognized tribes including tribal members from 28 bands and colonies. Nevada is the ancestral homeland to people of the Northern Paiute, Southern Paiute, Western Shoshone, Washoe and Fort Mojave tribes. Backus emphasizes that the bill doesn't change Columbus Day, but the issue still touches a nerve for Jill Douglass, who calls it 'the bill that seeks to erase Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples' Day.' Most people used the phone line to protest, but Douglass showed up in person at the Legislature's Las Vegas offices on Warm Springs Road. 'We should not tear down another important part of our history. We should not rewrite our shared story to fit a political agenda,' Douglass said. Joshua Skaggs, legislative affairs director for the Nevada Republican Party, read Trump's statement, posted Sunday on social media: 'I'm bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes. The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation and all of the Italians that love him so much.' Assembly Bill 144 (AB144) was first heard on Feb. 11. It advanced to the Senate on April 15 on a 27-15 vote. The resentment voiced by the bill's opponents was matched by the passion of people who support the change. Noé Orosco, government affairs manager for Make the Road Nevada, invoked indigenous names — including Abya Yala — of the lands that we think of now as the Americas. 'These are more than just words. They are the memories of migration, of knowledge systems that understood the land as a relative, not as a resource,' he said. 'Our stories have been systematically overlooked, distorted or silenced through centuries of colonization, violence and cultural genocide. Recognizing Indigenous Peoples' Day is not solely for the benefit of indigenous people, it is an opportunity for all of us to gain a fuller, more accurate understanding of our shared histories,' Orosco said. Sydney Williams, a member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, said, 'AB144 is not about creating something new, it's about aligning state law with the truth of what already exists.' Williams said the holiday is already being celebrated in October. 'Passing this bill is a necessary step towards respect, visibility and a good-faith relationship with Nevada's indigenous peoples. It costs nothing, yet it carries a profound meaning for communities that have long been overlooked,' she said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
28-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Fact-Checking Trump's Claims About Columbus Day
President Trump declared on Sunday that he would bring 'Columbus Day back from the ashes' and reinstate its celebration as a holiday. 'I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!' the president said in a post on Truth Social, referring to the federal holiday named for Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer who sailed to the Americas on behalf of Spain more than 500 years ago. The holiday has long been criticized by those who condemn the explorer for paving the way for European colonialism, which brought catastrophic diseases and led to the decimation of Indigenous populations in America. But Columbus Day was never canceled as a federal holiday, and the second Monday in October is still widely referred to as such in the United States, and for many, it remains an important part of Italian American heritage. With his declaration, Mr. Trump appeared to be referring to a proclamation issued by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2021. That decree also recognized the day as Indigenous Peoples' Day, which recognizes the Indigenous communities that have lived in the Americas for thousands of years, and called for it to be celebrated alongside Columbus Day. 'The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much,' Mr. Trump claimed in his social media post on Sunday. In 2021, Mr. Biden became the first American president to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day, vowing to 'honor America's first inhabitants and the Tribal Nations that continue to thrive today.' But Mr. Biden did not rename the longstanding holiday, which is still officially known as Columbus Day. While several states and dozens of cities recognize the holiday as Indigenous Peoples' Day, it is not considered a federal holiday, though there have been occasional efforts in Congress to make it one. Mr. Biden's 2021 declaration came amid heightened public debate about the erasure of Indigenous people in celebrations of Christopher Columbus, whose landing in North America led to centuries of exploitation and slaughter of Native American populations. At the time, dozens of Christopher Columbus statues were taken down, many in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests that followed the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
