Buzz Blog

Two versions of the Violence Against Women Act are being debated in Congress,but only one would give tribal authorities the power to fully protect Native American women, reports the site Indian Country Today Media Network. “Tribal authority to prosecute non-Indians for crimes against tribal citizens was removed by the Supreme Court in 1978, creating an Indian country landscape where non-Indians violate Native women with impunity.”---

Top of the Alty World:

“Violence Against Women Act: Overdue Justice for Native Women”—Indian Country Today Media Network.

Democracy Now! hosts Kenneth Roth with Human Rights Watch to discuss the opening proceedings of the military tribunals for the five 9/11 bomber suspects that recently began at Guantanamo Bay.—Democracy Now!

“Mitt and the GOP Boys Club” explores the trouble Romney’s campaign will have in reaching out to women voters.—Boston Phoenix.

Top of Alty Utah

Utah Physicians for Clean Air leader Dr. Brian Moench talks about his work developing an environmental curriculum with a group of University of Utah students to educate the next generation.—RadioActive.

KUER takes a look at Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s visit to Utah in designating new conservation areas as part of the approval of a major natural-gas project.—KUER

A blind, Vietnamese immigrant says getting arrested in Washington, D.C., to protest possible Medicaid cuts was something she had to do even if civil disobedience wasn’t part of her upbringing.—Salt Lake City Weekly.

KCPW hosts Chief of Staff to Salt Lake City David Everitt and a resident to talk the pros and cons of having walkable, neighborhood bars and taverns.—KCPW

Openly gay GOP candidate Fred Karger will be in Utah’s June presidential primary.—QSalt Lake.

Rantosphere:

Brandon's Big Gay Blog reflects on North Carolina's passage of a state Constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage and offers thanks for holding out so long before passing the amendment. "[T]hanks for trying, North Carolina! You have become the 30th state to codify a hateful anti-marriage law in your constitution."--Salt Lake City Weekly.

The Long View: The Verge takes a look at get-rich-quick schemers, including Utah’s own Jeremy Johnson, an Internet marketer who the Federal Trade Commission is currently going after for $275 million. “Johnson, or ‘the millionaire adventurer,’ as he is known in Utah, became a national news story in 2010 when he organized a trip to Haiti to deliver medical supplies in the wake of the earthquake. As the Mormon Times gushed, Johnson lives in a six-million-dollar home that ‘looks like a European palace ... only a little smaller,’ with porticos, balconies, a turret, and the one accessory that no European palace could be without: a rock-climbing wall.”—The Verge.