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Washington state MMIW alert system signed into law

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee signed into law Thursday (March 31, 2022) an alert system for missing and murdered Indigenous women.

The alert system will be similar to Amber or silver alerts -- where information about missing persons is shown on highway signs and distributed via text message.

Democratic Washington Representative Debra Lekanoff introduced House Bill 1725 during the legislative session. She is Tlingit and Aleut and part of a workgroup created by the state Attorney General's Office -- the Missing, Murdered and Indigenous Women and People task force.

The bill passed both legislative chambers unanimously.

Originally from the Midwest, Tripp Crouse (Ojibwe, a descendent of Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, pronouns: they/them) has 15-plus years in print, web and radio journalism. Tripp first moved to Alaska in 2016 to work with KTOO Public Media in Juneau. And later moved to Anchorage in 2018 to work with KNBA and Koahnic Broadcast Corporation. Tripp currently works for Spruce Root in Juneau, Alaska. Tripp also served as chair of the Station Advisory Committee for Native Public Media.