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Briefly

Crowds attend rodeo, despite orders

EFFIE (AP) — Thousands showed up for what is known as Minnesota’s largest outdoor rodeo, packing the stands for the three-day event despite orders to limit crowds because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The state Department of Health and the state Attorney General’s Office imposed a spectator limit at the event. The latest order from Gov. Tim Walz limits outdoor events and entertainment to 250 people who are socially distanced.

The stands remained full or nearly full for the three days of the 65th annual North Star Stampede Rodeo in Effie in northern Minnesota, the Star Tribune reported.

The event’s organizer, Cimarron Pitzen, wrote on a Facebook post before the event that he would not stand in the way of people coming to protest what he describes as “ridiculous Government Over Reach” and their right to assemble.

Billy Hampton, a saddle bronc rider from White Bear Lake, said he didn’t see many face masks.

“It felt like normal for once,” he said. “It really didn’t feel like other places in the state.”

Feds launch Minnesota office

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ivanka Trump and Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt were visiting a Minneapolis suburb Monday to open an office dedicated to investigating cold cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous peoples.

The office is part of an effort to address violence against Native Americans, particularly women and girls, which advocates say are often overlooked by law enforcement nationwide. Only 116 of the nearly 6,000 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women reported in 2016 were listed in the Department of Justice’s database, according to the National Crime Information Center.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr in November announced a nationwide plan to develop protocols for law enforcement to respond to missing and slain Native American persons cases and to improve data and information collection.

Minnesota lawmakers established a state Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls task force last year composed of elected officials, law enforcement and tribal representatives to bring awareness and craft recommendations for the Legislature to address the issue.

Earlier this month, Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington state sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy urging two pieces of legislation to address the violence against Indigenous women be considered by the House before its August recess. The two bills passed unanimously in the House judiciary committee in March.

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