2A ❚ THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2019❚ USA TODAY NEWS
WASHINGTON – The Space Force is
getting closer to launch.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of
the National Space Council, Vice
President Mike Pence and Pentagon
officials announced that a key step in
creating the newest
branch of the military
would happen next
week.
The U.S. Space Com-
mand officially starts
Aug. 29, serving as the
launching pad for the
Space Force, they said.
Air Force Gen. John Raymond has been
tapped and confirmed by the Senate as
its first leader.
“The United States Space Force will
ensure that our nation is prepared to
defend our people, defend our inter-
ests, and to defend our values in the
vast expanse of space and here on
Earth with the technologies that will
support our common defense for the
vast reaches of outer space,” Pence
said.
Establishment of the Space Force
still requires congressional funding
and authority, a step Pence said Tues-
day would happen soon.
The Trump administration has
cited potential threats from China and
Russia as part of the reasoning behind
creating a space force. Last month,
France announced the creation of its
own space force.
President Donald Trump signed a
directive in February creating the
Space Force.
Eventually, an undersecretary of
defense for space will be named, and
the program – which would start as a
division of the U.S. Air Force – would
become the sixth armed service, join-
ing the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps,
Navy and Coast Guard.
U.S. Space
Command
to begin
next week
Nicholas Wu and Ledyard King
USA TODAY
Pence
er levels of the atmosphere – can tear
apart developing storms. “Long-range
forecasts show less extensive shear
but still enough to cause problems
with westward-moving tropical
waves, or disturbances, during the
next week or so,” Kottlowski said.
Extensive areas of dry air and dust
from Africa have also kept a lid on
shower and thunderstorm formation
in the Atlantic, AccuWeather said.
This hasn’t been the case in the Pa-
cific Ocean, where four hurricanes
have formed. The National Hurricane
Center gives a pair of Pacific weather
systems a good chance of becoming
tropical storms within the next five
days, one of which is dumping heavy
rain across portions of Guatemala and
Mexico this week.
Pacific hurricanes seldom have a di-
rect impact on the mainland USA.
The only hurricane to form this year
in the Atlantic was Barry, which hit
Louisiana in July. “It’s pretty common
to have only had one hurricane this
late in the season,” Klotzbach said. “It
happens about half of the time.
“It’s actually not that uncommon to
have had no hurricanes through Aug.19 – the most recent time that this oc-
curred was in 2015,” he said.
Looking into September, “condi-
tions are expected to become not only
much more conducive for tropical
storm formation but may also lead to
multiple occasions with more than one
named system spinning in the Atlantic
Basin at the same time, as well as a late
and strong finish to the season,” Kot-
tlowski warned.
Overall, five to nine hurricanes are
expected to form in the Atlantic Basin
this year, the National Oceanic and At-
mospheric Administration said in a
forecast released this month.
The months of September and Oc-
tober have brought some of the most
powerful and damaging hurricanes to
the USA, AccuWeather said. In Sep-
tember 2018, Hurricane Florence killed
53 people and caused $24 billion in
damage. One month later, Hurricane
Michael killed 49 and resulted in
$25 billion in damage.Hurricanes
Continued from Page 1AThe International Space Station views Hurricane Florence in the Atlantic
Ocean on Sept. 10, 2018. The storm killed 53 people. NASA/GETTY IMAGESOverall, five to nine hurricanes are
expected to form in the Atlantic
Basin this year.
National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration
in a forecast released this month.USA TODAY’s Best Years magazine
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Democrats seeking the White House
are starting to focus on issues facing Na-
tive Americans.
Native American voter turnout has
ticked upward in the past several elec-
tions, and though they make up a small
slice of the electorate, they overwhelm-
ingly support Democrats. An increase in
Native American voters in battleground
states could overcome the support
President Donald Trump won in Michi-
gan, Wisconsin, Arizona and North Car-
olina, native activists said.
“You might think, well, 2% of the
population, that’s not going to make a
whole big difference for the president,”
said Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., one of
the first Native American women to
serve in Congress. “The Indian vote is
going to make a difference for various
congresspeople across the country, for
House and Senate seats across the
states, for county commissions.”
Oliver “OJ” Semans, an enrolled
member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in
South Dakota, said it’s long past time for
candidates to engage directly with Na-
tive American people. His nonprofit
Four Directions organized the Frank
LaMere Native American Presidential
Forum to take place in Sioux City on
Monday and Tuesday. Eight Democratic
candidates committed to attend the
two-day forum and answer questions
on issues facing Native Americans.
“This forum is not a gotcha moment,”
Semans said. “It’s more like an educa-
tional forum. You don’t have to know a
lot about us coming in, but at the end,
you are going to have more information
than the majority of Americans.”
The Native American electorate
Native Americans make up a small
portion of the electorate. According to
the 2010 census, 5.2 million people
identified as American Indian and Alas-
ka Native alone, or in combination with
at least one other race. The majority
vote Democratic, except in states where
energy is a large focus of the regional
economy, such as Alaska, North Dakota
or Oklahoma. Support in those states
tends to be more bipartisan.
On the eve of the November 2018
midterms, Native Americans said in a
national poll by Latino Decisions they
planned to vote 61%-33% for Democrat-
ic U.S. House candidates. The poll had a
margin of error of plus or minus 4 per-
centage points.
The Native American vote could be a
factor that tips the outcome in six states
next year: Arizona, Michigan, Minneso-
ta, Nevada, North Carolina and Wiscon-
sin. In those states, the number of eligi-
ble native voters exceeds the margin
won by the victor in 2016. (Trump won
four; Hillary Clinton won two.)
Native Americans’ traditional sup-
port of Democrats doesn’t automatical-
ly mean the party wields an advantage,
said Laura Evans, a University of Wash-
ington professor who studies the rela-
tionship between tribes and the federal
government. “Native American voters
need to be convinced about whether ei-
ther party is going to truly serve their in-
terests,” Evans said.
Indian Country Today editor Mark
Trahant said Native Americans make up
an important share of voters in primary
states, including Iowa, which holds the
first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Trahant said the Democratic candi-
dates who could benefit most by robust
native turnout are those whose home
states have significant native popula-
tions, such as Montana Gov. Steve Bull-
ock and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet.
After visiting the Meskwaki
settlement, Sen. Bernie Sanders won
83.3% of the votes in the Indian Settle-
ment precinct in the 2016 Iowa caucus-
es; Clinton won the county that is home
to the settlement.
In 2018, Native Americans made im-
portant political gains. That election
saw the first two Native American wom-
en elected to Congress: Haaland and
Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas – as wellas the election of the highest-ranking
native woman in executive office in U.S.
history – Peggy Flanagan. Flanagan, a
member of the White Earth Band of
Ojibwe, was elected lieutenant governor
of Minnesota.
“Indians tend to vote in higher num-
ber in presidential election years any-
way, and I think with the enthusiasm
built in 2018, it probably will build on
that,” Trahant said.
The Latino Decisions poll that found
2-to-1 support for Democrats among
Native American midterm voters also
found widespread displeasure with
Trump. Two of three native voters said
Trump’s rhetoric and policies “will
cause a major setback to the progress”
made in recent years.
Since he took office, Trump approved
the Keystone and Dakota Access pipe-
lines over objections from tribes citing
environmental and treaty concerns.
Trump offended Native Americans
with his praise for Andrew Jackson,
who led the slaughter of tribes as an
American general and forcibly removed
them from their lands as president, and
with his “Pocahontas” nickname for
2020 presidential candidate Sen. Eliza-
beth Warren, who apologized this year
after claiming Cherokee ancestry.Unique challengesAs part of the Sioux City forum, orga-
nizers hope presidential candidates will
address issues specific to the native
community, as well as issues that are
dealt with more broadly as a society.
The opioid-related overdose death
rate among Native Americans slightly
exceeds the national average, according
to a report in 2016 from the Albuquerque
Area Southwest Tribal EpidemiologyCenter. “The substance abuse crisis is a
huge problem for Indian Country. Our
area, without a doubt, is hit hard by it,”
said W. Ron Allen, tribal chairman of the
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Sequim,
Washington.
Other crises uniquely affect indige-
nous communities.
The murder rate among native wom-
en in some counties comprised primari-
ly of tribal lands is more than 10 times
the national average, according to the
Department of Justice.
Bullock brought up the epidemic of
violence against native women at the
Meskwaki Powwow this month in Ta-
ma, Iowa. As governor of Montana, he
signed a bipartisan bill this year to cre-
ate a missing persons specialist role
within the state DOJ.
“No family should have to go for, at
times, literally decades without justice
being delivered,” he said.
Some 2020 candidates have released
proposals to address indigenous issues:
❚Julián Castro plans to increase
funding for the Indian Health Service
and upgrade tribal lands’ infrastructure.
❚Marianne Williamson said at the
Meskwaki Powwow that if elected,
she’d remove the “insulting” portrait of
Andrew Jackson from the Oval Office.
❚Warren’s plan, the longest of any
she’s released in her campaign, calls for
economic development and improve-
ments in access to health care.
Blackcloud said none of these issues
would get national attention anytime
soon if not for the forum.
“I don’t hold anything on any candi-
date not attending,” she said. “But I
would hope to expect that candidates
start seeing this as important.”
Contributing: Ian Richardson, Des
Moines RegisterNative
Continued from Page 1A
Marianne Williamson says she would
remove Andrew Jackson’s portrait.
IAN RICHARDSON/USA TODAY NETWORKSteve Bullock, right, speaks with the
Meskwaki tribe’s Anthony Waseskuk.
IAN RICHARDSON/USA TODAY NETWORK“The Indian vote is going to make a
difference,” Rep. Deb Haaland says.
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