217 Today: Native American tribe fights for clean drinking water

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Pallets of water are delivered to the Santee Sioux Nation Distribution Center every two weeks thanks to a one time grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Residents of Santee, Nebraska have had to drink bottled water since the EPA issued a no drink order to the community in 2019.
  • Photo: Brian Beach / Nebraska Public Media

Monday, October 23, 2023

Today’s headlines: 

  • One Republican from Illinois’ congressional delegation is frustrated at his party’s inability to elect a new House speaker.
  • Some Illinois lawmakers accepted campaign donations from red light camera companies even though they had just passed a bill to prohibit those contributions.
  • A new facility at Parkland College in Champaign will train students to become service technicians for farm equipment made by AGCO.
  • The Fighting Illini football team lost their Homecoming game to the Wisconsin Badgers Saturday, 25-to-21.

In today’s deep dive, we’ll learn more about the barriers to clean water in tribal communities and the fight for infrastructure funding on one Nebraska reservation.

Reporting today contributed by Dave McKinney, Jim Meadows, Alex Degman, Colin Hislope and Brian Beach.

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Farrah Anderson

Farrah Anderson is a 2024 graduate of the University of Illinois. At Illinois Public Media, Anderson works as a general assignment reporter focusing on police and investigative stories.