Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance

Crime wave? Despite high-profile killings, alcohol and domestic violence fuel rising crime rates

Kirsten Baesler speaks to delegates during the 2024 NDGOP Convention at the Sanford Athletic Complex in Fargo on April 5, 2024. Baesler is running for reelection as the state’s superintendent. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

La Crosse took notice when Sara Hougom was shot and killed by an intruder in April. Her death came just weeks after another homicide – something that usually happens once a year at most – and …

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Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.