The chairman of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe is urging South Dakota lawmakers to improve communication with Native American communities. In the annual State of the Tribes address, Lester Thompson singled out bills passed last year that were aimed at protests of the Keystone XL pipeline. A divide between some tribal leaders and Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has been evident since last year. Parts of the laws that made it a crime to encourage or direct others to “riot” were nullified in a settlement. At an event after the address, many leaders from regional Sioux tribes talked vowed to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline.
