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crime came two years ago under the federal Tribal Law and Order Act.
• A U.S. Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday shows that none of the 109 tribes who responded to a survey about increased sentencing were taking advantage of it. Nearly all of those tribes say they need money and technical help from the federal government to provide public defenders, establish or update criminal codes, and have sufficiently trained judges as the law requires.
• The report shows 36 of the tribes surveyed are working toward the new authority.

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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A federal judge in South Dakota has sentenced a North Dakota woman who pleaded guilty to embezzling from a tribal water rights organization to one year in prison.
• U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson announced Wednesday that 50-year-old Rhonda Azure was sentenced last week to one year and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised released. Azure also was ordered to pay back $75,000 in restitution.
• Azure pleaded guilty in February to embezzling funds from Mni Sose Intertribal Water Rights Coalition with two other people. Prosecutors say Azure and the others cashed Mni Sose checks and kept the money for their own use.
• Azure was immediately turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service.

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