Montana journalist, Red Elk, dies at 62

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) – Award-winning journalist and editor, Bonnie Red Elk, has passed away. She was 62.

The Great Falls Tribune reports Red Elk died Sunday due to complications from a stroke she suffered last year.

Red Elk was a member of the Fort Peck Tribes and a Poplar resident. She rose to the editor position of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes’ official newspaper, the Wotanin Wowapi.

She founded the Fort Peck Journal after chairman of the tribes, John Morales, fired her from the editorial position she held for 30 years after she began researching a story about Morales’ alleged misuse of tribal funds.

In 2007, the Native American Journalists Association awarded Red Elk for continuing to report the news in the face of a challenge.

She is survived by four children and grandchildren.

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Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com