National Native News

The Alaska chapter of Safari Club International took a group of men from Kipnuk deer hunting last month. The hunters were evacuees from a storm that ravaged the Western Alaska coast, unleashed by Typhoon Halong. After more than a month of staying in shelters and hotel rooms in Anchorage, they were quick to accept the invitation. As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride tells us, what transpired turned out to be more than just a hunt. The Safari Club and Alaska Native subsistence hunters have often been on the opposite side in debates over fish and game management. And some who have followed the politics over the years find it puzzling that the Safari Club reached out to help Kipnuk hunters displaced by the storm. But John Sturgeon, a longtime Safari Club member, says it should not be a surprise. “The Safari Club and the subsistence people are much closer together than most folks would think. We’re hunters. They’re hunters.” Sturgeon helped to organize the hunt. “We have the resources to help. And them eating wild game and going out after wild game is really important to them. And we just said, ‘Well, this is something we can do to help, especially at Christmas time.’ So we’re hoping this will make a few people happy.” What started out with five hunters snowballed. The evacuees had no clothes or gear, which they either lost in the storm or had to leave behind. Club members loaned them guns and scopes. One dug into his own pocket to outfit them for the hunt. The Safari Club bought them hunting licenses and chartered a boat from Whittier, Alaska to Montague Island, where the men took nine Sitka black-tailed deer. It’s the first time Darrell John had gone hunting since an ocean surge carried his house away. “We were hunting deer on a beach, which I never ever thought I would be hunting.” “When I was gutting deer, I knew my family was going to eat something. Made me feel like I was providing for my family again.” Although John never dreamed he’d go hunting in a such in a faraway place like Prince William Sound, he suddenly felt more like his old self. When the hunters returned, they wanted to share their catch with others displaced by the storm. Suddenly plans mushroomed into a feast to feed more than 200. The Safari Club collected donations of fish and wild game, which included a seal from Kodiak Island. John’s wife Lacey John knew right away what was cooking. “Seals have a strong scent. The seal that was baking. It smelled like home. I just breathed in. (laughter) ” Karson Apodaca. (Courtesy Sayetsitty Family / gofundme) A Christmas parade on the Navajo Nation was suddenly cut short this week after a suspected drunk driver struck and killed a child and injured three bystanders. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has details. The Kayenta Township near Monument Valley shared joy on social media ahead of its annual Christmas market and parade at the rodeo grounds. “The parade is going to start on Navajo Route 591, which is right behind Chevron, okay? It’s like you’re going to the flea market here if you live in Kayenta … That one’s gonna start right at 5:00 p.m., so be ready.” But about 10 minutes later, that holiday cheer came to an abrupt halt after an alleged drunk driver entered the parade route and hit four people, including a child and a pregnant woman. The Navajo Police Department confirmed three-year-old Karson Apodaca died and a suspect is in custody. The Kayenta community and guests came together to honor and remember Karson Apodaca with a peaceful vigil walk, the singing of Christmas carols, and the decoration of a Christmas tree in his honor, followed by prayer circle. (Courtesy Sayetsitty Family / GoFundMe) The sale of alcohol, as well as possession and consumption, is prohibited on tribal land. Josephine Romines, a volunteer from Unconquered Life, during the Holiday Resource Rally on December 10 in Ada, Okla, which served about 800 families during the event. (Courtesy Chickasaw Nation) This year, the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma and Feed the Children partnered to bring holiday packages to an estimated 800 Ada, Okla. area families. The recent drive-thru distribution included a 25 lbs. box of food, and a 15lbs box of personal care items, books, toys, and other products. This is the 10th year the tribe and organization have partnered to help families during the holidays.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Friday, December 26, 2025 – For all its promise, AI is a potential threat to culture

Photo: Mrs. Crystal Claus, Peppermint the Elf, and Solte Santa, as portrayed by Colleen Payne, Qalch’ema Friedlander, and Jerry Payne, visit the Chifin Native Youth Center in Springfield, Oreg., Sunday, December 14, 2025. (Buffalo’s Fire/Brian Bull) It’s the holiday season with many families across Indian Country waiting for Santa’s visit to reward all good children with presents. And while the mainstream depiction is of a jolly old elf who’s white and decked out in a red, fur-lined suit, some Native Santas are inspiring yuletide cheer in their own ways. Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire shadowed one across Oregon. At the Chifin Native Youth Center in Springfield, Oreg., a packed classroom welcomes Solte Santa, accompanied by Mrs. Claus, Peppermint the Elf, and others from the North Pole. Jerry Payne, the man behind the curly beard, explains his role. “’Solte’ in Salish means ’warrior’, so I wanted to honor that. And I’m a veteran myself. Every community has their own style of Santa so I wanted to make sure that the Indigenous Natives got to be represented as well.” Solte Santa has made nine appearances across Portland, Eugene, and other places this month, listening to kids’ wish lists and posing for family photos. With a feathered bustle, candy cane staff, and festive beadwork, he contrasts sharply with the Coca-Cola Santa that’s been widely iconic since the 1930s. But Payne says that’s a plus. “The mall Santa or typical Santa that everybody knows like the Coca-Cola Santa … for whatever reason, kids are scared of that Santa. But I’ve had kids that … their parent would say that they would never come up to take a picture with me. Next thing you know, they’re hugging me and jumping in my lap and we take a good picture. Their parents are crying because they never got a good picture with their kid.” A study involving an Oregon State University scholar looked at non-traditional Santas. Bori Csillag, Stirek assistant professor of management, said for many Father Christmases, spreading love and joy for the holidays surpassed the need to conform 100% to the mainstream depiction of Santa Claus. “They see the fit, they hear the calling in their heart, they know that they are able to portray their role successfully.” Besides Solte Santa, a First Nations dancer called Powwow Santa has been firing up social media, and there are many others across tribal communities, reminding people that the Christmas spirit exists for everyone. A Navajo children’s television show returned this month with a holiday special. Jill Fratis reports. The “Navajo Highways” special is titled “Ya’ah’teeh Keshmish,” which is “Merry Christmas” in Navajo. It’s the show’s first full holiday themed episode. The creator of the series, filmmaker, and musician Pete Sands, says the show teaches Navajo language and culture. “Parts of it is my childhood, and part of it is how I wish my childhood was. It’s a balance of both, and I think shining positivity on Indigenous cultures is important to do.” The series blends puppetry, storytelling, and Navajo humor, all set along the winding highways of the Navajo Nation. Sands says that a memory he had of a teacher using puppets to help children listen, gave him the idea to use them in his show. “Seen a teacher friend of mine who was trying to tell her first grade students to clean up, but they wouldn’t listen to her, so she reached into her desk and she pulled out a hand puppet and started talking to her class, and they listened to her, through the puppet actually, and a lightbulb went off in my head like wait, maybe there’s something to this. Maybe I can use this.” The holiday episode highlights traditional winter teachings, including family gatherings, gratitude, and the meaning of giving. Season two of the series begins production next year. Sands says there will be new puppets and new locations, but says the heart of the show remains the same: teaching children simple Diné words and phrases through everyday scenes and conversations. The “Navajo Highways” holiday special, and season one, is now streaming on the First Nations Experience (FNX) platform.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by FNXTV First Nation Experience (@fnxtv)   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, December 25, 2025 – Mental health experts point to personal connections to maintain winter mental health

Long before World War II, the U.S. forced Native Americans onto reservations. After the Pearl Harbor bombing in 1941, the U.S. forced Japanese Americans into camps. In Arizona, the federal government once again looked to Indian reservations. In part two of his series on World War II internment camps in Arizona, KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more. None of the eight other internment camps in the U.S. were on tribal lands, so why here in Arizona? UCLA anthropology professor Koji Lau-Ozawa has an answer. “John Collier, who was the commissioner of Indian Affairs at the time, advocated for all of the camps to be put on reservation lands. He thought that the Office of Indian Affairs was well suited to this task of managing these confined racialized populations.” The “Indian New Deal”, as FDR called it, was part of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and tried making amends for past treatment by investing in tribal infrastructure. That was, until the war effort began. “Funds were starting to dry up. This presented an opportunity.” An opportunity to turn Japanese Americans into a source of prison labor to develop tribal resources, as shown by a 1943 propaganda film narrated by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s brother, Milton, about an internment camp in western Arizona. Brian Niiya says the U.S. embraced a stereotype. “Japanese Americans, with their supposed expertise and farming and agriculture, could help build up the land that would allow for the Native Americans to benefit from – without the consent of the tribes themselves, of course.” Niiya is editor of Densho Encyclopedia, which chronicles the camps’ history. Without much legal representation or political clout at that time, the Gila River Indian Community and Colorado River Indian Tribes both tried fighting camp construction, but failed. “Through the Office of Indian Affairs, I think there was just a thought that we could bulldoze our way through.” Once again, today’s federal government is butting up against tribal land. The Trump administration’s “Alligator Alcatraz” is being built near the Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park. “We’re right in the middle of it. We have members that live within 500 feet of the detention center. You know, it’s not like this distant thing that it is for a lot of Floridians in Naples or Miami.” Talbert Cypress is chairman of the 600-member Miccosukee Tribe, which brought Alligator Alcatraz to a halt. “We don’t go to war anymore with the tomahawk or anything like that. You know, we go to courtrooms now, and we go to meetings with politicians.” (Photo courtesy Maxpixel / Boise City Archives, John Hardy Family Collection, MS084) Children across the country are being raised by relatives or close family friends. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Daniel Spaulding has more on a new report highlighting the challenges facing these kinship families, which are more common within Indigenous communities. According to the U.S. Government of Accountability Office (GAO), these households are more likely to experience poverty and mental health issues. Kinship families are common in Mountain West states with high Indigenous populations like New Mexico and Arizona. Kathy Larin at GAO says kin caregiving is an important part of tribal culture, but because many Indigenous caregivers are outside the formal foster care system, they often receive less financial support. “One of the biggest challenges that we heard across the board for grandparents and other relatives that are raising, you know, their relative children is just the financial burden of it.” Larin says states could adopt standards and programs designed to better support kinship families.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling https://www.nativeamericacalling.com/wednesday-december-24-2025-2025-in-native-books/

A federal jury has ruled against the Grand Gateway Hotel in Rapid City, S.D. With just one exception, Retsel Corporation and the Grand Gateway Hotel were found to have discriminated against Native Americans. South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene was in the courtroom. In total, tens of thousands of dollars of compensatory and punitive damages were awarded to the people denied service to the hotel. Additionally, that discrimination suit means NDN Collective will receive its request of $1 from Retsel. In total, Retsel is now liable for six discrimination claims connected to the events of 2022. Regarding the assault claim against Sunny Red Bear, Retsel Corporation was found l iable for Connie Uhre’s assault against her. Uhre was also convicted in criminal court for the incident. For Nicholas Uhre, the current operator of the Grand Gateway Hotel, his two defamation claims against NDN Collective were thrown out by the jury. The final claim regarding an illegal nuisance was found in favor of Uhre and the hotel. That nuisance included a light projection displaying an “eviction notice” on the side of the hotel and the months-long protest that took place just off hotel property. In total, NDN Collective is ordered to pay $812 for that claim. The decision by the jury came after over nine hours of deliberation and represents an end to the three-year legal battle. Gambell is one of two Native Villages located on St. Lawrence Island, in the middle of the Bering Sea. (Photo: Walter Holt Rose / Wikimedia) Dancing and drumming are essential to Siberian Yupik culture, passed down by ancestors. Josie Ungott and Janissa Noongwook are dancers and high school students in the village of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. They talked to their teacher about what the cultural tradition was like in different generations. Noongwook: “We have Chris Petu drumming for some students in a classroom in Gambell. He’s been teaching this Native dance class for over a year now.” Ungott: “Petu has been a teacher for so long. He’s welcoming and kind to all of us students. He says dance was much more strict in the past.” Petu: “Only dancers to a song was if it’s that composer’s daughter or wife, those were the only ones that dance.” Noongwook: “He says he probably wouldn’t have been a drummer if he had grown up in the old days because his parents weren’t drummers. Petu tells us back then, women would practice dance moves. But if a dancer made a wrong move, the older women would throw a shoe at them.” Petu: “They had a big pile of shoes once a little wrong move, a woman threw at the girl.” Noongwook: “Petu tells us a sad experience about missionaries coming here last century and saying what our people couldn’t do. That drumming, dancing, hunting, eating walrus, and speaking our language was evil.” Petu: “It was instilled deep in their heart that this was evil, that drums and church don’t mix.” Ungott: “Petu tells us when the younger ministers started working, they realized it wasn’t evil and came and apologized. As the years went by, the traditions slowly became less strict. For about forty years now, everyone started dancing to any song.” High school students Noongwook and Ungott wrote and produced this story with help from Alaska Public Media health reporter Rachel Cassandra.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, December 23, 2025 – Lumbee Nation secures its sovereign status  

It’s official — with the swipe of President Donald Trump’s pen, North Carolina’s Lumbee Tribe is now the 575th federally recognized tribe. Correspondent Matt Laslo has the story from Washington. Dozens of members of the Lumbee Tribe traveled from North Carolina to Washington to be a part of history this week. Tears were heard in the gallery after the U.S. Senate approved the measure granting the Lumbee federal recognition Wednesday. And after President Trump signed it into law Thursday, Lumbee Chairman John Lowery could barely contain his joy. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning, and our joy is here. It’s here. We finally achieved what our ancestors fought so long and so hard to achieve.” There are roughly 60,000 members of the Lumbee, making it the largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River. North Carolina officials recognized the tribe after the Civil War in 1885, but not federal officials. U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has helped lead the fight in the Senate in recent years. “Yeah, we’re a little bit excited after 137 years, on their part, about 40 years on Senate members part, it’s good to see it get done.” Tillis is retiring at the end of his term next year, but he says the decade-long battle for federal recognition for the Lumbee shows Washington isn’t totally broken — even if the tribe and North Carolina lawmakers fought an uphill battle for years now. “A lot of educating and just, you know, prioritize the way. This is the way this works, right? You come in, you use leverage, you have discussions, you build a case. I think that’s what happened. I really appreciate the delegation. This was a well-coordinated effort.” Back in 1956, Congress partially recognized the Lumbee, but that left the tribe locked out of federal health services. And it meant the tribe couldn’t operate casinos or marijuana dispensaries like other tribes. Chairman Lowery says it’s a new day for the Lumbee. “The 1956 act, which left us in legal limbo, is now erased. It is no more and we are now fully, fairly recognized.” The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians fought the federal recognition of the Lumbee, which passed as a part of an annual $900 billion defense authorization bill. The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Kansas issued a statement this week to its tribal members about a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract after the deal was met with public scrutiny. In a video statement, Chairman Joseph Rupnick said the Nation and its subsidiaries have fully divested from the ICE contract. “As a result, Prairie Band, LLC is no longer a direct or indirect owner or participant in, or otherwise affiliated with, any ICE-related projects, contracts, or operations. In our next General Council meeting in January, Tribal Council plans to further address the steps we will take to ensure that our Nation’s economic interests do not come into conflict with our values in the future.” Tribal citizens from across the U.S. have raised concerns about ICE and the Trump administration’s immigration policies. Native people have also reported being confronted by ICE, including actress Elaine Miles, who has been sharing her story with media outlets about her run-in with ICE agents in November. (Courtesy Elaine Miles) U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, U.S Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and 10 of their Senate colleagues recently sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about reports of ICE encounters with tribal citizens. They are urging her to develop policy and trainings to recognize tribal IDs and requested a response by January 11.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Friday, December 19, 2025 – Native music in 2025

The Lumbee Tribe is celebrating the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes legislation to grant the tribe federal recognition. The U.S. Senate passed the defense bill Wednesday, as Lumbee citizens gathered in Pembroke, N.C. for a watch party. Lumbee Chairman John Lowery was in Washington D.C. for the vote, and shared a short video message saying he’s the last chairman to go the nation’s capital to fight for full federal recognition. “Now our children and our grandchildren, our great grandchildren can come up here working and fighting and promoting other things for our people.” The tribe has sought federal status for more than a century. The Lumbee’s effort has faced opposition, including by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, while President Donald Trump promised the Lumbee Tribe federal recognition. President Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt in 1941 and President Donald Trump in 2025 invoking the Alien Enemies Act. This December marked the 84th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor bombing – a shocking attack that drew the U.S. into World War II and unleashed a wave of anti-Japanese hysteria. While the U.S. would join a global fight against fascism and Nazi concentration camps, it was erecting camps of its own at home, forcing tens of thousands of Japanese Americans into internment. Two of those camps were set up on tribal lands in Arizona. In the first of a 5-part series, KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio examines the law that has given presidents power to imprison perceived enemies. It all began December 7, 1941, a Sunday morning in Hawaii, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. More than 2,400 souls were lost at the naval base on the island of Oʻahu. The U.S. was suddenly swept into the Pacific Theater. “And we’re going to fight it with everything we’ve got.” During President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech, he invoked the Alien Enemies Act. It’s a 1798 wartime law authorizing the president to legally detain and deport anyone suspected of engaging in acts like espionage and sabotage. “Not only must the shame of Japanese treachery be wiped out, but the forces of international brutality wherever they exist, must be absolutely and finally broken.” Weeks later, President Roosevelt directed the Secretary of War to herd more than 120,000 people with Japanese ancestry into camps in Arizona, California, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and as far east as Arkansas. Two-thirds of prisoners were American-born citizens. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt had empathized with them, even touring a camp south of Phoenix in 1943. Barbara Perry says Mrs. Roosevelt was simply ahead of her time. “And certainly on how she viewed Japanese Americans, but she couldn’t convince her husband of that.” Perry is co-chair of the Presidential Oral History Program at the University of Virginia. She also points out precedent was set a century prior when President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 – marching tribes west of the Mississippi River. “America was pretty discriminatory…” Despite not being at war, President Trump reinvoked the Alien Enemies Act on day one of his second term. “…to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks, bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities.” This proclamation wasn’t surprising to John Woolley, co-director of the American Presidency Project at UC Santa Barbara. “This is a domestic political rallying point that is very powerful with Donald Trump’s base.” Part two explores why a pair of Arizona reservations were picked to house the camps.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, December 18, 2025 — Amid Greenland’s independence push, Denmark accounts for colonial blunders

The Arctic continues to warm faster than other parts of the world — and is experiencing record high temperatures and record low levels of sea ice. That’s according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which released its annual report card for the region Tuesday. As The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA reports, those findings directly affect Alaska Indigenous communities. The Arctic Report Card has been documenting changes in snow and sea ice cover, as well as air and ocean temperatures in the northern part of the globe for the past 20 years. It has shown that, in that time, the Arctic’s annual temperature has increased at more than double the global rate of temperature changes. Hannah-Marie Ladd is the director of Indigenous Sentinels Network. “These changes cascade directly into people’s lives, affecting fisheries, coastal safety, and subsistence harvests. We are no longer just documenting warming. We are witnessing an entire marine ecosystem, which is tied to our economies and culture, transform within a single generation.” The report highlights an emerging phenomenon called rusting rivers. That’s when permafrost thaw causes ground water to seep deeper and interact with mineral deposits, which likely turns some streams and rivers to a rusty orange color. Abigail Pruitt says that, in Alaska, over 200 streams turned orange in recent years. “Within Kobuk Valley National Park, we observed the complete loss of juvenile Dolly Varden and Slimy Sculpin, in a tributary to the Akillik river when it turned orange. Beyond the effects on fish, rusting rivers may impact drinking water supplies to rural communities as well.” The report highlights how Indigenous communities have been observing the changes in their environments and wildlife and collaborating with scientists to better understand those changes. Ladd describes one example of such work. She says that St. Paul residents collect samples of harvested traditional foods like seabirds, marine mammals, and halibut. Those samples are tested in a tribally owned lab and analyzed for contaminants like mercury. “Indigenous leadership, local workforce development, and community driven observing are not optional. They’re essential to understanding the Arctic that we have today and preparing for the Arctic we are moving into.” In response to a question about how federal cuts to climate science might affect the future of the Arctic Report Card, NOAA officials said that they will continue their efforts to observe the changing environment. Two tribal communities in New Mexico will be receiving $200,000 in state grants for high-speed internet development. KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) has more. Santa Clara Pueblo and the Fort Sill Apache tribe will each receive a planning grant of $100,000 through the New Mexico Grant Writing, Engineering, and Planning Program. In a release, the state’s Broadband Policy and Programs Bureau Chief, Andrew Wilder, said the funding will help start important projects in tribal regions that lack high-speed internet. Santa Clara will use its grant to build fiber lines connecting homes and provide Wi-Fi service. Fort Sill plans to create a high-speed broadband network connecting unserved homes. The tribe has already secured $500,000 in infrastructure funding for fiber, equipment, and trenching. The state’s office of broadband has already issued 36 awards totalling $3.5 million to 17 tribal communities, 15 local governments, and four rural electric and telephone businesses. The broadband office stated that $1.5 million are still available in planning grants. The awards are assistance-based, not merit-based, so entities do not compete for funding. No matching funds are required.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Wednesday, December 17, 2025 – Saving historic architecture and other important places

The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation neighboring Fountain Hills, Ariz. recently dealt with reports of “aggressive dogs running loose”, resulting in attacks that prompted its police department to increase patrols while urging the public to stay away. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports. Two tribal members were bitten last week and are now recovering from non-lethal injuries, according to acting chief of police Jesse Puffer. “We did catch three out of the four dogs.” Incidents like this are not uncommon on tribal lands with canines roaming their 24,000-acre reservation. Some are seen as strays – often dogs that are dumped there by owners who do not wish to keep them – while others are claimed by tribal members as pets. “We also have a dog ordinance, too, so people get cited for that as well – depending on what the nature anywhere from, you know, $150 fine and plus you and it can be higher if you can’t show record of vaccination and also licensing.” The documentary “Remaining Native” tracks Yerington Paiute Tribal member Ku Stevens as he confronts the horror of what his great-grandfather went through in boarding school. Stevens created a remembrance run tracking the same route his great-grandfather took to escape his boarding school. KNPR’s Jimmy Romo attended a screening of the film and brings us this report. Warning: This story includes accounts of violence against children In 1913, government officials ripped 8-year-old Yerington Paiute Tribe member Frank Quinn from his family and placed him in the Stewart Indian Boarding School near Carson City, Nev. As part of her history PhD studies at UNLV, Annie Delgado researches what actually happened to Native children in the U.S. boarding school system. “The early years are just filled with trauma, abuse, pain, and just assimilation.” Many students tried to escape the abuse. Quinn’s great-grandson Ku Stevens is the protagonist in the documentary, “Remaining Native”. In the film, viewers learn, along with Stevens, the story of his great-grandfather. To remember the courage of Native children who tried to escape, Stevens organized a remembrance run from Yerington, Nev. to the Stewart Indian School. The first run took place in 2021, followed by three others. The route marked the same 50-mile run Quinn took to go back home, as Stevens explains. “They were running, sweating and bleeding. I think of this guy Russell, who I consider just like an uncle, broke both his feet, fractured them by the end of the run. And he did all 50 miles.” In the most recent class action lawsuit, the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California filed a case against the federal government in May. They are suing over misused funds. Currently, the sovereign nations are requesting the U.S. itemize a $23 billion trust fund, established by pressuring Native nations to sign agreements. Most of these treaties promised that the U.S. would educate Indigenous children in exchange for their land. That wasn’t what happened, according to UNLV’s Annie Delgado. “The United States government itself knows that these schools did not educate [children] the way they intended to educate.” The communal trauma of boarding schools still affects Indigenous families across the nation. “Remaining Native” is still available for community screenings. The Bridging Agency Data Gaps & Ensuring Safety for Native Communities Act has passed the U.S. Senate. It supports the recruitment and retention of Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) law enforcement officers, bolsters federal missing persons resources, and gives Tribes and states tools to combat MMIP. The legislation is led by U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NM), John Hoeven (R-ND), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), and Mike Rounds (R-SD). Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, December 16, 2025 – Native in the Spotlight: Randy Taylor

For the last few months, Navajo Nation leaders have been butting heads over who is its official controller – the person responsible for handling the tribe’s finances. Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren tried firing that top official. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, that dispute is now over. Sean McCabe has been reaffirmed as the sole lawful controller through a legally binding stipulation between him and President Nygren, which also orders Controller McCabe to receive backpay and have his attorney fees covered. Nygren recently apologized for sending profanity-laced texts leaked by McCabe to council delegates. “I used language that I shouldn’t have. In moments of great stress we don’t always act as our best selves. This was one such occasion for me.” The October exchange preceded his sudden termination. Screenshots show Nygren pressured McCabe to unlock his government-issued purchase card, but McCabe told him there’s no budget. Nygren reiterates that his agreement with McCabe isn’t a “compelled admission” of any “unlawful action” or “wrongdoing.” Quinhagak resident Patrick Jones deploys a buoy in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region in early summer 2025. (Photo: Sean Gleason) A program that helps boaters in Indigenous coastal communities use buoys to track weather conditions wrapped up another season this fall. Advocates of the Backyard Buoys program say it increased safety for fishermen in Western Alaska – and helped hunters in Alaska’s Arctic land whales. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more. Several years ago, seven boaters went missing in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region and were never found. The loss motivated residents to find ways to better understand their changing waterways. Nalaquq is an organization that integrates Indigenous knowledge into research in the region. The company joined a nationwide initiative, called the Backyard Buoy project, and deployed three buoys in the area for the first time this year. Lynn Marie Church is Nalaquq’s chief executive officer. “We wanted to understand what was going on in our ocean … in our waterways, especially with the changes in the environment that we’ve seen over the past 10 years.” Backyard Buoys project helps Indigenous coastal communities in Alaska, as well as the Pacific Northwest and Pacific Islands, support maritime activities. Buoys track wave height, temperature, and barometric pressure in real time. Residents can see that information in an app and decide whether it is safe to travel. Church says that using the Backyard Buoys app has been easy. “When you look at where the locations are, it’s not by latitude and longitude, it’s by place names. That’s how we learn in rural Alaska.” Sean Gleason is the head of Research and Development at Nalaquq. “We picked locations where people travel for subsistence or daily travel.” The goal was also to spread out those buoys so communities in different parts of the region can use the data. “There’s no one community. Everyone’s related.” In Alaska’s Arctic, the project has been ramping up as well. The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission facilitated the installment of buoys in six communities this year. Martin Edwardsen is the commission’s coordinator for the project and is also a whaling co-captain. “I was looking at the app and seeing that the waves weren’t too big in the general area where we were headed. So we went out that way and we successfully harvested a whale and brought it back to our community to feed.” The whaling commission is now looking for translators to allow users of the Backyard Buoys app see information in their Native language. Correction: In a previous newscast, we mistakenly said the Wounded Knee Massacre was observing its 130th anniversary this December. Actually it’s the 135th anniversary.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Monday, December 15, 2025 – A Native entrepreneur’s view of the retail shopping season

A Tucson, Ariz. resident is facing federal charges for allegedly excavating and trafficking archeological resources from the Gila River Indian Community. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says 46-year-old Leo Reynoso stands accused of violating the Archeological Resources Protection Act. Prosecutors said Reynoso allegedly removed several artifacts from the community without authorization. This included jewelry, Indian Trader tokens, crucifixes, and buttons from archeological sites on tribal land. He also stands accused of selling these items without a permit. The archeological value of the items is estimated at $29,000, while the cost of repairing the archeological sites is estimated at $23,000. If convicted, Reynoso faces a $20,000 fine and could get up to two years in prison. U.S. soldiers at a burial for some of those who were killed at Wounded Knee, S.D. on January 1, 1891. December 29 will mark 135 years since the Wounded Knee Massacre. In part two of his story, KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio shares some Native reactions to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s assertion that the soldiers who took part in the violent and tragic incident deserved their Medals of Honor. David Martinez (Akimel O’odham) is founder and director of ASU’s Institute for Transborder Indigenous Nations. “Wherever you see America invading, sending troops, trying to intimidate – all that comes from America’s original attitude towards the so-called frontier, which was regarded as wild, which was regarded as dangerous, which was regarded as full of savages.” From the Utes across modern-day Utah and Colorado to the Apaches in Arizona and New Mexico, the Army fought over a dozen conflicts predating federal recognition of tribal governments. “There’s not a tribe anywhere in North America that did not experience deep, historic trauma.” Even the Bureau of Indian Affairs emerged in 1824 from within the original War Department. Two centuries later, Martinez suggests it’s fitting that President Donald Trump has restored the agency’s old moniker. “Well, for me, the Department of War is the true name, because, from my point of view as an Indigenous person, the objective in America’s conquest of Indian Country was to make Indian Country like America. It did so at the expense of Indian land and people. And so the reservation system that we see around us today, which includes my people, Akimel O’odham, is a product of war.” Lakota attorney Chase Iron Eyes calls the reservations prison camps. “There are those of us who never perceived an end of war. If you look at what the reservation system is, it’s not peace, prosperity, and privilege for Native people; it’s a little open-air prison camp.” For Iron Eyes, who runs the Lakota People’s Law Project, Wounded Knee is deeply personal. “As the great-great grandson of people who were killed at Wounded Knee, nobody in their right mind takes pride in the slaughtering of non-combatants – women and children.” Marlis Afraid of Hawk grew up hearing horror stories from her grandfather, Richard, who was only 13 when he survived Wounded Knee. The 68-year-old Oglala Lakota elder insists Sec. Hegseth is wrong. “He’s in denial, look it up. But he’s not going to.”   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Friday, December 12, 2025 — Persistence pays off for tribes working to remove disturbing public monuments

Photo courtesy Cherokee Nation / Facebook In Tahlequah, Okla. this week, Cherokee language speakers and officials unveiled a Cherokee language dictionary app. They were joined by representatives of Kiwa Digital Limited, who developed the app based on a Cherokee dictionary 50 years ago, created by Native speaker Durbin Feeling. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Junior said the new app will allow every Cherokee family to carry the resource in their pockets, and represented the tribe’s sovereignty and knowledge, as well as their commitment to keep the Cherokee language strong for generations to come. “For the last five centuries, our language and our culture has been under assault, has been eroded, and that’s the story of Indigenous languages around the world. Many of which the languages that have been lost and that we will lose in the future. Many of which are a part of history books, about languages that once were.” Chief Hoskin said he expected the app to become more than a simple curiosity for tribal members, and will be especially embraced by children and other youth. The Cherokee Language Dictionary App includes translations for more than 6-thousand Cherokee words, with audio recordings, grammar notes, and phonetics. Under my direction, the soldiers who fought at the Battle of Wounded Knee will keep their medals. This decision is final. Their place in history is settled. pic.twitter.com/klQlB6MZ6l — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) September 25, 2025 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave an unusual speech in September to top brass in which he railed against “woke” ideology and hyped the recently rebranded Department of War. He also weighed in on a long-simmering controversy involving the so-called Battle of Wounded Knee which occurred on December 29, 1890, where hundreds of Lakotas were killed by the U.S. Army. Many consider that conflict a massacre – and have called for the soldiers to be stripped of their Medals of Honor. Sec. Hegseth dismissed the idea as political correctness run amok and released a video defending the soldiers and their medals. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, it was a painful message for tribes throughout the country. “Under my direction, we’re making it clear, without hesitation, that the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890 will keep their medals.” Although bipartisan efforts in Congress to rescind those Medals of Honor go back decades, only a president has the legal authority – beyond the Pentagon itself – to undo that distinction. “This decision is now final, and their place in our nation’s history is no longer up for debate. We salute their memory, we honor their service, and we will never forget what they did.” In what would be the final chapter of the Army’s century-long “Indian Wars” campaign, as many as 300 Lakotas were killed at Wounded Knee in South Dakota – while at least 25 U.S. soldiers died. A rifle shot rang out when troops tried disarming a surrendering encampment on December 29, 1890. In that confusion, the mass slaughter of mostly unarmed men, women and children ensued. Army general Nelson Appleton Miles penned in private, “I have never heard of a more, brutal cold-blooded massacre than that at Wounded Knee.” To this day, there is still no official death count. Hegseth’s comments came a few weeks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order, rebranding his agency as the Department of War. “This is something we thought long and hard about. We’ve been talking about it for months, Pete and I … I think it’s a much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now.” From the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza, the same dynamics of Wounded Knee – of civilians being killed by conquering military forces – continue to play out all around the globe, according to David Martinez. “And I would go further and say that what you see in contemporary American foreign policy was forged in America’s battles with Indian people.” Tune in tomorrow to hear how the history of Wounded Knee continues for many Native people today.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, December 11, 2025 – Tribes fight for solutions to dwindling clean water sources

Photo: Josh Engle, manager and peer support specialist at True North Recovery in Wasilla, gives out cookies as part of homeless outreach efforts in Anchorage on Tuesday, November 25, 2025. (Matt Faubion / Alaska Public Media) For people experiencing addition, it can help to talk to someone who has been through recovery themselves. Peer support specialists offer a different kind of support from therapists or psychiatrists. And in Alaska, there are state certifications for peer support roles, including a special track for Indigenous people with lived experience in recovery. Alaska Public Media’s Rachel Cassandra has more on peer-to-peer care in the state. Josh Engle is bundled up on one of the first really cold days in October. He walks along a forest path to do outreach in an encampment in Anchorage. He approaches a man in a weathered coat. “How long you been out here on the streets?” “Too long. Yeah. Yeah.” Several tents and makeshift structures lean together. “You connected with any resources?” Engle is a manager and peer support specialist at True North Recovery – and one of his aims today is to help guide people into recovery. It’s a path Engle knows well because he’s in long-term recovery himself. Now he supports people in ways that go well beyond what a more traditional therapist or psychiatrist can do. He may text with clients outside business hours, help them find work or get connected with benefits – anything that supports them in a way that might lead to recovery. “I personally, really enjoy being able to connect with them on a personal level of someone that has walked their path.” When patients interact with workers with lived experience, research shows it can aid recovery and can reduce healthcare costs. Aaron Surma is Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in Juneau, which runs training for peer support. And Surma experiences mental illness himself. He says psychiatrists and mental health professionals play an important role in supporting recovery and treatment, but there is a strong power difference. “You’re in a small room, you’re making intense eye contact, and the dynamic is that you have the expert and the person who needs help.” Surma says he was arrested multiple times during high school and was court ordered to go to Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. He says hearing peers in those groups was awesome, but things felt different when talking with his formal providers. “When I was a teenager, I was lighting stuff on fire and buying garbage bags of weed. So then to go into a small room and talk to somebody who you know, like, imagine the counselor from “South Park” who’s saying ‘Drugs are bad, Mkay?’ And it’s a million miles from what you know.” He says it’s easier for peers to bridge those gaps in early recovery. Peer support specialists speak the language of addiction and mental illness and also understand the more traditional language of behavioral health professionals. Seeds of Eden, which offers addiction recovery services and community-based behavioral health services, recently received a $30,000 grant from the South Dakota Community Foundation. The grant will help the organization’s work to provide sober living, peer support, care coordination, and case management, including a project to build a recovery housing facility on the Standing Rock Reservation on the South Dakota side. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe straddles the South Dakota and North Dakota border. Isaiah Keller is one of the co-founders of Seeds of Eden. He says they’re already secured a home, which is being remodel to offer future services. “The house that we have been remodeling is about 90% complete. So, a small portion of the funds that were awarded will go to finish that project, that house and to make it livable and to make it functional.” Keller says Seeds of Eden was designed to help fill a gap when it comes to addiction recovery services, and he says the group realized there was a need for assistance within tribal communities. He says they’ve been working closely with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Native American board members, and Native advocates. “We’ve partnered with a really good ally and advocate. And her name is Bobbi Jamerson. She’s the chairwoman of the Bear Soldier District on the South Dakota side of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. And she has been advocating and promoting recovery and community involvement. We’re at a point right now where we feel like we have some great traction and some great movement.” Keller says they would like to expand services across South Dakota and beyond.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Wednesday, Decemb

Native actress Elaine Miles, known for her roles in TV’s “Northern Exposure” and the 1998 movie “Smoke Signals” has spent the last month contending with a run-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents – and the response to her sharing her story with local and national media. Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire reports. On November 3, Miles says she was at a bus stop in Redmond, Wash. preparing to do a Target run when several men in camo fatigues and tactical gear appeared. For 45 minutes, she says they deliberated over the legitimacy of her tribal ID, and if they were aware of her rights as a U.S. citizen. “I go, ‘Are you federal? Are you recognized as a federal officer? Do you have the warrant stating that you have right to stop me?’ And then they kept saying, ‘We don’t need a warrant.’ And I go, ‘Yes, you do.’” Miles said the men often looked confused at her assertions and finally left when another man called them back to a waiting SUV. In the following weeks as ICE activity continued around Redmond, Miles retreated from doing things around town, prompting concern from relatives and friends. She decided late last month to share her story, including with the Seattle Times, Newsweek, and Salon. She found support, but also toxic trolling. “People are calling me a racist, a bigot. I’m hateful, you know? And then I even had some people say I was a Pretendian. Oh, and I like this one: ‘Miss Piggy, go back to the reservation where you belong.’” Miles says she’ll keep sharing her story, and advises her fellow Natives to carry their tribal IDs, passports, and copies of their birth certificates. Meanwhile, Miles is looking forward to her next project: a TV series that will start filming next year. “Probably be January, February. She’s a knowledgeable cop.” Tribes across the U.S. have reported their citizens being confronted by ICE as President Trump’s immigration crackdown continues. On Veterans Day, a Native woman in Des Moines, Iowa had an ICE detainer placed on her, which almost led to her being put into ICE custody, until it was learned jail administrators confused her with another person with the same last name. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment. Janice Talas-Denny (Hopi), the tribal veteran support coordinator at Televeda, installs a Starlink at New Pascua on October 2, 2025. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) Without reliable internet, it’s often challenging for veterans to apply for and access financial and health benefits, including mental health care. But as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, a Phoenix-based telehealth company and the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services are partnering to help better equip those living on remote tribal lands. So far, Janice Talas-Denny (Hopi) with Televada has so far delivered 16 military-grade kits containing Starlink satellite internet systems – at no-cost – to over a dozen tribes across Arizona beginning this year in Parker. “If I can do this, anyone can do this.” Her latest stop, New Pascua, is just on the outskirts of Tucson, Ariz. “It’s a hot day today. We don’t want to be out here too long.” Fortunately, it takes only ten minutes, she says, for the satellite hookup once they figure out which direction is north. Along with her is Dylan Dalzotto on behalf of the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services. “Let’s start with 50, see where it goes and here we are rather quickly, excited to get the rest of them out there and a big roadblock for a lot of vets is the internet connectivity.” Even for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. “And a lot of times, they’re not.” Carmen Rivera is the tribe’s veterans benefits counselor and often travels to the Mexico border, meeting with tribal members living off-grid. “And when you give them, you know, information, whether it be off this system, or you give it to them in paper, they like that.”     Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, December 9, 2025 – Tribes ponder blood quantum alternative

Photo courtesy Assembly of First Nations / Facebook More than sixty Indigenous artifacts have now been returned to Canada from the Vatican. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis leaders were on hand at Montreal’s airport over the weekend to welcome them back. There were 62 items in large crates on board the plane that landed on Saturday morning. Many Native leaders as well as those involved in the repatriation efforts were on hand. Some bowed as the crates were lowered onto the tarmac, for most, the objects on board were more than simply artifacts. One of those present was the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak. “This is an important and emotional moment for many First Nations across this country. And I also hope it’ll be an important moment for all Canadians to consider the history and the future of this country. Reconciliation isn’t one stop here, reconciliation is every single day doing this work.” After many years of advocacy and under the guidance of Knowledge Keepers and Elders, sacred First Nations items have now arrived back in Canada and will be repatriated to their rightful communities of origin. (Photo: Assembly of First Nations) Indigenous leaders in Canada have been calling, for years, on the Vatican to repatriate the artifacts in its collection. They met with Pope Francis in Rome in 2022 to talk about the legacy of the residential schools. At the time they were also given a private viewing of some of the objects held by the church. They included embroidered gloves, a kayak, and a sling for carrying a baby. Some Indigenous leaders say it’s not about bringing home objects or artifacts, but about bringing home memories, bringing home the dignity and power that was taken from their ancestors. The artifacts will not be available for public viewing until sometime early next year. Nepinak also says there are more artifacts in the Vatican Museum so the work to repatriate them will continue. U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), left, meets with Apache Stronghold founder Wendsler Nosie Sr. in Guadalupe on May 5, 2025. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) After finally being sworn in following a historic seven-week delay, U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) is using her first legislative act to fulfill a campaign promise she made to tribes across Indian Country. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more. In 2015, her father, the late U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, first introduced the Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining Act to protect an Apache holy site east of Phoenix by stopping a congressionally approved land exchange between the U.S. Forest Service and Resolution Copper. He said at the time that, “So maybe the foreign company has millions and billions of dollars, we have a spirit.” A decade later, the fight isn’t over. The controversial land swap has been put on hold until as early as next year. And the new congresswoman is taking on that mantle by reintroducing her dad’s old bill. “The bar is very high. Again, this is new to me, not new to the family, but new to me. I mean, I hear it even from Democrats mining is super important, right, but none of the ore is staying here. It’s all going to China.” As for Resolution Copper, the company tells KJZZ that Rep. Grijalva has been invited to meet their workforce to talk about what they call her “highly concerning” bill, which, they say, threatens hundreds of jobs today and billions of dollars for Arizona’s future. The Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma is concluding its emergency food assistance response this month. The tribe issued a declaration of emergency in October after the federal government announced the suspension of SNAP benefits for recipients in November. The declaration tapped millions of dollars in the tribe’s reserve funds for cash assistance for Cherokee citizens, and support for food pantries, meal sites, and food banks. According to the Cherokee Nation, the tribe delivered nearly $2 million in assistance to individuals and non-profits.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Monday, December 8, 2025 — Tribal museums reflect on tumultuous year, chart their next steps

Photo: In her closing remarks, AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak thanked those who contributed to the success of #AFNSCA2025, the dedication of Chiefs and delegates, and emphasized the importance of unity, collaboration, and continued advocacy for First Nations. (Courtesy Assembly of First Nations / Facebook) The final day of the special chiefs meeting of the Assembly of First Nations was on Thursday. And there was continued push back to the notion of a new pipeline to Canada’s west coast, and the lifting of a tanker ban along that coast. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, three federal cabinet ministers took the stage to address the chiefs. The cabinet ministers included Rebecca Alty, Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations, Mandy Gull Masty of Indigenous Services, and Finance Minister Francois-Phillippe Champagne. They were there to push the prime minister’s agenda of major nation building projects and they stressed that they needed First Nations as economic partners. The main issues that continued to dominate discussion is likelihood of a lifting of the oil tanker ban on the west coast to support a new pipeline. Eldon Yellowhorn is an Indigenous Studies expert at Simon Fraser University. He says Native leaders have good reason to fear a lifting of the tanker ban. “Driving by fears of an oil spill the tanker ban. For good reason the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 is still has its mark on the land and the sea around Alaska. And there’s very real fears here that something similar could happen. It could wipe out entire coastal communities and their livelihoods. So, there’s a real fear about that particular resolution.” The key minister helping to advance the major projects agenda was not present for the final day. He had run into trouble last week when he brushed off concerns from coastal First Nations after he failed to meet with them before the signing of the pipeline agreement with Alberta. He did eventually meet with those First Nations, but some have said they weren’t satisfied with what they heard. Many chiefs say the proposals for developing resources are an attack on First Nations rights. Some however have expressed an openness to pipeline ownership. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told the meeting that Indigenous partnership was key to speeding up major projects, boosting economic growth, and strengthening Canada’s position at home and abroad. A scene from the “Navajo Highways’ holiday special. (Courtesy “Navajo Highways”) A Navajo children’s television show is returning with a holiday special on Friday, December 5. Reporter Jill Fratis from our flagship station KNBA has more. The “Navajo Highways” special is titled “Yáʼátʼééh Késhmish,” which is “Merry Christmas” in Navajo. It’s the show’s first full holiday-themed episode. The creator of the series, filmmaker and musician Pete Sands, says the show teaches Navajo language and culture. “Parts of it is my childhood, and part of it is how I wish my childhood was. It’s a balance of both, and I think shining positivity on Indigenous cultures is important to do.” The series blends puppetry, storytelling, and Navajo humor, all set along the winding highways of the Navajo Nation. Sands says that a memory he had of a teacher using puppets to help children listen, gave him the idea to use them in his show. “Seen a teacher friend of mine who was trying to tell her first grade students to clean up, but they wouldn’t listen to her, so she reached into her desk and she pulled out a hand puppet and started talking to her class, and they listened to her, through the puppet actually, and a lightbulb went off in my head like ‘wait, maybe there’s something to this. Maybe I can use this.’” The holiday episode highlights traditional winter teachings, including family gatherings, gratitude, and the meaning of giving. Season two of the series begins production next year. Sands says there will be new puppets and new locations, but says the heart of the show remains the same – teaching children simple Diné words and phrases through everyday scenes and conversations. The “Navajo Highways“ holiday special and season one is now streaming on the First Nations Experience (FNX) platform. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Friday, December 5, 2025 – Tribes work to define legal boundaries for online sports betting  

Curtis Rogers holds his master’s degree in tribal administration and governance outside AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. in May 2022. (Photo: Rachel Rogers) This year’s 29 Bush Fellows included five Native Americans from across the upper Midwest. The Bush Foundation provides up to $150,000 dollars over two years for their fellows to hone their talents and leadership skills. In the final fifth profile, Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire reports on a White Earth tribal administrator who wants to best serve his community. Curtis Rogers is the deputy director of the White Earth Nation of Minnesota. He works with 1,300 employees who serve the tribe’s 17,000 citizens, and covers everything from public safety to economic development. In addition to that, he’s also a husband and family man. With his Bush Fellowship, Rogers says he’d like to level up with a law degree. “And that’s because every single day we have people that are coming to us with all kinds of jurisdictional questions. There’s big Land Back issues that we’re facing continuously, with attacks on tribal sovereignty. And I just want to lead and make decisions that are best.” Rogers remembers his family growing up in the projects of the White Earth Reservation, and struggling to make ends meet. He says he aims to help his people any way he can, and part of that plan will be to help the tribe regain some of its state forest. Rogers says he hopes to start law school in the fall of 2026. Charlene Aqpik Apok, left, Maria Destrikoff-Francis, Qimalleq Teter, and her daughter Bugs work on an affirmations activity during a workshop about Dene coming-of-age ceremonies. The workshop took place at the Elders & Youth conference on Monday, October 13, 2025. (Photo: Alena Naiden) In one Dene family, there had not been a ceremony for girls coming of age for three generations. Then a group of aunties, mothers and daughters came together to restore it – first, just for their family. And then for all young Alaska Native women interested in learning. They presented their work at the annual Elders and Youth conference this fall in Anchorage. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA reports. Fourteen-year-old Manu David is pouring hot tea blended by hand. She brings cups to women of all ages who fill a room during a workshop at the Elders & Youth conference. David and other girls made these teas during a gathering for girls coming of age, called Nodoyedee’onh. Her family has been reviving this Dene tradition through sharing circles. “It’s really fun. It’s just like, everybody gets together and we just share about anything and everything.” They also harvest plant medicine, make their own body products and work on traditional skills like sewing and beading. Helena Jacobs is one of the women leading the event and has been working with the girls during Nodoyedee’onh. “I feel like the work we’re doing with them right now is healing multiple generations.” Her family started to gather every few months and transitioned the family gatherings into a community event for teenage girls. “…just empower them with knowledge about their bodies and just surround them with a lot of love and support throughout these big transitions in life that can sometimes feel kind of scary or isolating.” Qimalleq Teter is Yup’ik and Cup’ik from St Mary’s. She says she came to the workshop because she wanted to learn how to guide her four-year-old daughter, but Teter says that she realized she herself still wants guidance. “You get of age of different things, all throughout your life.” Teter says that in Yup’ik culture, the ceremonies celebrate different milestones. Like when a woman catches her first fish, makes her first thing and has her first baby. Teter says the workshop reminded her that it’s not too late to honor transitions in her life. “I think maybe deep down, I just really wanted this for me, not just for my baby, so Quyana.” The workshop closed with two activities. Women and girls wrote affirmations for themselves and others, and connected them by a string. They also made heating pads filled with rice and fragrances. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, December 4, 2025 — An increasing number of workers turn to side hustles

Canada’s Assembly of First Nations (AFN) chiefs have voted unanimously to reject any changes to the oil tanker ban off the northern coast of British Columbia. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the resolution came during a First Nations meeting in Ottawa, and less than a week after the federal government and Alberta signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) about a future pipeline. The chiefs also voted in a favor of requesting that Ottawa withdraw the MOU, since it could pave the way for a new pipeline through BC. But the national chief of the AFN, Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, says Native leaders are united. “Canada can create all the MOU’s, project offices, advisory groups that they want, the chiefs are united. When it comes to approving large national projects on First Nations lands, there will not be getting around rights holders.” Prime Minister Mark Carney also addressed the AFN meeting, saying he plans to meet with coastal British Columbia First Nations. Merle Alexander is lawyer who represents two of those bands. “First Nations in Canada are feeling overwhelmed. They’re feeling as though there is, that the duty to consult is being undermined. There also is a push back against this regression on environmental and climate change policies.” Last week, PM Carney and Premier Danielle Smith (C-AB) signed an MOU to co-operate one energy. That opens the way for an exemption from the coastal tanker ban to support a new pipeline to the west coast and easier access for Canadian oil to Asian markets. The ban has been in place for about 50 years. It bars oil tankers carrying more than 12,500 tonnes of crude oil from stopping or unloading at ports from the north end of Vancouver Island to Alaska. (Courtesy Indian National Finals Rodeo) For five days, the Indian National Finals Rodeo (INFR) is held in October in Las Vegas. The older generation passes the torch to the new one as up and coming riders compete for a shot at a world title. KNPR’s Jimmy Romo attended the rodeo and has this story. Behind the bucking chute at the Indian National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, young riders suit up in their protective gear. There’s a good chance a 2,000-pound bull could step on them after they hit the ground. Rodeo hands funnel the bulls from their pens to the chute through a series of gates, then they set them one-by-one to let the riders get on. When it’s time, the gate opens and the animal bucks repeatedly, trying to throw the rider off its back. A junior bull rider has to hold onto a bull with one hand for at least six seconds to score points. Cashes Thomas, 17, held on long enough to secure his win in the junior bull riding INFR world championship. “I just love the feeling, love the adrenaline, and, sure, love the money.” Cashes’ father, 52-year old Daniel Thomas, was also a bull rider in his youth. Both are enrolled members of the Navajo Nation. “The Navajo Nation, I believe, this is the way of life, how we’re given the horses, the livestock, the sheep. So it all goes back to that.” Children are inspired by watching their older relatives participating in the sport. That was the case for Cashes. It was also the case for bronc rider Ethan Heisman Yazzie. The 18-year-old finished at the top of his category to win the rookie saddle bronc riding INFR world championship. Young cowboys like Cashes and Ethan are the next generation of athletes. Daniel Thomas was in the stands watching other junior bull riders get thrown before scoring any points. Then it was time to watch Cashes take his turn. “The feeling of while the bull was bucking, I could kind of anticipate what it felt like, so I was moving back and forth, back and forth, I was like moving around like I was dancing or something,” Ethan and Cashes will go home with belt buckles and cash prizes, making the trip to Vegas worth the gamble.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Wednesday, December 3, 2025 – Tribal colleges see an uncertain federal funding road ahead

Photo: Tlingit master carver Tommy Joseph paints the Totem Heritage Center’s Eagle house post. (Hunter Morrison / KRBD) If you visited Southeast Alaska’s Totem Heritage Center this fall, you may have noticed something missing from one of its outside walls. That’s because three carved posts, which were made by students and master carvers, were temporarily removed for much-needed restoration work. As KRBD’s Hunter Morrison reports, the house posts were reinstalled in November. Inside a workshop at Ketchikan’s National Guard Armory, Tlingit master carver Tommy Joseph is hard at work. He’s slowly shaving a block of wood into the shape of a dorsal fin with an oddly shaped knife named Charlie. He then trades Charlie, the reverse bentknife, for a tool that looks like a sickle, but works like a hammer. Large wood shavings fall to the floor. The new dorsal fin will later be affixed to the Heritage Center’s Killer Whale house post, which is like a small totem pole. It’s a small piece of a larger project to restore three of the museum’s house posts. Historically, house posts are carved to honor events, clans, or tribes. Joseph says the three he worked on were cracked on the outside due to decades of wear. “It’s time to take care of them, treat them a bit and clean them. Clean them, then treat them. And hopefully, you can give them lots and lots of life and a future here.” The Totem Heritage Center’s Raven house post is reinstalled last week. (Photo: Deborah Mercy / Ketchikan Museums Department) The three posts were carved in the mid-1980s as part of the Heritage Center’s Native Art Studies Program. Students worked alongside Indigenous master carvers to create five posts for the museum’s exterior. But like totem poles, house posts traditionally aren’t restored. They’re meant to last the lifespan of a person, about 80 years, then returned to the Earth for decomposition. But these house posts have only been around for about half of that time, and museum staff say they still have life in them. Museum Director Samantha Forsko says the house posts document the museum’s history and relationships between students and instructors. “They tell the story of the Totem Heritage Center in a way that is not just about the totem poles inside of it.” This is one of a handful of totem restoration projects Joseph has been a part of in Southeast Alaska. He says each one is different from the last. Robert Mesta (Pascua Yaqui) sings before blessing a pair of eagles at Liberty Wildlife in Phoenix on November, 16, 2025. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) It’s not everyday you get to see an eagle – let alone two together – alive and up close. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, it’s something visitors of a Phoenix, Ariz. nonprofit recently did while blessing these animals during a Native American wildlife celebration. Robert Mesta (Pascua Yaqui) with Liberty Wildlife honors eagles Cisco and Anasazi with a song. “And they’re revered for their strength, their intelligence and even their healing and protective powers.” Things the Phoenix nonprofit is helping guests tap into one November Sunday morning. “Pinch some sacred tobacco, take it to the eagle and say their prayer. And oftentimes, the eagles will flap their wings – to feel the wind of the eagle is like the ultimate experience.” That lasted for an hour. Augie Molina (Pascua Yaqui) spiritually prepared people bringing offerings to the birds. “When you smudge, it’s gonna take as long as it’s gonna take.” Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, December 2, 2025 – Short films taking on big stories

Photo: Reggie Paul of Kipnuk, Alaska holds up a house frame he helped to build. (Rhonda McBride) For several southwest Alaska communities, it took one night of hurricane force winds and floods to destroy what will take years to rebuild. How and where to begin is a question that a group of men from Kipnuk tackled at a construction workshop in Anchorage, where they’ve been staying since their village was evacuated after an October storm. But as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA found out, this time, instead of disaster, it was opportunity that came knocking. The whack of a hammer. The buzz of a saw. Those are the sounds of hope. A group of Western Alaska disaster evacuees volunteered for training on basic construction skills, that they hope to use to rebuild their village. (Photo: Rhonda McBride) Tiffany Caudle is the training coordinator for Alaska Works Partnership, which offered a one-week program on how to frame a house. “They just lost their homes. They lost everything. I do think this is really helping them positive and stay hopeful. They’ve all been so grateful for this training.” They were all volunteers, like Devon Mann. “This is the door. And this one’s going to be the window.” Devon Mann, 19, works on building a house frame. His house was destroyed in a flood that picked it up and carried it more than five miles. (Photo: Rhonda McBride) Devon looked sharp in his brand, new hoodie, given to him after a military cargo plane airlifted him and most of Kipnuk to Anchorage. He came with only the clothing he had on – and feelings of trauma, after a five-mile ride in a floating house. “I thought something bad was going to happen to the house, like break apart. I thought that would be it for us. But almost gave up. But I had hope. I had hope.” It is hope that keeps Devon going now. “Everything we’re learning in here and doing, it’s going to be useful for our village.” Alaska Works Parternership held a workshop for a group of Western Alaska Disaster evacuees, who were mostly from Kipnuk. (Photo: Rhonda McBride) William Andrew is impressed with his crew of trainees. “From what they went through, I’ll be honest with you, their attitudes are awesome. They’re wanting to learn. They’re being great.” Andrew says one week of training in basic construction skills is not enough to learn how to rebuild a village. “I’m excited about their future. And I’m hoping they get to rebuild it.” For now, there are hopes the training will lead to jobs and other opportunities. Earlier this year, five Natives were among 29 people named Bush Fellows. The Bush Foundation provides up to $150,000 over two years for their chosen fellows to develop their leadership skills. In the fourth of five profiles, Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire reports on a tribal judge who wants to Indigenize the bench. Since childhood, Megan Treuer has been fascinated by the judicial system, and concerned with making sure Native people receive fair and equitable treatment under the law. The daughter of a White Earth Ojibwe tribal judge and an Austrian Holocaust survivor, Treuer serves as Chief Judge for the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe. She has very specific goals for her Bush Fellowship. “I’m going to cut my judicial caseload in half. And take Ojibwe courses for the two years of the fellowship, and I’m really going to make focusing on the language my top priority and try to learn as much as I possibly can. And then part of my fellowship will be going around to Indigenous scholars, spiritual leaders and mentors that have worked in the area.” Ultimately, Treuer says she wants to bring humanity to the judicial system. Her late mother, Margaret Treuer, was the second Native American attorney in Minnesota, and was appointed as a federal magistrate in 1982, making the elder Treuer the first female Native judge in the country.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Monday, December 1, 2025 – Advocates push back against new obstacles to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives momentum

Photo: A board with resources for evacuees at the Wingate hotel on November 14, 2025. (Matt Faubion / Alaska Public Media) Hundreds of evacuees from Western Alaska are staying in Anchorage hotels after last month’s storms destroyed their homes. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA spoke to a few families who are adjusting to their new daily lives, so far away from everything they know. Ally Shangin’s room at the Wingate hotel is crowded. On one bed, she sits with her two year old daughter. Her partner sits on another while their children play nearby. Shangin and her family are among around 650 evacuees from Western Alaska who are staying in Anchorage after being displaced by a devastating storm last month. State and federal agencies are working to rebuild the affected villages. But for many, returning before winter is not an option. “Moving here with our family – it was okay, but it’s not okay. I want to go home.” For Shangin’s nine-year-old daughter Katelynn, that means homeschooling so she can help her parents take care of her siblings. Shangin says the family gets breakfast every day, but the hotel room has no kitchen, so they order fast food for the remaining meals. “They are used to homecooked meals all the time. They’re used to the Native food and stuff that we eat.” Julia Tuutaq Stone is Kipnuk’s police officer and another evacuee. She is staying at the Aspen Hotel in Anchorage, along with her two adult sons and young grandsons – each family in their own room. “It was gonna be heartbreaking if they didn’t come with me.” Stone says the hotel provides them with free meals and snacks. She takes buses to go to the store and to play bingo. And her grandsons attend the Yup’ik immersion program at College Gate Elementary School. Her son, Alexie Aqumkallak Stone, says his kids are having more fun than him. “They’re enjoying their stay here. …It’s not fun for me, that’s for sure, because it’s not my kind of life. My life was subsistence.” Back at the Wingate, Shangin says her family has been looking at apartments already. They even filled out paperwork to receive assistance for rent. “But some of us are tired of waiting.” The family especially liked a two-bedroom apartment they looked at. Shangin says it was big enough for the older children to share their own room. “My family will be happy. I’ll be happy because I’ll be able to cook my family food.” Shangin already knows what their first meal will be: a rice dish baked in the oven with meat and seasonings. She says that will be enough for the whole family. A new report is highlighting the high levels of childhood trauma among juveniles who are tried as adults. Juvenile justice advocates are seeking reforms that consider these experiences before, during, and after interactions with the court system. Judith Ruiz-Branch reports. The research from Human Rights for Kids show that of the more than 2,200 incarcerated people surveyed, greater than 80% experienced four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences – a rate far higher than the general population. In a recent webinar, report co-author Aiden Lesley explained many respondents endured severe abuse beginning around age six, had been trafficked or exploited, or had committed offenses linked directly to their abuse. He says almost none had their trauma taken into account by judges during their sentencing. “Once children end up in the adult justice system, they face a level of repression and victimization that only serves to compound the trauma they’ve already experienced, while failing to actually address that trauma. The justice system itself also tends to serve as an extremely intimidating and traumatic experience.” Lesley says some of the profound developmental impacts of trauma include higher rates of mental health conditions among youth in the system, with especially severe experiences for girls and Native American children.     Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling  

Photo: Annmarie Decoteau, left, Indigenous curriculum and instruction specialist for Bismarck Public Schools, and Tomi Cimarosti, the district’s Indian Education director, on Monday, October 13, 2025. (Courtesy Annmarie Decoteau) Thanksgiving is a holiday that often gives Native people mixed feelings. Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire shares a few perspectives from across Indian Country. One on hand, the romanticized depiction of Pilgrims and Indians happily feasting together in 1621 sidesteps the wars, disease, displacement, and oppression that came in the centuries afterwards. Some Native people boycott Thanksgiving, and the United American Indians of New England will hold their 56th annual Day of Mourning this year, a protest held in Plymouth, Mass. since 1970. On the other hand, Native people love to eat, with friends and family. What is one to do? Annmarie Decoteau is the Indigenous curriculum and instruction specialist for Bismarck Public Schools. A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Decoteau helps educators teach about Thanksgiving from a more authentic Native perspective. And her family reframes holidays like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July to be more relevant to them. “So instead of celebrating the holidays, they celebrate still being here, the survival, the ancestor histories. they acknowledge what happened to us, that’s one thing I would like to push that we’re still here and that’s why we still celebrate: to keep our language, stories and culture still alive.” And that Thanksgiving turkey might be pushed aside to make room for frybread, Indian tacos, and Decoteau’s personal favorite, wild rice casserole. Someone else who has given the holiday a lot of thought is Nancy Kelsey (Anishinaabe of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians), a columnist for Cleveland’s Plain Dealer newspaper. She thinks it’s important Native people reflect on the holiday and make it their own. “Given all of the centuries of labor on our ancestors’ part for us to be here as thriving people, there is no wrong way to celebrate Thanksgiving. We can make the holiday into something that is special for us.” Kelsey says allies – including teachers – can learn about the tribes native to the lands they stand on, lift up and celebrate Indigenous storytellers, and speak up when racist and ignorant things happen. The Gila River Indian Community’s Sacaton Market was unveiled during its grand opening on October 23, 2025. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) The Gila River Indian Community in Arizona has long relied on convenience stores to feed its 13,000 residents, who otherwise may have to drive as far as half an hour away to neighboring cities with grocery stores. But as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, a new market – a decade in the making – has opened much closer to home. Duncan Winston is with Gila River Development and says the tribe’s new 11,000 sq. ft. supermarket in the heart of Sacaton is much more than a store. “This isn’t a Bashas, it’s not a Safeway or a Walmart.” It’s a symbol of their sovereignty since few, if any, tribes outright own their own grocers. “We don’t want to leave that in the hands of a larger chain to determine who gets what – we want to be able to fight for ourselves and bring the necessary goods to our community when we need them.” From fresh produce and butchered meats to a deli serving local favorites, like the work’s burger. “One of the biggest demands from the community was, ‘You got to bring the works back.’ And so we’ve done that.” But that doesn’t come cheap, because of what some refer to as “rez-flation”. “We have experienced it here. I mean, it’s difficult finding reputable vendors who are willing to bring us goods and services at a fair price. Although we are rural, we are a lot closer to the metropolitan Phoenix area than a lot of the other tribes in Arizona.” Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, November 27, 2025 – Australia provides a promising model treaty for Indigenous recognition and self-determination

*Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to clarify the vice president’s position. The Navajo Nation Council is considering a motion to remove the tribe’s president, Buu Nygren, and Vice President Richelle Montoya after a special prosecutor accused President Nygren of misusing government funds. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, the council could have taken action as early as Thursday – until a judge in Window Rock, Ariz. stepped in. Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley sponsored the bill to oust the pair. Nygren has accused Speaker Curley of seeking his removal so she can take his place. “All I can say, this is not a political move on my part. This is a necessary step to protect our Nation’s financial stability.” Two-thirds of the 24-member council must approve and it’s unclear whether Curley has the votes. On Friday, she released 465 pages detailing allegations and hoped for a swift vote while acknowledging the delegates needed time to examine the evidence. “Given the complexity of the issue, the number of alleged violations, and the volume of documents involved, I’m pretty sure that a vote before Thanksgiving is very unlikely. A more realistic timeline would be after the holiday.” That timeline changed Tuesday when a judge granted a motion from Nygren’s attorneys to block the bill pending a hearing next month. As for Vice President Montoya, she denies involvement with any of his alleged violations and says he stripped her of duties, resources, and budget. One invoice documented a $3,000 loan for travel expenses Nygren said he needed because of an argument with his wife, Apache County Attorney Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren. He also spent $3,000 renovating his Apache County home and borrowed nearly $12,000 renting tables and chairs for his daughter’s birthday party. Another $6,000 went directly to his then-Chief of Staff Patrick Sandoval to cover car repairs. Sandoval also got a loan to gift Nygren a $1,500 birthday present. It’s unclear, according to the receipts, whether anything has been paid back. When asked, Nygren’s staff reiterated he would not comment on any specifics. (Courtesy Lori Pourier) This year, five Native Americans were among 29 people named Bush Fellows. The Bush Foundation provides up to $150,000 over two years for their fellows to build on their leadership skills. In the third of five profiles, Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire highlights an Oglala Lakota advocate for the arts and boosting financial support for creative Natives. Lori Pourier has been active in the arts for decades, but beyond making art, she also wanted to find ways to make it sustainable within tribal communities. When Pourier became active with the First Peoples Fund in 1999, she coordinated research into the arts in Native communities, particularly the Pine Ridge Reservation. “And through that research we found that 71% of the households were engaged in some sort of tradition-based, home-based business. But 52% of that household was tradition forms of art. So that’s how the Rolling Rez Arts Bus was born, because we were seeing the needs for artists. And then being in a community the size of Pine Ridge, it was hard for artists to get to our training workshops, and we partnered with Lakota Funds which is a loan fund. And it was really our artists’ idea.” Lori Pourier stands in front of the Rolling Rez Arts Bus, along with visitors from the National Endowment for the Arts, in July 2023. (Courtesy NEA / Lori Pourier) The Rolling Rez Arts Bus has traveled 8,000 miles across the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River reservations, and even visited the Sacred Stone Camp at Standing Rock. It also doubles as a mobile bank, and teaches Native artists about running a business and accessing credit and capital. Pourier says she will use her Bush Fellowship to explore socially responsible ways to invest in Native artists that align with cultural values.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Wednesday, November 26, 2025 – Native in the Spotlight: Mel Tonasket

Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation and Pueblo leaders held a press conference in Albuquerque last week to urge Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to visit Chaco Culture National Historical Park in the state, and to continue protections from oil and gas drilling. KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) has more. In October, the Bureau of Land Management began a process to revoke protections for 10 miles around Chaco Canyon to allow for possible oil and gas exploration. This comes after the New Mexico congressional delegation and Pueblo governors held a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol in September to demand that the Trump administration protect Chaco, a significant National Historic Park with massive buildings constructed over a thousand years ago by ancestral Pueblo people, with roads leading to other far flung settlements. Craig Quanchello, Governor of the Picuris Pueblo, spoke on the cultural significance of Chaco at the press conference last week. “Our ancestors lived there, prayed there, studied the stars there, and carried teachings outward into our modern Pueblo communities. Our ties to Chaco live in, our songs, our ceremonies, our pilgrimages and our ancient roads and shrines that stretch far beyond the park itself.” U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) were in attendance alongside U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM). Rep. Stansbury said during the federal shutdown, tribal leaders were unable to reach the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but did receive a letter from the Trump administration informing them that they had two weeks to respond to Chaco being taken out of federal protection. “Can you imagine the cruelty, the insensitivity, the stupidity of an administration contacting tribal leaders as they are trying to figure out how they are going to feed their people and balance their budgets and keep their public safety in order to tell them that they are going to take away their most sacred lands and open it up for private oil and gas drilling?” Quanchello said that this issue affects everyone. “This is not only a Pueblo issue, it’s an American issue about history, heritage and a landscape recognized around the world.” Congressional and Pueblo leaders invited Burgum to visit Chaco and to have a meaningful talk with them. Kodiak peer counselors, other staff, and volunteers with Kodiak KINDNESS are joined by new Northwest Arctic team members Nauyaq Baltazar and Frances Williams. (Courtesy Kodiak KINDNESS) A Kodiak-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting families with newborns is expanding into the Northwest Arctic Borough. KMXT’s Davis Hovey has more on how Kodiak Kindness is helping families across Alaska raise babies. For years “Nauyaq” Wanda Baltazar has been teaching infants in Kotzebue through a local program that serves children with disabilities or delayed development. It’s the only such Infant Learning Program based out of a school district in the state. Baltazar says it’s about helping kids from birth to three years old and their families around the Maniilaq service area, which covers 12 communities in Northwest Alaska from Kotzebue to Kobuk. “Working with birth to three, it’s always good about helping families, ensuring that they’re strong, supported …. and any way we can support families and nursing moms to help their babies grow, I think is great.” Baltazar and Frances Williams from Ambler are bringing their experience working with children to Kodiak Kindness as they continue doing what they already do, but under the new title of peer counselors. Williams, who is known in her hometown as the “village mother,” says being part of the organization will give her more support and tools to do things she already does on a regular basis in the Northwest Arctic community. “Kodiak Kindness would be able to help because there’s a lot of things that I learned when we went to the trainings, yeah, things that we didn’t know. So all the training will be able to help, like I’ll be able to do my own mix with Kodiak Kindness and my Inupiaq traditions.” Williams says she uses native plants like stinkweed or spruce trees to make salves or other traditional medicines to help her friends, family and neighbors heal from the land. Aside from the traditional knowledge Williams has from her mom and aunties, she’ll also be able to help her community with assistance from a certified lactation consultant if she wants support virtually from the Kodiak Kindness team via telehealth. Kodiak Kindness’ two new peer counselors in the Northwest Arctic Borough come online this winter and hope to start enrolling families in the region early next year.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, November 25, 2025 – For all its promise, AI

This year, five Native Americans were among 29 people named Bush Fellows. The Bush Foundation provides up to $150,000 over two years for their fellows to build on their leadership skills. In the second of five profiles, Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire highlights what a South Dakota university administrator wants to accomplish. John Little is the director of Native Recruitment and Alumni Engagement at the University of South Dakota (USD). The Standing Rock Sioux tribal member works with many Native students and wants to get more fired up for higher education. He says part of getting many ready is adapting from small Midwestern rural communities to large campuses with many academic offerings. “It is a shock factor for a lot of students.” Boosting Native enrollment and retention will be a challenge. In a census review shared by the Postsecondary National Policy Institute, data showed that nearly 26% of Native Americans ages 18-24 were enrolled in college, compared to 39% of the overall U.S. population. Additionally, undergraduate enrollment dropped 40%, while graduate enrollment fell 18% for Native students. Little says he’s been lucky to have parents who’ve supported his academic goals, including a masters degree from USD and a Ph.D from the University of Minnesota. “Especially my mom has been really influential in me going to school and has been there every step. Not every student that I work with in South Dakota has that. Or maybe they do, but they’re first-gen so they just don’t know what that looks like.” Little says he’ll research college fairs and regional programs to develop stronger preparation initiatives for future students. (Photo: Liz West / Flickr) A study aims to shed light on the hidden impacts of domestic violence in Native communities. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Daniel Spaulding reports on the effort to understand the unrecognized brain injuries many survivors are living with. The Urban Indian Health Institute’s survey aims to find out how common traumatic brain injuries are among Native survivors of domestic and sexual violence. More than 80% of Indigenous women have experienced violence in their lifetime. According to Abigail Echo-Hawk, the institute’s director, many survivors of domestic and sexual violence suffer from brain injuries that never get diagnosed or receive proper care. “They deserve justice, they deserve safety, and they deserve to get the treatment that they need when they’ve been impacted by traumatic brain injury.” The goal of the survey is to ensure survivors get the right care and support, through programs and policies designed to help them heal. The survey began in October and will remain open through January 2026. Members of the Hualapai Tribe stand in front of the 2025 Capitol Christmas tree. (Courtesy Hualapai Tribe) Another Arizona tribe has been picked to keep a newer holiday tradition going by supplying this year’s Christmas tree for the state Capitol. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more. For three years running under Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ), the state has taken bids from tribes, beginning with the White Mountain Apache in 2023. Then, the San Carlos Apache last year. Now, the Capitol tree will come from the Hualapai or “People of the Tall Pines”. “And I hope, no matter who is in the Office of the Governor, that this holiday spirit of bringing all our communities together continues.” Duane Clarke is chairman of the 2,300 member Hualapai Tribe north of Kingman, Ariz. “Oddly enough, the one tree that has been selected, it’s close to, I want to say about 30 feet, was not one of the three options, to be honest. Councilman [Diane] Imus did a quick prayer. He turned to the right and said, ‘That’s the tree.’ We all looked and it was a moment of awe.” The tribe will bless the tree before trucking it more than 200 miles to the state Capitol from their reservation hugging the Grand Canyon’s West Rim. It will be on display by December 1. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Monday, November 24, 2025 – Native candidates make strides in local elections

An important report on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) crisis has been removed from the Department of Justice website. Many MMIP awareness advocates and officials have questioned its absence, according to Newsweek. U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) says the “Not One More” report disappeared in February. She was with the Senate Committee that introduced the 2020 Not Invisible Act, which mandated the report. Sen. Cortez Casto and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) reached out to the Trump administration to have the report reposted, but Newsweek says they were told the White House took it down to comply with the president’s executive order that determined there were only two sexes. Cortez Masto is quoted in Newsweek’s coverage as saying she firmly believes this isn’t about gender, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), or ‘Wokeness”, but about keeping tribal communities safe and providing tribal leaders and law enforcement with the tools they need. (Courtesy Keʻōpū Reelitz / Linkedin) A Native Hawaiian organization is tasked with taking care of Native Hawaiians across Hawaii and the continental U.S. when it comes to the health and wellbeing of Native Hawaiian people. Keʻōpū Reelitz, director of policy and strategy at Papa Ola Lōkahi, says the organization was created by an act of Congress in the 1980s to address the Native Hawaiian health care system. Reelitz was among the more than 2,500 attendees at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) annual convention taking place in Seattle this week. “At home, it means making sure that we’re supporting our Native Hawaiian health care systems. It also means that we’re supporting community-based organizations that are helping to make sure our people are thriving and able to live and thrive in Hawaii. And that also means that they’re doing so if they are one of the diaspora Hawaiians. So, if they were either born outside of the United States or had to move we also support community-based organizations that are making sure that they’re connected to their identity, connected to resources that they need. Because as we know, as Native people, if we don’t have our culture, if we don’t have our language, if we don’t have that identity, then the core of our well-being is impacted. So, making sure that we’re providing those kinds of supports and connections to our people.” Reelitz says it’s important to be at events like NCAI in order to listen and learn from other Native people. She says it’s good to be partners, allies, and advocates pointing to the partnership, which helped create the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act – done in collaboration with tribes. Health and wellness were among the many issues discussed at the NCAI gathering, which wraps up on Friday. The Nez Perce Tribe hosted A Night of Indigenous Jazz & Soul Thursday at the Seattle Convention Center before the last day of the 82nd NCAI Annual Convention & Marketplace. (Courtesy NCAI / Facebook) Robert Mesta, who is Pascua Yaqui, sings before blessing a pair of eagles at Liberty Wildlife in Phoenix on November, 16, 2025. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) And it’s not everyday you get to see an eagle – let alone two together – alive and up close. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, it’s something visitors of a Phoenix nonprofit recently did while blessing these animals during an annual Native American wildlife celebration earlier this month. Robert Mesta with Liberty Wildlife is Pascua Yaqui and honors eagles Cisco and Anasazi with a song. “And they’re revered for their strength, their intelligence and even their healing and protective powers.” Things the Phoenix nonprofit is helping guests tap into one November Sunday morning. “Pinch some sacred tobacco, take it to the eagle and say their prayer. And oftentimes, the eagles will flap their wings – to feel the wind of the eagle is like the ultimate experience.” That lasted for an hour. Augie Molina, who is Pascua Yaqui, spiritually prepared people bringing offerings to the birds by burning sage bundles and tapping them with a fan made from feathers – while those being cleansed bathed in the smoke. “When you smudge, it’s gonna take as long as it’s gonna take.”       Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Friday, November 21, 2025 – Native Bookshelf: “The Bone Thief” by Vanessa Lillie and “The Devil is a Southpaw” by Brandon Hobson  

Photo: Breakfast bar at the Wingate Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska. (Courtesy Wingate by Wyndham) Hundreds of evacuees from Western Alaska are staying in Anchorage hotels after last month’s storms destroyed their homes. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA spoke to a few families who are adjusting to their new daily lives, so far away from everything they know. Ally Shangin’s room at the Wingate hotel is crowded. On one bed she sits with her two year old daughter. Her partner sits on another while their children play nearby. Shangin and her family are among around 650 evacuees from Western Alaska who are staying in Anchorage after being displaced by a devastating storm last month. State and federal agencies are working to rebuild the affected villages. But for many, returning before winter is not an option. “Moving here with our family – it was okay, but it’s not okay. I want to go home.” For Shangin’s 9-year-old daughter Katelynn, that means homeschooling so she can help her parents take care of her siblings. Shangin says the family gets breakfast every day, but the hotel room has no kitchen, so they order fast food for the remaining meals. “They are used to homecooked meals all the time. They’re used to the Native food and stuff that we eat.” Julia Tuutaq Stone is Kipnuk’s police officer and another evacuee. She is staying at the Aspen Hotel in Anchorage, along with her two adult sons and young grandsons – each family in their own room. “It was gonna be heartbreaking if they didn’t come with me.” Stone says the hotel provides them with free meals and snacks. She takes buses to go to the store and to play bingo. And her grandsons attend the Yup’ik immersion program at College Gate Elementary School. Her son, Alexie Aqumkallak Stone, says his kids are having more fun than him. “They’re enjoying their stay here. …It’s not fun for me, that’s for sure, because it’s not my kind of life. My life was subsistence.” Back at the Wingate, Shangin says her family has been looking at apartments already. They even filled out paperwork to receive assistance for rent. “But some of us are tired of waiting.” The family especially liked a two-bedroom apartment they looked at. Shangin says it was big enough for the older children to share their own room. “My family will be happy. I’ll be happy because I’ll be able to cook my family food.” Shangin already knows what their first meal will be: a rice dish baked in the oven with meat and seasonings. She says that will be enough for the whole family. More than 100 winter items and more than $15,000 dollars were collected this week, during a winter coat drive at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) annual convention in Seattle. Attendees brought in new coats and other cold weather essentials from gloves to scarves to hats. The items will help support unsheltered Native people in the city and will also benefit evacuees in Alaska affected by last month’s devastating storm. The Seattle Indian Health Board was among organizations that teamed up with NCAI on the coat drive. Abigail Echo-Hawk (Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma) is the executive vice president of the health board. “It’s really important for us as Native people to come when we come to areas and we think about how we contribute not just to the local economies, but to the people itself. And so here in Seattle, we have a very large unhoused population. “Native people in the Seattle area are 10 times more likely than non-Hispanic whites to live unhoused on the streets of Seattle. And organizations like the Seattle Indian Health Board, United Indians of All Tribes, we work with a lot of these relatives. “Having a coat drive really allows us to get some really high quality, nice things out to our communities, both our unhoused relatives and also for our youth and folks who are in need of a nice warm coat in a cold Seattle winter.” Echo-Hawk says distribution of the winter items will begin as soon as her organization receives the donations from NCAI.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, November 20, 2025 – Federal immigration crackdown collides with Native Americans

For decades starting in 1907, Indigenous women and women of color across the country were sterilized without their informed consent. Last week, a coalition of women’s reproductive rights advocates called on New Mexico legislators to create a commission to investigate the abuses. KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) has more. Numerous reports show sterilizations peaked in the 1960s through the late 70s. That’s when upwards of 70,000 Indigenous women were forced or coerced into sterilization procedures by the Indian Health Service (IHS) and contracted physicians, including those at the University of New Mexico. By the mid 1970s, at least 25% of Indigenous women of childbearing age had been sterilized. Rachael Lorenzo (Mescalero Apache and Laguna Pueblo), executive director of Indigenous Women Rising, says she was a target of coercion. @Doctors refused to take out my IUD, despite the fact the copper IUD, which is called paraguard, made me bleed for 10 months, and four different doctors refused to take it out because it was working the way it was supposed to, and they said I was too young at 22 to have another baby.@ The proposed joint memorial would establish a memorial to victims,but also a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that would make New Mexico the first U.S. state to formally investigate and acknowledge the violations done to Indigenous women. State Sen. Linda Lopez (D-NM) agreed that the legislature needs to acknowledge the role New Mexico played in this history. “It wasn’t us who are here in the Roundhouse at this point in time. And yes, it was maybe another governmental entity. But Madam Chair, I think those of us who are elected have a responsibility to say this should never have happened, this will not happen, and that we apologize.” State Rep. Michelle Paulene Abeyta (D-NM) says there also needs to be more resources for educating youth about reproductive care. New Mexico currently doesn’t have a law on forced sterilization. NCAI President Mark Macarro, left, and Executive Director Larry Wright, Jr. presented the inaugural NCAI Lifetime Achievement Awards to honor two titans in Indian Country: the late Chairman of the Indian Gaming Association Ernie Stevens, Jr. and founder and Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) John E. Echohawk. The first award was accepted by Chairman Stevens’s family, including a blanketing of his spouse Cheryl Stevens. (Courtesy NCAI / Facebook) The Native vote was center stage Tuesday morning at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) annual convention in Seattle. Panelists discussed various barriers facing Native voters and efforts to protect Native voting rights. Matthew Campbell, deputy director, at the Native American Rights Fund was on the panel. He says the state of the Native vote across the country has its ups and downs. “Typically, a voter might choose to only vote in the presidential election every four years. But I think it’s really critical to remember that if we elect candidates of our choice in the state legislature, for the school boards, you know, every single race really can make a difference in our lives. You know, if we elect people that lift up and fight for tribal sovereignty at the state level, that’s really important. And if we elect people that are aware about our culture and our tradition at the school board level, that’s also really important (possible cut for time).” Jaynie Parrish is the executive director of Arizona Native Vote. She says work on Native voting issues takes place year-round and not just during big election years like presidential or mid-terms. “Like many issues, uh whether it’s tribal sovereignty, climate, there are people constantly working on these issues, whether that’s on advocacy side or lobbying or policy. It’s the same thing with civic engagement and voting and elections.” Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) John E. Echohawk. (Courtesy NCAI / Facebook) Parrish is a panelist on civic engagement in Indian Country Wednesday afternoon. Voting is just one of the many issues attendees at the NCAI annual convention are focusing on. Organizers say this year’s convention is seeing record numbers, with 2,500 people registered.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Wednesday, November 19, 2025 – Indigenous voices speak up, but have little clout at COP30

Photo: The Little Colorado River, a tributary of the Colorado River, flows during the springtime through the Navajo Nation near Cameron. (Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) Last week, more than a dozen tribes commented on a proposal by the Trump administration to let developers obtain preliminary permits for hydropower projects on reservations in spite of tribal opposition. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more. This new rule would apply to projects like dams, reservoirs and pump-storage facilities – all overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which under a Biden-era rule does not issue such permits without consent. That independent agency is now being asked to change course by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Stewart Koyiyumptewa is the Hopi tribal historic preservation officer and commented on behalf of his tribe. “He put tribes in the same sentence as third parties. And what that tells me is that there’s that lack of respect.” As for their neighbors in northern Arizona, the Navajo Nation thinks dialogues with future developers have improved. Navajo Acting Assistant Attorney General Erika Pirotte, who penned their brief, wants an extension. Tribes had only 17 days to reply while dealing with the longest U.S. government shutdown. “What we’ve seen is contrary to, I think, what was included in the letter for the request for rulemaking from the Secretary – that the policy has not, in fact, hindered development on the Nation. We received notice of this, October 27, it’s been a pretty tight turnaround.” Young Native people from across the country are gathered in Seattle this week, developing their leadership skills and discussing tribal issues, including sovereignty and policymaking. They’re taking part in the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Youth Convention, which is being held alongside NCAI’s annual convention. Shania Guacheno is an eight-grade student from the Soboba Band in Southern California. “I’m with TANF program from Soboba and just going to the conferences to learn new things. Learning about Native American tribes, their traditions and stories, and everything.” Crystal Williams, vice chair of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, says it’s important to have young people be part of NCAI’s gathering. “To me, it’s very important as a tribal leader. I’ve been in this for a decade and it’s so important for me to make sure that our youth know about leadership, how to run tribes, because they will be the ones that are going to be handling this here in the next 10, 20, 30 years. So I am an advocate for youth in leadership, so I feel like we have the responsibility to teach them as much as we can.” 161 young people, ages 14 to 24, are attending the youth convention. They’re also encouraged to attend the main NCAI general sessions and meetings to hear from tribal leaders from across Indian Country. Both events run through Friday. Chief Joseph And on this day in 1895, the Nez Perce Indian Reservation in Idaho was opened up to white settlers. After encroachment, war, and a gold rush compromised the previous treaties’ defined boundaries, prevailing white sentiment deemed the unfarmed and undeveloped areas as “surplus”, leading to the further breaking up of lands held by the Nimiipuu. (Courtesy of Wilma Mankiller Foundation) And it’s also the birthday of Wilma Mankiller, born in 1945. She became the first woman to be elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. A lifelong advocate of Native and women’s rights, Mankiller said she was largely inspired by the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz by Indigenous activists. She died in 2010, with friend and feminist icon Gloria Steinem by her side.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, November 18, 2025 – The constant burden on tribal hunters to justify their treaty rights

A Native American woman and her family are thankful that she’s not been detained – and potentially deported – by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire has the story. On Veteran’s Day, 24-year-old Leticia Jacobo completed a short sentence at the Polk County Jail in Des Moines, Iowa for a traffic infraction. She was supposed to have been released at midnight, but things took an odd turn. “I don’t know how to put it in words. It was, it was shocking. I was like, “How do I have a ICE hold, when I’m Native American? And, yeah, it was just weird. It was just crazy.” Jacobo’s mom, Ericka Burns, learned that her daughter was placed under an ICE detainer and was worried. Both women are members of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and therefore legal U.S. citizens. Jacobo’s aunt, Maria Nunez, said her sister sprung into action. “And being a holiday that day, we couldn’t do much. And you know, here on her reservation side of the family we just jumped on the media, and reached out to everyone and however we could. Because we didn’t want her removed and sent to who knows where.” Nunez says the tribal police chief called in to corrections officials to vouch for Jacobo’s citizenship. And an investigator learned that another inmate at the jail had the same last name as Jacobo. A spokesman for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said it was all a clerical mix-up and staff have been talked to about preventing repeat errors. Leticia Jacobo reflected on the experience. “I’m very thankful for having family members and people out here, because if I didn’t, who knows what happened, I would have just unknowingly went to ICE custody. And you know, so it would have been a scary moment.” Many Native people and supporters are calling this a case of racial profiling, and Jacobo is weighing a lawsuit. For now though, she plans to celebrate the holiday season with her family. Ericka Burns, left, and her daughter Leticia Jacobo, who is a member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. (Courtesy Maria Nunez) Maria Nunez says she’s happy that her niece is safe. “And I’m just so proud to be Native American and have all the love and support and knowing that …we’re all ready to fight and protect what’s ours and what our rights are.” Since the Trump administration ramped up its immigration crackdown, tribes have complained of ICE confronting their enrolled citizens. Many have issued guidance on their rights and what documentation to present if detained. Neither the Des Moines ICE office nor the Salt River Pima-Marcicopa Indian Community returned requests for comment. A sunset view of the Colorado River from Cienega Springs in La Paz County, Ariz. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) The Colorado River has long been considered a lifeline for the Southwest. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, one Arizona tribe is now acknowledging the waterway as having the same rights and legal protections as tribal members. The Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) would not say whether it was unanimous, but the nine council members still voted to recognize personhood for the namesake river under tribal law. It comes at a pivotal time when sustained drought threatens this natural resource – CRIT considers “a living entity” – running parallel to the tribe’s nearly 300,000-acre reservation along the California border. This measure also tasks tribal councils to take the Colorado River’s needs under consideration amid an uncertain future on two fronts: climate change and ongoing inter-state water negotiations. Tribal leaders from across the country are gathered in Seattle for the National Congress of American Indians annual convention and marketplace. Leaders are tackling top issues facing their communities from economic development, education, and climate to language and culture. Additionally, a youth convention is taking place. Both gatherings continue through Friday.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Monday, November 17, 2025 – Native hemp producers caught off guard by near total ban in the bill reopening federal government

Photo: Construction is underway for a 22-unit housing project on the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone reservation, the first housing project on the reservation in over 20 years, on Monday, September. 15, 2025, in Fallon, Nev. (Jimmy Romo / Nevada Public Radio) Housing isn’t just a problem in major cities in Nevada. It’s also an issue in rural parts of the state, including Tribal nations. Thousands of tribal members want to come back home, but there’s not enough housing available at the moment. KNPR’s Jimmy Romo visited two tribes to tour their newest housing developments. On the Walker River Paiute Tribe reservation, tribal officials and community members break ground on the highly anticipated water looping system. This water project was a decade in the making as Tribal members have been wanting to live on the reservation. With no available housing, they can’t. Genia Williams came back home to the reservation a decade ago to become the housing director for the Walker River Paiute Tribe to build out the tribe. Instead she was met with unavoidable infrastructure issues. “You’re thinking, OK, you can build homes and do things and find out that that was not going to happen, there had to be a moratorium.” It wasn’t until 2024 that the Walker River Paiute Tribe was approved for a $20 million grant. That funding was later taken away months after President Donald Trump took office. Walker River Paiute Tribe Chairwoman Melanie McFalls knew that, although the tribe is trying to save funds, coming up with the water looping funding would be worth the investment for generations to come. “You know, it was kinda hard to just give up $3 million just like that, but we had to or else we would’ve lost the entire project.” Forty miles north of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, the Fallon Shoshone-Paiute Tribe’s housing program development manager, Russell Dyer-Redner, has seen how difficult getting housing can be. “It seems like you’re basically waiting for someone to die or something to even have a chance at housing.” When Russell wanted to come back home to the reservation, he was told the same thing as many others: there is no housing available. To combat the lack of housing, the tribe is building a 22-unit housing project. These projects are adding housing to the reservation, but in small numbers with the help of federal funding. These federal funds come out of a big pot of money where all 574 federal tribes nationwide are applying for a piece of the pot. And every year the pot keeps shrinking. Federal appropriations like the Indian Housing Block Grant have declined for decades, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities study from this year. “There’s always going to be a shortage, but if we can meet a majority of our needs then we’ll you know do our do diligence, and hopefully people will be able to come back,” Williams said. And that’s what leaders from tribes across the state want, to bring their members back home. Leya Hale holds up her regional Emmy for “Reclaiming Sacred Tobacco,” which won Best Topical Documentary at the Upper Midwest Emmy Awards, Bloomington, Minn., Saturday, October 7, 2017. (Courtesy Leya Hale) Five Native Americans were among the 29 people named Bush Fellows this year. The Bush Foundation provides up to $150,000 over two years for their fellows to build on their leadership skills. In the first of five profiles, Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire shares what an award-winning filmmaker plans to do. Leya Hale has been with Twin Cities PBS for 13 years and has won regional Emmys for her work, including the films “Reclaiming Sacred Tobacco” and “The People’s Protectors”. But the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and Diné Nations artist feels she falls short in one area: technical expertise. “Learning about how to capture good quality audio. Even when it comes to more of the technical side of editing like color-correcting and those types of things, that’s something that I really want to learn more of, because I get asked often to do mentoring to up-and-coming youth and storytellers.” Hale’s grand vision is to create a worldwide network of Indigenous filmmakers and artists who will share their cultural stories authentically and accurately. Hale also hopes to use her Bush Fellowship award to build on her Dakota language skills. Her new film, “Medicine Ball”, is set for release next year. It looks at how basketball emerged out of boarding school.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Friday, November 14, 2025 – A Pueblo answer to the work and renown of artist Georgia O’Keefe

Photo: Liz West / Flickr A new study aims to shed light on the hidden impacts of domestic violence in Native communities. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Daniel Spaulding reports on the effort to understand the unrecognized brain injuries many survivors are living with. The Urban Indian Health Institute’s survey aims to find out how common traumatic brain injuries are among Native survivors of domestic and sexual violence. More than 80% of Indigenous women have experienced violence in their lifetime. According to Abigail Echo-Hawk, the institute’s director, many survivors of domestic and sexual violence suffer from brain injuries that never get diagnosed or receive proper care. “They deserve justice, they deserve safety, and they deserve to get the treatment that they need when they’ve been impacted by traumatic brain injury.” The goal of the survey is to ensure survivors get the right care and support, through programs and policies designed to help them heal. The survey began in October and will remain open through January 2026. Moses Marr’aq Wiseman and Indra Arriaga with the Alaska Institute for Justice on Nov. 6, 2025. The organization released the new online glossary with Yup’ik words for behavioral health terms. (Photo: Alena Naiden) A nonprofit has released a new Yup’ik glossary with behavioral health terms. Yup’ik speakers, including those affected by the recent Western Alaska storm, which devastated communities, can use it to communicate with their health providers and to understand their mental health better. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more. Last month, Moses Marr’aq Wiseman was helping with Yup’ik translation at the Anchorage shelters that hosted evacuees from the recent Western Alaska storm. He was also sharing a new glossary with Yup’ik words for behavioral health terms. “When you have a culture of your own, that’s not a part of American culture. It’s a taboo thing to talk about behavioral health and mental health care. So like having this available, when it was available, it’s just an ease of mind I think.” Wiseman is the Alaska Native Languages Program director at the Alaska Institute for Justice. Last month, the nonprofit released a new glossary. People can type in a modern health-related term and listen to its Yup’ik pronunciation. Wiseman says it should help Yup’ik interpreters and service providers to break down language barriers and help people understand their health better. Indra Arriaga is the strategic and operational director at the Institute for Justice. “Where you do have a stigma around depression, a stigma around suicide, this is a way of getting information and not feeling like you’re exposing yourself, right? It’s out there. It’s reliable. It’s in your language. It’s a door.” Arriaga says the glossary has been years in the making, in collaboration with Yup’ik speakers. The plan was to launch the project on Nov. 1. But when the remnants of the Typhoon Halong forced hundreds of people to evacuate to Anchorage, the organization decided to release it sooner. “The care and the healing of the folks who are here from Kipnuk and other villages is going to continue. So this is a resource that now can really be used in settings where they’re going to be talking about different things that affect their mental health.” The organization is now looking for funding to complete a similar glossary but for terms relevant for emergency care and intake. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) says it welcomes the reopening of the federal government to restore stability to critical services to tribes. In a statement, NCAI said during the shutdown the Indian Health Service largely remained opened due to advance appropriations, but it’s depending on Congress to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits. NCAI says reopening the government restores funding to food assistance programs, which many Native people rely on. The organization says temporary fixes are not enough, and that data collected from tribes during the shutdown “made clear” how long term, lasting solutions, and structural funding reforms are needed to honor tribal trust and treaty obligations.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, November 13, 2025 – Educational outcomes are about more than just grades for Native American students

Current rules defining how the Colorado River is to be shared by 40 million residents in the West will soon expire. The seven Basin states had until Tuesday to negotiate those new guidelines. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, no deal was struck. States still cannot come to terms, leaving tribes lost in the shuffle. Daniel Cordalis (Navajo) runs the Native American Rights Fund’s Tribal Water Institute. He believes the Bureau of Reclamation’s deadline is arbitrary. “If it means anything, maybe the federal government is going to step in and start throwing some weight around.” When no Reclamation nominee has been tapped to replace President Donald Trump’s old pick, Ted Cooke. Beyond the bickering Upper and Lower Basin states, there are 30 federally recognized tribes stuck in the middle of a decades-old debate on how best to divvy up the water, while keeping the ever-dwindling river flowing. “They have to try to come up with ideas that are doable and that will benefit the entire system – not just tribes and I hope none of that is compromised by this deadline coming and going.” Alaska Federation of Natives President Ben Mallott and about 100 other tribal leaders were in Washington D.C. last week, and had a brief visit with Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday. KNBA’s Rhonda McBride has more. President Mallott said it was a good step forward to be invited and is looking forward to more engagement next year. Vice President Vance gave a brief presentation on the potential for economic development in Indian Country, including manufacturing. Principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, Chuck Hoskin, Jr., said it was good to hear the vice president focus on things that could be done in Indian Country. Months before a storm devastated parts of Western Alaska, a federal agency canceled a grant that would have helped protect one of the communities from flooding. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more on what that money could have done for the village of Kipnuk – and what lies ahead for the community. Rayna Paul is the environmental director for the village of Kipnuk. Her house was one of many that was swept upriver during the historic storm last month. “We were so not ready. We were so not prepared.” Paul says the community now needs time to heal and rebuild. The remnants of Typhoon Halong devastated about a dozen villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Months before the storm, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency canceled a $20 million dollar grant that would have helped Kipnuk protect infrastructure from flooding. Paul says Kipnuk has been losing more than 10 feet of riverbank each year. “We’re facing erosion. The sea level is rising. The permafrost is melting.” Paul spent months applying for funding through the EPA’s Community Change Grants program. But the Trump administration terminated the program in May, in a broader effort to roll back environmental justice funding. The decision is at the heart of the lawsuit that Kipnuk signed on to this summer. In August, the court denied a motion to block the program’s termination. The plaintiffs appealed that decision. Sheryl Musgrove is with the Alaska Institute for Justice. The organization helped Kipnuk secure the EPA grant funding. “This was a chance for the federal government to finally show that they cared and that they were willing to invest in this small community in remote Alaska, and they took it away.” EPA press secretary Brigit Hirsch said that the funding would not have prevented destruction in the community. “While partisans on the left would apparently prefer to have seen those precious tax dollars washed away, EPA now has the resources available to ensure the money is spent appropriately and wisely.” Musgrove says the first year of the grant was meant for planning and the construction of the revetment would not have begun by the time of the storm. She says that the first phase would have also included hazardous waste removal from the bank. “Now that’s in the river and the Bering Sea.” Musgrove says she hopes the devastation of the storm highlights the needs of villages like Kipnuk and helps them mobilize resources for finding long-term solutions.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling  

Photo: Janice Talas-Denny (Hopi), the tribal veteran support coordinator at Televeda, installs a Starlink at New Pascua on October 2, 2025. (Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) Without reliable internet, it’s tough for veterans to apply for and access financial and health benefits, including mental care. But as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, a Phoenix-based telehealth company and the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services are partnering to help better equip those living on remote tribal lands. So far, Janice Talas-Denny (Hopi) with Televada has so far delivered 16 military-grade kits containing Starlink satellite internet systems – at no-cost – to over a dozen tribes across Arizona beginning this year in Parker. “If I can do this, anyone can do this.” Her latest stop, New Pascua, is just on the outskirts of Tucson, Ariz. “It’s a hot day today. We don’t want to be out here too long.” Fortunately, it takes only ten minutes, she says, for the satellite hookup once they figure out which direction is north. Along with her is Dylan Dalzotto on behalf of the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services. “Let’s start with 50, see where it goes and here we are rather quickly, excited to get the rest of them out there and a big roadblock for a lot of vets is the internet connectivity.” Even for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. “And a lot of times, they’re not.” Carmen Rivera is the tribe’s veterans benefits counselor and often travels to the Mexico border, meeting with tribal members living off-grid. “And when you give them, you know, information, whether it be off this system, or you give it to them in paper, they like that.” U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (Cherokee/R-OK). U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (Cherokee/R-OK) is facing criticism for an exchange during a recent hearing on federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. He’s accused of racial stereotyping based on looks. Correspondent Matt Laslo has the story from Washington. Sen. Mullin is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, but that doesn’t give him a pass with tribal leaders. During a recent hearing over whether or not to recognize the Lumbee, Mullin offended many with his exchange with Principal Chief Michell Hicks of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which referring to the Lumbee packing the hearing room. “You can’t look over there and say they’re not Native. I mean, turn around and look — and you’re telling me they’re not Native?” Chief Hicks: “I’ve seen the crowd” Mullin: “Okay. And you’re saying that that’s not Native faces?” Hicks: “That’s not for me to determine. That’s for the [Department of Interior’s Office of Federal Acknowledgment] (OFA) process…” Mullin: “No, but we are determining it.” U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) has garnered praise across Indian Country for calling Mullin out. “It’s just like my frustration with this administration giving authority to [the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] (ICE) to pull anybody over just because they have brown skin and claim that they’re undocumented somehow. It’s wrong, and I don’t want to be put in a position like that.” Mullin brushes the criticism aside. “I don’t care if I’m doing what is right. The Lumbees deserve to be recognized.” A 2022 Congressional Budget Office study estimated it would cost just over $90 million a year to recognize the Lumbee. Mullin says concerns raised by other tribes over the cost of enrolling the Lumbee coupled with debates over gaming are misguided. “I’m serious. It doesn’t make any sense. And if you’re going to start talking about gaming — which most of these arguments are about, is gaming — shame on you, because now you’re putting profit over Native people.” While North Carolina’s two Republican senators are pushing the Lumbee Fairness Act, which would recognize the tribe federally. Sen. Cortez Masto says that’s a decision best left up to nonpartisan officials within the Interior Department. “I am not equipped to make that determination, and that’s why that was set up that way. It’s evidence-based. I rely on it, and I think I was very clear about it.” President Donald Trump has promised the Lumbee federal recognition.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, November 11, 2025 – Native American veterans create valuable avenues for connections with fellow Native vets

On Tuesday, Canadians will pause for Remembrance Day to honor those in the military who died serving their country, as well as those still serving. But as Dan Karpenchuk reports, special ceremonies were held over the weekend to honor Indigenous members of Canada’s military. It’s Indigenous Veterans Day and has been commemorated since 1994. Indigenous members of Canada’s military shared their stories at ceremonies across the country. In Ottawa, Defence Minister David McGuinty addressed one ceremony. “Throughout our history, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis members have served with exceptional bravery and distinction in the Canadian Armed Forces. They have fought, endured, and sacrificed in our name. From Vimy to Dieppe, from Korea to Afghanistan, Indigenous service members have demonstrated extraordinary skill, courage, and devotion to duty.” Indigenous Veterans Day came about because many of those veterans were not given the same benefits as their non-Indigenous peers. Ray Deer is the president of the Quebec’s only First Nations-operated Canadian Legion. He says people need to know about the contributions made by Indigenous members of the military. “I think by joining the military it gives us a voice. It gives us a voice that can be heard amongst the Canadians and the Americans because they know we served alongside them. Without doing that, without serving alongside them, you’re more than invisible, we are invisible as it is, but it would be worst off if we did not participate.” Other Indigenous veterans say the gained respect from military colleagues for their character and their ability as soldiers, but some say the camaraderie vanished when the fighting was over and there was a return to Canada. The federal government says more than 4,000 Indigenous people served in the military in the World War I and 3,000 served in the World War II. Recently, the government acknowledged the unfair treatment of Indigenous soldiers where many thought their rights and standing would improve when they returned home, but as efforts towards reconciliation gained momentum in recent years, there was more effort to recognize Indigenous veterans and their contributions. Menominee Tribal School hosted its Veterans breakfast event on November 7, 2025. (Courtesy Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin / Facebook) A tribal school district in northeast Wisconsin says the government shutdown has impacted federal funding it relies on for salaries, supplies, and student programming. Judith Ruiz-Branch has more. The Menominee Indian School District is one of about 20 school districts in Wisconsin receiving Impact Aid funding. The program provides support for public schools on federal lands. Marcus Denny, superintendent of the district, said they have limited access to local tax dollars due to a small taxable land base, so program funds cover about 40% of their budget. Payments have not gone out because of the government shutdown. “That’s impacted our budget big time. We’ve had to move around a lot of funds from our general fund. We had to seek a line of credit with our bank to help meet operational needs. It’s impacted us heavily.” The district serves about 1,000 students and Denny pointed out many of them come from high-poverty backgrounds. He noted food assistance cuts due to the government shutdown are also having broader community effects as many students do not have adequate access to food at home. Denny stressed community organizations and the tribal government are working together to support local families by stocking food pantries and soliciting donations to send home with students. He added school staff are also using personal resources to provide for students in need. “We’ve had classroom teachers at our elementary school put things together for kids to take home on the weekends if there was any inclination of any type of food shortage for them or anything.” Denny emphasized the Impact Aid office has been in frequent communication with districts throughout the government shutdown and has informed them payments will be processed once operations resume. Despite concerns about resources becoming increasingly scarce should the shutdown continue, Denny underscored he has confidence in his community. “The Menominee people and Indigenous people in general are very resilient and we’ve faced challenges for years with the government. This is just another bump in the road for us, and we just continue to do what’s best for our kids and our community.”   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Monday, November 10, 2025 – Vermont tribes defend their identity against scrutiny from across the Canadian border

Photo: Challistia Colelay, who went by “Tia,” was a 16-year-old Apache teen and went missing on October 16, 2025. (Courtesy Lula Mae Colelay / Instagram) The mother of an Apache 16-year-old who’s been missing since last month says her child’s remains were discovered by tribal and federal police earlier this week. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, it comes after the state recently named a new alert system in honor of another Apache teen, Emily Pike. Challistia Colelay, who went by “Tia”, disappeared in mid-October. No Turquoise Alert had been issued, but on Monday, authorities discovered human remains in Navajo County near the Knots Landing community in Whiteriver on the Fort Apache Reservation. Authorities asked for help in trying to identify the body by releasing physical and clothing descriptions. Soon after, Tia’s biological mother confirmed on social media that her daughter was found. The investigation is being handled by the White Mountain Apache Police Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Fort Apache Agency. The BIA Missing and Murdered Unit is also involved. Renee Ciugun Avugiaq teaches Yugtun in the early grades, where children learn numbers, the days of the week and month, and vocabulary for the weather, colors and basic words. Children take turns pointing at numbers on October 30, 2025. (Photo: Matt Faubion / Alaska Public Media) It’s not easy for a school to take in 70 students at once, but a school in Anchorage has done just that. It has opened its Yup’ik language immersion program to children, whose families were forced to move to the city after hurricane force winds and floods devastated coastal villages in Western Alaska last month. As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride tells us, the school feels warm and welcome to the students. The day at College Gate starts just as it did back home, with the Pledge of Allegiance, recited in the Yup’ik language, or Yugtun. When College Gate Elementary School began its Yup’ik immersion program eight years ago, it had just one kindergarten class and added a new grade every year. Now, it is a tight-knit family that just got bigger. The new students play hard at recess. The school’s daily routine seems to help them feel more grounded, something that’s hard to do when you’ve lost everything. “I just felt like my house moved to the ocean.” Ellyne Aliralalria says she feels safer since she moved to Anchorage. She and her family were inside their home when the flood carried it off. “The house spinned really fast. And we were like going down to the river. We stopped. We hit something really hard. Two times. And my living room window broke.” It’s a nightmare, that Ellyne says her new friends at the school are helping her to forget, friends like Lilly Lowen. “After something so big happening, they’re still so, like, cheerful and they’re so friendly. They’re just so fun to be around. I’m really glad they’re here.” Lilly says this experience has been an opportunity to learn about something larger than yourself. “It makes me feel like I could be doing more to help, even though I’m a kid.” But simply being a kid may be a bigger help than Lilly realizes – to share jokes and play games like Boop. In Boop, you tag people on the nose – and then, they’re it. Add some pig snorts and you get a real giggle fest going.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Friday, November 7, 2025 – Native Playlist: PIQSIQ, Blaine Bailey, and LOV

Some tribal leaders are supporting a proposed bill that could expand sports betting in Wisconsin, as Chuck Quirmbach reports. About three dozen states allow some form of sports betting, but in Wisconsin, the only legal way to place a wager on a sporting event is at some tribal casinos. Proposed legislation would allow Wisconsin tribes to operate computer servers and other technology, so that sports gamblers could be anywhere in the state and place a bet online. Attorney General Jeff Crawford of the Forest County Potawatomi testifies at a Wisconsin legislative hearing November 4, 2025. Jeff Crawford is Attorney General of the Forest County Potawatomi. He told a legislative hearing that allowing tribes to offer more sports betting would encourage gamblers to turn away from using illegal and unreliable, off-shore betting firms. “While online gaming is currently the Wild West in Wisconsin, with no regulations or protections for consumers, it does not have to be.” Kyle White Eagle is a tribal legislator for the Ho-Chunk Nation. He says his tribe provides a lot of services across a wide geographic area and needs additional gaming revenue to better tackle problems like poverty and opioid addiction. “Giving tribes in Wisconsin the right to conduct mobile sports betting isn’t going to solve these problems completely, but it will help significantly and it will be funding well spent.” But a coalition of national commercial sports gambling firms, including Draft Kings and FanDuel, opposes the Wisconsin bill. Attorney Damon Stewart of the Sports Betting Alliance says gamblers would lose out if, legally, they could only go through the tribes. “Unfortunately, this bill would not result in a competitive market for sports betting that provides consumers with choice.” If the mobile sports betting bill passes in Wisconsin, it would still take time for the state to renegotiate gaming compacts with the tribes, and for the U.S. Interior Department to approve the gaming expansion. An Arizona tribe is giving its members some financial relief, as the federal government shutdown continues impacting programs like food assistance. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more. The Gila River Indian Community is calling them general welfare payments – one-time $1,000 disbursements for each 18-year-old tribal member regardless of whether they’re a SNAP recipient. That decision came on Saturday during a special council session called by Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis. “We want to make sure that, as a sovereign nation, we take care of our members during this unprecedented shutdown. I hope that this payment brings some peace of mind during this time of uncertainty at the federal level.” Lewis urges his tribe, south of Phoenix, to plan for the long haul. “So please, use or set aside for your food needs, to pay bills and to add some measure of economic security.” Lumbee Chairman John Lowery testifying before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on November 5, 2025. The chairman of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina says he’s confident that this year, full services and benefits will be extended to his tribe. Chairman John Lowery made the remarks Wednesday during a legislative hearing on the Lumbee Fairness Act, which would grant the tribe federal recognition. Lowery says his tribe has long sought federal status. “I’m a descendant of Solomon Locklear, Sr. one of the 44 tribal leaders who in 1888 petitioned Congress to recognize the Lumbee Tribe … today, 137 years later, I stand before you once again to advocate for justice and equal treatment through full federal recognition.” Wednesday’s hearing in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs also included opposition. Leaders from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina and the Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma testifying against the bill. While Lowery submitted a list of tribal support, and testified that nearly all of North Carolina’s Congressional delegation backs the bill. President Donald Trump, in a statement this week, issued his support of the Lumbee Tribe.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App to get breaking news alerts.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, November 6, 2025 – Australia provides a promising model treaty for Indigenous recognition and self-determination

Photo: Craters as a result of underground nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site. (Courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration) President Donald Trump wants the Department of Defense (DOD) to resume nuclear weapons testing immediately. He instructed DOD to “immediately begin” nuclear weapons testing last week. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, that directive has been sending shock waves around the West. Details are scarce, with the Pentagon pointing KJZZ to Truth Social – adding nothing more at this time – when asking for additional information about Trump’s post he made while overseas moments before meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Prior to a moratorium imposed by Congress in 1992, the U.S. conducted more than 1,000 nuclear tests – mostly done at the Nevada Test Site – even hundreds of above-ground detonations. Daryl Kimball is executive director of the Arms Control Association. “We can’t fully rule it out, that would be extremely provocative. No other country in the world has conducted a nuclear test explosion in this century – except for North Korea.” Along with the Soviet Union and Great Britain, the U.S. signed the Test Ban Treaty of 1963, prohibiting any atmospheric nuclear weapons tests as well as those in outer space and under water – excluding underground explosions. Craters as a result of underground nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site. National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office Believing “there’s no technical or military need to resume testing,” Kimball fears Trump’s order could escalate a new arms race on the global stage against foreign foes, like Russia and China. “I don’t think people need to fear mushroom clouds on the desert floor outside of Las Vegas, but the very notion of resuming nuclear testing, in my view, is a disrespectful slap in the face to those who in the past have suffered from radiation poisoning from nuclear testing fallouts in the Mountain West.” Like Leslie Begay, a former Navajo uranium miner. He’s also a Vietnam veteran and cancer survivor, having a double lung transplant with 123 stitches in all – while relying on an oxygen tank since 2015. Two years ahead of what could be a final round of applications, allegations of predatory representation and solicitation are on the rise, and especially targeting tribal communities. “That was the hardest thing I ever encountered. These are some of the things that people are going to go through within a few more years. They gonna be facing the thing, there’s no cure for it.” Financial compensation for radiation exposure victims – uranium miners and downwinders – was revived this summer by Congress as part of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Richmond Toolie looks for reindeer through his binoculars outside of Savoonga, Alaska on September 22, 2025. (Photo: Alena Naiden) Residents of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea have traditionally subsisted on walrus, whales, and fish, but availability of marine resources has been changing, and reindeer have become a staple. Now, Savoonga is almost done building a meat processing facility that can turn it into a business. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more. The Kookooligit Mountains, made of black volcanic rock, glistened behind Richmond Toolie as he rode his four-wheeler across the wet tundra outside of Savoonga. Ahead, the Bering Sea sparkled in the September sun. A third-generation chief reindeer herder, Toolie paused as he crested each hill to spot the animals through his binoculars. “All summer, there’s reindeer out here.” Marie Toolie pulls reindeer meat from her freezer in Savoonga, Alaska on September 23, 2025. (Photo: Alena Naiden) St. Lawrence Island sits a hundred miles west of mainland Alaska. It has two villages, Savoonga and Gambell. It’s also home to several thousand free-ranging reindeer. Reindeer were brought to the island after a devastating famine in the late 1800s. At least a thousand people died — some from recently introduced diseases, others from hunger as strange weather disrupted subsistence hunting. After the famine, a Presbyterian missionary brought reindeer to the island to serve as a reliable food source. Savoonga became a permanent settlement because of the proximity to the grazing grounds of the herd. Elder Larry Elaaq Kava remembers, “It was a long, long time ago. Sheldon Jackson brought in reindeer from Russia for survival. We might have another famine, and that helps.” Since then, reindeer herding and subsistence hunting together have kept people fed, But residents say hunting has been less reliable lately. Now, as the changing climate disrupts old patterns, residents are turning to a new, commercial reindeer processing plant to shore up the food supply and bring in cash. Toolie, like other Savoonga residents, hunts various animals for food. “Whaling, walrus, seal, reindeer, birds, fishing – all of it.” Riding across the tundra, he pointed out a whaling camp, fishing spo

Photo: Volunteer Tristan Pall packs food boxes in a truck bed at St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix, Ariz. on October 30, 2025. (Shi Bradley / Cronkite News) The Navajo Nation is bracing for the gap in SNAP benefits. It’s yet another food insecurity problem for tribal members living on the sprawling reservation. KJZZ’S Gabriel Pietrorazio has more. With only a dozen or so stores in the Nation, buying groceries is already a daily struggle, but letting benefits lapse could make their dilemma much worse. A third of Navajo households depend on SNAP today. Thomas Cody is with the Navajo Division of Child and Family Services. “We’re 400,000 strong, and we can get through this together.” Meanwhile, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma and Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. have declared a state of emergency. “Due to this federally imposed food crisis, we’re taking several actions.” Hoskin made almost $7 million available. As for the Navajo Nation, Cody says it’s unclear whether they’ll follow suit “We’re coordinating right now with our legislators and our executive branch, and I don’t know if it will be a declaration, but we’re exploring all avenues to assist our people.” On Monday, the Cherokee Nation announced the expansion of its emergency cash assistance program to all Cherokee Nation citizens on SNAP nationwide. The tribe says it will adjust payments as the federal government partially pays benefits in November. The deadline to apply is November 14. A totem pole representing the Sukteeneidí clan on October 14, 2025. (Photo: Clarise Larson / KTOO) In a recent ceremony, clan leaders and carvers dedicated the latest pole in Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Kootéeyaa Deiyí — Juneau’s totem pole trail. KTOO’s Yvonne Krumrey has more. Inside the clan house in the Walter Soboleff building, Sukteeneidí clan members stand in front of a large poster depicting a totem pole that represents their clan story. They offer thanks to other clans, carvers, and SHI leadership. The actual pole – called a kooteeyaa in Lingít – was raised near Juneau’s Overstreet Park, but organizers held the dedication inside due to weather. Edward Thomas is Sukteeneidí and he says he’s excited to see his clan join the handful of others already represented by the Kootéeyaa Deiyí. “As I look at the walk of the totem pole along the waterfront here, I’m proud to see that all of our clans are being represented,” Thomas went on to thank the carver, Lee Wallace, and his apprentices for the thought and work they put into the pole. Wallace is a Haida master carver and lives in Saxman. But he says this kootéeyaa is a part of his family’s legacy, too. “My great grandfather has a totem pole in the state building, Dwight Wallace. My grandfather, John Wallace, has a totem pole that was outside the city museum. So now, with this particular kootéeyaa pole, there’s three generations of Wallace totem poles standing here in Juneau.” Wallace was helped by apprentices, including his son Charles Peele. And Peele holds the youngest member of the carving team — his five-year-old daughter Jáadsangaa Elizabeth — as he describes the design of the pole. “And at the top, we have the current clan leaders. We want to acknowledge that this is representation of a living people. That this isn’t just something that’s from the past, this is something that’s tying history together. We often look at totem poles as things that are coming back from the past. And we wanted to add a piece that represents the present.” Below the current clan leaders, the pole features a spirit man, Raven, and a box that represents the abundance of knowledge and history held in the Sukteeneidí clan, whose homelands are near Kake. At the base is the clan crest — dog salmon swimming in tall grasses. The National Park Service funded this pole. SHI plans to raise a total of 30 poles along Juneau’s waterfront. So far, 13 poles have been installed.     Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, November 4, 2025 – A new report finds tribes are most vulnerable during government shutdown    

Kodiak peer counselors, other staff, and volunteers with Kodiak KINDNESS are joined by new Northwest Arctic team members Nauyaq Baltazar and Frances Williams. (Courtesy Kodiak KINDNESS) In a historic moment, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration have transferred land to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. As Danielle Kaeding reports, it is the first known land transfer nationwide from a Catholic institution to a tribal nation in the name of reparations. The transfer aims to repair the painful legacy of federal Indian boarding schools. From the early 19th century until 1969, Native American children were removed from their homes and forced to assimilate. The Franciscan Sisters transferred its Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center in Arbor Vitae to Lac du Flambeau. Araia Breedlove, the tribe’s spokesperson, says it is a significant moment. “Having this be the first time, as we know of at least, that any institution has given land back in regards to reparations, it’s rare that we see the acknowledgement of that hurt and the generational trauma.” Sue Ernster is president of the Franciscan Sisters. “We do see this as the beginning of deepening the relationship and really helping to heal our part of the trauma.” The Band purchased the property for $30,000. While the spirituality center was never a boarding school, the Franciscan Sisters ran St. Mary’s Catholic Indian Boarding School on the Bad River Tribe’s reservation in Wisconsin. Officials with the Lac du Flambeau tribe say they’re grateful for the Sisters’ kindness and willingness to acknowledge the hurt and trauma from boarding schools. The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration have transferred its Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center in Arbor Vitae to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. It’s the first known land transfer from a Catholic order of sisters to a tribal nation. (Courtesy Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration) A Kodiak-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting families with newborns is expanding into the Northwest Arctic Borough. KMXT’s Davis Hovey has more on how Kodiak Kindness is helping families across Alaska raise babies. For years, “Nauyaq” Wanda Baltazar has been teaching infants in Kotzebue through a local program that serves children with disabilities or delayed development. It is the only such Infant Learning Program based out of a school district in the state. Baltazar says it is about helping kids from birth to three years old and their families around the Maniilaq service area, which covers 12 communities in Northwest Alaska from Kotzebue to Kobuk. “Working with birth to three, it’s always good about helping families, ensuring that they’re strong, supported. And any way we can support families and nursing moms to help their babies grow, I think is great.” Baltazar and Frances Williams, the local school secretary from Ambler, are bringing their experience working with children to Kodiak Kindness as they continue doing what they already do, but under the new title of peer counselors. Williams, who is known in her hometown as the “village mother,” says being part of the organization will give her more support and tools to do things she already does on a regular basis in the Northwest Arctic community. “Kodiak Kindness would be able to help because there’s a lot of things that I learned when we went to the trainings, yeah, things that we didn’t know. So all the training will be able to help, like I’ll be able to do my own mix with Kodiak Kindness and my Inupiaq traditions.” Williams says she uses native plants like stinkweed or spruce trees to make salves or other traditional medicines to help her friends, family and neighbors heal from the land. Aside from the traditional knowledge Williams has from her mom and aunties, she’ll also be able to help her community with assistance from a certified lactation consultant if she wants support virtually from the Kodiak Kindness team via telehealth. Kodiak Kindness’ two new peer counselors in the Northwest Arctic Borough come online this winter and hope to start enrolling families in the region early next year.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Monday, November 3, 2025 – The looming wildfire crisis in the Arctic

Photo: Wesley Dixon Jones and his daughter Mollyanne, in Mission, Oreg., Sunday, April 13, 2025. (Courtesy Mollyanne Jones) This weekend on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, volunteers will search for 71-year-old Wesley Dixon Jones, a tribal elder who’s been missing since October 5. As Buffalo’s Fire senior reporter Brian Bull explains, the search team is testing a device that the coordinator says could be a “game changer”. Kimberly Lining of MMIW Search & Hope Alliance out of Portland says AquaEye Pro bounces echoes off underwater objects then compares them to the “echoes” of a human body. “It scans one acre of water up to 180 feet about every 30 minutes. And that is what we are going to take down on the deep pockets of the Umatilla on our search. If Mr. Jones is in the water, this will find him.” Jone’s daughter, Mollyanne, is hopeful the device will deliver. “And also utilizing canines and divers to help locate my father. Right now, this is very, very important utilizing that resource.” Lining says her group is using the AquaEye on a trial basis. She hopes perhaps donors will cover the $29-thousand dollar cost of one they can use permanently. The government shutdown is delaying funding for a federal heating assistance program. In Alaska, thousands of low-income families use the program to offset their heating costs and to weatherize their homes for winter. Many of them are tribal citizens. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden reports from our flagship station KNBA. The Alaska Department of Health said in a statement Thursday that the government shutdown has delayed the release of money for the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program for the year of 2026. The program subsidizes energy bills for about 50,000 Alaskans, many of whom live in rural and tribal communities. Jennifer Hyde is a Federal Infrastructure Coordinator at the statewide nonprofit the Alaska Center. “It definitely benefits a lot of rural and tribal communities. Again, disproportionately, those communities are often low income or have different economic struggles.” For now, the state health officials say they are operating the program using the remaining money from the previous year. And that they expect that money to run out by mid-November. The department said it usually takes four to six weeks for the heating assistance funds to be released to states – after the shutdown is over. Alaska tribal organizations are raising the alarm. The Tanana Chiefs Conference administers heating assistance for over 1,200 households. Amber Vaska is the executive director of Tribal Government and Client Services at the organization. She said by email that the federal program is “a lifeline across the Interior.” Vaska said that the program, which also helps people weatherize their homes to cut on heating costs, is a way to ensure pipes don’t freeze when temperatures drop to minus 50 in the Interior. The government shutdown is also affecting other programs crucial for Alaska Native communities, like food assistance and tribal Head Start. Hyde, with the Alaska Center, says families who rely on heating assistance are the same vulnerable residents who will be affected by the loss of food benefits. “It’s going to just be a really tough winter, unless something can give.” In the meantime, the state Department of Health said its staff is prioritizing applications by focusing on households in a heating emergency or at immediate risk of losing heat. Tribes across the country are preparing for the halt of federal food benefits beginning November 1 due to the government shutdown. The Shawnee Tribe in Oklahoma declared an emergency this week, releasing emergency funds to help citizens who may lose their benefits. Chief Ben Barnes said in a statement the federal government may be closed, but the Shawnee Tribe’s government remains open, and no Shawnee family should go hungry “because of political dysfunction in Washington”.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Friday, October 31, 2025 – Documenting the meaningful Indigenous origins of Dia de los Muertos

The government shutdown is creating a lot of uncertainty and disruption for Native American and Alaska Native communities, and for tribal organizations that administer federal programs. Liz Ruskin reports. These include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for food assistance and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which subsidizes energy bills. Ben Mallott, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee Wednesday that the prospect that both of those programs would run out of money, just as winter begins, puts some Alaskans in a life-threatening bind. “Without LIHEAP, without SNAP, our communities, our tribal citizens will have to decide between fuel and food.” During the pandemic, the Federal Subsistence Board allowed emergency hunting to improve food security. Now, with the government shutdown, Mallott says the Subsistence Board can’t even meet. More than 500 Indian land school districts are feeling financial stress, too. Kerry Bird, president of the National Indian Education Association, says federal Impact Aid provides half the budget for some schools, and the shutdown is interrupting the flow. “In South Dakota, Montana, and New Mexico, school districts are burning through reserves just to meet payroll.” Bird says Head Start programs will run low on money if the shutdown extends into November. Witnesses said many agency experts tribes normally turn to have lost their jobs. Pete Upton testified about the Trump administration’s plan to abolish a fund at the Treasury Department called the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. Upton runs the Native CDFI Network. He says tribal communities are often in banking deserts. “Native CDFIs are typically the only financial institutions serving these communities, providing access to capital, credit and financial education where no alternative exists.” Early in the shutdown, the Treasury Department fired the entire staff of the CDFI Fund. With no one at the federal office to certify the CDFIs, Upton says it’s hard for the community finance organizations to attract private-sector investment. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), chair of the Indian Affairs Committee, says tribes face enormous uncertainty as the stalemate in Congress nears the one-month mark. “We can’t figure out the path forward right now on our spending bills, although I am a little bit more optimistic on that today.” She didn’t elaborate, but said earlier this week that senators are engaged in productive talks. Former Acting Attorney General Colin Bradley of the Navajo Nation during his failed confirmation vote in Window Rock, Ariz. on October 22, 2025. (Courtesy Navajo Nation Council) The Navajo Nation has had four attorneys general in less than a year. And as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, one of them returns to that office amid a politically tense time in Window Rock, Ariz. Colin Bradley was acting attorney general for less than three months, but the Navajo Nation Council wouldn’t confirm him, forcing President Buu Nygren to yet again tap his own chief of staff, Kris Beecher, who spoke about his goals for the role. “My hope is to bring that stability for the rest of the administration and allow the Department of Justice to have one last leader for the end of this term.” Bradley penned a pair of opinions tackling decades-old Diné legal disputes. One ruled that blood quantum – a controversial way to determine tribal membership – violates the Navajo Bill of Rights. He also deemed the Diné Marriage Act discriminatory and to immediately repeal it. That 2005 law bars recognition of same-sex marriage, but there is a debate whether his writings are null and void. As for Beecher… “There’s long-standing precedent that any of the opinions that you wish still stand.” Unless undone by the sitting Attorney General. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, October 30, 2025 – Julian Brave Noisecat opens a door into himself and his people’s history

Thousands of Indigenous people across the Mountain West are among those who will lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits if the government shutdown continues. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Daniel Spaulding reports, that tribal officials are concerned about cuts to programs that were already stretched thin. SNAP will run out of money on November 1 if the shutdown continues and nearly one-in-four Indigenous households use SNAP benefits, double the national rate. Julie Keller leads food services at Nimiipuu Health on the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. “Feeding families is very expensive, and people are struggling to make ends meet, and these programs help people provide basic nutrition for their whole family.” Keller says more tribal members have been signing up to receive food benefits out of fear that they may soon be canceled. Five states in the Mountain West have issued warnings for SNAP recipients. Some states, like Colorado, are providing emergency funding for alternate food sources. Meanwhile, a group of Democratic leaders in several states are suing the federal government over the suspension of benefits. (Courtesy Cherokee Nation) The Cherokee Nation declared a food emergency Tuesday due to the federal government shutdown and the expected loss of SNAP benefits. The Oklahoma tribe is making more than $6 million in emergency relief funding available. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. explained the tribe’s response in a social media post saying they’ll protect those most at risk of hunger. “We will not turn our backs on people in need as the federal government remains gridlocked. Our response may not be perfect but we will not stand back and watch people suffer.” Other tribes across the country have also declared an emergency due to the federal government shutdown. Egan Convention Center in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo: Craig Talbert / Wikimedia) The Western Alaska disaster relief effort has moved to its next phase. Earlier this month, hurricane-force winds and floods forced more than 1,000 people from their homes. Many families were sent to mass shelters in Anchorage. This week, the city has begun to transition them into temporary housing. KNBA’s Rhonda McBride visited the Egan Convention Center downtown, where families are preparing to move on. Tessie Chanerak is one of the counselors from Southcentral Foundation watching out for families at the Egan Center. “Little boys and girls are sad. They’re homesick.” (Photo: Rhonda McBride) She says counselors have been keeping kids occupied with games — and it’s helped that Halloween is around the corner. “You know Halloween is one of the fun seasons of the year, because there’s lots of candy, so we got some costumes and lots of hats and trick-or-treating bags. So, anything for the little kids too. They seem to be more at home than their parents.” Chanerak says at first, when the families moved into the shelter, the reality of what they had escaped had not yet sunk in. She saw families look at videos and photos, captured on their cell phones, over and over, as if to try to understand what they had experienced. “I can believe the typhoon kicked in. I can’t believe our homes floated away. That really happened. And yesterday, when I was checking in with folks they were, they’re crying. They’re frustrated. They’re tired.” Despite that, Chanerak says the families have held up remarkably well, but she’s glad they’ll soon be transferred to temporary housing, so can begin to recover. She says she’s grateful for the elders, because they have been a calming influence on everyone. “I really do admire that. That gives me a tool that I can use. Taking it one day at a time.” Chanerak wears a pair of angel wings that came from a Halloween costume, known to the kids as “Terrific Tessie.” She is originally from Toksook Bay, one of the communities also in the storm’s path. She says she feels honored to be of help, as both a counselor and a speaker of the Yup’ik language. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Wednesday, October 29, 2025 – The Menu: SNAP runs out, Alaska traditional relief foods  

It has been 100 years, but the Vatican is now expected to return Indigenous artifacts to Canada. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, Indigenous communities are preparing for the return of the items. The museum in the Vatican City has held the artifacts since 1925. But in a few weeks, an announcement is expected that will see the return of dozens of artifacts that could be back in Canada by the end of the year. Indigenous communities have been calling on the Catholic Church for decades to return them. Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak (Pinaymootang First Nation), National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, has described the artifacts as living, sacred pieces of Indigenous cultures and ceremonies and must be treated as the invaluable objects they are. Cody Groat is an assistant professor of history and Indigenous studies at Western University in Ontario. “To us these aren’t just artifacts that we’re going put behind a glass case. These are ancestors in their own right. They have their own sentients, their own being. So when we repatriate these cultural items, we have to recognize that there’s ceremony associated with that. This can’t just be a transfer from one box to another to an institution. These are ancestors who need to be welcomed back with ceremony and cultural protocol.” Groat says it’s not exactly clear what artifacts are held by the Vatican, but an exhibit at the Vatican in 1925 also published a catalogue of specific artifacts, and that’s a starting point to find out what else might be in the collection. Groat also says the artifacts are expected to be transferred to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and that the Canadian Museum of History is expected to act as an intermediary. He also says it’s important that in all points of the process, First Nations need to be part of the discussions as, he’s sure, there will be challenges since the process is expected to be long and slow but also one that is long overdue. BlueJay (Kirby Brown) and Goldie (Marta Lu Clifford) on the KMAS Indigenous Radio set at Very Little Theater’s production of “BlueJay’s Canoe,” Tuesday, October 21, 2025. (Photo: Brian Bull / Buffalo’s Fire) A play about loss, resilience, and the power of Native stories opens November 7 in Eugene, Oreg. Brian Bull, senior reporter for Buffalo’s Fire, previews “BlueJay’s Canoe”. The story centers around BlueJay, a DJ at a fictional tribal radio station in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. “And good afternoon, and a good day it is indeed!” Kirby Brown plays BlueJay, who informs and entertains his listeners through the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 wildfires. But BlueJay also struggles. “One of BlueJay’s tragic flaws is that he just doesn’t ask for help. When the stuff starts hitting the fan, that’s when we got to hold each other tight.” The big mystery in the play surrounds an incomplete wooden canoe BlueJay has in storage. The reason why it’s been left undone unearths a past tragedy, which has given BlueJay survivor’s guilt. Marta Lu Clifford and Theresa May co-wrote “BlueJay’s Canoe”. Both have specific lessons they’d like the audience to leave with. Clifford said, “I want them to leave with the importance of stories, the importance of family, and how they are all connected.” And May said, “Indigenous stories are not artifacts, they’re not myths from some time past. They carry knowledge for the present.” The storyline also weaves in traditional teachings and legends, told through a spirit person named Heron, who’ll eventually be key to solving the show’s mystery. “Did you ever hear a story that saved your life?” “BlueJay’s Canoe” runs through November 23 at the Very Little Theatre in Eugene. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and vice chair, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), are hosting a hearing Wednesday on the impacts of the federal government shutdown and tribes. Witnesses are leaders from national Native organizations, including in areas of health and education. The hearing in Washington will also be streamed online.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, October 28, 2025 – News briefs: tribal government disputes, land protection, government shutdown emergency

Photo: The Gila River Indian Community’s Sacaton Market was unveiled during its grand opening on October 23, 2025. (Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) The Gila River Indian Community in Arizona has long relied on convenience stores to feed its 13,000 residents, who otherwise may have to drive as far as half an hour away to neighboring cities with grocery stores. But as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, a new market – a decade in the making – has opened much closer to home. Duncan Winston is with Gila River Development and says the tribe’s new 11,000 sq. ft. supermarket in the heart of Sacaton is much more than a store. “This isn’t a Bashas, it’s not a Safeway or a Walmart.” It’s a symbol of their sovereignty since few, if any, tribes outright own their own grocers. “We don’t want to leave that in the hands of a larger chain to determine who gets what – we want to be able to fight for ourselves and bring the necessary goods to our community when we need them.” From fresh produce and butchered meats to a deli serving local favorites, like the work’s burger. “One of the biggest demands from the community was, ‘You got to bring the works back.’ And so we’ve done that.” But that doesn’t come cheap, because of what some refer to as “rez-flation”. “We have experienced it here. I mean, it’s difficult finding reputable vendors who are willing to bring us goods and services at a fair price. Although we are rural, we are a lot closer to the metropolitan Phoenix area than a lot of the other tribes in Arizona.” S’eiltin Jamiann Hasselquist spreads some cheese kaháakw on crackers in SHI’s Traditional Foods and Medicine Kitchen on October 13, 2025. (Photo: Yvonne Krumrey / KTOO) Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) recently opened its new science education building. The space — and the educators inside — are working to combine traditional knowledge with new technology to expand access to science for young people in Juneau, Alaska. KTOO’s Yvonne Krumrey reports. At a ceremony, Lingít language professor X̱’unei Lance Twitchell said that bringing traditional ways of being into the present isn’t a contradiction. “It’s not a ‘living in two worlds’ situation. It’s living as an Indigenous person with multiple languages and multiple identities, and being just fine with it. You don’t have to be just one thing.” And the new SHI Indigenous Science Building around the corner carries that sentiment in all the services it offers. The building on Heritage Way hosts a digital media lab with a podcast booth and video production software, an Indigenous science research lab that studies cultural resources like seaweed and clams, and a makerspace with a digital woodcarving machine. That last one made nametags instructors are wearing as they lead tours of the new building. In the Traditional Foods and Medicine Kitchen, instructor S’eiltin Jamiann Hasselquist says she and others are bringing old ways to process and preserve food into the present. “Whatever people can dream up that they would like to do in this kitchen, I think that we could try to make their dreams happen.” With freeze dryers, pressure cookers, dehydrators, and space to build traditional drying racks, Hasselquist said they are making and preserving traditional foods that elders would make when she was a kid, like cheese kaháakw — a rich and smoky paste made of fermented salmon eggs. She scoops some out of a glass jar and spreads it on a cracker for anyone who wants to try it. “Someone tasted that cheese kaháakw, and they took one bite, and they said, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m getting emotional. I haven’t tasted this for 30 years.’ It’s been three decades, and they thought that they would never try it again.” Elders have been approaching Hasselquist with foods they remember from childhood, but don’t know how to make. “So if we could have workshops and share that knowledge, and we’re rebirthing, you know, this, this Indigenous way of living and being.” Next, she wants to find out how to make cold-pressed seal grease.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Monday, October 27, 2025 – A Canadian tribe’s historic legal victory worries non-Indigenous landowners

Photo: Wrangell City Hall on June 26, 2024. (Colette Czarnecki/KSTK) The City and Borough of Wrangell in Southeast Alaska is pausing work at a housing project after archaeologists confirmed artifacts at the site. KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki has more. While excavating a subdivision development site on Wrangell Island, construction crews uncovered a shell midden. Middens are ancient sites made up of shells and other remains. They help tell the story of who lived there and how they lived. The borough government owns the property and is pausing work near the midden until a state-approved mitigation plan is complete. Wrangell Borough Manager Mason Villarma says development will continue carefully. “This has been a 30-year pursuit in some cases. We’re into a $4 million investment. This is an opportunity for 20 housing lots, but being cognizant of any culturally significant artifacts is top of mind.” Currently, the Office of History and Archaeology and the State Historic Preservation Office are working on a treatment plan for recovery of the site. That will involve further investigation and excavation. The property has a complicated history. It was once the site of the Wrangell Institute, an Alaska Native boarding school known for punishing students for speaking their language and other abuses. Albert Rhinehart, the administrator for the local tribal government, Wrangell Cooperative Association, says the site carries deep meaning. “There’s a long history of colonization that includes the Wrangell Institute — what we prefer now to call the Alaska Native boarding school. A lot of families got separated in that time … even my own family. There was a lot of trauma.” In August, excavators found remnants of the old boarding school — a footbridge, concrete, and utility lines. Construction was paused until the state historic office determined last month that the infrastructure would not be on the National Register of Historic Places. The 134-acre Alder Top Village site will eventually include 20 home lots. The public land sale auction is continuing and closes on December 1. A new bull riding champ was recently crowned at the Indian National Finals Rodeo (INFR) in Las Vegas. And as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, he now has an automatic chance to go pro with the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), unlike other tribal athletes before him. “Cole Brewer has it won by one point. He’s got a gold buckle to take home, but he is not here to take it by default.” The announcer’s proclamation of his victory qualified the Cheyenne River Sioux from South Dakota, to try out at the New York Mavericks training camp. It’s a change the PBR made last year, according to the team’s GM Chris Pantani. “Our relationship with the INFR is really opening up a lot of doors for these kids,” “It’s giving that extra shot, but those five days of competition are daunting. It’s grueling, five big bulls to the championship.” Past INFR champs have a presence in the PBR today. Window Rock’s Cody Jesus won it in 2016. “It’s a straight path to where you want to go.” And in 2023, fellow Arizona Navajo JaCauy Hale from Ganado grabbed gold. He’s happy Brewer is getting a shot in the PBR. “It’s a good opportunity, wish I had that when I won it.” The Mavericks are also looking to bring back last year’s champ, Teigan Gray, who is also Cheyenne River Sioux from South Dakota, adds Pantani. “If Teigan accepts, you’ll have the reigning champion coming down, you’re going to have the past champion coming down, fighting for a spot on the team.”   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Cole Brewer (@colebrewer_11) Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Friday, October 24, 2025 — Native Bookshelf: Spooky Books for the season

Photo: Spirit Lake Nation. (Courtesy Spirit Lake Nation-Mni Wakan Oyate / Facebook) The Spirit Lake Tribal Council in North Dakota has declared a state of emergency as the federal government shutdown continues. The council declared the emergency this week in response to potential impacts on essential federal programs, including food and heating assistance. If the shutdown continues past October 31, benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) may be paused starting November 1. According to a press release, the Spirit Lake Tribe’s food distribution program has already seen an increase in families seeking assistance since the start of the fiscal year. The tribe is also concerned about the uncertainty of other programs, including Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The tribe is preparing and is encouraging residents to stay up-to-date on the latest information and contact local resources. Residents of Kipnuk, Alaska were evacuated in a C-17 military transport plane on October 16, 2025. The village was one of the worst hit by the remnants of the typhoon. (Photo: Eric Stone / Alaska Public Media) President Donald Trump Wednesday approved a request for a federal disaster declaration for the recent devastation caused by the remnants of a typhoon in Western Alaska. It wreaked havoc on some of Alaska’s most remote communities in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta. According to Alaska’s congressional delegation, President Trump also announced an initial $25 million in disaster relief funding to cover initial recovery expenses as the state conducts damage and cost assessments, which will result in further federal relief funds. The declaration enables agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, to deploy additional resources to support recovery and rebuilding efforts. An Arizona tribe is starting to poll its community members about a name change that could shorten or lengthen its name. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community is giving its 11,000 members at least seven options to choose from. “Write-in option, do you have a name you would like to see, that is not an option listed?” The tribe has posted audio recordings with explanations – both for and against – each proposed option on a new website, but no action is supposed to be taken by the tribal council until next year. The new names under consideration are meant to help preserve O’odham and Piipaash languages. One option is to leave the name as is. Other alternatives seek to replace the phrase “community” with “nation” to reflect the tribe’s sovereignty. “Option 3, Salt River O’odham Piipaash Nation.” While another variation adds “jeveḍ” – the O’odham word for land. “Onk Akimel O’odham c Xalychidom Piipaash Jeveḍ. “ One of its sister Four Southern Tribes, Tohono O’odham Nation, was once called the Papagos, a derogatory Spanish word linked to tepary beans. The tribe officially changed its name in 1986. (Courtesy Ho-Chunk, Inc.) Ho-Chunk, Inc. is addressing a labor shortage among young Winnebago tribal members in Nebraska, training them for jobs intended to help close a continuing housing shortage. Mark Moran has more. It is part of the Legacy Learning program, which passes on skills from one generation to the next. According to program officials, there is a lack of qualified young men in the Winnebago Tribe to take the jobs that are needed most. Ho-Chunk, Inc.’s Janelle Decora says the shortage is especially dire in the construction, carpentry, maintenance, and repair sectors, and adds that the students are learning more than hands on skills. “Our Legacy Learning instructors aren’t just teaching those entry-level workforce development skills, such as flooring, framing, those types of things, but also teaching life skills, as well.” Decora says the program has trained three cohorts of young men and 60% have found jobs in the construction sector.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, October 23, 2025 – Domestic violence prevention limps along without federal support

Photo: Debris sits in water in Kipnuk, Alaska following high winds and flooding brought by the remnants of Typhoon Halong. (Jacqui Lang / Alaska Public Media) Hundreds of people remain displaced a week after the remnants of a typhoon wreaked havoc on some of Alaska’s most remote and vulnerable communities. Reporter Emily Schwing has this update. One of the hardest hit communities is Kipnuk, a village that sits in the heart of Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Last week, Tribal Administrator Tristan Carl made the tough decision to mass evacuate his friends and family. Now, he says they have several needs including housing, clothing, and transportation, as well as access to foods that aren’t found in conventional groceries stores. “I know we’re gonna be missing some of our subsistence food. Hopefully some locals around here will be able to drop, drop some off or even invite some families for some. And that’s how we lived off for many, many, many centuries.” James Amik is also from Kipnuk. He says he, his friends, and family are still reeling from the storm. “It’s gonna be in our minds for a while, you now. But the way I think we can get through that is if we talk like to our behavioral health and just get everything off of our mind, I think that would help us.” Alaska’s governor declared a state disaster and has requested a federal disaster declaration from the Trump administration. Alaska’s congressional delegation has also penned a letter to the president asking him to declare a federal disaster. Representatives from several Alaska Native organizations speak at the subsistence panel at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention at the Dena’ina Convention Center in Anchorage on October 18, 2025. Gayla Hoseth, left, incoming AFN Co-Chair; Clinton Cook Sr., President for the Craig Tribal Association; Natasha Hayden, co-chair of the Kodiak Island tribal coalition; Patty Schwalenberg, executive director of the Alaska Migratory Birds Co-Management Council; and Karen Linell, executive director of the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission. (Photo: Matt Faubion / Alaska Public Media) Meanwhile, when it comes to Native co-management of fish and wildlife in the state, engagement and unity are key. That was the message at a panel about subsistence at the recent Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) Convention. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more. Representatives from several Alaska Native organizations called for a unified approach alongside government agencies to manage wildlife and fish when they met last week. Clinton Cook Sr. is the Craig Tribal Association president. He emphasized the importance of prioritizing Alaska Native voices when making decisions about wildlife. “Our people have always managed our lands. We know where the salmon run. We know where the deer are. We know when the clams are safe.” Cook says the first step is engagement. He encourages tribal residents to participate in advisory councils for both federal and state regulatory agencies. “So you have a voice in what happens in your region. That’s huge.” A push for resource development in several Alaska regions has been met with opposition from some tribal groups. Karen Linell is the executive director of the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission. She called for a composed and united response in the middle of a quickly-changing political environment. “With the current administration, we need to try to hold our ground and not lose.” Representatives talked about funding challenges, lack of guidelines, and the need to re-educate regional directors when they change with new administrations. Linell says that one strategy that has made the difference over the years is collaborating with neighbouring regions and figuring out how to continue practicing traditional ways of life, without harming resources other regions rely on. ”Wait a minute, you do duck calls, right? When you’re out duck hunting? You know, we call a moose in, so why is it different? And so when we started to support each other, we started to see change.” Promoting change also requires research, Linell says. She hopes that more tribal organizations will have capacity to monitor wildlife and fish and collect their own data that they can trust.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Wednesday, October 22, 2025 – Leonard Peltier calls for unity, vigilance

With fire season winding down across many parts of the US, it is not unusual to find people doing deliberate burns to eliminate slash or improve habitat. Outside Eugene, Oreg. recently, a group of Native youth and state and tribal agencies conducted a cultural burn. Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire reports. Five interns with the Long Tom Watershed Council’s Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program (TEIP) and a few dozen staff members, fire bosses, and agency employees gathered at the Chaa-lamali Reserve. (Photo: Brian Bull) The oak savannah here provided three acres for the interns to apply their knowledge of fire as a tool. “I’ve learned that a small spark can start a whole field of flames.” Kanim Cushman WhiteEyes. (Photo: Brian Bull) Kanim Cushman-White Eyes is with the Chinook Indian Nation and a middle schooler. He’s setting fire to a meadow with a flaming pitch stick, while water trucks, and crews with shovels stand by to help keep it within the designated area. “The best thing about using fire is that you can learn so much about it, and like a little amount of time, and that it can be very healthy for the land.” Nearby, TEIP program manager Rachel Cushman helps her other son, Isik, set a few fires and keep aware of his surroundings. Fire can reduce acorn weevils, or help coniferous trees re-seed the area. Cushman says this part of the Willamette Valley has always been a fire-formed landscape. “It’s been unhealthy because fire has been missing. And so we’re awakening the land. We’re building that relationship back up and healing it through this this practice of cultural fire.” A few yards away, TEIP curriculum director Joe Scott helps a few interns extend the fire closer to a camas meadow. Scott is a Siletz tribal member who did a training exchange with the Yurok Tribe. Now he’s applying all of his accumulated experience to teach the TEIP interns on “good fire.” “Youth have come up seeing fire as the enemy, as a destructive force. And this is a perfect example of fire being a constructive force.” Scott says with the fall rains, ash and nutrients will replenish the soil and help the camas prosper. Katherine Gottlieb, left, Joaqlin Estus, and Ada Blackjack Johnson, three 2025 inductees into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame. Ten women will be inducted into the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame Tuesday including Joaqlin Estus, a pioneering Alaska Native journalist. Estus most recently was a national correspondent for Indian Country Today and also worked as news director at our flagship station KNBA. Estus is Lingít with ties to Wrangell, but she is not the only Alaska Native to be honored. “Another Alaska Native is my great grandmother, Tillie Paul Tamaree. She was a civil rights leader in the early 20th century.” Estus says it’s an honor to be inducted along with her great grandmother. Two other Alaska Natives are being inducted into the Hall of Fame: Katherine Gottlieb, a Supiaq leader in Native health care who served 30 years as president of Southcentral Foundation, and the late Ada Blackjack Johnson (Iñupiaq), the sole survivor of a doomed Arctic expedition in the 1920s. Chickasaw Nation Family Support Office in Ardmore, Okla. (Courtesy Chickasaw Nation) Tribes across the country are recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month and sharing resources, including the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma. The Chickasaw Nation Department of Family Services says it offers support, including domestic violence prevention and intervention with a focus on tribal cultural values. The Chickasaw Nation also operates a shelter. A candlelight vigil is planned Thursday for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Chickasaw Nation Director of Violence Prevention Janie Loch says one of the most important things they want to communicate is that victims are not alone and services are available.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, October 21, 2025 – Government shutdown threatens to close off tribal financing funds

Photos: Willard Bill Jr. and the Black River Canoe Family provide the opening protocol at Seattle’s No Kings protest. (Courtesy SEIU6 / Protectors of the Salish / Instagram) Millions of protesters – including many Native and Indigenous people – joined this weekend’s 2,600 “No Kings” events held across the U.S. Muckleshoot tribal member Willard Bill Jr. and the Black River Canoe Family provided a drum song as part of Saturday’s opening protocol for a “No Kings” event held at the Seattle Center. Bill expressed solidarity with the Palestinian People, saying Natives know “what U.S.-sponsored genocide looks like.” President Donald Trump’s allies – including House Speaker Mike Johnson – criticized the “No Kings” rallies as un-American. The Association of Village Council Presidents CEO Vivian Korthuis speaks at Alaska Federation of Natives convention on Saturday, October 18, 2025. (Photo: Matt Faubion / Alaska Public Media) Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) delegates on Saturday called for an immediate emergency declaration from President Trump – and more federal assistance for communities hit by the remnants of Typhoon Halong earlier this month. It was one of dozens of resolutions passed on the final day of the AFN convention in Anchorage. The storm killed at least one woman, wiped out homes and infrastructure, and displaced more than a thousand people in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Hundreds of residents were sent to Bethel and then to emergency shelters in Anchorage over the last week. The resolution was put forward by the Association of Village Council Presidents, a tribal consortium that serves communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region. Vivian Korthuis is the group’s CEO. “For this resolution, we have a lot of support from across the state. On behalf of our region, Quyana to everyone.” The delegates amended the resolution to also include damage caused in the Northwest Arctic and Bering Strait regions, and called for a Western Alaska emergency response hub in Bethel. Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) requested that Trump declare a federal disaster for Western Alaska earlier this week, but that request has not been approved as of this weekend. Alaska’s congressional delegation has also urged Trump to approve the declaration. Other AFN resolutions touched on a wide array of topics, from health and safety to education and subsistence. Check out our complete AFN coverage: Alaska’s Native Voice | AFN News Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren and Vice President Richelle Montoya in Window Rock, Ariz. on July 22, 2025. (Courtesy Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President) It’s been an interesting few weeks since Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren suddenly fired the tribe’s controller. In the fallout, local leaders from across the biggest reservation in the U.S. are now signaling growing disapproval with his administration. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has details. So far, at least two of the five regional agencies – representing nearly half of the tribe’s population – have passed no-confidence votes in President Nygren and his estranged Vice President Richelle Montoya. “Take me out of the equation, Richelle Montoya, don’t worry about me.” She’s even willing to leave office. “And if this is how we are going to be able to protect our people, then this is how it has to be.” But some have called on Vice President Montoya to lead, urging the council to suspend Nygren and install her as the tribe’s first female president. “And I’m prepared to do that.” As for Nygren, he doesn’t plan on stepping down. Citing a previous recall effort, he says those same organizers are now campaigning for no confidence resolutions across the 110 tribal chapter houses. And on this day in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was ratified, which more than doubled the size of the United States. Napoleon Bonaparte, then the First Consul of the French Republic, sold the territory for $15 million. The purchase is considered President Thomas Jefferson’s landmark deal. Soon settlers spread across the continent, in land still occupied by an estimated 700,000 Native Americans.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.   Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Monday, October 20, 2025 – Alaska Native residents assess their future after record-breaking storm damage

Photo: Debris sits in piles in Kwigillingok after the remnants of Typhoon Halong brought widespread devastation to the region. (Brea Paul) Searches are ongoing for two people missing from a western Alaska village after remnants of Typhoon Halong left one dead and much of the region devastated by high winds and flooding, but large-scale search and rescue efforts are largely on hold pending new information. The U.S. Coast Guard, Alaska State Troopers, and Alaska National Guard say they were unable to locate a floating house and its occupants before they suspended their active search Monday night. Coast Guard Captain Christopher Culpepper says the search covered dozens of square miles around the village of Kwigillingok using helicopters, planes, drones, and more. “Suspending an active search is always a tough decision to make, and it is especially difficult in this situation where the Kwigillingok community is already suffering so much,” Alaska State Troopers identified the missing people as 71-year-old Vernon Pavil and 41-year-old Chester Kashatok and said they had found the body of 67-year-old Ella Mae Kashatok. All three lived in the hard-hit village of Kwigillingok and members of the same family. Brea Paul knew them well. She says she saw their house floating off its foundation as floodwaters rose on Sunday. “They were the most kindest people I’ve ever met. They didn’t have much, but they always, always had a positive mindset and they always greeted anyone — they welcomed everyone to their home. They deserve to be searched (for). Their names deserve to be heard.” A mass evacuation is underway for the communities of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, where a thousand people were sheltering in schools after Sunday’s storm. On Wednesday and Thursday, hundreds of evacuees boarded planes bound for Anchorage at the Alaska Army National Guard hangar in Bethel. The city of Anchorage is preparing to welcome up to 2,000 people displaced by the catastrophic storm. Handmade chokecherry patties dry on parchment paper during a workshop at the Wind River Tribal Conservation Summit. (Photo: Hannah Habermann / Wyoming Public Media) Community members in Wyoming spent Indigenous Peoples Day to learn and build community at the Wind River Tribal Conservation Summit, as Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann reports. The event was put on by the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative and the Wyoming Outdoor Council Tribal Conservation Team – and included a full schedule of sessions focused on Indigenous conservation, traditional ecological knowledge, and reciprocal relationship. One of the workshops invited attendees to roll up their sleeves and try their hand at making chokecherry patties. Before the group got to work, Northern Arapaho two-spirit tribal member Big Wind Carpenter passed around a bag full of the maroon-colored fruit to sample. “ For the Arapaho people, this is like the best berry of all. It has cultural properties, it has spiritual properties. We use the chokecherry in our ceremonies and it provided sustenance for our people for a long time.” A person wearing a colorful neck-scarf and a black vest holds a bag of chokecherries and talks. Behind them is a blue sky with feathered clouds and the tops of a few trees. Carpenter works as a tribal engagement coordinator at the Wyoming Outdoor Council and shared that it’s becoming harder and harder to find chokecherries and other traditional medicines on the reservation. On top of that, they said making chokecherry patties in particular is becoming more infrequent. “ It’s important that we continue this tradition because it’s becoming lost as we’ve had freezers and whatnot. A lot of people are just freezing the chokecherries and then discarding the seeds, but the seed is crucial to carrying on that tradition.” With mortar and pestle in hand, attendees tossed in a handful of chokecherries and got to grinding to make what Carpenter called the “original energy bar.” The goal: to make the pits as small as possible, and pummel until the mixture started smelling nutty and turned purple. Two hands hold a mortal and pestle just above the straw covered ground, with ground-up chokecherries inside. “Inside the pit there’s a nut, and inside the nut are the fatty acids, right? On the exterior of that is this precursor to cyanide, essentially,” they said. “Macerating it is what creates that smell. You get hints of vanilla and all these things, the more you just keep going.” A young woman in a sweater stands outside in front of a table with chokecherry patties on drying racks. Behind her is a tepee, with another tepee and tables in the background. Tribal Buffalo Initiative this summer and is majoring in Outdoor Education and Indigenous Studies at Central Wyoming College. After grinding, the next step was to transfer and spread the paste onto a brown piece of paper to dry into a hardened, flat circle. Central Wyoming College student and event volunteer Summeri Bass hel