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KLCC’s Brian Bull reports.

Buffet lines at hotels and casinos are often filled with lasagna, fried chicken, and other vittles that are high in sodium, sugar, and fats. But at the recent Sacred Tobacco & Traditional Medicines Gathering at the Grand Ronde Tribe’s Spirit Mountain Event Center, the menu was more … pre-colonial.

“Some smoked trout, some sunflower cookies with apples and cranberries, Wajapi … and I always feel like I’m mispronouncing it, so if I did that I am very sorry!”

Amanda Storm works with Native American Rehabilitation Association Northwest and helped coordinate the menu for this week’s event.

Another partner was Angey Rideout, Youth Tobacco Prevention Coordinator for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

“All trying to make sure that the foods that we were serving here were going along with the theme of sacred tobacco, traditional medicine, and looking at food as medicine. And our Indigenous First Foods are medicine.”

Several chefs and planners at the event center further developed the menu to help offset national trends of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes among Native groups.

(Courtesy Arctic Thunder Open House / Facebook)

The biennial Arctic Thunder Open House, featuring military demonstrations and aerial acrobatics, is taking place this weekend in Anchorage.

Organizers say it’s an exciting event with some familiar acts such as the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team, the Joint Forces Demonstrations, and other shows.

The 2024 theme of the Arctic Thunder Open house is “Honoring Legacy … inspiring the Next Generation” and a part of that theme includes an exhibit honoring Alaska Native veterans.

John Sadler, chief of ground operations for the Arctic Thunder Open House, says it’s important to recognize Alaska Native veterans and their contribution to all of the branches of service.

“The exhibit honoring Alaska Native veterans came about through a partnership with 11th Air Force working with our community partners. We have Native liaisons who work on staff here on base, and through that community partnership we were able to come together, and come up with an idea of how we can engage the community together here at the open house.”

The event gathers thousands of people over two days, showcasing the skills and talent of multiple military branches. Sadler says it’s a great team work experience.

“These shows are just a fantastic opportunity for us to join in as a community and have everyone from Alaska come in and just be as one, and see an entertaining show. It’s really adrenaline pumping seeing all these planes flying by very quickly. Some of our civilian acts are fully acrobatic. So, it just brings a lot of joy for the community to come together and see what we do here for the Alaska and military mission.”

And it’s not just entertainment for civilians to see from afar, Sadler says people will be able to get up close and personal with some of the countries most elite aircraft.

“What I’m most looking forward to the air show, is some of our ground displays so we’re going to have dozens of aircraft, or just from the Air Force, but from the armies and some of our foreign allies. They’re all going to be all across the ramp fully there, showing what they do. It’s not just going to be from a distance, stuffy, and see it from afar. The actual crews that fly these aircraft are going to be there to show you, tell you about it and some of them even go inside to show you what it is and how to operate that aircraft.”

The Arctic Thunder Open House has been taking place at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson since 1990.

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In Grand Ronde, Oregon, Native people have gathered to explore the role of tobacco in their culture.

As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, it’s to challenge perceptions that commercial tobacco is traditional.

Health practitioners and family advocates – mostly from the nine tribes found across Oregon – are at the Spirit Mountain Event Center this week.

This includes Ben Sanford.

He’s the commercial tobacco prevention coordinator for the Native American Youth and Family Center in Portland, and a member of the Sappony Tribe of North Carolina.

He’s brought jarred samples of a Hopi leaf tobacco that he’s helped cultivate.

“It’s earthy, it’s rich. It makes my nostrils flare in the best way. When we think of the appeal to the Creator of the fragrance of tobacco, it’s everything I think it should be.”

The message is for Native people to switch from chain-smoking commercial grade tobacco with its additives and chemicals – and use more natural forms in a more reverent way.

Shannon Lafferty is the coordinator of the Grand Ronde’s Tribal Youth Empowerment and prevention program.

“All the way up until this year we have been giving packs of cigarettes or top loose tobacco as giveaways. And this is the first year that we actually used real tobacco. And I’m proud of that.”

Native Americans and Alaskan Natives have higher rates of smoking-related illnesses than the general population, a trend organizers want to fix.

(Courtesy Boys & Girls Club of Rosebud / Facebook)

The Boys and Girls Club of the Rosebud Reservation is the recipient of a farm-to-school grant program.

Among other things, it offers fresh produce to attendees all year.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene has more.

The Patrick Leahy Grant Program is run through the US Department of Agriculture, and in total $14 million has been distributed to schools and communities nationwide.

The Rosebud Boys and Girls Club received just shy of $50,000.

Rachel Kocak is the group’s executive director. .

“This grant will cover fencing, high tunnels, and no-till gardens, so this means outdoors, in the dirt growing for up to ten months of the year for the kids of the Boys and Girls Club. It would serve two of our site locations, so that would reach approximately 80 kids.”

Kocak wants the group to experience food independence.

“The goal is a love of growing and eating locally grown food. That’s the vision – having that joy of self-sufficiency, of feeling the accomplishment of working hard, pulling food out of the ground, and the joy of eating it. Out here in Rosebud, food insecurity is a major issue. For most kids, this kind of fresh garden food is just not accessible.”

While favorites like peas and carrots are on the menu, Kocak says they hope to incorporate traditional diet in the garden.

“The more diverse we can grow, the better, and we’re hoping to incorporate some of the local, ancestral foods that would have been part of the diet. So, perennials like chokecherries and juneberries and those things is part of the landscape as well.”

Any excess crops will be donated to families in need in the Rosebud community.

The Rapid City Area School district also received a grant and seeks to connect local education with agricultural providers.

(Courtesy Choctaw Nation)

In Oklahoma, citizens of the Cherokee Nation, Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation, Muscogee Nation, and soon the Seminole Nation, will be able to use their tribal membership to hunt and fish in each other’s treaty territories.

The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes recently announced the agreement.

According to the tribes, the agreement allows the Five Tribes to collaborate on wildlife management within their reservations and enhance their ability to manage natural resources in a sustainable manner.

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The judge who sentenced convicted killer Brian Smith in Anchorage last week gave prosecutors exactly what they asked for: a 226-year sentence for the murders of two Alaska Native women.

Smith sat still, with no reaction. But as KNBA’s Rhonda McBride reports, the packed courtroom was charged with emotion.

Warning: This story includes details that might be disturbing for some listeners

Before the sentencing, a group of women dressed in red gathered outside the courthouse. They carried signs that said “Honk for justice” and “We do not feel safe.”

Sarah Wiseman holds a poster with pictures of Veronica Abouchuk and Kathleen Henry, women that were killed by Brian Smith. Wiseman is related to one of Abouchuk’s sisters and says she came to Smith’s sentencing to support her family. (Photo: Rhonda McBride / KNBA)

Sarah Wiseman was one of them.

“I think a lot of us feel it could be us, too. These are our sisters. We have to look out for each other.”

Wiseman is relative of Veronica Abouchuk, one of the women Smith was convicted of killing.

The jury also found him guilty in the death of another woman, Kathleen Jo Henry.

Both were from small western Alaska villages and struggled to survive in Anchorage.

(Photo: Matt Faubion, Alaska Public Media)

Smith told detectives he preyed upon them because they were vulnerable.

Judge Kevin Saxby hopes his unusually long sentence will be a deterrent.

“Some people come to Alaska because it’s an easy place to take advantage of people, people who live on the street.”

Saxby recapped a series of cellphone videos that Smith recorded and narrated. They captured Kathleen Henry’s last moments, as Smith tormented her.

During the trial, only the jury saw the video. At the sentencing, the judge’s description of the footage brought sobs from Veronica Abouchuk’s family. Her daughter, Kristy Grimaldi, told the court that, since the trial, it’s as if a heavy fog has descended over her life, but there are times when she remembers her mother’s full-hearted laughter – and moments, like the other day, when a store clerk gave her two quarters for change. One had her birthdate, and the other, her mother’s.

“It was an insignificant moment that became significant to me. I feel her all around me, watching over me. No one can take that away. This experience has taught me so much and has shown me that true love never dies.”

Just before the sentencing, prosecutors released photos of a woman found on one of Smith cell phones They believe the woman, who appears to be an Alaska Native, could be another victim.

“It was absolutely horrific. That man is a monster.”

D. Matt Duncan was one of the jurors. He says he currently sees a therapist to help him cope with what he saw and heard during the trial. But says it was an honor to serve on the jury and hopes the case opens people’s eyes about a community of men who prey upon defenseless women.

“That needs to change.”

The San Carlos Apache Tribe in Arizona has been devastated by a fire as tribal officials seek disaster assistance.

The tribe declared a state of emergency last week, due to the Watch Fire, which has destroyed more than 2,000 acres.

According to tribal officials, they’ve endured fires before, but this one has been particularly devastating, burning more than a dozen homes to the ground, leaving people homeless, and displacing hundreds of people.

The tribe is accepting donations of basic necessities and monetary donations.

The cause of the fire is under investigation and is suspected to be arson.

California recently announced it has awarded nearly $20 million in grants to 18 tribes in the state to support efforts to address missing and murdered Indigenous people.

The grants focus on work including culturally-based prevention efforts, strengthening response to human trafficking, and improving cooperation and communication on jurisdictional issues between tribal, state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies.

A MMIP grant program, established in 2022, provides competitive grants to California tribal nations.

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Members of the Navajo Nation will gather on Saturday to commemorate the anniversary of the uranium spill.

KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios has more.

On July 16th, 1979, a dam ruptured and released more than a thousand tons of radioactive waste and nearly 95 million gallons of toxic radioactive wastewater spilled into the nearby Rio Puerco and surrounding Navajo Nation lands.

“And the folks that live in the area tell stories about being out herding their sheep and seeing this wave of green liquid come their way, you know, they weren’t warned about it, and many of them waded in it to get their livestock out and ended up with sores on their legs.”

Susan Gordon is a coordinator for the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment.

She says the contaminants flowed downstream through Gallup and across nine Navajo chapters.

Radiation from the spill was detected as far as 80 miles downstream. As a result, communities around the spill have experienced health problems associated with radiation exposure.

Gordon says the mining company United Nuclear Corporation did little to clean up the radioactive waste.

“They sent a handful of people out with shovels and buckets to try to gather up this green sludge that was all through there. And that’s it. That’s all that was ever done.”

According to Stanford University, the company dug new drinking wells and removed about 1% of the estimated total spill material.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission permitted the company to resume operations five months later. The mine was abandoned in 1982.

The Church Rock spill is the third largest radioactive waste release globally, after the Fukushima disaster and the Chernobyl meltdown.

Gordon says they’re hoping to continue to educate people. 

“But also to bring pressure on the National Institute of Health and our congressional delegation to provide more money for cleanup and for health research.”

The ceremony will have an opening prayer and a walk to the spill site.

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Looking out at Aniak’s airport runway, 2018. (Photo: Krysti Shallenberger / KYUK)

A tribal government from Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is suing state and federal agencies for taking human remains from an airport site and refusing to return them.

KYUK’s Sage Smiley reports.

About 200 miles up the Kuskokwim River in Western Alaska, the village of Aniak hugs the riverbank and encircles the community airstrip in a wide loop. And that airstrip is at the heart of a civil case recently filed in Anchorage federal court.

Aniak’s tribal government – the Aniak Traditional Council – is suing state and federal agencies for taking human remains from an airport site and not returning them, and subsequently not allowing the tribe to further excavate the site.

The Aniak Traditional Council says that’s a violation of federal law because it’s barred the tribe from practicing its cultural and religious traditions and has endangered other ancestral remains of Aniak’s tribe that could still be buried at the community’s airport.

The tribe wants the excavated remains to be returned and to be allowed to continue exploring the site to recover and preserve other remains or cultural artifacts.

According to court filings from July 2, the suit stems from a project to relocate Aniak’s airport runway to comply with federal aviation standards.

In 2020, a contractor digging trenches for the project found human remains. Almost a year later, the Aniak Traditional Council brought in an archaeologist to examine the site. The suit says they discovered that the airport project cut a trench through a “previously intact prehistoric burial site”.

The recovered remains and related artifacts were sent to the University of Alaska for examination.

Since then, Aniak’s Traditional Council says that the University of Alaska has kept the remains and that the Federal Aviation Administration has refused to assist in repatriation, in violation of the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, also known as NAGPRA.

The Traditional Council also claims that the FAA and state Department of Transportation have barred the tribe from further excavation. Aniak’s tribal government is concerned that airport maintenance could further disturb the site and the ancestors buried there.

The suit names five defendants: the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities and its Commissioner Ryan Anderson, the University of Alaska system, the Federal Aviation Administration and FAA administrator Michael Whitaker. All have declined to comment on the case.

Desert cliffs and canyons make up much of the landscape near Tuba City. (Courtesy Arizona Office of Tourism)

A bill introduced to Congress this week, if ratified, would establish a reservation in northern Arizona and southern Utah for the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe.

As KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports, it’s the only federally recognized tribe in Arizona that doesn’t have its own homeland.

The measure is part of the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act which has already been approved by the Navajo, Hopi, and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes.

It sets aside 5,400 acres for the new reservation and water to supply it.

Robbin Preston Jr. is the tribal president for the San Juan Southern Paiute.

“I think it’s going to mean the world to us, especially in this day and age where everybody wants to have an identity, which we have, but also a place to call home.”

Preston says his people have waited decades for this day and the reservation will allow the tribe to offer houses, jobs, and healthcare to its members.

The two parcels that make up the proposed reservation are west of Tuba City in Arizona and near Navajo Mountain in Utah.

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Nearly 60% of Nebraska 3- and 4-year-olds are not enrolled in preschool programs.

According to educators, preschool is associated with increased success in school and beyond. But for at least a decade, most preschoolers on Nebraska’s Winnebago Reservation have been part of the national Educare Learning Network.

Deborah Van Fleet reports.

Amy LaPointe-Houghton, education director for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, said the Educare program was once described to her as “Head Start on steroids.”

She noted in their years with the Educare system, Winnebago children have gone from testing near the bottom to being “right in line” with children in the 24 other Educare centers across the country.

“We’ve made that huge leap and it’s all around the data. We have our data compiled in a book every year, and things that are identified in that book, that’s something we make improvements on.”

She noted evaluators from the University of Nebraska Medical Center assess the children at the beginning and end of each school year.

Educare Winnebago is the only Educare program in the country on an Indian reservation.

LaPointe-Houghton attributed their success to Educare’s four pillars: data utilization, professional development, high-quality teaching, and intensive family engagement.

She pointed out one focus of their program is a social-emotional curriculum, teaching skills like identifying and expressing emotions in acceptable ways.

“To be able to better handle situations when they’re encountering some kind of traumatic event, or a stressful event. They have some tools to be able to help themselves.”

LaPointe-Houghton emphasized research about the negative effects of stress and trauma on physical health makes them hopeful if their children learn how to manage stress, they will have better overall health, as well as more success in school.

“We have high numbers of diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease. It makes me think it could be contributed because of all the traumatic things that happen in people’s lives and you don’t even realize that it’s doing damage to your body.”

To enroll in Educare Winnebago, children must live in Winnebago but do not have to be tribal members.

The program has eligibility requirements to ensure they’re serving the children with the highest needs.

In South Dakota, the Rapid City Area Schools superintendent has been placed on a 30-day leave following comments made during a Department of Education investigation.

C.J. Keene has more.

The decade-long investigation orbited the district’s treatment of Indigenous students.

Superintendent Nicole Swigart was quoted saying students operating on “Indian time” is a challenge for the district.

Members of the Native community spoke out about the comments at a school board meeting saying the comments are unacceptable and called for the school board to reassess the role of superintendent.

Members of the Native community also say the comments reaffirm claims of racism leveled at the district.

The district issued a formal apology and Swigart has been required to take cultural competency training.

However, the district is maintaining its confidence in Swigart’s ability to lead the district following the leave.

The Indian Health Service (IHS) announced this week awards of more than $24 million in grants to 23 tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations to help improve access to public health services over the next three years.

The grant program has two initiatives.

One is to expand public health services by supporting tribes and organizations in implementing core public health functions and improving management capabilities.

The other is designed to help tribes and organizations establish goals and performance measures.

IHS Director Roselyn Tso (Navajo) says the grants will support goals of ensuring comprehensive, culturally appropriate health services for American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

The IHS provides health service for about 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in 37 states.

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The South Dakota Attorney General’s office is partnering with tribes located in the state to train new law enforcement officers.

It’s part of an effort to address a public safety shortage in Indian Country by keeping recruits close to home in South Dakota.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Lee Strubinger reports.

A batch of law enforcement officer recruits practice a straight arm bar takedown in a gymnasium at the Mickelson Criminal Justice Center in Pierre, S.D.

Twenty-four new officers representing fifteen agencies are almost midway through the training course. Of the 24, 11 from three different tribes are slated to become tribal officers following their certification.

Often, tribal law enforcement recruits attend a similar 13-week training course hundreds of miles away in New Mexico. That’s seen as a barrier to brining in new law enforcement officers. Some say training in Pierre allows them to go home on the weekends and be around their community.

Officer Michelle Casiano-Keeble is from Sisseton Wahpeton and works for the police department.

She says the in-state training allows her to also see her children.

“Being a mother of three, it’s definitely helped me be there for my kids and still do what I want to do and pursue my dreams of being a law enforcement officer.”

Having an in-state training course dedicated to tribal officers was a priority of Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD).

Attorney General Marty Jackley says that allows for uniform training across the state, while building local relationships for officers who will work across jurisdictions.

“Making it local makes sense because of consistency. When a deputy sheriff from a county shows up and there’s a tribal officer they’ve had the same simulator training. They’ve had the same criminal law training to know when you need to get a warrant and when you don’t in South Dakota.”

The state training course runs into September before recruits get a state law enforcement certification. Then, Jackley says there will be a special law enforcement commission class, which if approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, allows officers to make a federal arrest in Indian Country.

Members of the Leech Lake Band of the Ojibwe Tribe harvest rice on Mud Lake, 17 miles downstream of Leech Lake Dam.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes joined six other tribes in defense of a new federal rule protecting their water rights in court.

The rule requires states to consider tribes’ fishing, hunting, and gathering rights while crafting water regulations.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports several states want to overturn the rule.

Twelve states sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the rule, which was finalized earlier this year.

Montana is not part of the lawsuit.

Those states argue the federal government oversteps its power under the Clean Water Act and would severely limit their ability to craft water standards.

Seven tribes have filed a motion to intervene in the case.

They say the rule is key to protecting “reserved rights,” which gives tribes the ability to hunt, fish and gather on lands they ceded to the federal government through treaties.

The tribes say the rule is within the EPA’s authority as it ensures treaties are adhered to.

The Colorado River running through Marble Canyon. (Photo: Don Graham / Flickr)

Members of Arizona’s congressional delegation introduced legislation Monday to secure water rights for the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, and the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe.

The Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement (NAIWRSA) Act of 2024 ratifies and funds the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement.

The settlement will provide reliable and safe water for the tribal communities.

It authorizes $5 billion to acquire, build, and maintain essential water development and delivery projects.

The tribes would be guaranteed access to more than 56,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water.

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One tribal official is offering details into the Tribal Public Safety Crisis Summit recently held by Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD).

Gov. Noem convened the summit after tribes banned her for comments she made about cartels on reservations and about Native children not having any hope.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB)’s Lee Strubinger has more.

At least two tribes, Flandreau Santee and Standing Rock Sioux Tribes, sent members to the summit to hear from the governor and other law enforcement officials.

Representatives from the US Attorney’s office and Attorney General also attended.

Francis Wakeman is a spokesperson for the Flandreau Santee tribe.

He attended the summit and says it was a good first step.

“The governor was very interesting in going to Congress with the tribes and asking for additional appropriations that would benefit both the tribal and the state law enforcement. But, everything’s being held up because the BIA isn’t doing their data—I don’t know if they’re inputting it or what thew issue was there—but they’re not providing the data that reflect the necessity for the governor or the tribes to go to congress and ask for more money.”

He says no mutual aid agreements were made during the meeting. That’s something Gov. Noem wants to see happen.

Gov. Noem has said that could help with cross jurisdictional law enforcement.

Currently, state law enforcement cannot go onto tribal lands and tribal police cannot enforce the law off reservations.

Wakeman says that’s something they heard about from law enforcement officials.

“I think the governor got everybody in the right room and stuff like that. But it was interesting to hear from law enforcement—not the governor or not the head of tribes or anything like that, but actually the people on the ground doing the work. That was very eye opening. Ducking in and out of the reservations, state lands, bringing crimes to the reservation and state.”

Wakeman says many Native Nations were not in attendance, as the summit was held the day before celebrations for the Battle of Little Big Horn when Lakota and Northern Cheyenne defeated General George Armstrong Custer in what is now southeastern Montana.

The governor’s office says all nine tribes were represented at the summit. But, at least two tribes, Lower Brule and Rosebud Sioux Tribes, confirm to SDPB they did not send representatives to attend the summit.

When asked to clarify, the governor’s spokesperson Ian Fury said, “there were tribal members in attendance.”

Gov. Greg Gianfonte (R-MT).

Lake County commissioners turned down Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT)’s offer to temporarily pay for law enforcement services on the Flathead Reservation.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports this is part of an ongoing fight over who will manage felony crimes.

Lake County this spring was set to leave a longstanding agreement to arrest and prosecute tribal members for felony crimes, citing the cost of those services. But Gov. Gianforte argued the county couldn’t leave because of a paperwork technicality.

Gianforte offered the county $1.3 million over the next three years.

The governor said that money would give commissioners and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes time to work out funding.

The commissioners argued in a letter Monday that the state is trying to buy time while it too tries to step away from the deal.

Commissioners say the state is responsible for law enforcement on the Flathead Reservation and the county will bill the state for the enforcement of felony crimes.

Gov. Gianforte has previously said the state is not responsible for law enforcement on the reservation.

His office did not respond for comment by deadline.

Sheilah Nicholas, a professor in the University of Arizona’s College of Education and faculty member in the university’s American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI), leads a workshop for the Gila River Indian Community in 2019. The institute is now home to a new West Region Native American Language Resource Center. (Courtesy AILDI)

A new center at the University of Arizona, designated by the U.S. Department of Education, is working to help tribal communities revitalize and maintain their languages.

The new West Region Native American Language Resource Center is one of four inaugural centers doing similar work at other institutions.

The others are in Hawai’i, Oregon, and Nebraska.

The U of A center is focusing on Indigenous communities in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.

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