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McGrath School, above, is one of three that will get a school nurse and counselor through a new program. (Photo: Paul Walker / KSKO)

Southcentral Foundation of Alaska is using federal grant funds to place a school nurse and behavioral health consultants at three rural schools that don’t have them.

It’s partly in response to high rates of suicide in rural Alaska, especially for youth.

Alaska Public Media’s Rachel Cassandra has the story.

McGrath, Nikolai, and Takotna will now share a school nurse.

Those are small communities in the Yukon-Koyukuk area in the Interior of Alaska.

They’ll also now have behavioral health consultants.

Donna Asay is a manager for Southcentral Foundation.

“Some of the things we would like to address that have been brought to us not only by the school, but the administrators and staff, would be reducing barriers and accessing care or trying to meet some of those high suicide rates with some behavioral health services, and just support the overall well being of the student in the community.”

Asay says the nurse will be based in McGrath. And they’ll visit schools in Nicolai and Tokotna quarterly, or more often as needed.

She says the nurse can provide basic care and referrals. And she says having a nurse in schools can help kids get care without their guardian needing to travel or take time off work.

Dani Gapinski oversees Southcentral’s rural behavioral health team.

She says the behavioral health consultants will visit schools in-person at least quarterly.

They’ll also be able to schedule telehealth appointments with students in between visits.

She says the consultants can also run workshops at schools that help with mental illness prevention.

“Teaching students at a young age to understand what their emotions are, really helps them to then be able to identify as they’re growing- how they’re managing what’s going on for them, they might be more willing to talk about what’s going on since they have the words to use and know how to express themselves.”

She says that can help reduce substance abuse and suicidal ideation later on. And she says it can keep kids in the classroom more, which helps with academic success. Southcentral Foundation hopes to begin the program before the end of the school year.

It’s the first time they’ve run a program like this, but if successful, they hope to expand it to other rural schools.

Courtesy Yurok Tribe

In California, plans to open a new gateway to Redwoods State and National Parks got a big boost recently, paving the way for a key parcel of land to be returned to the Yurok Tribe.

Suzanne Potter reports.

The place is called ‘O Rew in the Yurok language, on Highway 101, about 40 miles north of Eureka, at a former lumber mill site in Orick.

Joseph James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe, said this is a model for the land-back movement.

“We are able to share our culture, our knowledge as Indigenous people, first people, keepers of the land. It’s not driven by western society providing interpretation. It’s being driven by Yuroks.”

This rendering shows plans for new, wheelchair-accessible trails and visitor amenities at ‘O Rew. After the transfer, the Yurok Tribe aims to construct a visitor and cultural center and a traditional village on-site. (Courtesy Save The Redwoods League)

The nonprofit Save the Redwoods League bought the 125-acre property 13 years ago and has been restoring the mill site and nearby Prairie Creek alongside the tribe and the nonprofit California Trout.

The area is closed for construction now, but will reopen in 2026 as the ‘O Rew Redwoods Gateway with new trails, cultural signage, and visitor facilities.

Steve Mietz, superintendent of Redwoods National and State Parks for the National Park Service, said it is the first-ever co-management agreement for tribally owned land with the National Park Service and California State Parks.

“This is just a recognition of their sovereignty; their need to regain land that was taken from them years ago and turning it back, and creating greater understanding about the original people in this area.”

Future plans include a visitors center with a tribal village with plank houses and a sweat lodge.

Erin Fehr, Assistant Director and Archivist of the Sequoyah National Research Center. (Photo: Benjamin Krain)

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock archivist is discussing Native American views on the solar eclipse and traditional stories surrounding celestial events.

According to a university news release, Erin Fehr (Yup’ik), assistant director and archivist of the university’s Sequoyah National Research Center, is speaking at a family event Wednesday at a public library in North Little Rock.

Fehr says, with the more than 500 federally recognized tribes in the U.S., there are different beliefs regarding solar eclipses and traditional stories with cultural narratives that vary.

On April 8, a total solar eclipse will cross North America.

Fehr says the total solar eclipse marks a great opportunity to learn about cultural stories, traditions and perspective. She’ll also be giving another presentation on Saturday at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.

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Without a direct route, it takes three hours for one community on the Navajo reservation to get medical care and other services in a town that’s only 45 miles away.

But, if a new road was built, it would take about 30 minutes.

KUER’s Tilda Wilson reports for the Mountain West News Bureau on efforts to find Utah state funding.

The first step for building the connecting road is a $4 million environment impact study.

The Navajo Nation has committed to paying for half of that.

State Sen. Nate Blouin (D-UT), left, stands with Navajo Nation Council Delegate Shaandiin Parrish, Speaker of the Navajo Nation Crystalyne Curley, and State Reps. Joel Briscoe (D-UT) and Gay Lynn Bennion (D-UT) at a news conference at the Utah State Capitol, Feb. 29, 2024. (Photo: Tilda Wilson / KUER)

Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley says the remaining share was initially included in this year’s state budget, but it was pulled at the last minute.

“This morning we were told that we looked every underneath, every, cushion underneath every couch. And we cannot find $2 million.”

This is the third year in a row that this has happened.

State funding early on is critical to obtaining federal money for the $140 million project.

State Sen. Nate Blouin (D-UT) supports the road.

“It’s $2 million, of a $28 billion budget. It’s a fraction of a percent. And to shove it off as, you know, low budget year, especially when this has been brought forward for a number of years, is, I think a bit disingenuous.”

The Navajo Nation has pushed for the road for the past 15 years.

Speaker Curley says they’ll continue to be persistent until they get the road constructed.

The Ho-Chunk Village housing development can be seen behind downtown Winnebago, Neb. (Courtesy HCCDC)

The Nebraska Winnebago Tribe’s Ho-Chunk Community Development Corporation (HCCDC) has been awarded $2 million through Yield Giving, an organization set up by MacKenzie Scott using part of her record-setting $38 billion divorce settlement with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Deborah Van Fleet has more.

Some 6,300 nonprofits applied to Yield Giving’s open call for grants.

The HCCDC was among 279 to receive a top tier rating.

In the next-highest tier, 82 organizations each received $1 million.

Kristine Earth, executive director of the corporation, said the Tribe has a lot to be proud of but a lot of work left to do.

“We’re so excited and are so thankful for this generous gift for our community. We do have a lot of issues; we have a lot of health disparities. And so, a donation like this really is going to make an impact for our entire Tribe as a whole.”

HCCDC marks its 20th anniversary this year, working to improve economic, educational, and social opportunities for tribal members.

Earth pointed out they have five key initiatives: housing development, commercial development, financial services, quality of life, and food sovereignty.

The Winnebago Tribe has experienced huge growth in its middle class in the past few decades, but roughly 30% of its members still live in poverty.

HCCDC created a farmer’s market, which Earth says is helping them address both health disparities and food sovereignty.

“Through our farmers market, now we’re able to touch on not only agriculture and tribal farming, but also our health care system. Offering the fresh fruits and vegetables and the Indian corn; things that will restore the health of our people.”

Earth added Winnebago is in a “food desert,” making food security a major focus for the Tribe.

“It’s hard for people to access fresh fruits and vegetables, and we have such a growing community. We are all coming together to grow our own food and to feed ourselves, so we can be sustainable in the future.”

On the Yield Giving website, MacKenzie Scott called all the open call grant winners “vital agents of change.”

A high kicker during the 2023 Traditional Games. (Courtesy Sealaska Heritage Institute)

Traditional Games kick off Friday in Juneau, Alaska.

Athletes from 29 teams across Alaska, Canada, and the Lower 48 are expected to compete.

More than 260 middle school, high school, college, and adult athletes from more than 20 communities will take part in 12 events – based on hunting and survival skills of Indigenous people.

The games are different from other sports as athletes competing against one another also encourage each other to reach new personal bests.

Coaches give helpful tips and guidance to athletes from opposing teams.

The event is open to parents and adults and non-Native athletes are also welcome to compete.

 

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The Kalispel Tribe is working with several agencies to investigate whether bull trout can be introduced into a northeast Washington lake.

Steve Jackson reports from Spokane.

The Kalispel Tribe, along with the U.S. and Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife, are teaming up for a bull trout recovery plan that targets Sullivan Lake. That’s located a few miles from Metaline Falls in Pend Oreille County.

The fish is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Tribal officials say it’s present in small numbers downstream of Albeni Falls Dam, but there is no historic record of it living in Sullivan Lake.

Jason Conner from the tribal fisheries department says he hopes to gather eggs, juvenile, and adult fish from tributaries in Idaho and transplant them to the lake.

“The overall goal is a self sustaining population, and then beyond that, we would like to see a harvestable surplus in the lake. We like to have Kalispel tribal members have an opportunity to harvest bull trout in the lower Pend Oreille.”

Conner says all members of the public would be able to catch and keep bull trout if the population reaches sustainable levels.

He says the lake is an ideal location because lake trout, the main predator of bull trout, are not present in Sullivan Lake.

He says the bull trout introduction would not result in any changes to fishing, boating, or camping, although some restrictions could be implemented in adjacent Harvey Creek during spawning season.

You can find out more and leave a comment on the plan on the Washington Fish and Wildlife website.

The University of Wyoming has a Rainbow Resource Room for LGBTQ+ students. (Courtesy University Of Wyoming)

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) spoke in favor of a bill recently that would bar transgender athletes from competing in the Olympics.

LGBTQ advocates say it’s discriminatory and worry about the impact of the legislation on trans people, including those living on Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Chris Clements has more.

In a combative committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Rep. Hageman carried the legislation, which passed.

She says it’s necessary to protect the privacy of cisgender women from trans women who might want to compete in the Olympic Games alongside them.

“It is about protecting women and girls, and women and girls’ athletics. That is all.”

Layha Spoonhunter describes themself as a Two-Spirit Wyomingite and a member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe.

“I feel that this legislation is another piece of harmful and discriminatory legislation that is targeting a specific community, and that we have bigger issues that we need to address.”

Spoonhunter says any enforcement of the ban by the government would involve violating the personal safety and rights of trans people.

Other lawmakers pointed to the fact that the bill addresses what they say is a non-issue.

Rep. Hageman says she hopes the bill will pass Congress in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Courtesy Yurok Tribe

U.S. Reps. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) recently introduced legislation to address missing and murdered Indigenous people.

The Tribal Community Protection Act encourages record sharing between tribal and state and local law enforcement.

According to the lawmakers, complicated jurisdictional overlaps between federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies contribute to the problem.

They say the bill aims to bridge the gap by promoting cooperation and information sharing.

Several national Native organizations support the legislation including the National Congress of American Indians and the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center.

The legislation is co-sponsored by seven representatives from across the country.

 

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A group of Anchorage activists in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Movement say there’s unfinished business in the case of Brian Smith, convicted last month for torturing and killing two Alaska Native women.

They are calling for the arrest of Ian Calhoun, who so far has not been charged with any crime.

But as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, the Anchorage musician has been the target of an online petition drive and several protests.

Cars honked in support of about 20 protestors, who lined up alongside the road near Ian Calhoun’s home.

They stood with signs with big red letters that said “We do not feel safe” and “Arrest Ian Calhoun now”.

(Photo: Rhonda McBride)

Calhoun is a heavy metal drummer, who allegedly exchanged text and Facebook messages with Brian Smith, not long after he murdered Kathleen Henry in 2019.

At the end of Smith’s trial, prosecutors brought up something new in the case – evidence that Smith courted Calhoun to be his confidante.

The jury saw text messages between Smith and Calhoun, in which Smith tried to arrange a time to show off Henry’s body, before dumping it near railroad tracks.

“Is there a group of people out there that likes to look at the dead bodies of Alaska Native women? We don’t know unless the Anchorage Police Department investigates further.”

Antonia Commack, a Native activist and blogger – and also one of the main organizers of a series of downtown protests – says failure to report knowledge of a murder is a crime.

During the trial, Calhoun’s attorney invoked his Fifth amendment right to not incriminate himself, so he didn’t testify.

Michael Livingston, a retired police officer, is among the protesters.

“We wish that he had, so that we could have heard what it was that he witnessed. The evidence appears to indicate that he not only was aware of a crime, but rather than report the crime, he wanted to protect a now-convicted murderer.”

So far, Calhoun and his attorney have not responded to requests for comment.

The Anchorage District Attorney’s office and police have issued statements saying there is not enough evidence to charge Calhoun, but if new information comes to light, the case could be re-opened.

Protestors aren’t happy with that answer.

Their petition has now surpassed 2,000 signatures.

Lake Quinault. (Photo: Tom Harpel / Wikimedia)

A Washington state tribe is getting funding to return forest lands to tribal stewardship.

Eric Tegethoff has more.

The Washington state Legislature has approved $25 million in Climate Commitment Act funding to the Quinault Indian Nation on the Olympic Peninsula to purchase 11,000 acres of privately owned forest lands on their reservation.

Guy Capoeman, president of the Quinault Indian Nation, said the Climate Commitment Act is an important law for the state.

“It shows that the efforts of not only the Nation but the state as a whole and the concern for habitat and the environment is real.”

The Climate Commitment Act was passed in 2021 and created a cap-and-invest program to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, with 10% of revenue generated committed to tribes.

The Nature Conservancy in Washington partnered with the tribe on the purchase.

Capoeman pointed out reacquiring the forest land for the tribe is momentous.

“Repatriating your lands back, I mean, what bigger goal for a tribe is there, right? Other than the wellness of their members. Those are all things that are instrumental in our existence as a people.”

Capoeman added Indigenous people around the world have a significant role to play in combating climate change, given their connection to the land.

“Knowing how to manage and deal with those resources can show and help the rest of the world in how we mitigate and adapt to what’s happening in the world today.”

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Construction on a memorial to honor the nearly 50 documented children who died at a Rapid City Indian boarding school starts soon.

Officials say crews will finish the memorial by Native American Day this October.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Lee Strubinger has more.

After World War II, the city of Rapid City, through a congressional authorization, annexed 1,200 acres of land of what’s called West Rapid.

The move displaced Natives living near the former Sioux Sanitorium.

Native Americans were then moved to what’s considered North Rapid.

A new memorial will pay homage to that displacement as well as honor 50 children believed to have died when the facility was a boarding school.

“The intention is to build empathy and understanding in our community.”

That’s Amy Sazue, Executive Director of the Remembering the Children Memorial.

“To help people understand their community members and neighbors a little bit better. To understand race relations in our community a little bit better. See some of the symptoms of historical trauma and understand those that are suffering from historical trauma a little bit better.”

The memorial will be built on tribal trust land belonging to the Rosebud, Oglala, and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes.

Once construction is complete, the next phase of the memorial will take shape, which is art installation.

Sazue, who is Lakota, says the memorial will look like a public art space.

“The spirit of different parts of the story have to be present, and there’s no better way to do that than through art. Everything on site, actually — there benches, there’s a little plaza where people enter, there’s a food shelter where people can have meals — everything is being designed by artists.”

The memorial will also feature a sculpture by Indigenous artists, who will work collaboratively with South Dakota sculptor Dale Lamphere.

The sculpture will likely be installed by Spring of 2025.

The Montana Supreme Court has ruled in favor of tribes and Native organizations in a Native vote case.

The court struck down some state laws that would have hindered the Native American vote, ruling the laws unconstitutional.

One measure would have ended Election Day registration and the other aimed to prohibit third-party ballot assistance, which Native voters on reservations rely on.

The decision affirms a 2022 ruling.

Native American Rights Fund staff attorney Jacqueline De León in a statement said the decision is a resounding win for tribes in Montana.

Western Native Voice Executive Director Ronnie Jo Horse was also pleased with the ruling.

In a statement, she said the court reinforces the principle of equitable access to voting services and the protection of the rights for all voters, especially those residing on reservations where voting barriers are much higher.

Plaintiffs Western Native Voice, Montana Native Vote, the Blackfeet Nation, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe filed suit in 2021.

They’re represented by the Native American Rights Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Montana, and the Harvard Law School’s Election Law Clinic.

Courtesy Global Hemp Innovation Center

Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center has received a $10 million federal grant to work with tribes to spur economic development.

The funding will assist 13 tribes in the western U.S. to develop manufacturing capabilities for materials and products made from hemp.

The project is also intended to create educational and workforce development opportunities for Native students for jobs in the emergent biobased economy.

Biobased manufacturing focuses on using renewable biological resources from land and sea to produce food, building materials, industrial products, and energy.

According to the Global Hemp Innovation Center, properties of hemp-derived materials have potential to replace those manufactured from oil, gas, and coal.

The project is funded by the USDA.

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A new collection of sovereign-to-sovereign agreements seeks to improve collaboration between tribes and federal agencies as they work together on land management.

Some shared goals often include managing wildfire, improving wildlife habitat, and other issues.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Murphy Woodhouse has more.

In 2021, a federal joint order called for agreements to co-steward federal lands with tribal governments and incorporate Indigenous knowledge.

Earlier this year, an online repository of such agreements was put together by a number of organizations, including the Native American Rights Fund.

Some scholars have recently talked about building bridges to a new era of more inclusive public lands management.

“The repository is basically the place to get the bricks to build that bridge. It’s the raw materials you need to understand what are the legal mechanisms that allow for these types of arrangements to exist on the land.”

Ada Montague Stepleton is a staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund.

She cited a cultural burn on the Sequoia National Forest last year by members of several tribes as an example of the sort of work that such agreements can enable.

Dr. Tiffany Lee

The Native American Studies department at the University of New Mexico is marking 20 years of its Bachelor of Arts in Native American Studies.

The department hosted a symposium on Tuesday in Albuquerque to celebrate the milestone.

Dr. Tiffany Lee is a professor and is chair of UNM’s Native American Studies.

“It’s a huge marker of progress and evolution of Native American Studies as a discipline in the field. Native American Studies actually started in 1970. So, it’s been over 50 years since it’s been in existence at UNM, but never as an academic degree program until our minor in 1999, which was many years later, and then in 2004 with the bachelor’s. And now we’re still evolving with a master’s and PhD program.”

She says the biggest success of the bachelor program are the students and alumni.

“They go out into the world and show how a Native American Studies degree can be applied in numerous fields because you’re not just getting a degree you’re getting skills and critical thinking, critical reading and writing skills that can be applied to any career, any kind of job. But, more than a job, they’re motivated to doing community building and serving their communities and contribute in ways that are transformative that are in support of their communities’ self-determination.”

As for the future, Lee is excited to see how the program will evolve in the next 20 years.

“Just to continue to keep brining students to campus and expanding the field. Also, to students who work with Native communities but are not always from those communities. There’s a lot of room for a lot of allies as well to participate and learn from Native American Studies. So we’re just excited to continue to learn with the time and contribute with our students.”

The symposium featured alumni talking about how they’re implementing their Native American Studies degree in their work, including on the federal, state, and local level.

https://www.facebook.com/NATVUNM/videos/1432851064257417/

(Photo: Tommy Martino / University of Montana)

The Blackfeet Nation hosted “Lily Gladstone Day” Tuesday in Browning, Mont.

The Oscar-nominated actress was honored for her achievements in the film and television industry.

The day included a headdress transfer to Gladstone from the Women’s Stand-Up Headdress Society, an honor song, and gift presentations.

(Photo: Tommy Martino / University of Montana)

In remarks streamed online, Gladstone, who grew up on the reservation, called the moment full circle and had a message to inspire young people.

She also thanked the Native community for supporting her.

Gladstone made history with awards and the Oscar nomination for her performance in Killers of the Flower Moon.

She played Mollie Burkhart in the film, which tells the story of murders of Osage people for oil money.

Gladstone’s next projects include the film The Memory Police and the TV series “Under the Bridge.”

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A pandemic-era program that helped low-income people keep up with their water and sewer bills is running out of funding.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports this comes as a federal report shows rural and tribal households have long struggled to keep their taps on.

Congress’ water utility assistance program supported over 8,000 Montana households and ran out of money last year.

A separate pool of water assistance funding for tribes is close to running dry, too.

A federal report found tribal families are more likely to be in debt to their water utilities and owe more money.

It also found that rural households experience higher disconnection rates for non-payment.

Patricia Courchane with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes says the water-assistance program was a lifeline for those families, but adds that it’s also helped households on well water.

“You have bacteria or something like that in your water and you aren’t able to drink it, you can get a bottled water system in your home through this program.”

Courchane says the tribes have about half of the roughly $600,000 they received left.

She says families could struggle to afford clean drinking water once that funding runs out.

Federal agencies are asking for public feedback on five potential plans for managing Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah.

KUER’s David Condos reports for the Mountain West News Bureau on the collaboration with tribes.

The plans are the result of a first-of-its-kind collaboration between federal agencies and five tribes to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into the monument’s management. 

Ruben Pacheco is with the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition.

He says this is especially historic because public lands across the West often overlap with ancestral homelands.

“So ensuring that tribal perspectives are meaningfully involved in the protection of these lands is a way to respect tribes, and it’s a move towards what we consider repairing historical injustices.”

The plan preferred by the partnership is option E, which would limit some cattle grazing, off highway driving and camping.

Rachel Wooten is with the Bureau of Land Management office in Monticello.

She says the best way for people to make sure their voices are heard is to study the plans before responding.

“Opinions are valuable, but the most helpful comments are the ones that provide new information, provide specific information about a use or an area that we might not have known or considered.”

 The agencies will launch a series of meetings to answer questions about the plans starting in April. 

Dr. Joseph Suina. (Courtesy Sen. Heinrich’s office)

In New Mexico, during a ceremony in Albuquerque last week, former Cochiti Pueblo Governor and U.S. Marine Corps and Vietnam veteran Dr. Joseph Suina was presented with service medals he earned in the 1960s.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) helped retrieve the medals, which were stolen in the 70s in a house break-in.

Sen. Heinrich also honored the veteran last week on the Senate Floor talking about his medals, which included the Purple Heart.

(Courtesy Sen. Heinrich’s office)

“Dr. Suina also earned the following awards: the Combat Action Ribbon, the Marine Corp Good Combat Medal, the National Service Defense Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Rifle Sharp Shooter Badge, Pistol Expert Badge. He also earned a Gallantry Cross Medal from the Republic of Vietnam. I was deeply honored to help retrieve these medals to recognize Dr. Suina’s incredible bravery and sacrifice.”

Dr. Suina was also recognized for his advocacy, especially for raising awareness of PTSD.

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Two federal agencies published their response to a 2023 national report on missing and murdered Indigenous people.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann reports what’s next.

In 2020, Congress passed the Not Invisible Act.

The bill created a commission to develop recommendations on how to best address the MMIP crisis.

After conducting listening sessions across the country, they published their final report to the federal government.

The Department of Justice and Department of the Interior have just responded to it.

“The biggest takeaway I have is just the fact that a lot of our resources are not streamlined. It’s like a scattershot.”

That’s Enrolled Northern Arapaho tribal member Jordan Dresser.

He was part of the Not Invisible Act Commission and he agrees with the report’s takeaway that more coordination between different agencies is crucial.

“So when a family is going through something like that, I think they sometimes don’t know where to turn to.”

The more than 200-page response from the two federal agencies outlines their commitment to continuing to work with Tribal communities to find solutions to the crisis.

Leif Richards is in the 11th grade and an NYO team captain at Thunder Mountain High School. He is doing the One-Foot High Kick on the Santa Clara Pueblo Indian Reservation. (Courtesy Kyle Worl)

Now that the North American Indigenous Games Council has approved Arctic sports on a trial basis for its 2027 games in Calgary, fans of Native Youth Olympics hope the games can spread beyond northern tribes.

As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, a team of athletes from Juneau, Alaska visited schools in Kansas and New Mexico.

In Arctic sports, team members encourage each other to strive for their personal best – and it’s not unusual for athletes to cheer on their opponents.

In that spirit, Kyle Worl, the head of the Native Youth Olympics program for Juneau schools, took a team of six athletes on tour.

“Every school and community we’ve gone to, they’ve been very engaged, and it’s just been fun.”

The team demonstrated seven games: The One-Foot and Two-Foot High Kick, the Alaskan High Kick, Scissor Broad Jump, Seal Hop, and the Inuit and Dene Stick Pulls, which today are part of friendly competitions that require strength, agility and endurance – necessary for traditional hunters to hop over ice flows or carry heavy loads for long distances.

Worl says everywhere they went, students showed interest in the games and their history.

“I think this sport really resonates with Indigenous people, because it’s an Indigenous-based sport – and it’s about community. And I think all tribes know that community is really important.”

Worl is hopeful the sport can take root at the Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., which has two Alaskan students who can help with the coaching.

The team also traveled to the nearby Kickapoo Nation School to plant some seeds among kids who are not yet in college.

Worl says the Juneau athletes gave them a chance to try out the games for themselves, which they seemed to enjoy.

“To be able to be in a space where your Indigenous identity is represented and honored — and you feel a sense of belonging — and that you don’t have to shy away from who you are.” 

The Juneau team also traveled to New Mexico to visit the Santa Clara Pueblo Tribal school, the Santa Fe Indian School, and the Institute of American Indian Art.

They left behind kits with equipment that included a kick stand, a handsewn sealskin ball, and two types of sticks.

Worl says the Calgary games are four years out, plenty of time to train for NYO games.

Crews install the final stages of a new fiber-optic internet network across four tribal nations in northern New Mexico. (Courtesy New Mexico PBS)

New Mexico’s Congressional delegation announced last week $10 million for multi-purpose facilities for seven tribes in the state.

The funding is under the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund to invest in New Mexico’s Tribal Library Broadband-Ready Facility Improvement Program.

The program will construct a new childcare center, expand six libraries and family resource centers to boost services, and provide broadband and computers.

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Researchers at Avera are working to understand factors underlying maternal health care for Native Americans in western South Dakota.

Most counties west of the Missouri River are considered a maternal health care desert.

As South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Lee Strubinger reports, that means women live more than 100 miles away from medical providers that specialize in delivery.

Distance, weather, transportation, and trauma are just a few of the barriers standing in the way of pregnant Native American women needing or wanting prenatal health care.

That’s coupled with a lack of providers West River — both in reservations and in the Black Hills.

Dr. Amy Elliott is a chief research officer at Avera McKennon.

She describes the issue bluntly.

“It’s crisis levels. With the lack of obstetrics providers especially on the western side of the state. How do we find solutions, not just for recruiting more people, but also do we have to think a little bit different about how we deliver care?”

According to the South Dakota Department of Health, from 2012 to 2021, American Indians made up 20% of all live births, but 44% of all pregnancy-associated deaths.

Dr. Elliot and others want to fully understand what’s causing that issue, and others.

Dr. Elliot says a lack of data hinders insight into understanding causes or generating solutions.

“An advantage of being in a health system is we have access to quite a bit of data and we also have close partnerships with the Department of Health, Great Plains Tribal Leaders Board and other agencies around so we’re able to help maybe combine different data streams that haven’t been combined before.”

That, Dr. Elliot hopes, will lead to lasting and systemic change in better health outcomes for Native women on the great plains.

A new documentary Bad River spotlights the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa — and the tribe’s David vs. Goliath battle against the Line 5 pipeline.

Lina Tran of WUWM in Milwaukee reports.

The Bad River Band is up against the Canadian energy company Enbridge.

Twelve miles of pipeline runs through the Bad River reservation. 

It’s a fight the Band says is necessary to defend Lake Superior from the aging pipeline. And protect the lake for future generations. 

RunningHorse Livingston is a Bad River member featured in the film. 

“We’re fighting this battle for water, but it’s really a battle for our home. And keeping it safe and keeping it beautiful, the way that it has been for forever.”

The film says there’s no evidence the Band ever consented to the pipeline. A federal judge ruled that Enbridge is trespassing and has three years to shut it down.

The film argues this is only the latest chapter in the tribe’s long fight for sovereignty.

Here’s producer, writer, and director Mary Mazzio.

“And you know, long after this challenge, there will be another one, because that’s just the history of who we are as a country. This is a very, very precarious situation happening in real time.”

Erosion near the banks of the Bad River has stoked the Band’s concerns that the exposed pipeline could rupture.

Their urgency grows as climate change makes extreme rainfall and flooding more and more likely.

The film started screening March 15 in select theaters. 

Members of the Kiowa Tribe welcome Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs employees to Carnegie, Okla. on April 7, 2023. (Courtesy VA)

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Kiowa Tribe in Oklahoma are hosting a veterans benefits event on April 5.

Tribal Veteran Service Officers and other advocates are expected to be onsite at the tribe’s community center to assist veterans, spouses, and widows with VA claims.

According to the VA, collaborations with other tribes across the country are in the works to hold similar events.

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Federal officials say they don’t have many resources to offer if it takes over law enforcement on Northwest Montana’s Flathead Reservation.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports those comments come as the county plans to stop providing those services on the reservation.

For decades, Lake County has overseen felony jurisdiction on the Flathead Reservation as part of a long-standing agreement. But commissioners say the county can no longer afford it and wants to pull out.

That would pass jurisdiction to the state, but Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) says the state is also pulling out of the agreement.

That means the federal government would take over, but Montana U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich says federal agencies are already stretched.

“And we know for a certainty at this point that it will be … worse in the short term from a resource perspective in holding people accountable.”

He says his office would only be able to prosecute bigger cases that impact a large number of people like large drug distribution or sex trafficking.

Lower-level felony offenses might go unchecked.

“That’s an unacceptable consequence.”

County Commissioner Gale Decker says it costs about $4 million to provide law enforcement services on the reservation.

“If we have to stay in it for public safety concerns, then we’ll have to make decisions about where we can find extra money.”

Commissioner Decker says that could come in the form of budget cuts, staff layoffs, or asking voters to approve a levy.

If Lake County continues with its plan to pull out of the agreement, the federal government would take over May 21.

Niin Wigwamis / My Little Home Project in Canada. (Courtesy Garden River First Nation / Facebook)

Canada’s auditor general says the federal government is failing to pledges on housing and policing to the country’s Indigenous people.

It’s a refrain that was voiced by previous fiscal watchdogs, as Dan Karpenchuk reports.

Auditor General Karen Hogan released three reports this week, two of them focusing on housing and policing for First Nations.

She says her latest audit shows a distressing and persistent pattern of failure.

“I’m rather discouraged that it’s been twenty years and there is little progress despite the amount of money that’s been invested.”

Hogan says previous auditor general have talked about the situation being unacceptable and even beyond unacceptable.

She says, despite many warnings, the lack of funding for housing means that number of First Nations homes in need of repair is basically the same as it was in 2015.

She says it’s obvious that the process has not been working and there is twenty years of information to show that.

“I’d like to see a fundamentally different approach taken by the government to address the issues whether it be around safe drinking water, emergency preparedness, housing or policing.  The approach of being passive and siloed and having communities apply, doesn’t appear to be working.”

Hogan says adequate housing is a basic human need and adds that she’s completely discourage that so many First Nations families continue to live in substandard homes.

Hogan’s report says the Indigenous Services Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation have made little progress to support First Nations efforts towards better housing conditions in their communities.

She also says the data shows that government agencies have not given priority to communities with greatest needs and those communities with poorest housing conditions got less money that those with better housing conditions.

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community members and staff tend the clam garden. (Courtesy Swinomish Fisheries Department)

More than $30 million for 42 climate projects have been awarded to tribal communities in Alaska under the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Tribal Climate Resilience Annual Awards Program.

Alaska received about one-quarter of the $120 million in awards recently announced.

The funds are intended to help address climate change.

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