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Scientists are sampling public water sources nationwide to test for what they call “forever chemicals,” which they estimate can be found in nearly half of the country’s tap water.

As Yellowstone Public Radio’s Kayla Desroches reports, scientists are also analyzing data from a river that’s culturally and recreationally significant to the Crow Nation in southeastern Montana.

The U.S. Geological Survey this summer wrapped up sampling in a study testing for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants in the Little Bighorn River.

USGS collaborated with Crow tribal member and Little Big Horn College Water Quality Project Director John Doyle, who has spent decades working to address water quality issues and environmental health on the Crow Nation and along the Little Bighorn River.

“It’s our drinking water, in Crow Agency we have a surface water plant. It’s agriculture, irrigation, it’s recreation, people swim in it, fish in it, and hunt along its banks, but it’s also used for many of our traditional ceremonies and uses.”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PFAS is a family of manufactured chemicals that in humans may, alongside other possible health effects, increase the risk of cancer and cause developmental delays in children.

Testing also includes a range of other chemicals like pesticides and pharmaceuticals.

Although Doyle says he hopes none will be found, he is concerned about impacts from wastewater treatment and other activity upstream.

“But it could be any number of things because there’s a lot of stuff that goes into the Little Big Horn River that we don’t know about.”

Analysis of the USGS data is still ongoing.

“My hopes and dreams are that we’re able to completely restore the Little Bighorn River to the state where we can drink it  and feel good about it.”

The trial of a 54-year-old St. Paul Island, Alaska man accused of strangling his wife gets underway in an Anchorage Tuesday.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more.

A grand jury indicted Joshua Rukovishnikoff on charges of second-degree murder in the killing of his 37-year-old wife Nadesda, who was known as Lynette.

She was found dead in the couple’s home on St. Paul Island in September 2021.

He told police the death was accidental and occurred when the two had been fighting.

The case drew attention after the couple’s two-year-old son, Joshua John, died a few months later after being medivac’d from St. Paul to an Anchorage hospital with a serious head injury.

The child’s guardians were later charged in the toddler’s death.

Alaska State Troopers say 33-year-old Steven Melovidov and his 30-year-old wife, Sophie Myers-Melovidov, initially told them they didn’t know how the boy was injured, but investigators say text messages between the couple told a different story.

The autopsy found multiple head injuries and bruising in the child’s genital area.

They are scheduled for a court hearing at the end of this month.

The back-to-back deaths rocked St. Paul Island, a remote community in the Pribilof Islands, which had not had any homicides since 2006.

For many on the remote island, the tragedy speaks to the deadly consequences of domestic violence that hits Alaska’s small, isolated communities, especially hard.

The new Marvel Studio’s featurette “Echo” streams Tuesday on Disney+ and Hulu.

Five-episodes follow the Native American lead, Maya Lopez, exploring her Choctaw culture and history.

Director and Executive Producer Sydney Freeland says they worked closely with the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma every step of the way for accurate on-screen portrayals.

Alaqua Cox, who’s Native American and deaf, plays the role of Maya.

She says this is their chance to uplift Indigenous voices, and let the world know Indigenous people are still here.

A number of Native actors star in the series.

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Indian Country is celebrating the historic win of Golden Globe winner Lily Gladstone for Best Female Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

Osage News captured the excitement of a crowd gathered for an Osage Nation watch party in Oklahoma on Sunday night.

The room full of people cheered as Gladstone’s name was announced as they watched the televised awards ceremony.

Gladstone thanked the Osage Nation in her acceptance speech, which she opened in the Blackfeet language.

She paid tribute to her Native language and talked about the importance of Native languages in film.

Among Gladstone’s acknowledgements were to her fellow Native actors in the film, director Martin Scorsese, and co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.

She had a special message for Native youth.

“This is for every little rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented in our stories told by ourselves in our own words with tremendous allies and tremendous trust from each other.”

Gladstone was honored for her role as Osage woman Mollie Burkhart in the film, which tells the story of the murder of Osage people in Oklahoma during the 1920s for oil money.

Gladstone is said to be the first Indigenous best actress Golden Globe Awards winner.

In Alaska, the Anchorage Museum is no longer charging an admission fee for Alaska Native visitors.

The new policy went into effect at the start of the year.

APRN’s Liz Ruskin reports.

Museum Director Julie Decker says no proof of identity is required.

“People can state that they’re Alaska Native … at the front admission desk, and they will not be charged admission.”

Decker says the proposal was not controversial for the museum staff or the board.

She points out that a significant portion of the museum’s collection comes from Alaska’s Indigenous cultures.

“I think it’s really a celebration of our place, of who we are. I think it’s recognizing the Alaskans and people who have made this their home for millennia.”

Michael Fredericks is Yup’ik and grew up in Anchorage.

She says the museum’s work to amplify Indigenous identity attracted her, specifically its very visible land acknowledgement on the building.

“When the signage went up on the side of the museum that says, ‘This is Dena’ina Elnena’. I was pretty blown away by that.”

The cultural affirmation prompted Fredericks to become a museum member for the first time, and to begin bringing her son there.

Now she chairs the museum’s governing board.

Fredericks, who owns a strategic consulting firm, says she’s excited by the new admission policy.

When she was growing up, she says her Yup’ik identity made her feel that she was “other,” even in her own hometown.

She didn’t feel the museum was meant for her.

“By … giving Indigenous people free admission, it’s not just about saying, ‘Hey, … we’re eliminating the financial barrier to this place.’ It’s saying, ‘This is your place, you know, this is your place, you come in and make this your place even more.’”

The free admission applies to general entry. Alaska Native visitors still have to pay for special events, workshops and classes.

The Navajo Nation is objecting to NASA and a private company’s rocket launch to the moon carrying human remains.

The spacecraft launched from Florida Monday.

The Navajo Nation says the moon is sacred and the placement of human remains on the moon is desecration.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren says even though they’re opposed to this journey to the moon, the tribe is not opposed to science or space exploration, but he’s calling for tribal consultation.

Nygren says he laid out the tribe’s concerns with a last-minute meeting with the White House and some federal agencies on Friday.

The rocket is scheduled to land on the moon next month.

 

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Advocates and tribal leaders working to address violence in Alaska Native communities says support systems and lifting taboos are needed in order to help people heal.

Leigh Anne Gubatayao (Tsimshian) is a survivor of domestic violence.

She says she found a safe place and support when her parents brought her home to Juneau.

“As I learned about trying to recognize that domestic violence was a part of my family and try to heal that, I was able to do that in my homeland with my parents and with a women’s shelter that really helped teach me.”

Gubatayao talks openly about her journey to help others saying it’s not something to ignore or hide.

“Speaking our truth, telling our stories…but to have the community really acknowledge that our women have suffered, and that they need all of us to gather and to heal, right, because what we want to do is we want to break the silence, to break the cycle, so that the next generations don’t have this same level of trauma that we have, but we want to teach them how to have healthy coping skills, how to reach out to people and get the support you need to heal.”

It may be hard for Alaska Native communities to confront some of these tough issues, but Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska President Richard (Chalyee Éesh) Peterson says it’s needed.

“When you talk about, you know, domestic violence, when you talk about murdered and missing Indigenous women and people. That third line of trauma is there. And it’s hard to have to admit some of these things. It’s hard to have these conversations.”

Peterson says as a leader it’s important to work on healing efforts.

“When we talk about healing, I’m gonna stand up and say these things, I’m gonna stand up and say the things that scare me, it’s really hard to pull these things out of the dark and put them in the light. But I’m gonna hold myself accountable, and I’m gonna hold others accountable. You know, heal. Healing is a journey. And it’s like any journey, it’s usually better walked with others.”

Peterson says he’s working to make sure people have the support they need for a successful journey.

This story is a partnership with FNX Television with support by the Public Welfare Foundation, committed to advancing transformative youth and criminal justice reforms.

Watch advocate Leigh Anne Gubatayao and President Richard Peterson in this special television report

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A large qaspeq, which draws attention to violence against Native women, has been traveling the country.

Yup’ik artist Amber Webb created the traditional garment. It features portraits of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

“I didn’t realize until I did the project, how many women I knew who had either been murdered or gone missing. And I didn’t realize how big of an impact that had on shaping my identity. Like how I walk around in the world, where I’ll go and where I won’t go and how I teach my daughters to be safe.”

Webb says it’s a personal issue for her, having a family friend go missing.

Several years ago, she felt an overwhelming sense to do something and created a nearly 13-foot tall qaspeq, featuring hand drawn faces on the garment with permanent marker.

“I realized I wasn’t gonna be able to find portraits of all of the Native women from Alaska who had been murdered because there was no way to even quantify that, because so many don’t even, have never been tracked. In my grandmother and my great-grandmother’s generation, nobody was tracking that, people don’t even know. I decided to look to the work that was being done in Canada and allover North America. And I wanted to honor all of the activism that had been happening, and this was people’s grandmas people’s Aunties, people who died before anything happened. Those are the people that allowed all of us who are doing activism now to have a platform to do what we’re doing.”

Webb says she wants to make sure stereotypes are dispelled about missing and murdered Native women.

“The violence happens anywhere Native women are and it’s a part of colonization…tied into the experience of boarding school trauma and tied into the experience of like the people had during forced removal. That the violence we’re experiencing today is the same violence, it’s the same violence that our grandmas and our great-grandmas experienced. When we talk about violence, it’s really important to name it. It’s important to name where the violence comes from and who’s doing it. You could say Native women are killed at alarming rates or you could say, people are killing Native women, and who are those people? We know that 90% of them are non-Native people and even the ones that are Native are coming from places who have experienced high, high rates of trauma.”

Webb says the qaspeq is to honor the women and keep their memories alive.

“When people look at each one of those faces, I want them to see the humanity and the life that was there. Because it’s not about how they died, it’s about how they lived, and it’s about how we live in their honor, and how we protect each other.”

Webb’s Memorial Qaspeq is currently part of the traveling exhibit – Protection: Adaptation and Resistance – showcasing the work of more than 45 Alaska Native artists.

This story is a partnership with FNX Television with support by the Public Welfare Foundation, committed to advancing transformative youth and criminal justice reforms.

Watch Webb and Alaska Native fashion designer Mary Kelsay talk about their advocacy in this special report

The 2024 National Western Stock Show begins this week.

Festivities include a parade on Thursday, and as KUNC’s Rae Solomon reports, an Indigenous group is bringing Native culture to the event.

Marching bands, horses, and long-horn cattle will take over downtown Denver to kick off the annual celebration of Western ranching culture.

This year, for the first time, the parade will feature the Rocky Mountain Indigenous Dancers.

Mary Martinez Yellowhorse directs the dance troupe.

“Representation matters that we’re able to bring our culture into new spaces. And even if it’s uncomfortable, it’s needed. So we’re out there to show that we’re still here. We’re still thriving.”

The parade opens more than two weeks of rodeos and events that president and CEO Paul Andrews calls the Superbowl of stock shows.

“The entire country is converging on Denver to compete – coast to coast they are here. You will not see a competition with more competitive animals in this country”

This year’s highlights include live music on the weekends and a new exhibit featuring Colorado’s burgeoning wine industry.

The stock show runs January 6-21.

 

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Artists are among those continuing to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous people in Alaska.

They want to make sure their loved ones are not forgotten – and seeking justice for those who’ve gone missing and murdered.

Seattle-based fashion designer Mary Kelsay (Unangax̂) is using her talent to create conversations around MMIP.

“I know that a lot of our Indigenous folks know, the problems we face, you know, with our missing and murdered relatives, but a lot of our non-Indigenous members of our community do not.”

To draw awareness and spark conversations, Kelsay created a collection of five red dresses.

“It was inspired by the portrait that Dustin Newman, a fellow Unangax̂ artist created, which represented our missing and murdered sisters here in Alaska, from all areas of Alaska, and when I saw the portrait, I decided that I wanted to make those dresses come alive.”

The Our Sisters Red Dress Collection has been shown in Alaska, Washington state, and has journeyed all the way to Paris. The dresses were featured at the Washington State History Museum last year in Seattle, where they received much public attention.

“I think for a lot of our Indigenous community, it is creating, like healing, a part of a healing process and a healing space. A lot of people have come up and you know, told me that it was healing, and they shared their stories, relations to a missing, murder relative.”

The issue is personal for Kelsay.

She says one of her childhood friends was taken, and also one of her own family members.

“I think that we all need to use our voices to kind of stand up for our relatives who can can’t speak. And I know that it sometimes it’s really hard to use our voices, and I’m getting better at using my voice and sharing the story of our relatives. And yeah, I’m just going to keep sharing the collection for as long as I can. And for as long as I have to.”

One of the dresses was donated to the Red Dress Gala being held in Anchorage, Alaska, this month, to benefit an Indigenous-led MMIWG2s working group in the state.

This story is a partnership with First Nations Experience Television Network and supported by The Public Welfare Foundation, committed to advancing transformative youth and criminal justice reforms.

A judge in Quebec has ordered McGill University to honor the terms of an agreement with an Indigenous group over the search for possible unmarked graves.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the site is at a former Montreal hospital.

The group Mohawk Mothers says Quebec’s infrastructure agency did not properly involve the panel of archeologists appointed to oversee the search for graves.

The location is the site of a future downtown university campus expansion.

Having the expert panel involved was a main part of the deal between developers and the Indigenous group.

The Mohawk Mothers have tried several times, in court, to stop construction fearing human remains would be desecrated.

Kahentinetha is one of the Mohawk Mothers.

She says wants the site properly searched for unmarked graves.

“That’s what we want. And we will not stop until we accomplish that. So that’s where we are now. We’ve been stopped many times. But it hasn’t stopped.”

The former Royal Victoria Hospital was the site of mind control experiments held at the psychiatric institute that was affiliated with he hospital in the 1950’s and 60’s.

Mohawk Mothers say it’s possible Indigenous and non-Indigenous survivors of those treatments are buried on the site.

Earlier this year, a search using cadaver dogs discovered evidence of human remains at the site.

Since then there has been no confirmation of human remains.

In November, a court reinstated the archeologist panel, but the university is appealing that decision.

 

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A proposed local agreement between the Menominee Nation and the city of Kenosha, Wisc. to open a casino and entertainment complex is scheduled for a key vote this week.

Chuck Quirmbach of station WUWM reports.

The Menominee want to team with Hard Rock International, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, to open an off-reservation gaming hall, hotel, ballroom, and restaurants along Interstate 94.

The complex would be about halfway between a non-tribal casino in Waukegan, Ill. and the Forest County Potawatomi gaming facility in Milwaukee.

Joey Awonohopay chairs the Menominee-Kenosha Gaming Authority.

He acknowledges the nearby competition for gamblers.

“But, the question is, do they carry the entertainment and the excitement as well as Hard Rock does? And the answer to that is, no, they do not.”

Gaming Authority Vice-chair Gary Besaw says the proposed ballroom would also be perfect for weddings and corporate retreats.

“We’re looking at enhancing what can happen in the Kenosha area.”

The Menominee and their partners are promising about $10 million per year in payments to Kenosha and Kenosha County after the complex would open.

That’s not enough to sway city resident John Bush.

“How many millions of dollars are we losing each year from companies that don’t want to move in right next to a casino? How many millions of dollars are we losing when people flee our community when there’s a casino less than a mile or two away from them?”

If the Kenosha Common Council okays the intergovernmental agreement Wednesday, January 3 and the Kenosha County Board signs on later this month, the Menominee and Hard Rock project would still need federal approval and the okay of Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI).

A new study looks at the economic and social changes brought about by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska over the past three decades.

Deborah Van Fleet has more.

Ho-Chunk, Inc. sponsored the report by consulting economist Jonathan Taylor.

Taylor’s observations include the doubling of the Tribe’s middle class over the last 30 years.

He attributes this to their multiple institutions, with about 3,500 jobs in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Iowa in 2022, and a combined payroll of nearly $200 million.

“And that surprise change is really what American Indian economic development has been endeavoring to achieve across the country. And this is in a remote Plains tribe, in the poorest county of Nebraska.”

Among the Tribe’s entities are its oldest and largest, Ho-Chunk, Inc., as well as several for-profit and nonprofit institutions, including a college, a hospital, and community development corporation.

He says the Tribe’s ability to thrive gained momentum with its steps to “diversify” from the gaming industry back in the 1990s.

Lance Morgan, founder and CEO of Ho-Chunk, Inc., the Tribe’s economic development corporation, calls the tribe’s “multi-institutional” approach “key” to its success.

He says failing to do this is one reason poverty is intractable on many reservations.

“Unless you unleash the natural abilities of tribal people through these institutions, you never go anywhere. We have been really focused on this development of institutions and people across the board. And what’s happening is, is that natural organic growth is happening.”

Morgan says their population has grown by 30% in the past eight years.

Condolences are pouring in for Klee Benally, who passed away over the weekend, his family announced on social media.

The Indigenous musician, advocate, and land defender was well known for his work on protecting sacred sites in Arizona.

A cause of death was not listed.

Benally was 48 years old.

 

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A new children’s book in the Lingít language was celebrated at a gathering in Juneau, Alaska on Friday, the first of its kind in decades.

As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA tells us, it is the first of a nine-part series.

“You all agree this book is beautiful?”

Tlingit and Haida’s president Richard Peterson held up the book to show off the illustrations by two Lingít artists – Nick and Kelsey Foote.

The book Kuhaantí means “orphan” in Lingít.

It’s a story about a girl taken in by a powerful family and through her struggles, learns life lessons about the tribal values of respect.

President Peterson wishes he had had a book like Kuhaanti to read when he was a boy.

“We didn’t have this opportunity. And it may not make sense, because certainly we had more elders, we had more first language speakers, but we know that things like boarding schools and historic trauma, there was a lot of shame and probably people telling us we couldn’t be who we are.”

But students from the Tlingit, Culture, Literacy, and Language program were full of pride as they performed at the celebration.

Jill Meserve, a Lingít language instructor, says the new book will help learning become more meaningful.

“These kids are so fortunate to see themselves in their teachers, in their curriculum, and in their books and in our community.”

Lance Twitchell, Director of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast: “If you’re looking for the English translation, it doesn’t exist.

X’unei Lance Twitchell says it’s important that the language stand on its own.

He worked with a team of elders to produce the book including Kaxwaan Éesh George Davis, Shaksháani Marge Dutson, and Daasdiyáa Ethel Makinen,

“I thought of George and I thought of Marge, and I thought of Ethel, and how much I wish I could show this to them.”

X’unei produced a video of the book, so everyone can both see and hear the story.

The books are free to children of tribal members.

Raven and the Salmon House will be the next story to be published.

The project was a collaboration between Tlingit & Haida, a regional tribal council; the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation, a Native corporation non-profit; and Cedar Group, a regional economic development agency.

A new memoir called SURVIVAL FOOD shares tales from growing up on the Menominee Indian Reservation.

The author, Thomas Weso, was born in 1953. He passed away in July before the book was published.

WUWM’s Lina Tran has more.

Thomas Weso grew up in a time of economic transformation – when commodity goods were eaten alongside game from Wisconsin’s Northwoods. And then there was the rise of processed foods.

He often wrote about food. Here he is speaking in a 2021 interview with Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

“We should think about where food comes from. Because if we think where food comes from, we’ll take better care of the land around us.”

Weso’s wife, the writer Denise Low, says he was interested in writing about Indigenous people in the present.

“He had a very zen sense of like, “What’s here now?” and not “what were Indians like, or Indigenous people like, 100 years ago? Here we are now.”

That’s why you’ll find all kinds of recipes in the new book, from tamale pie to turtle soup.

There’s instructions on how to forage milkweed pods, which Weso writes are tasty with butter. But he likes mixing them with canned tuna into boxed mac and cheese.

“He doesn’t just stick to Indigenous food. He tries to embrace the diner foods that he loved also. And to accept that there was an intermixture.”

Weso’s taste celebrated that unique mix, found only in Wisconsin, on the Menominee reservation.

 

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An expert within the University of Arizona’s Indigenous Resilience Center is shedding light on Indigenous value-based farming practices.

Alex González has more.

Michael Kotutwa Johnson is an assistant specialist within the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and a member of the Hopi Tribe in Arizona.

He says for the Hopi, there is no distinction between their agricultural system, their belief system, and their social structures.

Johnson measures the success of his farming not by what he produces, but by the impact his farming has on the community and the environment.

“Conventional agriculture and even regenerative agriculture is not place-based. That’s something that somebody comes up with in order to try and manipulate the environment to fit the crops, whereas we raise the crops to fit the environment and I think that is the most important difference right there.”

Johnson says the U.S. needs to focus more on quality produce and not quantity and efficiency.

He adds 70% of the globe is fed by farms which consist of one to five acres, and he contends policymakers use the other 30% to justify more industrialized farming practices which can have negative impacts on the environment and communities.

Johnson says “soil is the key to everything”, as it holds moisture and nutrients, essential ingredients for successful farming.

He argues the practice of flood irrigation that’s so common in Arizona depletes the land of valuable minerals and nourishment by washing them away.

Johnson says changing lucrative farming practices isn’t easy, but will be necessary for a more prosperous future.

“Quantity is the big thing right now. Unless we switch that to make it more quality, that farmer is going to keep producing massive, massive amounts of things using those big irrigation methods because that is simply a way to make their bottom line.”

Johnson contends lack of nutrient density comes from soils which have been eroded by mechanics of processed foods. He says that has led to an increase in chronic health conditions like diabetes. He adds Arizona has a real chance to be a leader and change the way farming is done.

This story was produced with original reporting from Brenna Draxler for Yes! Media.

Advocates in New Mexico are working to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous people among younger generations, including outreach to college students.

Events have been held in Albuquerque at the University of New Mexico, Central New Mexico Community College, and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute.

Shereena Baker (Southern Ute & Karuk) is among those working on awareness efforts.

“I feel that we would reach more … people if we are educating our college students, especially our Native women and boys, so that when they go back to their reservations and they go back to their homes and they can talk about it at the table and bring it up in their community. We felt it was really important that we can reach out to the college students and they can educate their younger ones and educate their older ones.”

Baker helped organize the event Unbroken Circle: Voices for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, which included an earring exhibit.

“When you’re missing one earring, it kind of is like an elegy for like you missing a relative because they’re just not complete. So we created an exhibit for that to like represent and display and then around that we have conversations. But we bring in people who are in the thick of it, and we have dialogue and we open it up for our college students. But we not only open it up for them, but (for) their families, the community as well.”

The earring event was held during the fall semester at the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute.

Plans for the spring include hosting self-defense classes for Native students.

Watch Antonia Gonzales speak with Baker and advocate Jana Pfeiffer about their awareness efforts on New Mexico PBS

 

Sealaska Heritage Institute recently launched apps to teach the Haida (X̱aad Kíl) and Tsimshian (Shm’algyack) languages – both are considered endangered.

One app teaches vocabulary and phrases – and the other Native words for birds and ocean animals.

They are available for iOS and Android devices.

The apps are part of efforts to revitalize Indigenous languages of Southeast Alaska.

 

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Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid and leads to almost unprecedented rates of opioid overdose as it is up to 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the Centers of Disease Control & Prevention.

What makes fentanyl even more dangerous is its ability to camouflage as other drugs in a powdered form. 

The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held hearings on the crisis in Indian Country with testimony from tribal leaders and federal officials, as Hannah Bissett from our flagship station KNBA reports.

Watch The November Hearing

In November, several Senators on the Committee on Indian Affairs examined the impacts of fentanyl on Native communities. 

This hearing took testimony from Native peoples to address the growing crisis in a variety of ways including the need for more federal support to tackle fentanyl use. 

Jamie Azure is the chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota.

He spoke on the importance of this issue, and the implications these conversations have on Native youth.

“The committee needs to remember that we voted to sit in the chairs we sit in for the next generation…we as tribal leaders refuse to allow a generation to be lost.”

In a follow-up hearing in early December, the committee focused on federal perspectives on the growing crisis.

Watch The December Hearing

Roselyn Tso is the director of the Indian Health Service.

She discussed the mortality rates within Native communities and the necessity of the increment of care for those who are addicted to fentanyl.

“I and my senior leadership and all of Indian Health Services recognize the importance of working side by side with tribes and tribal leaders to develop comprehensive plans for addressing the opioid crisis in Indian country – but we also recognize that each community plan includes strategies that work for each community.”

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) says that the call for policy changes and resources in this crisis has been heard nationwide.

In this hearing, she focused on the vulnerability of rural Alaskan communities.

“Drug traffickers are targeting our Native communities.  They know these communities are more rural, they know that there is less law enforcement presence and they know they can make more money off of our Native people.”

Tribal leaders and Senators say this is only the beginning of discussions on how to aid in this crisis of fentanyl overdose in Native communities. 

The Indian Health Service is working to provide tens of thousands of children’s books to Native families across the country.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel has more.

The federal agency gave a $200,000 grant to Reach Out and Read, a national nonprofit that integrates reading into pediatric care. 

The group will use the money to buy more than 30,000 children’s books.

They’ll be handed out to Indigenous families during well-child visits at dozens of Indian Health Service clinics. 

That includes 11 in New Mexico, one in Colorado, and one in Wyoming. 

Marty Martinez is Reach Out and Read’s CEO.

He says the books feature Indigenous characters and are written in half a dozen different Native languages.

“To give families a book for a two-year-old or a three-year-old that’s related to their culture, that ties in a Native Illustrator or author or a great story – and celebrates that – is so meaningful.”

And helpful to their development.

The group says about one-third of young children – and half of those living in poverty – start kindergarten without the skills they need to do well in school.

The Coquille Tribe in Oregon announced Wednesday it will co-sponsor the first New Year’s Eve Sobriety Powwow.

Tribal leaders and event organizers say it’s a family-friendly event, which promotes a drug-and-alcohol-free alternative to celebrate the holiday.

 

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U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) is enrolled in the Cherokee Nation, making him only the second Cherokee Nation citizen ever to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Correspondent Matt Laslo has the story from Washington.

Sen. Mullin spent five terms in the House before moving to the Senate this year.

The House tends to be rowdier, which may be why last month, Sen. Mullin came out swinging – almost literally – when he challenged International Brotherhood of Teamsters president Sean O’Brien to a fight before the Labor Committee Chair, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) put an end to it.

Sen. Mullin: “Want to do it now?”

President O’Brien: “I’d love to do it right now.”

Sen. Mullin: “Well, stand your butt up then.”

President O’Brien: “You stand your butt up.”

Sen. Sanders: “Hold it. Stop it. Alright. Sit down. You are a United States senator! God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress.”

Sen. Mullin is a former professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter and brings that fighting spirit with him – not just when questioning union bosses.

While the Senate is boring compared to the House, Sen. Mullin says the Senate has grown on him.

“Much different. Actually, I like it better. Now that I’m here, I like it better. I didn’t at first, but I like it better here now.”

In the House, Sen. Mullin was one of 435 members.

To pass a measure you’re passionate about, you need to convince 217 of your colleagues to agree.

Being one of only 100 senators has its perks.

“You can be more effective, I think, by yourself on the issues that are important to you. Like, you were just talking about Native news, you can be more impactful on Native issues as a senator than you can in the House, just because you can do a lot more by yourself, rather than have to have 218 before you can do anything.”

Sen. Mullin says another perk of being a senator is that federal agencies are much more responsive to him than they were when he was just one in the crowded and rowdy House of Representatives.

He says that’s been especially helpful working on tribal issues with officials at the Interior Department and Bureau of Indian Affairs.

“Getting BIA to engage with you is much easier. Getting Interior to engage with you, much easier interest and those are all areas that are vitally important.”

As for getting union bosses to engage with him?

“Depends on which one they are (laughs).”

Thousands of homes on the Navajo Nation have gained official addresses.

The four-year project in southeast Utah recently wrapped up.

KUER’s David Condos reports.

Without a home address, a lot of things become complicated or even impossible.

Registering to vote.

Getting online orders delivered.

Making sure an ambulance can find you.

That was the reality for much of Utah’s Navajo Nation before the advocacy group Rural Utah Project began going door to door in 2019.

This month, the project finished assigning addresses to 3,113 homes.

Daylene Redhorse led the endeavor.

“I am happy. I am just overjoyed that I’ve completed this. And … I think everybody deserves a physical address.”

The project gave each home a plus code, a number that pinpoints a location based on longitude and latitude rather than a street name and house number.

Tiffany Bah Charley is a public information officer with the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission.

She says the example in Utah could boost efforts to address buildings in Arizona and New Mexico.

“For Navajo Nation, it’ll be a good positive impact for them to utilize plus codes … It’s just a matter of getting out there and doing the work.”

Redhorse with the Rural Utah Project says her next mission is to get more Navajo registered to vote and increase their representation.

 

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