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A push to establish a new national monument near the Grand Canyon gained steam recently with the visit of U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, for years, tribes and environmentalists have advocated for added protections in the area.

Sec. Haaland met with leaders of the Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, and other members of the Grand Canyon Tribal Coalition.

They’re urging President Joe Biden to declare the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument.

The meeting highlighted the tribes’ connections to the area and their efforts to protect more than a million acres adjacent to the national park from future uranium and other hardrock mining.

Carletta Tilousi is a former Havasupai Council member and a spokesperson for the coalition.

“This attempt to declare the Grand Canyon a national monument is very historical because all the tribes once again have come together to unite in one voice and one mission.”

Tribes and conservation groups say uranium mining threatens the Grand Canyon’s environment as well as many sacred sites and tribal water resources.

The mining industry, however, maintains that modern extraction methods are safe.

A 20-year federal moratorium paused new claims in 2012, but a monument designation would make the mining ban permanent.

Previous attempts have failed in Congress since 2008, but the current push is being driven by tribes and is aimed at a presidential proclamation through the Antiquities Act.

Ketchikan Charter School

After a recent two-day trial, a Ketchikan Superior Court judge ruled that a list of 14 traditional tribal values can keep its place in Ketchikan schools in Alaska.

KRBD’s Raegan Miller reports.

The values were created years ago by Southeast Alaska Native leaders, and include items like “hold each other up” and “speak with care.” But parents Justin Breese and Rebecca King sued the school district, alleging that one of the values, “reverence for our creator,” was a religious statement that violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

They asked for the posters to be taken down from common areas and removed from a behavior reward system at Ketchikan Charter School, where King teaches kindergarten.

They wanted the values incorporated into lessons, instead.

King testified during the first day of the trial.

“I interpret it as the promotion of creationism, whether that be by Raven or God or another supernatural entity outside of ourselves or science.”

Sealaska Heritage Institute president Rosita Worl testified as an expert witness on behalf of the district.

“In our culture, reverence for, you know, our creator doesn’t refer to any god or any deity that we worship. That’s absolutely not within our culture. Within our culture, creator could refer to multiple beings.”

In the written decision, Judge Katherine Lybrand said that the plaintiffs didn’t prove the statement was religious. And, Lybrand ruled, even if it was religious, it still wouldn’t be a violation of the clause, because the display of the posters isn’t forcing a certain behavior.

“The mere display of the posters around the District’s schools does not foster excessive entanglement or coerce students to believe a certain thing and in fact there was no testimony that any student has felt coerced in any way.”

Lybrand echoed testimony from expert witnesses saying the posters were hung to encourage cultural awareness, not a particular behavior.

“The posting of the Southeast Traditional Tribal Values poster has a secular purpose: to promote cross-cultural understanding, place-based learning and strong relationships with the District’s Indigenous student population.”

Additionally, Lybrand compared it more to the Pledge of Allegiance than a religious statement, in the court document..

“Its posting is more akin to reciting the pledge of allegiance than the posting of the Ten Commandments because the poster as a whole demonstrates that its purpose is to promote place-based learning and cross-cultural understanding, not to promote a religious belief,”

Tribal leaders, school officials, advocates, and students are gathering at the California State Capitol in Sacramento on Wednesday.

They’re asserting rights for Native students to wear tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies.

A 2018 law authorizes the wearing of tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies.

According to State Rep. James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA), beaded caps, eagle feathers, plumes, and sashes are among adornments schools are prohibiting at graduations, which is against the law.

Rep. Ramos will be leading the event and it will be streamed live on Facebook starting at 4:30p.m. PT.

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Although climate change has left some Alaska Native communities just a storm away from destruction, the struggle to get help from government agencies is just as daunting, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

An international human rights group hopes to change that.

The Organization of American States is coming to Alaska this week to hear directly from tribes.

Salote Soqo (I-Taukei) oversees a branch of the OAS that advocates for Indigenous peoples, displaced by climate change.

She says her mission is to make sure tribes have a say in what happens and are treated with dignity.

“There’s a lot of commonalities around the issues that they’re experiencing. They are on the front lines of the climate crisis. They’ve been exposed to years and years of government neglect.”

While state and federal governments do respond to disasters caused by climate change, Soqo says their efforts fall short of helping communities make a long-term recovery or adapt to the threats.

The OAS has partnered with groups like the Alaska Institute for Justice to increase funding and improve government response.

The Institute’s director, Robin Bronen calls the climate crisis one of the greatest human rights challenges of our time.

Yet despite that, she says government efforts are scattered across too many agencies, with no real structure in place to address problems in a systematic way.

“There is an urgency to the climate crisis that the government is struggling to respond to. And our hope is, with this visit, that it will elevate this issue, so that communities all over the United States and especially in Alaska, get the resources that they need to implement their adaptation strategies.”

Bronen says it will take hundreds of millions of dollars to help communities move to safety or recover from disasters. But for Indigenous peoples, there are also cultural, economic, and social impacts that can be equally devastating.

The OAS’s Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will visit two communities on Thursday – Nunapitchuk on the Kuskokwim River and Kwigillingok on the Bering Sea coast.

On Friday, it heads to Kivalina, a barrier island on the Chukchi Sea.

All three communities plan to move to higher ground.

The commission started the week in Louisiana, where it met with several tribes, which are also being forced to relocate due to climate change.

The Yurok Tribal Council has issued an emergency declaration in response to the fentanyl crisis on and near the Yurok reservation in California.

The declaration directs the Yurok Tribal Court and Yurok Public Health Department to oversee the tribe’s response to the crisis.

According to the tribe, in the last 12 months, fentanyl has taken the lives of Yurok citizens and is impacting families.

Earlier this spring, Yurok law enforcement and justice officials discussed the fentanyl crisis during a legislative roundtable at the State Capitol in Sacramento.

Chief Judge Abby Abinanti with the Yurok Tribal Court told lawmakers there needs to be partnerships and more assistance from the state.

“We cannot ignore this. We need to be in partnerships with our natural partners, law enforcement, it means health services, it means we need mobile clinics in rural areas, we need regional treatment centers not treatment centers we have to go hundreds of miles to that may not have room for us. This is not right. This is a state that can do better and needs to do better.”

The Yurok Tribal Council has also made it mandatory for all tribal government staff to be trained in giving Narcan, which can reverse effects of an opioid overdose.

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid, which is said to be 50 times stronger than heroin.

The tribal declaration also includes xylazine, which is a sedative used on animals.

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A new federal grant program has made up to $50 million available to tribes to support harvesting, processing, and packaging Indigenous meats, like salmon, moose, and caribou in Alaska.

As KDLG’s Izzy Ross reports, tribes across the country can now apply for the funding.

Over the past two years, the federal government has worked with tribes to find ways to help support Indigenous food gathering traditions.

Julia Hnilicka, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development program, says the result of that process was the Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant.

“It was really out of this consultation, especially as we were moving out of the pandemic, and seeing the worries that a lot of tribes have for food security and food sovereignty, that informed this program.”

The grant is part of the USDA’s Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative, which began in 2021.

The initiative works with organizations that serve tribes to get Indigenous perspectives on how to improve federal food programs.

The grant doesn’t set limits on the amount of money tribes can apply for, but there are a few restrictions: Projects must involve Indigenous animals and meat processing activities and can’t be used to buy land, meat, or animals.

Still, Hnilicka says, the program was designed with tribal governments in mind.

“There is just so much flexibility within this money, it can be something from like a four wheeler to move animals to an entire distribution center. It really, really depends on what the tribe’s needs are.”

Grants are available for tribes across the country, and Hnilicka says there’s a good chance tribal nations in Alaska could tap into a large portion of what’s available.

“I do know that they are really looking for networks that can reach across the nation, but also across tribes, as well. So there is an opportunity with these monies for tribal governments to band together and to submit co-applications.”

The mid-July deadline is in the middle of summer fishing and harvesting, already a busy time in Alaska.

“It’s unfortunate that the window falls during this timeframe from now until July 19. But this could be the only time so I really, really encourage everybody who can apply for this to do so.”

Hnilicka says anyone interested in applying should reach out with questions.

More information on the grant can be found at the USDA’s website.

Killers of the Flower Moon premiered over the weekend at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film is directed by Martin Scorsese, based on a best-selling book about the Osage Nation and oil.

In the 1920s, after oil is found on Osage land, Osage people are killed and the FBI investigates.

The Osage News reports, at the end of the film premier in France, there was a nine-minute standing ovation from the audience for the director and actors, which include Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro.

During a press conference at Cannes, chief of the Osage Nation Geoffrey Standing Bear says the tribe expressed they wanted to make sure they did not lose their voice in the story.

“Early on, I asked Mr. Scorsese how are you going to approach this story and he said I’m going to tell a story about trust, trust between Molly and Earnest, trust between the outside word and Osage, and a betrayal of those trusts, deep betrayal. My people suffered greatly and to this day those effects are with us, but I can say on behalf of the Osage, Martin Scorsese, and his team have restored trust.”

Chief Standing Bear says Osage people were extras in the film and were behind the camera, they also made costumes, music, and the Osage language is featured in the film.

Killers of the Flower Moon is scheduled to be released in theaters in October.

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When two major tribal organizations pulled-out of the Alaska Federation of Natives last week, many wondered how AFN would respond.

As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, AFN is saying very little and asking its early leaders to do the talking.

Tlingit and Haida and the Tanana Chiefs Conference are among some of the largest tribal organizations in the state.

Their sudden exit brings the number of recent departures from AFN to five, including three prominent Native corporations the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Doyon, and the Aleut Corporation.

After AFN held its quarterly board meeting this week, it announced plans for its next convention, but only made brief mention of the departures.

Instead, it said it had asked a few of its founders to reflect on the sacrifices made to form AFN, apparently for the benefit of today’s leaders.

“They’re living the dream that their grandparents sacrificed for.”

Emil Notti was one of those invited to speak at the meeting.

He was the first president of AFN, which successfully fought for one of the largest land claims settlements in U.S. history.

Notti says he told the AFN board how early leaders donated a lot of time and effort to fight for land claims at a great personal cost.

Members passed the hat to pay for the travel to Washington D.C.

Natives across the state gave what they could, even if they could only spare a few dollars.

Some mortgaged their homes.

He says today’s leaders have good jobs and good educations, things they take for granted.

“AFN is a gift to them from their ancestors and grandfathers who donated money to make a strong organization, and that they should do what they can to keep it.”

Notti worries that the strength of the organization could be lost, little by little — and Natives, as a group, could lose power.

Joe Nelson, chairman of the board for the Sealaska Corporation, seated next to Richard Peterson, president of Tlingit and Haida, on Alaska Day in Washington D.C. (Photo courtesy: AFN)

Tlingit and Haida’s president Richard Peterson has said the decision is not meant as an attack on AFN – but instead, a sign that the organization is ready to do its own advocacy and no longer needs AFN.

Tanana Chiefs has said AFN hasn’t done enough to protect subsistence.

But many have wondered if there were other reasons for the sudden exits, including Rosita Worl, head of the Sealaska Heritage Institute, a non-profit founded by Sealaska, the regional corporation for Southeast Alaska.

“You know what? I absolutely don’t know what it could be. Everyone was startled and none of us had any inkling of it.”

Worl believes Tlingit and Haida’s departure from AFN could affect both Sealaska shareholders and tribal members, who should have been included in a wider conversation.

Some Native leaders have wondered if dissatisfaction with AFN’s longtime president, Julie Kitka, was behind the move.

Worl hopes that’s not true, because she says Kitka has been highly effective.

She pointed to AFN’s Alaska Day in Washington D.C. this March, which brought six White House cabinet members and four generals together, to meet with Alaska Native leaders.

Worl says she sat next to Pete Buttigieg, President Biden’s transportation secretary.

“I mean, we have someone at the leadership helm who can pick up the phone and call the White House and can command that kind of presence of national leaders.”

Both Rosita Worl and Emil Notti say they hope the groups, which have left AFN, will do what the organization did in the old days – meet and talk out their differences.

This week, the first lady made a quick stop in Bethel, AK, where she highlighted the administration’s broadband investments.

KYUK’s Francisco Martinezcuello reports.

Jill Biden, along with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), were warmly greeted on the tarmac by U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK); Rose Dunleavy (Inupiaq), the first lady of the State of Alaska; and Bethel Mayor Rose “Sugar” Henderson, during a quick visit to Bethel where internet access is very limited.

The First Lady highlighted a broadband fiber optic extension being constructed this year.

“This is one of the largest tribal broadband expansions in the country. With high-speed internet, you’ll have better access to critical healthcare, new educational tools, and remote job opportunities. It will change lives. It will save lives.”

The Biden Administration has awarded $386 million in Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) grants to 21 projects throughout Alaska, with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Consolidated Appropriations Acts of 2021.

In 2022, the Biden Administration awarded roughly $125 million in funding to two broadband infrastructure deployment projects in the YK Delta. One of these projects is the Alaska FiberOptic Project.

The other funding is going directly to the Airraq network, an initiative developed in partnership from the Bethel Native Corporation, and GCI – Alaska’s largest telecommunications company.

“An Airraq isn’t the story itself. It’s a tool that helps us tell it. A simple string that becomes a thing of beauty with the creativity and joy and hope we bring to it. The connections of this community are already deep. But with Airraq, you will be able to bring them to life in new ways.”

After the speech, there was a performance from Ayaprun Elitnaurvik students and Biden was given a red, white and blue kuspuk.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday announced $16 million in funding for projects to help increase participation in WIC, which provides supplements foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education to women, infants, and children.

Some tribal programs are among the 36 projects to receive funding.

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Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) and others say fake health care providers have defrauded the state out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, the schemes allegedly target Native American communities.

Officials say for nearly three years more than 100 treatment centers in the Phoenix area have fraudulently billed Arizona’s Medicaid system for services they didn’t deliver.

The providers often lure Native Americans from reservations who’re experiencing homelessness or have mental health or substance abuse problems.

The would-be patients are frequently held against their will and rarely given the promised treatment.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI have been investigating.

Antoinette Ferrari is an FBI special agent.

“These individuals are targeting Native Americans because there’s a lower threshold in order to bill for behavioral health services. So, we’re just seeing a mismatch between what’s actually happening and what is supposed to happen.”

At a press conference, Gov. Hobbs called the situation a “humanitarian crisis” that’s believed to have contributed to the epidemic of missing Indigenous people.

She said the providers have been cut off from receiving payments and other systemic reforms will be put in place.

So far, 45 indictments have been handed down and about $75 million have been recovered.

A statewide hotline has been set up to report missing people.

Many victims are believed to be members of the Navajo Nation, and according to Attorney General Ethel Branch, the tribe will open a command center to assist victims and families.

After more than nine months of debate, the scope of an Alaska planning group will shrink to no longer include 3.5 million acres and an Alaska Native village within its boundaries.

Riley Board with KDLL in Kenai, AK reports.

On Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, two communities on opposite sides of a major waterway have been in conflict for months over the scope of a land planning group based out of the east side community of Nikiski.

The planning group was established last September following advocacy from residents who wanted a say in local planning decisions.

The original boundaries encompassed Nikiski, surrounding land on the east side of Cook Inlet, and millions of acres on the west side — within them, the Native Village of Tyonek.

Representatives from Nikiski argued the two areas, though geographically separated, were one community.

But westside residents rejected the description of the westside as a part of the Nikiski community, and said the decision to form the planning group was made without their consent.

In December, local officials introduced an ordinance to reduce the size of the planning area’s boundaries.

This week, the borough’s governing body, the borough assembly, finally voted to reduce the area to just the east side of the inlet, following several proposed amendments and a lengthy postponement.

Assembly President Brent Johnson said it was important to honor the input from the west side, which included dozens of letters from Tyonek residents and peninsula Native corporations.

“I’m looking at the strong feelings of the folks that live on the other side of the inlet in the Tyonek area.

They have strong feelings, and they don’t want to have an APC that’s on the east side telling people on the west side what to do.”

The group’s new boundaries include about 300 thousand acres, which still makes it the largest of its kind in the borough.

First Lady Jill Biden traveled to Bethel, AK Wednesday.

She highlighted the administration’s work to improve broadband in the Y-K Delta, which Biden says will help with health care, education, and jobs.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK) joined the first lady on the visit.

This was the first-ever visit by a first lady to Bethel.

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There’s more public information about the truth of Indian boarding schools with newly published research.

The path ahead for many Native communities includes more truth telling and reconciliation efforts.

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

Across the nation, including in dozens of South Dakota communities, Native American children were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in boarding schools as part of a larger effort to assimilate them into wider American culture – often with tragic outcomes.

It’s recent enough history boarding school survivors are still alive and sharing their stories today.

New research published by the Catholic Truth & Healing website now tallies 87 Catholic-led institutions nationwide – including nine in South Dakota.

Maka Black Elk is executive director of truth and healing at the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Reservation – a former boarding school.

He serves as a consultant for that group.

“The thing that people don’t understand often about the Catholic Church is that it’s not a single institution. It’s not all located in one single place like the federal government. So, this effort was really needed in order to bring some clarity as to where all those schools were, who ran them, and where those records might be and how tribes can access them.”

Black Elk says there are many pathways to healing these wounds.

“We have to do what we can to support people in their healing effort. While that might not mean a day in court for example on this issue, it could mean other things. Other ways of finding healing. Certainly, all of our Catholic former boarding schools which exist in this state should all be engaged in this effort.”

But for real reconciliation to happen, Black Elk says the church itself must be present.

“Anything that the Catholic Church can do to assist in these efforts is their responsibility to – and I say that as a Catholic person myself.”

Both the Sioux Falls and Rapid City Dioceses did not return request for comment.

The list of Catholic-operated boarding schools can be found here.

Fans of the TV drama Alaska Daily will never know if Eileen Fitzgerald, a hotshot reporter, will fall in love with a Bush pilot and put down roots in Alaska.

ABC has cancelled the series after only one season, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

Hilary Swank played Fitzgerald, who went to Alaska to redeem her reputation, after she left a New York City newspaper in disgrace.

A former editor recruited her to help investigate a series of cold cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Eileen was neither impressed with the Alaska Daily, nor the reporter she was paired up with — Roz Friendly, an Alaska Native and one of the newspaper’s rising stars, played by Grace Dove.

Roz and Eileen eventually work together to solve the murder of a young Native woman — and learn from each other in the process.

Vera Starbard, an Alaska Native and one of the writers for the series, says she had hoped to expand Roz’s role, to reveal more about her culture and family background.

“Honestly. She’s the reason I signed onto the show. Like, OK, here’s a real Alaska Native character. This isn’t some silent nobody, who is going to get two lines, but fight for her own space and fight for her right to be there.”

Starbard says Roz and Eileen were pivotal characters, who helped to raise awareness about the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

“Literally the millions of people who saw this show, now have to know this is an issue. And many of them are a little bit more educated about exactly why that’s an issue.”

Starbard says the true crime element was an important undercurrent in the show, though she and one of her co-writers, Andrew MacLean a filmmaker from Utgiaqvik, worked to keep Alaska Daily from becoming too sensational.

Starbard says they also tried hard to make the show as authentically Alaskan as possible and one of their big successes was getting Native languages incorporated into the script.

Also, the Alaska Native characters wore clothing, jewelry and regalia made by Alaska Natives.

Starbard says she’s disappointed but not surprised ABC cancelled the program.

It was an expensive show to produce and did not draw the ratings the network had hoped for.

Starbard says she wrote the eleventh and final episode, leaving the show with a feeling that there was so much more to share about the richness and beauty of Alaska’s Indigenous cultures.

Listen to Rhonda McBride’s full conversation with Vera Starbard here or in the NNN podcast feed:

The mother of the first Alaska Native person elected to Congress has died.

APRN’s Liz Ruskin has more.

LizAnn Williams was the mother of U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK).

Williams was 76 and Yup’ik, from the Kuskokwim River delta in Western Alaska.

She died Friday in Bethel.

Williams was a retired medical records clerk.

Until she was 6, she lived with her parents at the mouth of the Gweek River, a tributary to the Kuskokwim.

Then, according to Rep. Peltola, a Bureau of Indian Affairs official asked the family to move to a village so LizAnn could attend school.

They moved upriver to the village of Kwethluk.

Services are planned for Wednesday and Thursday at St. Sophia Orthodox Church in Bethel.

The predominantly Alaska Native city of 6,000 is also hosting Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and First Lady Jill Biden Wednesday evening.

It’s the first ever visit by a first lady to Bethel and the aim is to highlight broadband expansion in tribal areas.

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President Joe Biden took to the Rose Garden last week to celebrate his conservation achievements. And the No. 1 item on his list? Blocking the Pebble mine.

That’s a proposed open-pit gold mine upstream from Alaska’s Bristol Bay.

The sockeye salmon fishery there is central to the economy and tribal culture.

Alaska Public Media’s Washington Correspondent Liz Ruskin reports.

“Distinguished guests: the President of the United States, accompanied by Alannah Hurley.”

That’s United Tribes of Bristol Bay Executive Director Alannah Hurley, who has been fighting the Pebble Mine her whole adult life.

She was invited to Washington, D.C. to introduce the president.

In a blue print kuspuk, she spoke of how her salmon-centered community has lived with a threat looming for 20 years.

“But our people stood up and fought back to protect what we hold sacred. President Biden heard our voices,”

President Biden spoke of the mine as dead.

“In the end, we used our authority under the Clean Water Act to ban the disposal of mine waste and Bristol Bay watershed, period. That means the mine will not be built.”

Hurley says mine opponents are still seeking an act of Congress, to protect the entire watershed from mining.

About a dozen Bristol Bay kids were at the White House for the ceremony, and Hurley says it was a day to relish the win.

“This is everything our people have been fighting for, to make sure that our children will know who they are, and will be able to continue to be Native people in Bristol Bay for generations to come. So to see our kids with the President today, celebrating this monumental historic victory for us was just profound.”

Pebble is appealing the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision denying its permit.

The larger problem for the company is that the Environmental Protection Agency has essentially vetoed any plan to use the site for rock disposal.

Appealing that decision could last years.

A former official of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations in North Dakota was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for soliciting and accepting bribes and kickbacks from a construction contractor, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Court records show Randall Phelan, who was on the tribal council, was involved in the scheme from 2013 to 2020, and that in exchange, used his political position to award the contractor business.

Phelan is said to have received more than $645,000.

He pleaded guilty in 2022.

Photo courtesy: Kaku Ixt Mana Ina Haws Facebook page

After a pandemic hiatus of several years, a major Native American cultural event is coming back to Oregon State University.

KLCC’s Brian Bull reports.

The last time dancers and drummers gathered inside OSU’s Gill Coliseum for the Klatowa Ina Pow-Wow was 2019.

After COVID-19 hit Oregon, organizers postponed it to keep people safe.

Luhui Whitebear is an assistant professor of Indigenous Studies at OSU, who’s helped organize the event. She says it was a tough decision.

“It was hard because the students really wanted to get that experience, helping organize a pow-wow. This is a big part of being able to express yourself on a college campus for students, and to share culture with the local community.”

With COVID rates decreasing due to pandemic measures and vaccinations, organizers say the 44th annual Klatowa Ina Pow-Wow is back this Saturday.

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U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) has introduced bipartisan legislation to establish a Congressional charter for the National American Indian Veterans group.

It’s the third year Rounds and co-sponsor U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) have submitted the legislation.

C.J. Keene has more.

Support for the proposal has increased within the Senate since it was last introduced.

Sen. Rounds says he feels good about its chances in this Congress.

“Last year we were able to have nine original co-sponsors. This year we have 34 original co-sponsors including myself, so I think we’re moving in the right direction. The reason we have those other cosponsors is because Native Americans across the country are notifying their Senators and asking them to get on this bill with us.”

Sen. Rounds says it’s about putting Native veterans on equal footing with their peers.

“There are about 140,000 Native American veterans in the United States today. They do not have a Congressional charter for their organization. We have other Congressional charters that have been granted in the past, we have the Italian American, the Polish American and Catholic American veteran groups, but we don’t have a Native American veterans’ organization that has received a Congressional charter yet.”

But D.C. isn’t the only place the proposal has support.

“Not only do all of the tribes of South Dakota offer their support for this legislation, but the Coalition of Large Tribes also supports this endeavor.”

The bill would need to pass both the Senate and House and be signed by President Biden before a charter can be established.

South Dakota State University faculty and staff are visiting tribal communities in South Dakota this spring to strengthen relationships and better understand support for current and future Native students on campus.

They are starting a bus tour Monday taking them to the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock communities.

Next week, they’ll visit Yankton and Rosebud, and through June will travel to five other tribal communities.

The trips include visiting schools, colleges and businesses, learning about tribal bison herds, and cultural nights with elders.

The tour is part of a professional development training series for faculty and staff.

The university hopes to increase Native student retention and graduation rates.

Photo by Ingrid Barrentine

The first-ever aircraft to be named in an Alaskan Native language in the history of any domestic airline was unveiled last week in Anchorage, AK, as Hannah Bissett from our flagship station KNBA reports.

The aircraft’s name Xáat Kwáani, which means Salmon People in Tlingit.

The plane is wrapped in a Northwest Coast formline art design.

It’s created by Crystal Worl (Tlingit, Athabascan, and Filipino).

She’s well-known for her formline designs featuring her Indigenous culture, which can be found on many things from clothing to a U.S. Postal stamp and now the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800.

The salmon pictured on the side of the plane looks as if they’re swimming, with a female salmon with eggs on the tail and a giant male salmon taking up half of the plane towards the cockpit.

The male salmon’s tongues meet up in the front center of the cockpit. Worl explains:

“That I like to think of as a breathing line or a life line, it’s the beginning of oxygen and water and elements that are flowing through the salmon that the salmon absorb into their bodies as they navigate and migrate back home.”

Years ago, Worl downloaded a template of the Boeing and superimposed her artwork on it. She then posted it on social media tagging Alaska Airlines and eventually got the airline’s attention.

Alaska Airlines is also working with a Native Hawaiian artist to design an aircraft.

Learn more here.

Watch the Salmon People Aircraft, directed by Alexis Anoruk Salee (Inupiaq), host of Indigefi, a Koahnic Broadcast Corporation program:

Navajo leaders are paying tribute to World War Two veteran Steven Harrison who recently passed away at the age of 101.

Harrison enlisted in the Navy in 1944 earning several honors for his service including the American Area Ribbon, two bronze stars, and a victory medal.

He was honorably discharged in 1946.

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A federal commission held a hearing this week in northern Arizona as part of a national effort to combat the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports.

The Not Invisible Act Commission met near Flagstaff for the third in a series of hearings throughout the U.S. Members were appointed by the departments of the Interior and Justice.

They heard emotional testimony from family members of missing and murdered Indigenous people along with tribal law enforcement and victim and family service providers.

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty is a member of the commission.

“What I want to see from the commission is federal partners either recognize that they play a part in this or to provide that funding so the nations can to that work themselves. We don’t want this to be a political matter. We want this to be a human issue.”

The commission heard recommendations for how to better coordinate responses to missing persons cases and provide better communication and funding for family and victim assistance on tribal lands.

Those who testified also called for more accountability of public officials in solving missing persons and murder cases.

The 2019 Not Invisible Act was sponsored by then-U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM), who now serves as Interior Secretary and is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico.

The commission will develop recommendations and submit a report to Sec. Haaland, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Congress.

Photos courtesy: Perpetua Resources

More mines are being proposed in the Western U.S. to provide metals for the expected growth in electric vehicles, as well as for large storage batteries for power generation and other high-tech products aimed at reducing climate change.

The Nez Perce Tribe is worried about one of the mines proposed for central Idaho.

Chuck Quirmbach of station WUWM reports.

Perpetua Resources wants to develop an open pit gold and antimony mine at a former mining site near a fork of the Salmon River.

Antimony is used in solar panels and is expected to have a big future in battery storage units near solar and wind farms.

Perpetua spokesperson McKinsey Lyon says what her company calls the Stibnite Project would be a source of metals now often brought in from overseas.

“The most important thing we can do is bring mineral production home. Because when it is home, there are impacts we can control here. We can regulate, moderate and have oversight of, whereas if we are mining anywhere else in the world, we are not in control of the environmental impacts of that production.”

But environmental groups are raising concerns about the Stibnite proposal.

So is the Nez Perce Tribe, as the tribe has treaty-reserved rights and natural resources, cultural resources, and sacred sites in the area.

Shannon Wheeler is tribal vice-chairman.

“Ta’c meeywi, Good Morning, everyone. Appreciate you being here.”

Wheeler recently met with about 50 members of the Society of Environmental Journalists to talk about his concerns with the Stibnite project — the main one being the fate of endangered salmon that return from the Pacific Ocean to Idaho waters to spawn.

“Generally, there are five year-old fish coming back to the area. And so, it’s truly important we keep that water as clean, fresh and as cold as possible for them, because they have a gauntlet to go through. Dams, reservoirs, predation.”

Perpetua hopes to be granted a mining permit in the next year or so, and open the Stibnite mine within four years.

The Federation of Sovereign Indian Nations is calling for cultural sensitivity training in all areas of sports after an ESPN broadcaster mocked an Indigenous hockey player’s name.

Anchor John Anderson compared Zach Whitecloud’s name to toilet paper Monday night, then later apologized to the Golden Knight’s player.

First Nations leaders applauded the apology, but said the training is needed.

Whitecloud accepted the apology telling reporters this is something the anchor and others can learn from saying that he’s proud of his culture.

The USS Texas, where Steven Harrison served during and after World War 2.

Breaking news: Navajo Nation mourns the loss of 101-year-old Diné World War II veteran Steven Harrison.

Navajo Nation leaders are paying “tribute to the life and military service of the late Steven Harrison… who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 101”.

A Navajo Nation release says Harrison was originally from Kimbeto, NM, located within the Nageezi Chapter, and was Bit’ahnii and born for Tsenabahi ł nii.

“We cherish our Diné warrior’s service to our people and country. We are saddened by the loss of Mr. Harrison, but we recognize that he leaves behind a lasting legacy based on his honorable military service in World War II. On behalf of the Navajo Nation Council, we honor his life and offer prayers for strength and comfort for his family and loved ones as they lay him to rest,” said Speaker Crystalyne Curley.

The Navy man served between 1944 to 1946, including on the USS Texas, earning several honors including two bronze stars.

The Navajo Nation release adds that following his military service, Harrison worked for two railroads and built homes in the Farmington, N.M. area.

“The First Lady and I deeply respect and appreciate the sacrifices made by our veterans. We extend our condolences to Mr. Harrison’s family during this difficult time. Losing a veteran is a loss not just for the family but for the entire Navajo Nation. His invaluable service to our great country will live on forever in memory. The countless lives he’s touched and the freedom he helped to protect. May his legacy endure, and his service to our country always be remembered with gratitude and respect,” said Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren.

Harrison is survived by his five daughters and one son.

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A Lake Superior tribe wants an emergency shutdown of Enbridge’s Line 5 oil and gas pipeline on its reservation.

As Danielle Kaeding reports, that’s due to fears erosion from spring flooding may compromise the line’s integrity.

Attorneys for the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa filed an emergency motion in federal court to shut down Line 5.

The tribe’s attorneys say the Bad River is less than 15 feet from the pipeline at four locations and only 11 feet of river bank remains in one spot.

Bad River Tribal Chair Mike Wiggins, Jr. says the situation poses a tangible threat to the Bad River watershed and Lake Superior.

“Enbridge is all about profit over everything, and we are about our future generations and protecting our ecosystems and downstream resources.”

Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner says the company is extremely disappointed with the tribe’s motion.

“There is no change to the operating condition of line five while some erosion has occurred. Due to the recent flooding, there is still considerable bank between the river and line five, and there is currently no risk to the pipeline which continues to operate safely.”

Kellner says a shutdown would have severe consequences for the U.S. and Canada. The tribe’s attorneys want a federal judge to rule on its motion by Friday.

The COVID-19 public health emergency is set to lift Thursday.

Over the more than three years of the pandemic, Native American communities were particularly hard hit.

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

The numbers are astonishing. CDC data show that compared to white, non-Hispanic Americans, Indigenous people were two and a half times more likely to be hospitalized and two times more likely to die.

Over the first two pandemic years, Native life expectancy plummeted by six and half years.

“Communities are going to be continuing to grapple with the consequences of this for decades to come, and even generations to come.”

Dr. Laura Hammitt of the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health served as the head of the Navajo Nation’s Covid testing coordinating team.

She said the tragic disparities are due to a number of factors, including high rates of diseases that raise the risks of COVID infections.

But she also pointed to what she called the systemic racism seen in chronic underfunding and understaffing of the Indian Health Service and tribal health organizations.

Despite those issues, Hammitt says dedicated tribal health care teams have been preparing for the ending of the public health emergency. And she’s optimistic that there will still be sufficient funding for free COVID vaccines and testing.

As the decision from two large tribal organizations to pull out of the Alaska Federation of Natives has begun to sink in, there is mixed reaction from Native leaders, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

Some have said the news caught them by surprise, but also say growing tension between competing groups at the AFN convention, should have been a warning.

Tlingit and Haida and the Tanana Chiefs Conference have each cited different reasons for parting company with AFN.

Tlingit and Haida, a tribal organization from Southeast Alaska, says it no longer needs AFN’s advocacy, because it has developed its own capacity to advance its causes.

The Tanana Chiefs Conference, which represents villages in Interior Alaska has said it’s leaving AFN to focus on protecting salmon and subsistence.

Some longtime Native leaders have called the move to pull out of AFN a mistake.

Paul Ongtooguk, an Alaska Native historian, agrees.

“We’re about really one fifth of the population in Alaska. So, if we’re going to influence things, punch above our weight, we have to have a kind of unity that reflects a sense of shared purpose.”

Since 2019, three regional corporations have pulled out of AFN – the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Doyon, and the Aleut Corporation.

Ongtooguk says these departures raise questions about the organization’s health.

“Is it adapting? Is it reflecting the broad spectrum of interest of Alaska Native peoples and organizations? And by pulling out, it’s a way of voting publicly, a lack of confidence.”

Ongtooguk calls the decision to pull out short-sighted – and says if there is a crisis in the future, these organizations will need a group like AFN to speak as one voice for Alaska Natives.

He says unity has made AFN one of the most influential Native organizations in the nation.

So far, AFN’s longtime president, Julie Kitka, has had no comment on the loss of the two tribal organizations.

Read Paul Ongtooguk’s complete interview here

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