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U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK) and other House Democrats say they’re worried the U.S. Supreme Court is about to weaken the Indian Child Welfare Act, to the detriment of Native children and their tribes.

APRN’s Liz Ruskin has more.

Rep. Peltola, the first Alaska Native person elected to Congress, previously worked as a tribal court judge, where child custody cases were a mainstay.

At a congressional roundtable Tuesday, Rep. Peltola stressed the importance of keeping children with their families or placing them within their tribe.

“I think for every single human group, ever in existence, children, our precious children are our future. And certainly, for Natives, it is no different.”

The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on a challenge to ICWA brought by the state of Texas and a group of non-Native adoptive parents. They say the Indian Child Welfare Act makes unconstitutional distinctions based on race.

Supporters of ICWA say it’s based on tribal affiliation.

Congress passed the law to reverse the wholesale alienation of children from their tribes.

New York University Law Professor Maggie Blackhawk says the trend reached terrifying levels by the 1950s and 1960s.

“State governments separated over 100,000 of the estimated 400,000 Native children from their parents and placed those children in homes with no political cultural or linguistic connection to their nations.”

The case is called Brackeen v. Haaland. The justices heard arguments in November. A ruling is expected by the end of June.

Image: NARF.org

For nearly two decades, a North Dakota county elected local commissioners in a way that did not comply with a consent decree concerning Native American interests.

Advocates say a settlement has been reached to ensure that a fair system is re-established.

Mike Moen reports.

The Native American Rights Fund recently announced the pending agreement with Benson County.

In 2000, a court order spurred by a Department of Justice filing said the county’s choice of an “at-large” election process diminished the political power of Natives in the area. But in 2004, the county went back to that process.

Michael Carter, staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, said recent Census figures show Natives deserve greater representation.

“The county had a majority Native American population,” Carter said. “However there was only one Native American serving on the board.”

The group, which represented the Spirit Lake Tribe, contends the county’s actions violated the federal Voting Rights Act.

Benson County (ND) State’s Attorney James Wang (Photo courtesy: State of North Dakota Courts)

Benson County State’s Attorney James Wang calls the settlement a good result.

He notes that in 2004, the commission responded to a shift in Native population numbers and did not think the original decree was permanent.

In a phased-in structure, the new agreement gives Native voters an opportunity to elect three candidates of their choice to the Benson County Board of Commissioners.

Carter said cases like this one stem from a project NARF launched in 2020 to work with tribes around the country on redistricting efforts and the need for fair political maps.

“These are ongoing issues that require the local voters to stay engaged and stay informed about what county and local officials are doing,” he said.

The organization is involved in a pair of other legal cases concerning redistricting in North Dakota and its impact on Native American voters.

Those lawsuits are related to legislative seats, and Carter added one they filed is scheduled to o to trial in June.

This week, Arlando Teller, a member of the Navajo Nation, was sworn in as the first-ever Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The new position was established under the Infrastructure Law creating the Office of Tribal Affairs to serve under the U.S. Transportation Secretary.

Navajo leaders were among those to join Teller in Washington, D.C. for the swearing in ceremony.

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King Charles has now had his official coronation as the British monarch. But a couple of days before the ceremony he met with several of Canada’s Indigenous leaders.

More from Dan Karpenchuk.

The audience at Buckingham Palace included the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Roseanne Archibald, the Métis National Council president Cassidy Caron, and the president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Natan Obed.

The three along with governor general Mary Simon attended the coronation on Saturday.

Simon is the king’s representative in Canada and the first Indigenous governor general.

She said that Charles appeared to be committed to reconciliation during his meeting with Indigenous leaders.

The meeting lasted for about an hour and focused on Native issues, but also included conversations about the environment, repatriating cultural items from British museums, and missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Inuit leader Natan Obed said he talked to Charles about shared priorities as well as the responsibilities of the crown.

“I invited him to Inuit Inuvik to learn more not only about the government, but the issues we face – the environment, climate change, mental health, education and just continue on the conversation. Ultimately, where we could have shared priorities.”

There have been calls, in the past, for the British monarchy to apologize for the wrongs of its colonial legacy. But the Indigenous leaders said their meeting was more about building a positive relationship that could set the stage for tougher future talks.

The king had met with Canadian Indigenous leaders a year ago during a visit to Canada.

In a speech in the far north, he said he was deeply moved by stories from residential school survivors he had met.

A blow to the largest Native organization in Alaska, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

Two major tribal organizations have pulled out of the Alaska Federation of Natives – the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes and the Tanana Chiefs Conference.

AFN was formed to fight for land claims more than a half century ago and has continued to serve as a powerful voice for Alaska Natives in both state and national politics.

Every October, it holds the state’s largest convention. But in a statement, Richard Peterson, President of Tlingit and Haida, said the tribe no longer needs AFN’s advocacy and has developed its own capacity to advance its causes.

Tlingit and Haida says it is the largest federally recognized tribe in Alaska, representing 35-thousand members in Southeast Alaska.

The Tanana Chiefs Conference, which represents villages in Interior Alaska, also issued a statement.

It said it was ending its membership with AFN to focus on salmon protection.

It said numerous resolutions have been passed at AFN over the years to protect the Alaska Native subsistence lifestyle, with little action. AFN is made up of both tribes and Native corporations, formed after the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Its president Julie Kitka told the Anchorage Daily News she would withhold comment until after AFN’s board meeting next week.

In the last three years, disputes between regions have arisen during AFN’s annual convention.

Three regional corporations have since pulled out of AFN – the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Doyon and the Aleut Corporation.

ASRC is the state’s wealthiest private corporation. Doyon is Alaska’s largest land owner.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), the House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member, hosted a discussion on the history and significance of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Tuesday’s roundtable was held as ICWA is being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The decades old law is intended to keep Native children with Native families.

The virtual roundtable featured advocates, law experts, and a tribal leader.

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The American Indian College Fund is releasing three briefs with findings from a three-part research project conducted in 2020-21 on tribal colleges and universities.

The focus of the research includes student support services, program development and review, and sustainability in tribal colleges and universities.

TCUs are unique higher learning institutions located on or near Indian reservations.

Read the brief (PDF)

There were four major themes identified in the study around academic program development, the preferred term participants used when discussing postsecondary credentialing or quality assurance practices.

TCUs use a four-step process similar to mainstream colleges when developing new academic programs: planning, internal review, external review, and program implementation.

The American Indian College Fund has been the nation’s largest charity supporting Native higher education for over 30 years.

The College Fund believes “Education is the answer” and provided over $14 million in scholarships and other direct student support to American Indian students in 2021-22.

Since its founding in 1989, the College Fund has provided more $280 million in scholarships, programs, community, and tribal college support.

Montana ended its legislative session by passing a bill guiding the removal and placement of Native American children in cases of adoption and foster care.

Montana Public Radio’s Ellis Juhlin has more on changes made with and without support of tribal lawmakers.

The bill (PDF) creates the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act (MICWA).

The policy builds on existing federal law regarding removal of Native American children, and prioritizes placing them into the homes of family members or other tribal members.

Over a dozen other states have passed statewide ICWA policies to increase guidelines for child placement, and they have all seen decreased rates of native children in state custody as a result.

Montana’s rate of native children in foster care is nearly four times higher than the rate of caucasian children.

Patrick Yawakie, a lobbyist for the Blackfeet Nation, said by expanding on the federal policy, MICWA fills gaps in the system.

With Montana ICWA in law, we can work to fix a broken system in the state and provide that the tribal children retain tribal identity and culture and heal intergenerational traumas that exist when native children are removed from their homes.

As Montana moves forward with the policy a federal version is being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court case by those who say it gives preferential treatment based on race.

The Montana bill contains a provision that will keep it in place regardless of the outcome of the federal case.

Tribal lawmakers pushed back on an addition to the state bill that would sunset the policy in 2025.

Supporters of the policies’ limited run say it will give lawmakers a chance to revisit it next legislative session. But opponents say it will disrupt the lives of children and families in the system.

The bill passed as amended out of both chambers.

Montana’s legislatives session has now ended and the bill awaits final approval by the governor.

Alanna Nulph displays one of the drones used in her new search and rescue program under a Yurok initiative focused on finding missing Indigenous people. (Photo courtesy: Alanna Nulph)

Alanna Nulph, a senior paralegal and tribal criminal jurisdiction coordinator for the Yurok Tribe in Northern California, spent years working on missing and murdered Indigenous people cases in the region.

Native News Online reports that after the tribe’s own Emilee Risling went missing in October 2021, Nulph decided that she needed to take even more direct action in the face of what she felt was helplessness.

Nulph took it upon herself to earn a Part 107 Remote Pilot Certification from the Federal Aviation Administration in February this year.

The license is required to operate drones for search-and-rescue missions.

For the Yurok program, Nulph has acquired two high-powered drones with a range of additional tools to help search-and-rescue efforts.

The drones are also equipped with a payload delivery system that can deliver water, food, and other necessities to people awaiting rescue, and can provide light for first responders tending to a wounded person.

The drone program will become a part of the Yurok Tribe’s “comprehensive” response to one of the largest crises facing Indian Country.

According to a 2022 Congressional Research Service Report, there were 9,560 cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous people in 2020 alone.

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Advocates for Montana’s most vulnerable residents are pushing back on a budget plan passed by the U.S. House, saying it would have disastrous consequences for people already faced with trying to find affordable housing in the state, as Mark Moran reports.

Lawmakers in Washington call it the Limit, Save, and Grow Act.

It raises the federal debt limit and reduces spending, but also cuts rental voucher funding for people struggling to find affordable housing, once known as Section 8.

Amy Hall, an attorney with Helena-based Montana Legal Services Association, says the bill would cut funding for 350,000 American families, including in Montana.

“About 1,500 families in Montana would lose access to rental assistance that is provided currently. Those would include older adults, persons with disabilities, families with children, and folks who without rental assistance would be at risk of being unhoused.”

Hall says Montana’s Indigenous tribes would also lose funding.

According to a White House fact sheet, 710 fewer miles of railroad track would go uninspected next year in Montana alone, and three air traffic control towers would be shuttered if the budget bill becomes law.

The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary said proposed cuts would cause “mass evictions”.

Up to one million households currently being served by HUD’s rental assistance programs could lose it and as many as 120,000 homeless Americans would lose their help, including, Hall says, people in Montana.

“All of us in Montana have seen the number of folks who are unhoused rise in all of our communities since COVID hit, and that would only get worse if these funding cuts go into effect. And there would also be cuts to tribal housing programs and HUD programs that combat discrimination.”

The bill is not likely to pass in its current form, but critics worry it would give leverage to partisan budget measures in the future and have a dramatic impact on livable wages for Montanans already struggling financially.

Diné College in Tsaile, AZ

A tribal college in Arizona has gotten some national attention this spring for “community college excellence”, in this case, on the Navajo Nation.

Alex Gonzalez has more.

Diné College in Tsaile, AZ is mentioned in an Aspen Institute report for the work it’s doing to boost the local economy in an area without many industry partners or employment opportunities for graduates.

Shazia Tabassum Hakim is a microbiology professor at the college, and says it’s been able to use grant opportunities to invest in economic development and sustainable business practices.

Since 2020, Hakim has led a 10-week program to train students to become water scientists in their community.

“We should be able to train the local workforce, because it not only helps the communities to get more out of what they have learned – but also, it is needed to continue the chain, because they are going to be the examples.”

Hakim says Diné’s water testing program is one example of an initiative that meets Navajo needs, but also helps deliver students to potential jobs.

She adds the response from students and the community has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

Hakim says her program has led to greater awareness of safe water needs for people living on the reservation. And while the USDA grant that has made the program possible will end this year, she says the college will find a way to continue the work.

Given the tribe’s history with uranium mining, which led in the past to contaminated water sources and other health-related issues, Hakim says it is paramount that people know how to properly identify water contamination.

“It is not something that we are trying to stop at any point. For now, our students – we have trained them in a way just like ‘master trainers’ – so they are good enough in all these basic testing and other techniques. ”

The Aspen Institute report says the college has also decided to start its own businesses, one of which is to produce wool, since sheep ranching has been a cultural and economic staple for those in the area.

The school’s efforts have led to improved economic outcomes for tribal workers.

This story is supported by the Lumina Foundation.

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Indigenous culture and traditions are naturally therapeutic.

That’s the message at the National Tribal Health Conference in Anchorage, AK this week, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

“Not one tribe has the answers and the secrets to healing.”

Raquel Britton (Yuki and Pomo) is a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes Youth Council. She believes intergenerational trauma plays a role in domestic violence. (Photo: Rhonda McBride)

Julie Smith-Yliniemi teaches at the University of North Dakota’s Indigenous Health Department.

She believes sharing traditional knowledge can help bring about a collective healing to address the intergenerational trauma that has affected several generations of Native Americans.

Interest in Smith-Yliniemi’s session was so high, people had to sit on the floor. Others streamed out into the hallway.

Raquel Britton from the Round Valley Indian Tribe Youth Council in California came in search of answers.

She says intergenerational trauma is something families do not like to talk about.

“I feel like my family went through historical trauma that we’re finally just breaking the cycle that my mother went through it with her mother.”

A collection of ceremonial items used to heal trauma. At the bottom, there’s a beaded collar, made by an elder and gifted to Julie Smith-Yliniemi.(Photo: Rhonda McBride)

Britton says her mother has just now started to talk with her children about the family’s history of trauma and wants to know what she can do to heal her own struggles and help others.

Smith-Yliniemi says she turns to trusted elders for advice, a source of wisdom can be surprisingly close at hand, as it was when she visited an elder battling cancer.

She found the woman in her hospital bed, doing beadwork, and has never forgotten her words.

“When you’re in pain or if you’re sick, help create joy in somebody else. So, she sat and beaded it for hours and hours and hours and hours and brought me joy.”

Smith-Yliniemi shared what brought her joy at the conference.

She passed around an elaborate beaded collar the elder gifted her.

She says the woman survived cancer and is still alive today.

Native American and Alaska Native media professionals are celebrating 50 years of broadcasting in Indian Country.

A group of people from tribal radio and television stations gathered in Phoenix, AZ Wednesday for the Native Broadcast Summit.

Loris Taylor is President and CEO of Native Public Media.

“Radio and television are such powerful mediums, and I see them as almost a kin to a drum in the plaza where we’re beating the drum, right? And we’re holding on. It’s also this invisible threw line that is tethered to our language, our cultural practices, our identity. So, radio and television are really powerful in that way. They speak to the agency we have to tell our own stories.”

Tribal media is an important part of Native communities across the country for news, entertainment, and emergency messaging.

George Strong is the general manager of KBFT Radio in Nett Lake, MN.

“We get to tell a story from our perspective. It’s something that allows us to share our knowledge, our culture, our language, and I look at it more as a bridge building to create a bridge between our local communities.”

There are more than 60 tribal radio stations and three tribal TV stations in the NPM network.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will double funding available for the nation’s first-ever diaper distribution program and two tribal organizations will benefit.

The program was launched last September.

This week the agency announced an additional $8.2 million, doubling funding for the program, which aims to serve low-income families nationwide.

The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota and the South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency in Washington state are participating.

The program expansion also means diapers will now be available to families in 12 states.

According to the agency, one in three families do not have enough diapers to meet the needs of their children.

Low-income families are disproportionately affected and, in some cases, spend up to 8% of their income on diapers.

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The National Tribal Health Conference got underway Tuesday in Anchorage.

About 1,200 tribal health advocates from across the country are meeting to deal with almost every facet of Indian health care – from operating clinics to serving veterans – fighting diabetes as well as looking at the impact of climate change on health.

The Alaska Native Health Board (ANHB) is working with the National Indian Health Board to host this year’s gathering.

Alberta Unok (Yup’ik) is head of ANHB and says this year’s theme is: “Culture Heals. Culture Knows. Culture Leads.”

“Prior to health being provided by Public Health or the Indian Health Service or the federal government, traditional health was a key component of our communities. So, we utilize traditional healers, traditional plants.”

Unok is orginally from Kotlik, a community on the Lower Yukon River in Southwest Alaska.

She says the conference draws members from twelve regional health boards around the nation.

“The National Indian Health Board brings together great minds in one place, that fuel creative energy, Collective action. We talk about health innovation to elevate the health of all American Indian and Alaskan Native people.”

The first day of the conference will wrap-up with a culture night, showcasing Alaska’s Indigenous peoples.

Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK/citizen of the Cherokee Nation) vetoed a bill yesterday that would have allowed students to wear tribal regalia at school functions.

Senate Bill 429 passed the Oklahoma legislature last week, 90 to 1, and would have ensured Native students in all schools are allowed to wear tribal regalia at high school graduations and other ceremonies throughout the state.

Gov. Stitt justified his decision saying if the bill becomes a law, it would open additional efforts by other groups to push their agendas.

According to the Oklahoma State Department of Education, in 2020, there were approximately 156,000 American Indian students who were enrolled in at least one of the 39 Tribal Nations of Oklahoma.

Tribal leaders and a California state lawmaker shared concerns at a hearing and a news briefing Tuesday in Sacramento, about Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.

Despite new resources, California has two tribes so disturbed by violence, they’ve declared a state of emergency.

State Rep. James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA) discussed the need for the State to take immediate action.

“We are here to spotlight the crisis in Indian country which has led two tribes, the Yurok and the round valley tribes to declare states of emergency here in the state of California. The crisis is growing, and sadly we’re going backwards in the state of California in reducing the violence to our people.”

Vice Chairman Raquel Williams of the Wilton Rancheria tribe said that while there is still so much to be done, a lot has also been accomplished.

“Incredible progress is made in such a short amount of time. And we’ve brought so much awareness to this. From additional budget allocations to the newly enacted Feather Alert. I am confident and optimistic.”

The Feather Alert, co-authored by Rep. Ramos, acts like an Amber Alert providing law enforcement with resources they need to provide public with information to help recover Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.

Many of the people who spoke during the press conference expressed the need for bill Assembly bill 44, a bill to allow tribal officers to have access to information state law enforcement receives.

The press conference was the start to a week-long event shedding light on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People including candlelight vigils and flower dropping.

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It took four tries, but a Pacific Dataport satellite finally blasted off from a SpaceX launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL Sunday night.

Pacific Dataport hopes to serve tribes in remote parts of Alaska, where broadband service has been unavailable or cost prohibitive.

For three days, the flight was delayed due to the elements and technical issues. But on Sunday, a rocket called Falcon Heavy successfully carried the satellite into space.

Brian Murkowski, a spokesperson for Pacific Dataport, says the Aurora 4A will be a game changer.

“Remote communities will have effectively the same capabilities and services that, that you would get in Seattle or San Francisco or L.A.  And furthermore, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. It will be competitive.”

The Aurora 4A is positioned higher above the earth and looks down directly on Alaska – which provides some new options for broadband and cell service customers.

Pacific Dataport says Aurora 4A is the first of its kind – a “micro” geostationary satellite, smaller in size but with advanced technology that gives it more data capacity.

In the days leading up to the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP), Yurok Tribal leaders will be participating in a series of events starting Tuesday, including candle light vigils, testimonies, a flower drop, and more at the California State Capitol to elevate tribally led efforts to resolve the ongoing crisis.

Watch the vigil live starting at 8:30am PT

A couple of public health studies are trying to prevent childhood obesity in tribal communities.

Emma VandenEinde of the Mountain West News Bureau reports on their approaches in part two of our special feature.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health launched a study to see if providing water and educating parents would help prevent early childhood obesity.

Every week, home health coaches talked with the moms about sugary beverages, breastfeeding, and other nutritional topics. Some families also received home deliveries of water.

Leonela Nelson is one of the home health coaches.

She says one of the main challenges mothers brought up was how their moms spoiled their babies.

“There was a lot of conversation along of like how to have these conversations with your parents in a respectful way of, you know what, Like this is my child. I want to I want them to be healthy.”

The results of the Johns Hopkins study were striking.

The children of parents who received water and the teaching had a lower body mass index.

Rontel Hale, a participant, says she can see improvement in her son due to the study.

“Doing these little lessons. It’s a lot of help. And it also helps not just you, but also helps your little ones.”

Other groups also have looked into water-based solutions.

A few years ago, the Notah Begay the third foundation launched the Water First Learning Communities.

It was a cohort of eight Native organizations focused on increasing water consumption.

One group from the Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico did a school water challenge to encourage kids to drink fruit-infused water.

Another group – the Tamaya Wellness Center in the Santa Ana pueblo – found signs were the solution.

“It’s really cool to see that they have like the sign that said, no sugary sweetened beverages allowed in their center because then we’re like, oh, like that that did that has made an impact.”

That’s Simone Duran with the foundation.

Rolling out these projects may be slow, but she believes they have a ripple effect on the community.

“They are more willing to kind of make small steps, small changes. It’s not going to happen overnight where the entire community is drinking water.”

Hale has already shared her experience with her sister so her kids can continue to grow healthy and strong, too.

“You still need that support of going to somebody. And that’s where I would give her some of the lessons that were given to me.”

The researchers are expanding their studies and plan to take them beyond the Southwest reservations.

This story was supported by The Water Desk, an initiative from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism. Listen or read part one.

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Millions of dollars have been committed to documenting the stories of Native boarding school survivors.

Their voices have long been a priority for Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

SDPB’s C.J. Keene has more.

The U.S. Interior Department has announced a partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities to make sure the oral history from boarding school survivors isn’t forgotten.

The partnership includes a $4 million fund to pay for research and educational programming sharing stories of boarding school abuse victims.

Haaland visited the Rosebud Reservation in October to talk with survivors.

Arlouine Kingman is the executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmans Association. While she says she appreciates Haaland’s actions, listening to survivors is long overdue.

“She’s made a point of taking time to go and hold community forums to listen to people who were in those boarding schools. I happened to go to the one at Rosebud, and I tell you I was crying with some of these people who told their stories.”

Kingman says these forums are alleviating some of the trauma.

“This one woman, she had been in the boarding school, and she told how even today she’s still got trauma from that. She said it was sort of a healing for her – to be able to voice this and see there’s some healing taking place now.”

She says she hopes this money is used to continue healing in that vein – to reclaim what was taken.

“The main thing is when they were raised in the boarding school, it took their culture, their values from them, so they did not grow up in a family where they were taught to share with one another or taught to take care of one another. They grew up without those family virtues we all instill in our children as they grow up – and that’s the great harm.”

Dorian Hale, 3, marches through the mud outside his family home in Shiprock, NM on Feb. 1, 2023. His mother is happy to watch him grow after partaking in a study that helps families with nutrition. (Photo: Emma VandenEinde/KUNC)

Haaland says the goal of the project is to rebuild bonds between native communities and the federal government and ensure future generations will learn from the boarding school era.

Tribal communities have historically had a hard time getting clean drinking water. And that affects children’s health.

Emma VandenEinde of the Mountain West News Bureau shares the experience of one family in Shiprock, NM.

This is Dorian. He’s playing in the mud outside his family’s hogan, a one room home, on the Navajo Nation.

He loves playing with cars. His favorite is the “Cars” movie character Lightning McQueen.

Rontel Hale, his mother, says he’s growing well for a three-year-old.

“When I would go to his appointments, they would always tell me, like, he’s going to grow over six foot two inches.”

But health professionals say not every kid on the Navajo Nation – an area as big as West Virginia – is growing healthy and strong like Dorian.

Thousands of families lack access to clean, drinking water due to a legacy of neglect by the U.S. government.

They either have to haul water from community wells or drive for hours to the nearest store.

“If water is so hard to access, then what is a replacement? And so for a lot of communities, sometimes it was those sugary beverages.”

That’s Renee Goldtooth-Halwood.

She works for the Notah Begay The Third Foundation, a Native children’s health group.

She says sugary drinks like Gatorade or even Arizona Tea are cheaper and more accessible for Native communities.

This has staggering effects for children.

The foundation reports that more than 85% of Navajo kids have at least one sugary drink a day. And these numbers apply to many other pueblos and reservations.

“And we also had another statistic that said that…this is the first time that children will not outlive their parents. That’s scary.”

Hale knew these beverages can contribute to obesity and diabetes – conditions that are disproportionately high among Indigenous youth.

Her desire to keep Dorian healthy only grew after he was born.

“Your mentality is like more like, oh, is he okay? Is he, am I doing stuff right? It’s more different when you have like your own baby.”

This story was supported by The Water Desk, an initiative from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism. Tune in for Part Two to hear how some organizations want to help.

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A mountain 35 miles southeast of Eugene, OR has been officially renamed to something less controversial.

As KLCC’s Brian Bull explains, “Swastika Mountain” is no more.

The new name for the roughly 4,200 foot high peak is “Mount Halo.”

The name is derived from Kalapuya Chief Halito, whose village was 20 miles west of the mountain.

David Lewis is an assistant professor of anthropology and ethnic and Indigenous studies at Oregon State University, and a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde.

He says while some people have defended the swastika as a universal symbol for many cultures, its more recent associations are troubling.

“The symbol really has negative connotations from World War II, and it’s use as a symbol of fascism. And so we need to at times revisit names that have been given to the land, and to rivers, and towns, and maybe replace those with things that have more resonance with today’s society.”

The U.S. Board of Geographic Names approved the name change at its April 13 meeting and it takes effect immediately.

Lewis says the entire process began a year and a half ago.

Robert DesRosier (Photo: National Tribal Emergency Management Council)

Voters on the Blackfeet Nation have elected a replacement for a council member who recently resigned following his arrest.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton has more.

Blackfeet Disaster and Emergency Services Director Robert DesRosier won the election and will take over the Browning seat on the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council.

The Blackfeet Nation held a special election Tuesday to fill the vacant post of former chairman Tim Davis.

Tribal council members last year voted to remove Davis as chairman after nine people, including family members, were arrested at Davis’ home on drug related charges. Davis continued to serve on the council.

Davis was arrested in March for disorderly conduct and threatening a public official.

The council planned to hold an expulsion hearing, but Davis resigned shortly after the hearing was announced.

(Photo courtesy: Sherry Johnson)

After the final public comment hearing for South Dakota’s proposed social studies standards, the state board of education standards voted to approve the proposal – though strong opposition remains.

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

After well over a thousand opposing comments from South Dakotans, the embattled standards proposal sailed to passage on a 5-2 vote.

From the onset, the proposal was panned by the state’s education and Native communities.

Sherry Johnson is the education director of the Sisseton Wahpeton tribe.

She says many are unhappy with the role the Native community is slated with.

“For a great part, all of Native Americans are portrayed as warlike, and Native Americans are made to feel embarrassed about that role – that’s when Gov. Noem says she doesn’t want divisive, but that is itself divisive to Native American people. The right to vote is missing for Native Americans, the Native American Religious Act – you know that was only passed in (19)78. These things are huge.”

Testimony like that swayed some board members.

Board president Terry Nebelsick announced his opposition at the end of the hearing in Pierre.

“By statute these hearings are put in place to determine if the citizens of South Dakota have any concerns with the standards recommended by the revision committee that the statute indicates should be made up of South Dakota educators and professionals. These hearings should not be a debate with point-counterpoint. There is no win-win in this process. The longer its gone on it’s become obvious it will become a lose-lose endeavor.”

Despite the opposition, board member Phylis Heineman was unmoved.

“I have learned personally so much going through all of this. It has been – I found these standards very exciting. When I read through some of this information – first of all I gotta thank the Governor for starting the conversation.”

Within minutes of passage, a representative from Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD)’s camp sent a release applauding the passage of the standards.

Implementation of the new standards will begin in June and take place over the next two years.

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Public hearings on missing and murdered Indigenous people were held this week in Alaska.

APRN’s Liz Ruskin reports.

Vivian Korthius sits on a commission created by Congress to address the problem.

She says more than 300 Alaska Native people are on a missing and murdered registry.

“To me, that’s the same size of a village. A whole village. And it’s shocking to know that there’s that many people we’re missing.”

Not Invisible Act commissioners listen to panelists during public hearings in Anchorage on April 25, 2023. (Photo: Elyssa Loughlin/Alaska Public Media)

The Not Invisible Act Commission met in Anchorage to hear testimony from victims and advocates working to prevent violence.

They identified a range of problems, including a lack of services for vulnerable people and too little law enforcement in rural Alaska.

Systemic racism and trauma were recurring themes.

Several advocates told the commission that it’s hard to make federal programs work in rural Alaska, especially for small tribes.

Dana Diehl, director of wellness and prevention at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, said federal grants are not easily tailored to community needs.

“Oftentimes, the scope of our funding is very limited and narrow. But from an Alaska Native perspective, we see things more holistically, and you can’t separate things like mental health, physical health, and spiritual health.”

The commission invited family members of missing and murdered Indigenous people to testify during an afternoon session that was closed to the media.

By October, the panel is to produce recommendations on how the federal government can better prevent and respond to violence against Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

The North Dakota Legislature has passed a bill that codifies the Indian Child Welfare Act in the state.

State Rep. Jayme Davis (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians/D-ND) successfully led the passage of House Bill 1536.

Rep. Davis introduced the bill as the U.S. Supreme Court considers the fate of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which seeks to keep Native children with Native families.

Under the bill, if the high court makes changes to the federal law, the changes would not apply in North Dakota unless the legislature choses to amend it in the future.

In a statement, Rep. Davis said a repeal or significant changes to ICWA by the U.S. Supreme Court could have negative impacts on American Indian and Alaska Native children, and that protecting ICWA in North Dakota protects Native children.

The bill passed 46-0 in the Senate and 91-1 in the House.

It now heads to the governor.

A Colorado news collaborative recently released a report highlighting the experiences of Indigenous communities with the media.

It also includes solutions on improving that relationship.

KUNC’s Emma VandenEinde reports.

COLab’s Indigenous Voices report shared how Indigenous communities frequently felt invisible.

They also mentioned how the coverage of issues important to them was very surface-level.

Here’s Tara McLain Manthey, a citizen of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma and the project leader.

“The less that the community is covered in a human in-depth way, the more those stereotypes persist or become deeper ingrained.”

Some specific solutions mentioned were building trust in reporting relationships, getting Native journalists in the newsroom, and educating journalists about Native history through training.

This story is distributed by the Mountain West News Bureau, which contributed to the report.

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