Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The leader of one of eleven federally-recognized tribes in Wisconsin has delivered an annual State of the Tribes speech at the Capitol building in Madison.

The tribes are calling for more cooperation on health care, casino revenue, and protecting the environment.

Chuck Quirmbach of station WUWM reports.

Robert Van Zile is chairman of the Sokaogan Chippewa Community.

One thing he told Wisconsin’s governor and about 130 lawmakers is that tribes receive very limited funds from the federal Indian Health Services program.

Van Zile says that makes it tough to hire and keep health care providers.

“Wage pressure and difficulty recruiting medical talent. Rural areas are really hurting and hindering quality care, for patient care.”

Van Zile asks for a change in Wisconsin law that would allow nurse practitioners to work without supervision from physicians.

He also urges the state to help the tribes provide more mental health counseling, and to fight opioid addictions.

On gaming, Van Zile calls for more state regulation and consumer protection related to gambling machines at non-tribal taverns. He also asks for tribes to be able to keep more revenue from their casinos, and share less with the state—allowing tribes to invest in diversifying their economy.

“For our tribes to make strides toward economic self-sustainability, we must diversify our economic engines beyond casino revenue.”

Van Zile also requests that Wisconsin officials let tribes add their expertise to battling contamination from so-called forever chemicals known as PFAS that threaten many fish. He says the pollution may hurt the Wisconsin tradition of Friday night fish frys.

“Might just require a Mr. Yuk sign/sticker to prevent people from poisoning themselves.”

Wisconsin is sitting on growing state budget surplus. But Republicans controlling the legislature have warned that Democratic Governor Tony Evers is proposing too much spending.

How that battle plays out this spring could affect calls for more state-tribal cooperation.

Three Alaska Native mushers were the first to finish the Iditarod on Tuesday, as Rhonda McBride reports from our flagship station KNBA.

Ryan Redington (Inupiat) crossed the burled arch in Nome just after noon. He finished the 1,000-mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome in eight days, 21 hours, 12 minutes, and 58 seconds.

Pete Kaiser (Yup’ik) of Bethel came in about an hour and a half later, followed by Richie Diehl (Dena’ina Athabascan) of Aniak.

Another Alaska Native in the race, Mike Williams, Jr. (Yup’ik) of Akiak, is still out on the trail.

His father, Mike Williams, Sr. was in Nome for the finish.

Williams says he’s proud to see not just one, but three Native mushers at the top.

“It’s a joy. It’s something very special. One, two, three. And it says a lot that mushing is still alive in our communities.”

Williams has run the Iditarod 15 times. He says he entered his first race in 1992, because the number of Native mushers was in sharp decline, mainly because they could not afford to compete against a new class of well-financed, professional mushers.

Williams says the traditional use of dogs for hunting and trapping was key to survival and required a mastery of the land in one of the harshest environments on the planet.

He says the Iditarod is a reminder of the culture behind the sport, Williams has also run many Iditarods with Ryan Redington’s grandfather, Joe, who founded the race.

Although many members of the Redington family have competed in the race, Ryan is the first to claim the trophy, which bears the image of his late grandfather.

“He would be very proud, very proud that he accomplished something like this,” Williams said.

Williams says for Joe Redington, it was always a victory just to finish the race. Williams says he feels the same way about his son, who returned to the Iditarod this year, after taking a break from the sport.

Mike Williams, Jr. has been focused on training a team of young dogs and has about 150 miles to go before reaching Nome.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The Biden administration has given the greenlight to the Willow project, one of the largest oil and gas developments in Alaska in years, estimated to produce 180,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

The project has been scaled down from ConocoPhillips’ original proposal and continues to face intense opposition from environmental groups.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) gave credit to Alaska Native groups for helping to push the project over the finish line.

“Alaska Native people, those who live and work and raise their families up in, in the area. The strong support from, from unions.”

U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK), the lone Democrat in Alaska’s congressional delegation, says it was a bipartisan effort and an example of what can be done when Alaskans unite for a common cause.

“I’d like to thank the president and his administration for really listening to the voices of Alaskans, when it mattered the most. And I’d also like to thank my Democratic colleagues, who really helped to push for meetings with the White House and who listened to the voices of Alaskan Native leaders, who told them about how unique Alaska is and how important this project is for our future.”

Not all Alaska Natives were happy with the decision.

In Nuiqsut, the community closest to the Willow project, there’s been division over the project.

Eunice Brower, who works for the tribe, believes oil and gas development in the region has already caused air pollution and health problems like asthma.

“They’re not taking that into consideration, as to how much they’re impacting the health of the people that live there.”

Brower says there are also worries that oil and gas production will introduce toxins into the environment, which can lead to higher cancer rates.

Willow will bring miles of new roads and pipelines, as well as 200 oil wells that will forever change the landscape.

Environmental groups have called Willow a “climate bomb” that will potentially release tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and accelerate climate change.

Disclosure: ConocoPhillips is an underwriter of KNBA

A Guatemalan forensic anthropologist who’s worked to exhume and identify the remains of thousands of Maya killed during his country’s bloody civil war is offering to help Indigenous communities in Canada, as investigations are underway of unmarked graves at former Indian residential schools.

Maria Martin has more.

“Guatemala is recovering from a 36-year-long armed conflict…what we have as a result is 200 thousand civilian victims.”

Forensic anthropologist Freddy Peccerelli says Guatemala’s still in the process of dealing with the impact of a war that ended some 25 years ago, and whose victims were largely Indigenous Maya, many whom have yet to be identified.

“The missing, the ones we are still looking for today…we call them the desaparecidos.”

Peccerelli has spent more than two decades helping Maya families identify the remains of thousands of bodies of the so-called “disappeared” using DNA tests. He’s offered that expertise to Canada’s First Nations so they can develop their own forensic capacity.

Peccerelli says that in both countries what the families of those buried in unmarked graves and cemeteries want is the truth.

“Now the families they want information, they want to know what happened, they want the bodies of their loved ones, but most of all they want you to know that their loved ones did nothing wrong.”

Peccerelli heads up the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The failure of a bill in South Dakota means there will be no task force studying the welfare of Native children in the state.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene checks in on what’s next.

Native children make up a disproportionate number of children in the state’s foster care system, which led to the initial interest in the study.

State Rep. Peri Pourier (Oglala Sioux/D-SD), in a recent appearance on SDPB’s In the Moment, says this has been on lawmakers minds for some time.

“This has been a longstanding issue, for as long as I could remember, at least documented about 20 years. It’s been at sixty percent of children in the system are Native children. They wanted to come together and address it; the Oglala Sioux Tribe declared a state of emergency last year.”

Rep. Pourier says the issue requires involvement from state government.

“What do we do now? Well, we go back to the drawing table. The fight never ends until positive outcomes happen for Native children. A lot of people will probably say, I hear this time and time again ‘why don’t the tribes just fix it on their own?’ We are South Dakotans as well. Yes, we have tribal nations, but there are Native children all across the state of South Dakota who are tribal members, and who are South Dakotans.”

It’s an issue that touches every corner of South Dakota’s Native community.

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Chairman Clyde Estes thanked the bills sponsors. He says he doesn’t expect this issue to go away after this session.

“With some of the sponsors of the bill and the support we have in tribal and state supporters, we’ll bring this issue back up again. The fact of the matter is that tribal and state leaders need to find a better path forward to work together to put aside our differences and do what’s best for all South Dakota children.”

SB191 died on the floor of the state House, just one step away from the Governor’s desk.

Opponents raised concerns over costs and the members making up the committee.

A bipartisan bill in Congress aims to bolster tribal law enforcement and combat the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, the effort would enhance access to data and increase officer retention.

The BADGES Act is designed to increase tribal access to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and conduct training and information gathering to improve the resolution of missing persons cases. Tribal police often face roadblocks because of a lack of access to federal crime data. The bill would also allow the Bureau of Indian Affairs to conduct its own background checks to improve the process of hiring officers.

U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) is a co-sponsor of the bill.

“We need to empower these communities to protect themselves and give them their opportunity to really bring safety to their community and it doesn’t necessarily just have to happen from us at the federal level.”

Rep. Gallego hopes the bill will help with officer recruitment and retention on tribal nations by offering more access of culturally appropriate mental health and wellness programs to BIA officers and tribal police, and by mandating a report on tribal law enforcement needs.

As of Monday morning, three Alaska Native Mushers were battling it out for the top spot in the Iditarod, the 1,000-mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more.

Ryan Redington, an Inupiat with roots in Unalakleet, has been out in front in this last stretch of the race.

He told Alaska Public Media he’s confident his team has the training to maintain their fast pace to the end.

2019’s Iditarod champ Pete Kaiser remains in second place, but cut short his rest in Koyuk to close the gap between his team and
Redington’s.

Kaiser, who is a Yup’ik from Bethel, left Koyuk about 26 minutes behind Redington, driving a team of eight dogs to Redington’s ten.

Richie Diehl (Dena’ina Athabascan) from Aniak was the third to pull into Koyuk, which is about 126 miles from Nome, where the trail follows the coast and mushers must endure punishing winds.

All three mushers have been clocking average speeds of more than eight-miles-an-hour, with Kaiser’s team moving slightly faster.

Redington’s late grandfather, Joe, founded the Iditarod, and while many members of this mushing family have raced in the Iditarod, none have claimed the trophy for the race, which features a giant bust of Joe Redington.

A fourth Native musher, Mike Williams Jr., a Yup’ik from Akiak, remains in the back of the pack, keeping a steady pace.

Williams, who has previously finished in the top ten, took a break from the Iditarod and is in the process of rebuilding his team.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act known as ICWA.

As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Will Walkey reports, some states, including Wyoming, are preparing their own laws if the courts deem ICWA unconstitutional.

ICWA requires state courts to prioritize placing Native American children in foster or adoption care within their tribal communities.

It was passed in 1978 in response to the large number of Indigenous children who were being separated from their cultural affiliations.

Those against ICWA say it’s unfair discrimination against non-indigenous people. But others, like State Rep. Landon Brown (R-WY), disagree.

He testified at the legislature in early March. 

“I want to make sure that we step back just for a half a second and realize that these are sovereign tribes. This isn’t necessarily about the race issue. This is about granting those rights to the sovereign tribes.” 

The Wyoming legislature recently voted to codify ICWA protections for Native families.

The state’s governor signed that bill into law this week.

Utah and Montana lawmakers have pushed to do the same.

At least 11 other states, including New Mexico, have already done so. 

The court could make a ruling on ICWA as early as this spring.

Marla Ollinger says her son Justin Lee Littledog died of a fentanyl overdose at her ranch on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. (Photo: Tony Bynum for KHN)

The nation’s fentanyl crisis is hitting American Indian and Alaska Native people harder than others, according to federal officials.

Matt Laslo reports from Washington on efforts to stem the tragic tide of overdoses in Indian Country.

American Indian and Alaska Natives saw a 39% spike in overdoses between 2019-2020, according to the CDC.

That’s because of the flood of fentanyl pouring into America.

Things only got worse during COVID lockdowns, as tribal leaders from coast to coast know all too well.

“It’s everywhere.”

That’s Mark Macarro, tribal chair of southern California’s Pechanga Band of Indians.

Overdose rates among American Indian and Alaska Native women between 25-44 were “nearly two times that of White women” of the same age, according to the CDC.

Macarro says it’s a travesty.

“What we see is fentanyl being put into other products that are unwittingly being used and unwittingly causing death. It’s insidious. It’s sickening now that that kind of sociopathic activity is being used there because people are making money off it. Cartels and others.”

Native Americans and Alaska Natives have historically suffered higher rates of substance use disorder than their non-Native peers, but Macarro says fentanyl has made everything worse.

“It makes everything more acute, because maybe folks weren’t going to die of casual, recreational use of whatever the substance was, but death is near certain when it comes to fentanyl. So it is more dangerous. It’s gone to next level.”

The National Congress of American Indians continues lobbying Congress for more resources to fight the overdose epidemic, but with Republicans now in control of the House of Representatives, steep budget cuts may be on the horizon.

This week, the U.S. Senate confirmed Patrice Kunesh (Standing Rock Lakota descent) as the Commissioner of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Native Americans – promoting tribal self-sufficiency and cultural preservation.

The commissioner is one of the most senior, Senate-confirmed, federal officials in Native policy at HHS.

The commissioner advises the HHS Secretary on Indian Affairs.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Tribal leaders from coast to coast are watching the U.S. Supreme Court and bracing for the worst.

Matt Laslo reports from Washington on the foundational rights leaders fear the Roberts Court may strip away from tribes.

Tribes are still reeling from last year’s Supreme Court’s decision that greatly expanded the power state governments have over prosecuting non-Natives who commit crimes in Indian Country.

That case was Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerto and it still haunts William Lowe, the Speaker of Oklahoma’s Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

“That’s the biggest issue right now with us. And that’s something we’re concentrating on.”

Tribal leaders are now bracing for the upcoming Court ruling on the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.

With the far-right tilt of this Supreme Court, Speaker Lowe is praying for the best while bracing for the worst as the Court decides whether an act aimed at American Indian and Alaska Native children is actually discriminatory on the basis of race.

“Very. I’m pretty nervous, because now that the state and feds can come onto a Rez. and arrest our folks, that decision last time is what kind of makes us even more nervous. We look at that as our sovereignty too and now this ICWA is really testing it.”

Mark Macarro is tribal chair of the Pechanga Band of Indians in southern California and he’s NCAI’s first vice-president.

Like most Native leaders, he’s nervous.

Though he’s hoping the outcry from tribes last year will soften the court to their pleas. And he’s hoping Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch—who served as a federal judge in the sprawling, western 10th Circuit—has more sway with his colleagues this year than last.

“It turns Indian law as we know it upside down. I know—we know, collectively—that Justice Gorsuch knows all about Indian law. I hope his voice prevails enough, so I’m hopeful. But I don’t want to be Pollyanna-ish either.”

The Court’s decision is expected to be handed down in June.

Lady Gaga is a strong advocate for mental health.

She created an organization called Born This Way Foundation with her mother around ten years ago to make a difference in the lives of young people.

Hannah Bissett from our flagship station KNBA has the story of new developments within the foundation and its bright future.

Lady Gaga is a famous singer who has a platform that speaks about kindness, anti-bullying, and awareness of mental health struggles.

Her platform helped form the Born This Way Foundation, its mission began with spreading kindness.

The foundation created a new advisory board of young people taking on the task of creating mental health resources.

All of the board members have different educational and cultural backgrounds.

“Indigenous youth that’s gonna see me on there and the mission we are doing, they’re going to feel heard and that sends hope, right?”

That’s River Ward who’s a member of the Mi’kmaq Eel Ground First Nation (Natoaganeg) and works as a prevention and outreach coordinator.

Ward is one of 31 Born This Way Foundation board members.

Ward hones in on the importance the board could have on making future changes to help heal generational wounds.

“We are here to help we are here to listen to any Indigenous person who might be struggling that there is support with love and care and understanding and that our voices will always be heard.”

Board members will serve a year-long term.

It is composed of people ages 15 to 24.

The board will create resources for communities around the world to utilize and emphasize kindness, and understanding around mental health.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Tribal college and university students from across the country were honored Tuesday night in Albuquerque by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC).

Students were awarded for their skills in knowledge, sports, and arts after three days of competition in various events at the consortium’s 2023 conference.

37 students traveled to New Mexico from Oglala Lakota College in South Dakota.

Dawn Tobacco Frank is president of Oglala Lakota College.

She says while students enhance their skills at the event, they learn valuable lessons back at school.

“The importance of tribal colleges and universities is to make that broader impact in the communities to really strengthen the culture, the language, to help produce students who graduate in whatever fields the tribal colleges offer in order for them to go back and work to fulfill their own individual goals. A majority of our students want to help return back to the reservation to help or to their homelands to help their people.”

Oglala Lakota College serves the Pine Ridge Reservation, and also has a satellite location in Rapid City, and on the Cheyenne River Reservation offering degrees in business, social work, nursing, and other fields.

Longtime leader of the Navajo Nation Peterson Zah passed away Tuesday in Arizona, the Navajo Times reports.

Zah was chairman of the Navajo council in the 1980s before becoming the first president of the Navajo Nation in 1990 when the tribe shifted its government system.

He’s being remembered for his lifelong advocacy for Navajo people including encouraging young people to finish school and pursue higher education.

Zah was living in Window Rock, AZ on the Navajo Nation with his family.

He reportedly was in the hospital due to complications with cancer.

Zah was 85 years old.

Pete Kaiser, 2019 Iditarod Champion at the Iditarod Race Re-start in Willow on Sunday. (Photo courtesy: Kaiser Racing Kennel)

Three Yup’ik mushers from Southwest Alaska are among some of the most experienced racers in this year’s Iditarod, the 1,000-mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome.

KNBA’s Rhonda McBride reports, the race got underway on Sunday.

Former Iditarod champ Pete Kaiser from Bethel, fresh off his 7th win of the Kuskokwim 300, is one of the racers to watch, as well as two mushers who have had successful past finishes – Ritchie Diehl of Aniak and Michael Williams, Jr. from Akiak.

Williams has returned to the Iditarod after taking a break from the race.

Bev Hoffman, a Yup’ik musher and longtime Kusko 300 organizer, has spent decades working to bring Alaska Native mushers back into the sport. In the early years, the Iditarod had a crowded field of Native mushers, but they were later eclipsed by a well-financed group of career mushers who could afford to train year-round.

Hoffman says it’s rewarding to see three Native mushers, who she watched growing up, rise to the top of the sport.

“I think all their chances are great. Mike was downplaying his own race saying that he didn’t have a lot of training, but he’s done real well in the local races here. Pete and Richie, last year, they did real well — and they have tough dogs and the year Pete won, one was on this route.”

Kaiser won the Iditarod in 2019 and finished 5th last year.

Diehl has run the Iditarod ten times and finished right behind Kaiser last year in 6th place.

This is Mike Williams Jr.’s 8th running of the Iditarod. His best finish was 8th place in 2012. His father, Mike Williams Sr., ran the Iditarod many times to promote sobriety in rural Alaska.

This year’s race has the smallest number of contenders on record, which Hoffman believes improves their chances for success, given their experience in not just the Iditarod, but the Kuskokwim 300, a 300-mile race that follows an old mail trail on the frozen Kuskokwim River.

“Our training is so tough out here. You just get hit with everything, ice overflow and I think that all better prepare these teams from this area.”

Hoffman says many past Iditarod champs came to Bethel to compete to toughen up their teams.

Ryan Reddington (Inupiat) is the fourth competitor in this year’s race.

Their standings can be followed online at iditarod.com.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Organizations supporting Native American’s right to vote are trying to educate people about the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court Election.

WXPR’s Katie Thoresen reports.

Abortion access, voting districts, and voting access are likely to come before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the coming years.

And while those issues impact everyone, they’re more likely to disproportionately effect Native American communities says Native American Rights Fund staff attorney Allison Neswood.

But she stresses that this doesn’t mean that all Native people feel the same way about each issue.

“But it means that they should have the same voice that other Americans or other Wisconsinites have in selecting who makes the decisions on those issues.”

To that end, the Native American Rights Fund and the Wisconsin Native Vote program are working to educate Native Americans on the Supreme Court, what’s at stake, and making sure they know their voting rights.

Neswood is focused on educating people on the judicial system itself, like the oath Wisconsin judges take to administer justice with respect to persons or essentially the concept of justice is blind.

“This is great concept, but it’s not always inline with how communities experience the court system. A couple examples of that, evidence shows that even among people who commit of similar severity people of color are receiving longer sentences, more jail time than white folks.”

Wisconsin Native Vote Manager Dee Sweet wants to make sure Native Americans have all the information they need to make an educated vote.

She says things like minimal or lack of broadband connectivity in rural reservations can be another barrier for Native Americans to exercise their right to vote.

“I’m not saying they’re left out of modern day technology and society they just don’t have the kind of broadband or kind of technology to support that.”

Neither organization endorses candidates.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Election is April 4.

The organizations along with the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are hosting a dinner and discussion event at Red Cliff Legendary Waters Casino on March 7.

You can learn more and register at conservationvoice.org.

(Photo: Paul Cross / USGS)

The U.S. Interior Department recently unveiled plans to bolster the number of wild bison herds across their native grasslands.

Aaron Bolton reports.

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced the formation of federal working group that will outline how the federal government can help tribes and conservation groups bolster herd numbers and gain training to manage herds.

Holland also announced a $25 million investment to establish new herds, fund tribal bison transfers, and co-management of herds with tribes.

The department currently manages 11,000 bison on public lands across 12 states.

Haskell Indian Nations University students compete in AIHEC 2023 hand games.

Tribal college and university students from across the country are preparing to take home awards after three days of competing in more than 20 events including archery, speech, chess, and hand games.

More than 1,000 people gathered in Albuquerque, NM this week for the 2023 American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) conference.

Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College student Joanna Cooley (United Houma Nation) spent time Monday presenting her scientific poster to judges, students, and other AIHEC attendees.

Cooley says for the last year and a half she’s been part of a food sovereignty program in Mount Pleasant, MI.

Her poster describes how to decolonize diets and teach people how to preserve food from their gardens.

“We can teach our people to garden, but if they don’t know how to preserve for future use it’s not very good. Along with the gardening, we’re also doing food preservation workshops and classes. We have a full state of the art mobile food preservation kitchen that will be onsite this spring so that community members and students can harvest their vegetables and go straight into the classroom and learn how to preserve them themselves.”

Cooley says she worked on her poster for about four to six weeks.

She hopes not only will the judges appreciate her work, but that the information will be shared with other tribal communities.

Awards will be given out Tuesday night.

There are more than 30 tribal colleges and universities across the U.S.

Check out Joanna Cooley’s scientific poster:

Check out some of the 2023 AIHEC Art Competition:

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Commemorations were held in Honduras over the weekend to mark seven years since the assassination of Goldman Prize-winning environmental and Indigenous rights activist Berta Cáceres.

Maria Martin reports that, though there have been some convictions in her death, her supporters say the intellectual authors of her murder are still at large.

Berta Cáceres had fought for the rights of the Indigenous Lenca people of Honduras.

“It’s no crime to defend our rights as Indigenous people,” Cáceres stated before her death, as she fought to stop a hydroelectric dam project she said would disrupt the water and food supply in Lenca communities.

In Lenca tradition, she said the rivers are the home of the mother spirit and must be protected.

In July of last year, the former head of a Honduran construction company building the controversial dam project Cáceres had opposed was found guilty of collaborating in her 2016 murder.

Roberto Castillo was also alleged to have hired seven hit men previously sentenced for her killing.

But, Berta Cáceres’ family and supporters say the intellectual authors of her murder are some of Honduras’ most untouchable families and remain outside the law, and that seven years after her murder, Honduran environmental activists remain targets.

At least four have been killed this year alone.

A bill that would require Montana to pay for the cost of law enforcement services on the Flathead Reservation recently passed through the state Senate.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports.

In the 1960s, Lake County agreed to provide law enforcement services on the behalf of the state across the Flathead Reservation, but county officials earlier this year pulled out of that agreement saying county taxpayers can no longer foot the bill, estimated at $4 million annually.

Senate Bill 127 would require the state to negotiate funding for law enforcement on the reservation with Lake County every other year.

If the parties do not come to an agreement, the state would then be responsible for law enforcement services.

The Legislature did pass a bill last session paving the way for the state to pay Lake County’s law enforcement services, but did not appropriate any funds.

The bill requiring state to fund those services now moves to the House for consideration.

State is due to take over end of May.

The Chickasaw Nation’s cultural center is hosting the Holba’ Pisachi’ Native Film Festival on Saturday in Sulphur, OK to celebrate cultural renaissance through Indigenous cinema.

Fran Parchcorn is the Chickasaw Cultural Center’s executive officer.

“The film festival is important because it allows us to carry on a form of storytelling, which is important in First American traditions. We’re celebrating and uplifting Native filmmakers who are working to preserve our culture. The goal of the Holba’ Pisachi’ (“Showing Pictures”) Native Film Festival is always to promote the art of First American cinema through cultural awareness through mass media.”

Four short documentaries will be showcased: two feature-length documentaries and the headlining film “Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher.”

Panel discussions and question and answer sessions with Indigenous filmmakers will follow the screenings.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Researchers at Arizona State University are tackling the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people in the state – they’re trying to figure out why it’s happening and what can be done to stop it.

Alex Gonzalez reports.

Professor Kate Fox directs ASU’s Research on Violent Victimization Lab.

She says the data speaks for itself – the killing of Indigenous females has been increasing over the past 40 years.

Through data obtained through grassroots organizations and law-enforcement agencies, Fox and her team along with the state have determined 160 Indigenous females were known to police to be murdered between 1976 and 2018 in Arizona.

She says that number is expected to be much higher, as many cases go unreported. Fox says only recently has the conversation shifted to look at all indigenous people.

“There is a growing recognition across the nation and across the globe that this is not something that only impacts Indigenous women and girls. It does impact all indigenous peoples.”

In 2019, Arizona passed a law that established a study committee to investigate how serious of a problem this was in Arizona.

Fox says there is still a lot of work to be done and hopes Arizona, as well as other states, continue to investigate.

Fox says many systemic factors rooted in racial injustice, violence and colonization are responsible for the crisis.

The Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, AK honors Chris Wooley as its volunteer of the year.

He is being recognized for his research about children who were sent to boarding schools in the Lower 48.

KMXT’s Brian Venua reports.

The Alutiiq Museum’s Volunteer of the Year Award recognizes folks who spend time working on projects with the museum. And this year’s award went to Kodiak resident Chris Wooley for his work on the Carlisle Repatriation Project.  

He says while he’s grateful for the award, he was just one part of the research team.  

“It was mixed emotions, I was really happy, but I wanted to share it with the others in the group that are doing just as much work as I am.”  

The research project is aimed at contacting descendants of Indigenous children taken from Alutiiq lands to a boarding school in Pennsylvania, and repatriating their remains.  

Part of his work with the project included contacting the family of Anastasia Ashouwak, whose remains were brought back to the village Old Harbor for reburial in her family’s plot last year.  

His team is still searching for the descendents of Pariscovia Friendoff, another Native girl taken from nearby Woody Island.

She was taken to the “Outing Program,” where children were sent to be acculturated to western lifestyles.

“We’re trying to kind of track down any reference to Pariscovia, who had spent four years in the Outing Program with families in Pennsylvania. (It’s) not clear if there’s any relatives – it doesn’t sound like there are. But her story is a bit of an enigma.”

Wooley says it’s been more difficult to find records of Pariscovia than it was for Anastasia.

The National Congress of American Indians has acquired rights to the “Crying Indian,” the Keep America Beautiful anti-pollution campaign of the 1970s.

Ownership of the public service announcement has been transferred to NCAI by the non-profit Keep America Beautiful, which decided to official retired it.

The ad featured stereotypical imagery of Native people and misappropriated Native culture.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

A bill to create a study committee to improve Native children’s lives was killed in the South Dakota House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Senate Bill 191 was approved on the Senate side and then got unanimous approval in the House Judiciary Committee, but two days later it died on the House floor.

Victoria Wicks reports.

Senate Bill 191 required a 17-member committee to meet at least eight times in 18 months with the Legislative Research Council coordinating the effort.

State Rep. Tony Vanhuisen (R-SD) said during House discussion that the bill required too much.

“Nine of the 17 members are from the tribes, just over half. Two from DSS, two from the court system, then just four legislators. So four legislators on a 17-person committee, but we’re paying for it.”

State Rep. Peri Pourier (Oglala Sioux/D-SD) justified including all nine tribal nations inside South Dakota’s borders.

“They have their own independent taxation compact agreements, they have their own agreements with DSS, and they all have their own policies.”

Rep. Pourier said tribal families are in crisis, with Native Americans in the top tier of problems such as incarceration rates, dropout rates, and health issues.

“This is a problem that the tribes cannot solve on their own. They still need the state of South Dakota. And this is not a problem that the state of South Dakota can address on its own. You need the tribes. We need each other.”

Rep. Pourier noted that the commission might find a way to assist Native children and families to prevent those failures, but instead the state spends millions to deal with the negative outcomes.

“We’re allocating hundreds of millions of dollars for new state prisons.”

The bill failed by a vote of 42 to 26.

(Photo: Jake DeGroot)

Also in South Dakota, a law that established a State-Tribal Relations Committee has been amended to reduce the mandatory number of Democrats serving on it.

The House of Representatives voted to pass Senate Bill 69 Wednesday.

Its prime sponsor says the new makeup better reflects the will of South Dakota voters.

The State-Tribal Relations Committee by law consists of ten legislators, with a minimum of four members from the minority party.

Senate Bill 69 drops that minimum number to two.

Republicans currently hold 90% of the seats in the legislature.

State Sen. Lee Schoenbeck (R-SD) introduced the bill at the Senate State Affairs hearing in January.

He said the law no longer reflects the reality of the political situation.

“When they originally passed this, it probably didn’t seem so strange, because there used to be a lot of Democrats in the legislature.”

The committee arose from reconciliation efforts that started with Gov. George Mickelson (R-SD), who died in office in 1993.

Sen. Schoenbeck said tribes benefit from having legislators on the committee who are not Native.

“It doesn’t make much sense to have the tribes come to the committee and tell tribal members, ‘Hey, here’s what’s going on in tribal country.’ It makes a lot more sense to have the tribes come and talk to people that don’t live in tribal country.”

Senate Bill 69 passed through that committee and went on to clear both chambers.

At its last legislative appearance in the House, Rep. Pourier tried to get the chamber to approve an amendment that required appointment of legislators who represent districts containing tribal lands.

“This isn’t about party. This is about the voice of those citizens that are in the tribal nations who elect their leaders.”

That amendment failed and the House approved the bill by a vote of 57-11.5

The Bridging Agency Data Gaps & Ensuring Safety (BADGES) for Native Communities Act was introduced in Congress Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (D-WA), and U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk/D-KS).

The bill seeks to strengthen tribal law enforcement and increase public safety in Indian Country.

It includes several provisions to address missing and murdered Indigenous people.

Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our newsletter today.