Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

The Pueblo of Acoma in New Mexico is praising the signing of the STOP Act by President Joe Biden.

On Wednesday, the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act became law after being passed by the Senate in November.

It prohibits the exporting of sacred Native American items, and increases penalties for stealing and illegally trafficking tribal cultural patrimony.

According to U.S. lawmakers, it will help prevent instances like the auction of the Pueblo of Acoma’s shield.

In 2015, the Pueblo sought the return of the shield from an auction house in Paris. The item had been stolen from the Pueblo decades earlier.

Items are sacred to the Pueblo and are not to be given away or sold. Items have been removed from Pueblo homelands for years, and put up in auction houses and on the internet for sale. They’ve also been in art galleries.

Pueblo of Acoma Governor Randall Vicente says the signing of the law is a historic moment. He says there have been moments in history when Congress has taken action against Native people, but this is a time to celebrate.

The 18 other Pueblos in New Mexico also urged for the bill’s passage, along with the state’s Apache Nations, the Navajo Nation, and other tribes across the country.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced the bill in 2016 and championed it in the Senate with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

The House passage of the bill was in December 2021, and led by U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM), along with U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (Chickasaw/R-OK) and U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk/D-KS).

The bill was also championed by the late U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-AK) – and had help from many other U.S. lawmakers over the years.

Photo: Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

By Jill Fratis, KNBA News

Researchers have been puzzled by colorectal cancer rates for Alaska Native people.

For the elderly, the trend has been going down.

But for young adults, the number of cases has gone up by about five percent a year since 1996.

There’s one possible explanation. Older Alaska Native people seem to have more frequent and thorough screenings.

Diana Redwood, an epidemiologist for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, says it’s important to turn this around for young adults.

“The Alaska Native Medical Center issued guidelines for Alaska Native people to start screening at age 40, and this is actually lower than the recommendation for all Americans, which is to start screening at age 45.”

Redwood says colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for Alaska Natives, who are diagnosed at a rate two times higher than the white population in the United States.

On top of that, Alaska Natives have the highest incidence of colorectal cancer in the world. Although the cancer is still more common among the elderly.

Redwood says, despite the increase in early onset colorectal cancer, it’s not health care workers expect to see.

“If they do have somebody come in, who is younger, and they’ve had abdominal pain and weight loss, that they don’t rule out colorectal cancer as a possibility.”

Aside from pain and unexplained weight loss, other signs of colorectal cancer are blood in the stool, diarrhea, and constipation that lasts for several days. Redwood says sometimes there are no signs, which makes screening all the more important.

Researchers don’t know why the rate for young Alaska Natives continues to rise, but suspect lifestyle changes are a factor.

They say reducing smoking, drinking, eating a healthy diet, and getting more exercise can lower the risk.

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The Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota is dealing with a winter weather emergency, as the forecast includes more extreme cold and dangerous wind chills.

Wayne Boyd, the tribe’s chief of staff, says Rosebud was hit with a snow storm last week and is continuing to deal with more than three feet of snow and cold.

“We have people out of propane, out of food, we have sick people. It’s quite an emergency.”

Robert Oliver, the tribe’s emergency manager, says they’re working around the clock to address the situation and open roads.

The tribe does not have proper equipment to remove the snow, and is seeking to obtain heavier equipment.

Oliver says some communities were without electricity for four days.

“At that time, they were starting to run low on food, wood, and their pipes were freezing.”

Oliver says people did not have dialysis treatment for up to five days. The tribe started to get people treatment on Saturday.

He says there are still communities on the reservation that need to be accessed. Those areas have up to 20 feet tall snowdrifts.

There are two shelters open on the reservation. Food distribution is being planned with the Feeding America organization. The tribe is in contact with the state, the Red Cross and federal agencies for assistance.

In the meantime, Oliver is asking people to take precautions.

“Stay home whenever those conditions warrant it. It is going to get cold. We don’t need anybody to get frostbite. It’s chilly out right now.”

Oliver says about 25,000 residents are being impacted by the weather emergency on the reservation.

An initiative by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is honoring tribal communities with highway signs in both English and Native American languages.

The Sokaogon Chippewa Community in Mole Lake is the latest, as WXPR’s Katie Thoresen reports.

No matter where you go in the country or state, highway signs for places are fairly uniform. Giant green signs with big block letters in white mark the location letting you know what town or city you’re in.

A new sign recently installed in Mole Lake prominently reads Sokaogan Chippewa Community with the tribe’s seal beside it. But different from the vast majority of similar signs you find across the state, this one includes the tribe’s name in their own Ojibwemoin language.

“Zaaga’inganiin. It’s a spiritual, cultural light that was in the water. It’s part of our teaching and our migration stories, teachings that came about a long, long time ago.”

Sokaogon Chippewa Community Chairman Robert VanZile was proud to unveil the new sign in a ceremony alongside community members and officials from federal and state transportation offices.

“It’s very positive. It’s heartwarming to see these dual language signs come to life. It’s an ideal that should have happened a long time ago, but it’s happening today and that’s a good thing.”

The Sokaogon Chippewa Community is the fourth tribe in Wisconsin to install a dual-language sign.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation launched the initiative in 2021.

Wisconsin DOT Secretary Craig Thompson would like to work with all of the tribes within the state to get these signs up.

“It’s become a priority and bring back native languages. This is one way we could help and participate in that, but it’s also important for people in Wisconsin and people traveling through Wisconsin to know our history, know when they’re entering these sovereign nations, and to see it in the initial language. We think it’s important on all those fronts.”

And it is that sovereignty that VanZile hopes people will think of when they see that sign.

“I think it’s important to share our language, our culture, our identity, along with our sovereignty. When you have your language, your culture, and your identity you have sovereignty. That’s what we want to express to people.”

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By Rhonda McBride, KNBA News

For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples along the western coast of North America built stone weirs on beaches to trap fish on the incoming tide.

It was an efficient way to catch them, but also ecologically sound.

In Southeast Alaska, sonar in 2010 spotted what looked like a structure underwater near Prince of Wales Island, one that a Canadian underwater archeologist suspected was a weir.

This year a team of scientists got a closer look with an underwater drone and confirmed Dr. Kelly Monteleone’s theory — that the arc of stacked boulders was indeed a weir.

Monteleone teaches anthropology and archeology at the University of Calgary and presented her findings in Juneau recently at the Sealaska Heritage Institute, one of the partners in the project.

She says the weir is at least 11,000 years old – and perhaps one of the oldest in the world.

“This means that they had those patterns eleven thousand years ago, which means they were here so much longer.”

Monteleone says the presence of the weir suggests the land was in use 5,000 years earlier.

The fact that it was underwater also points to a drastic change in sea level in a very short period of time.

“Does that mean with this new level of searise, change became the new normal?”

That’s a question, scientists want to know more about. They say knowledge about how people adapted to drastic changes in sea levels 11,000 years ago could be helpful to Alaska Native people today, as they cope with climate change.

Monteleone and other partners in the project have adopted what a Mi’kmaq elder has described as “two-eye seeing.”

“The idea is that with two-eyed seeing you are able to look at both at an Indigenous lens or viewpoint and a western-scientific viewpoint at the same time.”

Monteleone says her research incorporates oral histories and traditional knowledge to get a more holistic look at the patterns of land use.

The project is also part of Sealaska Heritage Institute’s ongoing efforts to document the presence of Indigenous peoples in Southeast Alaska, to strengthen their historic claim to the land.

The Cherokee Nation is opening a new domestic violence shelter in Stilwell, OK on Tuesday, to help families and children.

The 11,000-square-foot shelter is set up to house up to six families and has an indoor child playroom. There will also be staff on-site.

Cherokee officials and members of the tribe’s task force to protect women and families are unveiling new initiatives to address domestic violence on the Cherokee Nation Reservation in 2023.

One of the initiatives includes a statewide intimate partner and family training summit scheduled for April.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. says protecting families and children from violence is a priority, and the implementation of new initiatives is intended to make sweeping and lasting changes to keep the reservation safe.

A Navajo veteran has been awarded a Purple Heart more than 50 years after being wounded in battle.

Leroy Cody recently received the Purple Heart Medal during a ceremony in Leupp, AZ.

56 years ago, he was wounded in battle in the Vietnam War.

The Purple Heart is reserved for U.S. service members who were wounded or killed by enemy action on or after April 5, 1917.

During the ceremony, the Military Order of the Purple Heard Department of Arizona also officially designated Leupp as a Purple Heart Community.

The community has three other Purple Heart recipients – Harry Kee Yazzie, Burt Barton, and Larry Ben.

Leupp now joins a national network of Purple Heart trails, roads, bridges, highways, and monuments honoring service members who have received the honor.

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The Lakota Language Consortium is debuting the third edition of its new Lakota Dictionary.

This third edition contains 20,000 more entries than its predecessor.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Lee Strubinger reports.

The previous Lakota Dictionary was published over a decade ago.

Alex FireThunder (Oglala Lakota) is the Deputy Director of the Lakota Language Consortium. He says the Lakota language is a living language and continues to evolve.

“We’ll continue to develop new words for things that we have in our life. There’s a word for cell phone. There’s a word for computer. There’s a word for car. A lot of words that we consider old words were new words at one time. A word for wagon, clocks, those are all pretty old words that were coined by our ancestors. They made them.”

The language of the Oceti Sakowin is an oral language, meaning it was never written down until the 1800s. FireThunder says other words and phrases had been around for generations and are only now being documented.

“I found this word in an old rabbit dance song…. I think it means to have a taking or a liking for somebody. That was in an old love song.”

Many children fluent the language of the Lakota/Dakota and Nakota language were chided for speaking their language during the boarding school era. Most fluent speakers are now elders.

FIreThunder says he wants to see the dictionary get put to good use.

“My hope is that these words leave these pages,” FireThunder said. “These words are here for everybody to access. But, my hope is that they use them and speak the life into them.”

The Lakota Language Consortium is also announcing new changes to its language app, which they hope will entice the younger generation to communicate with elders.

Tribes across Arizona are using Indigenous knowledge and Western thought to address climate issues.

Alex Gonzalez has more.

From droughts now synonymous with the Southwest to flash floods, landscapes are changing.

Keith Howard, a wildlife technician with the Navajo Nation’s Climate Change Program, says building trust within the community is essential for the program’s efforts to succeed.

“Finding a way to reach the people and communicate with them in respect to our traditional way of learning, and our traditional ways of understanding how the world works, is one of the biggest obstacles.”

Howard says language barriers make it difficult to translate some climate-related concepts into Indigenous languages, which can be especially challenging for community elders. Despite the difficulties, Howard says progress is being made.

According to an international assessment of climate change released last year, Indigenous communities are among the most susceptible to the effects of a warming climate.

Howard points out that most tribal communities depend on a healthy environment for survival.

He adds lack of infrastructure on the Navajo Nation, compounded with the effects they’re already seeing, have made it more difficult to adapt.

“One of our struggles is finding resources – funding, opportunities to address some of these issues to help mitigate the effects of climate change.”

Howard says that includes money for restoration projects, to replace native vegetation, and to keep streams flowing.

In the meantime, he says the Navajo Nation does its best to address climate-related issues and help the community adapt to the rate of change.

New Mexico’s Public Education Department has announced a new tutoring program that expands free tutoring for math, reading, and science.

It focuses on pre-K to 8^th grade for Title One schools and tribally controlled schools.

And it is being offered virtually before, after, or during school.

Families can sign their children up for 20 hours of tutoring.

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Congress is passing a bill that repeals 11 federal laws that discriminate against Native Americans.

Two Republican members of South Dakota’s congressional delegation pushed the bill forward — Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD).

Lee Strubinger has more.

One of the federals laws the RESPECT Act repeals is one that strips Native American children from their families and forcing them into boarding schools.

Sen. Rounds has introduced the bill as far back as 2015. Then, it failed to make it out of committee. Now, it’s been passed by the Senate and House.

It repeals laws dealing with forced separation for “Indian reform school” and abolishing certain treaty rights, among others.

Rounds says he’s pleased the bill passed.

“We need to clean up some of this legislation that’s been around for more than a century that really disrespected Native Americans throughout the United States. The opportunity to eliminate these 11 laws sends a good message that we recognize they were wrong to begin with, but second of all to do something about it.”

Rounds says the bill sends a message to tribes from Congress that it wants to right some wrongs of the past.

The bill has support from the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association and National Congress of American Indians.

It now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk.

Meanwhile, a powerful blizzard failed to keep fans from attending the Lakota Nation Invitational in Rapid City. South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene reports the annual event is as popular as ever.

Wind gusts over 60 miles an hour and snow descended upon the entire state, negatively affecting driving conditions the day before the tournament started.

Bryan Brewer is the founder of the LNI, which is in its 45th year. He says the blizzard brought an unexpected wrinkle.

“A lot of the fans came up early. Right now, we have fans that are calling and they’re trying to get up here hopefully tomorrow to watch the games. Many of them are watching on pay-per-view. Last year we sold for four days for pay-per-view, we sold that same number in the first four hours of the first day.”

Brewer says there is a deep connection to the tournament.

“We have our third generation of kids. We have boys that play, and their grandfathers played in the tournament when we first started. It’s really something, and you can see the excitement and how proud they are to represent their school. It’s really a good feeling just to watch our kids.”

Brewer says decades in, the LNI continues to gain in popularity. He says finding space for other events is still a challenge. That’s despite Rapid City completing a new arena last year.

“Last year was our first year in the Summit Arena. With the addition of the Summit that has really helped us. There is a lot of other activities that we would like to do, but we don’t have enough room. So, we’re trying to figure out how to get those other venues started.”

The LNI runs through this Saturday.

A hospital on the Navajo Nation in Arizona is seeking the public’s help as its being overloaded with patients with the flu, RSV, and COVID-19.

The Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation says the combination of cases are filling up beds at the hospital and other hospitals in the state, especially with respiratory illnesses among children.

The increased demand on staff is straining the healthcare system.

To deal with the surge, a second clinic has been opened for adult urgent care.

Doctors are asking the public to consider their options for care, including telemedicine visits.

Health officials are also encouraging people to wear masks in public.

A mask mandate on the Navajo reservation is still in place.

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Tribes in California are preparing for the implementation of the Feather Alert, which alerts the public when an Indigenous person goes missing.

The Feather Alert notification system is similar to the AMBER or Silver Alerts, which are used when children are abducted or missing or when seniors are missing.

Tribal leaders, state lawmakers and others recently gathered in Coarsgold, CA to share input on the Feather Alert.

State Rep. James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA) co-sponsored the bill for the alert system. He says the roundtable was an opportunity for leaders to hear from each other, law enforcement, and others invested in addressing the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

“This implementation roundtable discussion is meant to start to build this relationship, meant to build the questions that could be out there. How do we interact? How does it get implemented? It’s vital to hear firsthand from tribal leaders, tribal chairs, the issue that still drastically effects all California Indian people.”

Ramos says California is the state with the greatest population of Native Americans in the nation – and is also among states with the highest rates of reported cases of MMIP.

The new Feather Alert system is intended to help law enforcement act more quickly in notifying the public – and to help produce leads to find missing individuals.

The Feather Alert bill was supported by a number of tribes, law enforcement groups and Native health organizations.

The public notification tool rollout will take place in January.

Photo: Jim Morefield

The whitebark pine, which populates 80 million acres of the mountain west, is now listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports on the newly afforded federal protections.

The whitebark pine is crucial to the Northern Rocky Mountain Ecosystem.

Its seeds are a key food source for several species of birds and for threatened grizzly bears.

It also helps preserve high-elevation mountain snowpack into the spring and summer months, but scientists estimate that a nonnative fungus and other threats have eliminated up to half of the species.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes celebrated the move to provide federal protections, saying the tree is “part of our first foods and culture.”

The tribes and conservation groups hope the tree’s protected status will bolster efforts to plant fungus resistant trees across the mountain west.

The charitable arm of the Three Rivers Casino has made an open call for non-profits in several Oregon counties to apply for over a million dollars in grant money.

KLCC’s Brian Bull reports.

The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians established the Three Rivers Foundation 11 years ago.

It distributes casino profits to other groups in need.

Coordinators are encouraging non-profits in Lane, Curry, Coos, Lincoln, and Douglas Counties to apply.

Some government agencies and federally recognized tribes in Oregon are also eligible.

Shelby Erickson is the foundation’s grant administrator.

“We typically look at different priorities when we receive applications such as education, health, public safety, problem gambling, the arts, the environment, cultural activities, and even historic preservations.”

Erickson says food shares and Boys & Girls Clubs have been recurring applicants.

Last year’s total grant distribution was $1.4 million and she expects this year’s amount to be similar.

Grant applications are due December 31.

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The Montana Board of Environmental Review is asking federal regulators to invalidate a water quality standard aimed at reducing pollution flowing into Montana from Canadian coal mines.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton has more.

In a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the governor-appointed Board of Environmental Review is once again claiming the Lake Koocanusa selenium standard is invalid.

The pollution standard sets rules for how much selenium is acceptable in the lake. The toxin is known to harm fish reproduction.

State environmental board officials earlier this year voted to overturn the current rule, saying it didn’t follow federal standards.

However, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the EPA have kept it in place, having previously approved the pollution standard.

DEQ said the board doesn’t have the power to invalidate the rule and that its claims don’t merit review by the agency or the EPA.

The EPA said in a statement to MTPR it’s reviewing the board’s letter.

Teck Resources’, which owns the Canadian coal mines that are the source of selenium pollution, and Lincoln County commissioners have pushed the environmental review board for over a year to invalidate the standard.

This comes as tribes from Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia push for International Joint Commission involvement under the U.S.-Canada Boundary Waters Treaty to stop pollution from the mines.

The Watersmeet Township School District in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is bringing Ojibwe language and culture into the classroom.

WXPR’s Erin Gottsacker spoke with school leaders about the changes and what they mean for the school’s majority American Indian population.

When Alina Shively was a student in Watersmeet, her Ojibwe heritage was largely ignored in the public schools.

“It was actually kind of unheard of for any of our language or culture to be acknowledged on a daily basis.. Everybody knew we were Native kids and where we lived in town and where we were from, but it was never really embraced.”

But this year, that’s changing.

The school district is working with a consultant for Native American best practices to better include its indigenous students – who represent nearly 80% of the school’s student body.

“Want to make sure that everyone feels welcomed and appreciated at the Watersmeet Township School District.”

That’s George Peterson III, the district’s superintendent.

He says some of the changes the school is implementing are small – like including Ojibwe greetings in daily announcements.

“Every morning, we’ve added to our morning announcements boozhoo, which means hello, and then when she closes, she says miigwech, or thank you.”

Teachers are also making a concerted effort to include Ojibwe language and history in their lessons.

“It’s pretty eye opening for everyone to see what that culture has gone through and the way they were treated. It’s pretty sad really. We want to help them get through that, and the way to do that is we have to teach them about it and move on from there.”

For Alina Shively, who is now the historic preservation officer for the Lac Vieux Desert tribe and a mother of three, these small changes represent a monumental shift from the time her parents attended an American Indian boarding school.

“Education hasn’t been a fun experience in my family history. I can say that is really changing for my kids and all of our kids.”

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Lake County commissioners Monday proposed an ordinance to withdraw from an agreement to provide law enforcement services on the Flathead Reservation.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton has more.

The state, Lake County, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes opted into the federal law known as Public Law 280 in the 1960s.

The law requires Lake County to provide law enforcement services on the reservation, but county commissioners say the state isn’t paying for the cost of those services, estimated at $4 million annually.

The Lake County commissioners’ resolution says their attempts to get the state to pay for those costs have fallen on “deaf ears”.

In a statement, Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) spokesperson Brooke Stroyke says the governor’s office has tried to help the county find solutions, but wrote “The legislature, not the governor, has the authority to fund PL 280.”

Gianforte signed a bill passed by the state Legislature in 2021 to reimburse Lake County for law enforcement costs under PL 280. The bill appropriated $1 for that reimbursement.

That bill also allowed Lake County to withdraw consent to enforce criminal jurisdiction on behalf of the state.

Lake County Commissioners say local taxpayers can’t afford to pay for the law enforcement services and that the county will withdraw from the agreement early next year, forcing the state to pick up the work.

The county will take public comment on the resolution January 3 before officially voting on the measure.

CSKT spokesperson Shane Morigeau said the tribes decline to comment on the matter.

By Jill Fratis, KNBA News

The film “The Wind and the Reckoning” was one of the highlights at this year’s Anchorage International Film Festival, where it won first place in the narrative feature category.

The film has been recognized for its authentic portrayal of Native Hawaiians.

It’s set in the 1800s just as colonialists overthrow the queen and take control of the land.

“The Wind and the Reckoning” takes place in the height of a leprosy outbreak, when Hawaiians suspected of having the disease are banished and forced to separate from their families.

The film’s based on a true story about a rebellion against the provisional government – one that’s not well known, even among Hawaiians.

Stuart Featheran plays Paoa, one of the Hawaiians who was arrested by the government. He says it’s a story about love, strength, and a passion for justice – and for him, the movie is more than playing a role, but a responsibility to share the story.

“It’s even deeper than that. As well as it’s like our duty. Like we have to do this. And it just grows deeper and deeper with us.”

Featheran says the movie is an immersion experience in Hawaiian language, history and culture.

“The Wind and the Reckoning” has won numerous awards for its cinematography and storytelling.

At the San Diego film festival, it was selected as the “Audience’s Choice.”

An Indigenous language that has been suppressed by the British government for the past three centuries is now legal, following approval by King Charles this month.

Seo McPolin reports from Dublin, Ireland.

The Identity and Language Bill was negotiated by the Irish and British governments two years ago, but it wasn’t approved until this month by royal assent.

For the first time in history, the Gaelic language now has official status in Northern Ireland, the six counties controlled by the UK.

The bill also repealed a 1737 law which banned the use of Irish in British courts.

The next step is implementation through the appointment of two commissioners, one for the Irish version of Gaelic and the other for its Scottish counterpart.

A longtime language activist called the new law “historic” and said Gaelic’s community of speakers have been discriminated against and marginalized.

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Over the weekend, the Native community in Lawrence, KS received a public apology from two people charged for their involvement in the vandalization and theft of a Native American art exhibit at the University of Kansas Spencer Art Museum in 2021.

As Rhonda LeValdo reports, the incident was hurtful to Native students on campus and at the nearby Haskell Indian Nations University.

A crowd gathered in front of the Spencer Art Museum on the University of Kansas campus as two non-Natives apologized for destroying the “Native Hosts”, an outdoor art installation by Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne, Arapaho).

The panels are metal signs that include the names of the Kaw, Potawatomi, Ioway, Ne Me Ha Ha Ki, and Kickapoo tribes.

One of the defendants, John Wichlenski, talked about how he has learned from the incident.

“We didn’t know the nature of the signs, it’s no excuse of what we did, but we’re grateful for the opportunity to really be here and work with some phenomenal people. They are very open armed with us, and welcoming and nice, kind, cordial, and we think that is a great mix between us and them. Hopefully create some peace and spread awareness, and hopefully continue on a path to become allies of the cause.”

KU’s First Nations Student Association wrote in a statement: 

“This exhibit was intended to draw attention to issues of Native sovereignty, colonial dispossession and respect and honor for Indigenous peoples upon whose land KU’s campus occupies. Native exhibits are incredible tools for creating conversations and drawing attention to our history and the value we bring to our areas of study and our interactions with the community at large.”

Haskell students were in attendance for the event – and Skyler LaBahe would have liked to been able to ask questions. 

“They should have heard what we went through, our personal point of views, but they just closed it and took off.”

Both Wichlenski and Samuel McKnight will do a presentation at the KU First Nations Powwow in Spring.

For two others accused in the incident, their cases are to begin in January 2023.

The leaders of two southern Arizona tribes have been appointed to a new federal advisory council focusing on border security and other issues.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, they’ll be involved in U.S. policies that impact Indian Country.

Tohono O’odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr and Pascua Yaqui Tribe Chairman Peter Yucupicio were among 15 people appointed to the Tribal Homeland Security Advisory Council earlier this month.

They’ll offer guidance to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on cybersecurity, law enforcement, emergency management, domestic terrorism, and border security.

Officials say their experience will be crucial in efforts to keep Arizonans safe and strengthen nation-to-nation relationships.

Collectively the two chairmen represent more than 564,000 tribal members and 178 villages and village corporations.

Officials say the advisory group will allow the federal government to utilize the broad base of knowledge and expertise of Indigenous people as it relates to homeland security.

In April, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that classifies the Tohono O’odham Shadow Wolves as special agents.

According to officials, it allows the elite border patrol unit made up of Indigenous trackers known for their ability to track drug smugglers and human traffickers, to better investigate and secure the border.

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Tribal, state, and federal officials hailed the removal of four dams along the Klamath River near the California-Oregon line this week, as a major step toward restoring a once-thriving watershed.

Christina Aanestad reports.

It was a decades long battle, but soon, removing four dams along the Klamath River will open up hundreds of miles of wild river habitat to salmon, a fish that is sacred to nearby Native American tribes.

“My dream is to not only bring the salmon back, but bring back a way of life.”

Karuk Chair Russ Attebery was among the tribal, federal and state leaders who gathered to celebrate the largest dam removal project in the country.

Work begins next year, completion set for 2024. But Attebery says more work will remain for decades to come.

“There are ways we can actually restore those creek and streams that feed our rivers and plants and understand mother natures way and
combine ecological knowledge and knowledge of observation from generation to generation with modern science. That’s the best way to
go.”

Removal of the dams will also return California’s second largest river to a free flowing wild river for the first time in more than a century.

Photo: Jeffrey Zeldman via Flickr CC

A bill to stop the export of sacred Native American items to other countries recently passed the Senate.

Aaron Bolton has more.

The Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony or STOP Act, passed through Congress last week.

The law will prohibit the export of tribal cultural items that were obtained illegally.

Doing so could result in fines or up to a year in jail for first time offenders and up to 10 years for second-time offenders.

The bill had been introduced in Congress for years and had previously passed the senate, but never made it through both chambers until now.

It’s unclear when President Joe Biden will sign the bill into law.

A rocket loaded with a cluster of communications satellites lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Thursday.

They’re part of OneWeb’s efforts to create a worldwide network of low earth orbit satellites.

The rocket is carrying 40 satellites, the most it’s ever sent into space at one time.

OneWeb’s Katie Dowd says this latest expansion could be a game changer for some of Alaska’s most isolated communities, with little or no internet access.

She says her company already serves a few communities in Southwest Alaska and hopes to add more.

“Today’s launch will allow us to not only strengthen service and also expand coverage but also expand coverage.”

Chris Cropley, oversees the Tlingit and Haida Central Council’s tribal broadband program.  He says his tribal government serves about 20 communities in Southeast Alaska, and while fiber optic cable is normally the preferred option, it’s too expensive to reach many small, isolated villages.

“It’s gonna take more billions of dollars than are in the entire federal budget to bring fiber to everybody – where with satellites, they can bring broadband to the world.”

Cropley says his tribal government has about $60 million from the federal government to spend on broadband projects over the next four years. And while that may sound like a lot, it’s not when you consider Alaska’s challenging geography.

Lesil McGuire represents OneWeb in Alaska and says federal money for tribal broadband helps put tribes in the driver’s seat.

“Prior to that, I think tribes were relegated to the back seat, where decisions would be made by companies, and they would hope they would be benefiting, but not always.”

OneWeb says it’s planning three more satellite launches next year, which will allow the company to offer global services.

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