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A D.C. appeals court is denying an Oglala Sioux Tribal request to review nuclear permits issued to a proposed uranium extraction project.

The move clears one of several federal permits that are under appeal.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Lee Strubinger has more.

The tribe says the Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not follow the process of the National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act to protect the tribe’s cultural and historic resources.

Travis Stills is an attorney with Energy and Conservation law out of Durango, CO.

He says the ruling means the NRC’s permits will get issued, but without a full assessment of what negative affects to cultural, resource and groundwater will be.

“It ends up on turning on some fairly technical questions of law, but the result is the court allowed the NRC to go ahead in licensing – without being informed on the serious impacts that its licensing would have on cultural resources of the Lakota, and especially the Oglala Sioux Tribe.”

The tribe has a 90 day period to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mark Hollenbeck is the project manager for the Dewey Burdoch site. He says the appeals court ruling is expected.

“We have won every one along the way and we expect it to continue that way. It’ll just go through the process.”

Hollenbeck has sought permits for the project since 2012.

Two EPA permits are also under review.

State permits for the project are on hold until federal permits appeals conclude.

Recently, Fall River County voters designated uranium mining as a nuisance. Backers say it halts uranium production in the county.

Project proponents call the measure illegal.

It’s unclear whether the designation will get challenged in court.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs recently released a report on missing and murdered Native Hawaiian women and girls.

The report was compiled after more than one year of data collection and work by a task force focusing on missing and murdered Native Hawaiian people.

Advocates, task force members, and state lawmakers recently held a press conference at the State Capitol in Honolulu to discuss the release of the first official report.

Some key findings include more than a quarter of missing girls in Hawaii are Native Hawaiian, Hawaii has the eighth highest rate of missing persons in the U.S., and the average profile of a missing person in Hawaii is a 15-year-old Native Hawaiian girl missing on Oahu.

Khara Jabola-Carolus is the executive director of the State Commission on the Status of Women and task force co-chair.

“On one hand these findings are startling and then on the other this report doesn’t really say anything new instead it vindicates and validates what Native Hawaiians, sex trafficking and gender-based violence service providers and feminist activist have been saying all along and have been told they are exaggerating or manipulating facts or simply providing an anecdote.”

Task force members say another concerning finding is documentation that shows the U.S. military directly contributes to child sexual exploitation in Hawaii – pointing to law enforcement operations involving men arrested for trying to have sexual encounters with 13-year-olds online.

Advocates are calling on the U.S. military to be on the task force.

They’re also seeking more data collection, and for state lawmakers to work with law enforcement, advocates, and survivors to craft policies to protect women and girls.

The task force was created by the state legislature in 2021. Another report is expected to be released in 2023.

 

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Rosebud tribal members are still digging out from winter storms.

Some are hauling wood to keep community members warm while truck drivers deliver propane to residents.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Lee Strubinger has more.

Wayne and Alex Romero Frederick load firewood onto a trailer just north of Tea.

The Lakotas from Okreek travelled to Sioux Falls to gather wood and other provisions to bring back to their neighbors.

Alex says they’ve dealt with extreme wind, snow, ice and cold the last two weeks.

“A lot of the firewood that was stored we can’t get to. A lot of the creeks are snowed in so deep so that we can’t cut wood. A lot of people ran out of wood.”

Wayne sits on the Rosebud Tribal Council. He says recovery efforts could take a while, especially as the region anticipates the two coldest months of the year.

“And there’s always going to be a big snow come March. How long is it going to take us to recover? It’s going to take us a year. The broken pipes. The houses that have been lost. That’s just the material things. We’ve lost some people.”

At least six people have died. Both Rosebud and neighboring Pine Ridge were slammed with back-to-back winter storms this December. The Rosebud tribe set up an online donation portal for blizzard relief efforts.

Governor Kristi Noem activated the National Guard last week.

Efforts to haul firewood from the Black Hills to Pine Ridge and Rosebud, as well as help with snow removal, are ongoing.

Travis Eagle Deer is the general manager for Sicangu Propane. He says the company is focusing on larger communities with the most homes in need of propane.

Eagle Deer says there’s no shortage of propane, rather an issue of getting trucks through narrow paths with snow drifts on either side of the road.

“That is making it impossible to get to some people’s houses in the community. So, we’re slowly working, removing snow, just so we can get access to certain homes,” Eagle Deer said. “It’ll probably still be a bit before we can get to some of the homes around the area just due to the large amount of snow drifts and plows need to widen roads for us.”

Eagle Deer asks residents to keep paths to their propane tanks clear and to widen their driveways if possible.

A new committee led by the Interior Department recently began work to identify place names considered derogatory and to recommend potential replacements.

Hannah Bissett from our flagship station KNBA has more.

On December 7 and 8, the Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names met for the first time.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland hopes the committee would accelerate a critical process of derogatory place names.

“From the very beginning the Biden-harris administration has worked to tackle racial injustice and inequity. That’s why one year ago it was the secretary’s orders to make this advisory committee to help us ensure that America’s public land are welcoming to everyone.”

In this meeting, they discussed what the term “Derogatory” means, creating sub-committees, and detailing future plans.

On the topic of the term “Derogatory,” Federico Mosqueda, Coordinator of the Arapaho Language and Culture Program, said the following: “We as a committee, need to challenge this definition. With some of the names coming up, I think what we need to do is to take the names we consider derogatory to us and challenge the name using their definition.”

He says this is important to push the point home by using experience and emotion to express the inappropriate nature of these place names and their hurtful histories.

The proposed subcommittees were: The federal land unit names subcommittee, the geographic feature names subcommittee, and the processes and principles subcommittee.

There was discussion on bringing on people who did not make it on to the committee to be a part of these subcommittees. Some of the committee members expressed interest in joining these subcommittees.

The subcommittee’s main job would gauge community voices.

“I already have in hand… a list of all departments of interior and forest service land unit names… at least in federal lands unit names committee, there is a list almost ready to go to provide to that subcommittee.”

That was Joshua Winchell, Staff Director of the National Park System Advisory Board. Winchell says that the subcommittees will be creating broad recommendations for the committee to decide on.

Winchell says it is important to have these subcommittees because they deal with different methods.

“For instance, we renamed a state park Sue-meg Yurok name, last year, and even after the park and recreation commission acted on that it had to go to the federal government.”

The general public will be able to provide input and engage with the committee’s discussion by making written comments and attending virtual meetings.

 

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A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate aims to hold the federal government accountable for the cleanup of abandoned mines on tribal lands and elsewhere throughout the country.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, an estimated 140,000 such sites nationally threaten public health and the environment.

The Legacy Mine Cleanup Act would dedicate $100 million to assist tribes with the remediation of abandoned uranium, copper, gold and other hard-rock sites.

Many of the mines in Indian Country haven’t received Superfund dollars because they’re not on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priority List.

According to sponsors, including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), the bill would better coordinate cleanup efforts between the EPA, federal agencies, and state, local, and tribal governments and create an emphasis list of abandoned sites across the country.

The legislation focuses on the cleanup of the more than 500 abandoned uranium mines on and near the Navajo Nation, which straddles 27,000 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Officials and residents have long attributed increased cases of lung and bone cancer, impaired kidney function, and other debilitating health conditions to the sites.

Between 1944 and 1986, almost 30 million tons of uranium ore were extracted from Navajo lands for Cold War nuclear weapons production.

The cleanup is expected to take many years and billions more dollars to complete.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. says he looks forward to working with a new Republican majority next month, as Congress ended the year without seating a Cherokee Nation delegate in the House of Representatives.

Hoskin has been calling on Congress to honor the treaty promise made by the U.S. government in the 1800s to seat a non-voting Cherokee delegate. The tribe was hopeful that would get done this year.

Hoskin says progress was made in 2022. The Cherokee Nation launched a nationwide campaign in September calling on Congress to act, and the House Rules Committee held its first hearing on the Cherokee Nation delegate in November.

Cherokee Nation citizen Kim Teehee, chosen by the tribe as its delegate, was also hopeful Congress would act before the end of the year.
Last month, Teehee told National Native News the tribe’s ultimate goal is to get her seated.

Teehee says she would represent the Cherokee Nation, but also recognizes the importance of increasing the representation in Congress for all tribal nations.

“Cherokee Nation is the direct recipient of being of my one constitute the Cherokee Nation government, but I’m mindful that the fact that Indian Country has too few advocates as it is.”

Her priorities for the Cherokee Nation include advocating for funding for services, and improving infrastructure, increasing broadband, and action on a language bill to help preserve Native languages.

House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern and Ranking Member Tom Cole recently committed to continuing to work on the Cherokee delegate issue next year.

The National Indian Health Board, the National Council on Urban Indian Health, and the National Congress of American Indians are celebrating the inclusion of advanced appropriations for the Indian Health Service.

The provision was included in the 2023 government spending bill signed last week.

According to the organizations, prior to this, IHS was the only federal healthcare provider without basic certainty of funding from one year to the next.

The IHS serves about 2.5 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Health advocates and tribal leaders have long raised concerns about Indian healthcare’s chronic underfunding, problems with funding disruptions, and the appropriations process.

 

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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.”

Earlier this month, 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.

 

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The Alaska Department of Corrections disclosed another inmate death this week — the eighteenth to die in state custody, the highest death rate in two decades.

“I’d like to know why they died, or how they died.”

State Senator Donny Olson would like to know more about the Alaska Native inmates who died.

Of the 18 deaths, nine were either Alaska Native or American Indian — and eight were from Olson’s district, which takes in a huge swath of the northernmost parts of the state.

“As a physician I value life very highly.  And to have deaths happen with this number, especially when so many of them are from my district, I am very disturbed by it.”

Senator Olson says he supports demands from the Alaska Civil Liberties Union for a full-scale investigation into this year’s prison deaths, one they say that the governor of Alaska has ignored.

His administration has said none of the deaths were suspicious or unusual. But Olson says, with half of them from one minority group, that should be a huge red flag.

Megan Edge, who heads up the ACLU’s prison project says, these deaths point to a systemic problem in Alaska prisons.

“It’s not surprising in that regard.  And I don’t mean that like to undermine it.  It’s incredibly sad.  But I think it goes to show that we’re still running a system that disregards the lives of Black and Brown people.”

Edge says the high rates of suicide, especially for Alaska Native inmates, are also cause for alarm.

The Department of Corrections said in a statement that its staff “takes every death very seriously, regardless of race or nationality,” and that “updated policy and procedures meet the ever-changing national standards set by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.”

Families of the inmates, who died in custody, have told the ACLU they’ve had trouble getting information from the state about how their loved ones died.

The Corrections Department says it can’t give out those details, citing medical privacy laws.  Sen. Olson has told families to contact his office, if they need help in learning more.

Olson is Inupiat, a physician, reindeer herder, pilot, and businessman.

An Arizona State University graduate says she wants to shape public policy to help change inequities Native Americans face. Alex Gonzalez has more.

Ty’Lesha Yellowhair says changing public policy that guides social services would not only ensure that tribal members receive the care they need, but also help to change the public perception of Native communities. She says tribal communities face challenges like any other, but they hold lots of strength and resiliency.

Yellowhair is from the Navajo Nation, originally from Kayenta, AZ, and currently works in the Office of Health Programs for the Phoenix Area Indian Health Services as a social service assistant. She says she wants her story to serve as an inspiration to others.

“I hope that my story being shared can change the image of what people have of Native communities – like, we too can become professionals. We too can deal with policy. We too have the power to change what’s happening around us.”

Yellowhair comes from a family of teachers, and is the first social worker and public administrator. She says her mother, a teacher of more than 50 years, was fundamental in helping her understand that people have different lived experiences.

Yellowhair says her childhood influenced the work she does today. She acknowledges that she grew up in a home with two educated working parents, and knows that wasn’t the case for everyone. Her graduate work led her to study violence in indigenous communities, specifically against Native women and children.

Yellowhair says she hasn’t met a single Native woman who wasn’t impacted by some sort of violence in her life – and she’s convinced there must be a greater focus on this issue.

“To me, that speaks volumes. And that is what continues to drive me, as a person who strives to be an advocate for my community.”

Yellowhair says she has the tools to fight for justice and reparations. She says she hopes to give back to her community and others by advocating through policy or fighting for systemic change.

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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.

 

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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