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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

Active shooter preparedness training is being offered to tribal communities across the country by a Louisiana State University academy.

The National Center for Biomedical Research and Training, Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education teaches mobile classes in Indian Country.

Robert Holden, the academy’s tribal liaison, says they’ve partnered with many tribes over the years to help them prepare and respond to emergency situations. He says the courses help participants learn how to better protect themselves, their communities and infrastructure from potential threats whether it’s in the classroom, a tribal office or elsewhere in the community.

Holden sees a more urgent need for the training today, pointing to recent gun violence in Texas and New York.

“We have program that provides training to tribal departments, public safety, can be utilized by emergency medical services, fire departments. It helps them to train, the things that they do on a regular basis, but it’s at no cost to tribal governments. We bring everything out, instructors who have taught in foreign nations and states and other entities across the world.”

Holden says the trainings are also tailored to meet Indian Country needs such as, taking into consideration each tribe’s culture, beliefs, decision making processes and jurisdictional issues.

Gun violence has been a hot topic across the country including in the nation’s capital. The U.S. Senate Thursday passed a bipartisan bill to address gun violence, which is now being considered in the House.

The National Congress of American Indians met in Alaska last week for its mid-year conference, focusing on top concerns facing tribal communities. As Emily Schwing reports, some tribal leaders are calling for more unity within the NCAI and others are seeking a shift in how sovereign nations describe and represent themselves.

The day before the mid-year conference convened, NCAI announced its CEO, Dante Desiderio, would not be in attendance. According to the statement, he is observing an administrative leave of absence. The statement says the “leave is appropriate under the organization’s policies governing the current situation,” but offered few other details. Harold Frazier, Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, said turmoil within NCAI is a problem for member Nations.

“That’s something that is really frustrating, because the fight’s out there and we can’t be fighting inside or internally. You know, I think we need to get back to the core functions of a government and advocating for better healthcare, more housing and things like that.”

During a general Assembly, Ron Allen, president and CEO of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Washington, called for a paradigm shift in how tribes present themselves in order to emphasize their sovereignty.

“Are you a tribe or are you a nation? They mean the same. Nation is more reflective of sovereignty… So you’re changing that paradigm and the perception of the outside world looking at you in terms of who you are. What you’re standing in is in America. So, I always say American Indian and Alaska Native governments are among the family of American government systems.”

NCAI’s annual convention will take place in Sacramento California in late October.

NCAI has not announced a theme or released any further details about the annual meeting.

The Milwaukee Bucks picked MarJon Beauchamp during Thursday’s NBA draft.

The Native athlete was the 24th pick in the first round.

Many in Indian Country closely watched and celebrated his selection.

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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

Interior Sec. Deb Haaland vows to continue to investigate U.S. Indian boarding schools and support healing efforts for tribal communities impacted by intergenerational trauma caused by the schools.

Many students faced physical, mental, spiritual and sexual abuse. And, many students did not make it back home.

Sec. Haaland testified Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the findings of her federal Indian boarding school initiative, which she announced last June.

A report released in May found there were 408 schools across the U.S. from 1819 to 1969, and about 53 marked or unmarked burial sites identified.

Boarding school policies focused on cultural assimilation, and the forced removal and relocation of Native children.

Sec. Haaland says as the investigation continues, the next step is to gather testimony, find support for healing, and resources for language and culture initiatives.

“I recently announced we will embark on the road to healing, a tour to hear directly from survivors and descendants. A necessary part of this journey will be to connect survivors and their families with mental health support, create a permanent collection of oral histories. We know this won’t be easy, but this is a history we must learn from if we are to heal from this tragic era in our country.”

The hearing also focused on Indian boarding school legislation (S. 2907) to create a commission to help locate and analyze records, and hold culturally appropriate hearings.

Sandra White Hawk, board president of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, was among a panel of Native leaders to testify in support of the legislation.

“It will open up wounds, but in order for us to heal we need to air out those wounds and replace them with the medicines that we have within our ceremonies, our songs along with our mental health professionals that can help us as well. Most importantly, what was taken from us our songs, our lifeways that will bring the healing when our wounds are open from that. There was an elder that was one of my teachers and he said we are people that are well acquainted with grief. And, I’ve watched and seen that as we’ve gone into communities and listened to experiences and watched healing take place.”

Senators on the Indian Affairs Committee, including chair Brian Schatz (D-HI), vowed to continue to push the boarding school legislation forward and to help find appropriations.

Click here to read the testimonies or watch the hearing

Leaders of an Indigenous community in Sonora, Mexico have banned outside tour operators from bringing visitors to their territory. Instead, they are asking tourists to arrange visits directly with members of the community. From the Fronteras Desk, KJZZ’s Kendal Blust reports.

The Comcaac New Year, the community’s most important celebration, is coming up at the end of this month. And ahead of what is often a popular tourist event, leaders are asking visitors to directly contract boat rides, lodging and other services with members of the community.

Alberto Mellado, who represents the tribe with the municipal government, says the request comes after years of abuse by outside tour operators that increases the marginalization of his community.

He says businesses charge tourists significant sums of money to bring them to Comcaac territory, but little if any of that money goes to members of the community.

He says the Comcaac nation wants tourists to visit, but is opposed to the benefits of those visits disproportionately going to outsiders – who take advantage of the beautiful land- and sea-scape that Comcaac people have protected for millennia.

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Tribal leaders are applauding President Joe Biden’s intent to appoint Mohegan Chief Marilynn “Lynn” Malerba as Treasurer of the United States.

She would be the first-ever Native American to serve in the position – among duties overseeing a new office of tribal affairs and serving as a key liaison.

National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp expressed her overwhelming support saying there’s much work to do in Indian Country on economic development, governmental tax parity for tribes, and addressing capital needs.

Sharp also noted the importance of having a Native American in the Treasury Department.

Native representation in all levels of government was discussed last week at the National Congress of American Indians mid-year gathering in Alaska.

Jenifer Nelson, board chair of the Aleut Corporation, says it’s great to see Native women making history in leadership roles pointing to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. 

“In my culture, very matriarchal. I watched my grandmother support local policy, very heavily influenced and even in the Unangan culture women sewed the skin boats for the hunters. So, they always played an integral role in making sure that our cultures survive and our people thrive.”  

Dalee Sambo, international chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, echoes the role of Native women in government and hopes to see more women become leaders on a global scale.

“The role that women play in all these diverse fora really reflects the exercise of good governance. Women more often than not, they ensure inclusion and also more transparency, more effectiveness in terms of how decisions are made. When you have woman in that position able to embrace so many others and significantly, we do it in our homes where those values we’re really able to carry them and practice them at all scales.” 

Sambo and Nelson made the comments during live coverage of the NCAI conference in Anchorage on Koahnic’s sibling radio station KNBA.

The White House on Tuesday announced the president’s intent to appoint Malerba as Treasurer of the U.S.

Leaders from Maine, Hawaii, Alaska, and Minnesota are testifying Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs about Indian boarding school legislation and a federal investigation.

According to the committee’s website, Chief Kirk Francis from Penobscot Indian Nation; President Sandra White Hawk from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition; Norma Ryūkō Kawelokū Wong Roshi, Native Hawaiian Policy Lead for the Office of Former Hawai’i Governor John Waihe’e; and La Quen Náay Liz Medicine Crow, President/CEO of the First Alaskans Institute are scheduled to testify, along with Sec. Haaland.

Click here to read their testimonies or watch the hearing live starting at 2:30pm ET

A thousand juvenile Chinook salmon were released last week in a creek near Bandon, OR.

As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, it’s the latest effort by the Coquille Tribe to restore numbers.

A tribal member sang a song to bless the salmon, which Coquille officials say are among the first of thousands more expected to be released this year.

The 2021 spawning project was done with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and other partners, after surveys showed Chinook salmon numbers had fallen to near extinction in the area.

In a video released by the tribe, Coquille tribal Chair Brenda Meade said she’s proud.

“Proud of the fact that we are all coming together as a community to make this happen because there’s no way the tribe could have done it by themselves. We gotta keep going though, this is just step one, it feels like baby-steps. But it’s the first thousand that are going out, and it’s something to celebrate.”

Invasive bass, climate change, and pollution are seen as factors in the decline of Chinook salmon. 

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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

The chief of the Mohegan Tribe, Lynn Malerba, has been tapped as Treasurer of the United States.

The announcement of President Joe Biden’s intent to appoint Chief Malerba was made Tuesday ahead of a visit by the Treasury Department to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.

Chief Malerba became chief of the Mohegan Tribe in Connecticut in 2010. She’s the first woman to serve as top leader in the tribe’s modern history.

Chief Malerba will also make history at the Department of Treasury as a tribal leader and Native woman to sign currency.

In a statement, Chief Malerba said she’s honored and that it’s important to have Native voices respected, adding her appointment by the administration underscores just that.

She will oversee a newly established Office of Tribal and Native Affairs to communicate with tribes and be a hub for tribal policy.

The Treasurer of the United States directly oversees the U.S. Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing – and is a key liaison with the Federal Reserve.

Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen will announce her appointment and the new tribal office during the visit Tuesday to the Rosebud reservation.

Canada’s Assembly of First Nations has suspended its National Chief Roseann Archibald. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, it comes a day after she criticized the organization and also faces an investigation over complaints against her.

Roseann Archibald, the country’s first woman to lead the most powerful Native organization in Canada, is calling the suspension a coup.

Now, she has become the first AFN chief to be locked out, even from her own emails, and it all comes less than a year after her historic election.

The AFN says the decision is regrettable, but the national chief has committed serious breaches of her obligations to the organization through her unfounded public attacks against the AFN.

Paul Prosper is an AFN regional chief from the east coast.

“She breached her obligations to the company contrary to her oath of office, to our code of conduct, and the whistle blower policy.” 

Archibald has faced allegations of bullying and harassment from four of her staff members. After that, the AFN brought in an outside investigator.

Archibald is calling it a smear campaign and says she has been trying to clean up the corruption within the organization and because of that she says she’s been undermined, discredited, and attacked.

The AFN would not disclose exactly what the complaints against her are.

Archibald has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of an investigation.

She will not be able to attend the annual general assembly or the chief’s assembly and is prohibited from discussing the investigation publicly.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will hold a hearing Wednesday on Indian boarding schools.

The hearing will examine the Interior Department’s investigative report on Indian boarding schools and the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (S. 2907).

Native leaders are scheduled to testify about the report, legislation and what action is needed next.

Advocates have been calling for the Senate committee to hold a hearing on the boarding school legislation and for the House version to be passed.

The Indian affairs committee hearing will be streamed online.

A week-long dugout canoe journey hosted by the Ho-Chunk Nation kicked off on Monday.

Tribal members and Native youth are making their journey along lakes and rivers in Wisconsin.

Tribal leaders say it’s an opportunity for youth to take part in the tribe’s culture, and say it provides an educational opportunity for the tribe to share history and culture with the public at stops along the way.

Journey updates are being posted on the Ho-Chunk Nation Facebook page.

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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales

Alaska Native leaders are concerned about climate and environmental issues. Those were among discussions last week at the National Congress of American Indians mid-year gathering in Anchorage. As Emily Schwing reports, leaders in Alaska and other states are seeing wildfires having an impact on their communities.

Earlier this month, the largest wildfire currently burning in the state of Alaska forced the evacuation of roughly 150 residents who live in the village of St. Mary’s, a small Yup’ik village located more than 300 miles west of Anchorage. George Beans is the President of Yupiit of Andreafski, one of two tribes in the village. 

“Right now, it was mostly the climate change. We’re dealing with a fire, a pretty big fire at home and I think climate change has a lot to do with these fires that are popping up. It’s just too dry.”

Beans said it was tough for him to decide if he should leave the village for the conference. 

“Well first of all, we had pre-registered and we invested a lot of our finances into coming to this meeting. They address a lot of issues here and there’s a lot of intercommunication between each other and that’s why I think it’s important. We get a lot of information and we can seek some help when we do need in different areas that we do need help.”

At more than 160,000 acres, the East fork fire is the largest fire ever to burn in Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region.

It’s also the largest tundra fire the state has seen in 40 years. As of Sunday, fire officials have reported managers have reached their objectives to contain the blaze.

A new art installation in Eugene, OR has visitors gazing at art, that in turn, gazes right back. 

KLCC’s Brian Bull reports on the “Culture Raising” installation and how it recognizes the region’s Indigenous people. 

Flashback to August 2021, and I’m on a stretch of sidewalk between a couple utility buildings and construction projects.

Charly Swing, director of Art City, points out what at first looks like an ordinary fence 100 feet long, 8 feet high, and with individual faces.

“Actually, two faces. Each is a youth and an elder, of Native American and Indigenous people, who live in our community.”

A growing awareness of the land’s original inhabitants, the Kalapuya, has helped Oregonians relate the past with the present. Tennepah Brainard, who goes by “T.J.” is the conceptual artist behind the Culture Raising project.  She’s of Coos/Apache heritage, and a student at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe. She coordinated photography of the subjects, whose images were transferred to the fence slats. 

“And so, I thought okay, let’s do like half a face and eyes, but after a while I realized that for me, it’s kinda of like doing Native American people just as people. Not like full-on headgear and regalia, just…see that we’re here, and this is us, and how we look very different and how we look like everyone else.’”

The Culture Raising installation is now up for several months and will be on display during the World Track and Field Championships in Eugene.

The slats will eventually be taken down and woven into a new form, which will be auctioned to help support new art pieces by Native Americans.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is gathering written comments on cannabis in Indian Country through July 8th.

The committee held a virtual listening session on the topic last week to hear from tribal leaders and other experts on tribal cannabis commerce and related equities.

The input will help inform the committee’s current work on tribal cannabis and for future use on national cannabis reform legislation.

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The state of New Jersey is suing the Ford Motor Company for dumping paint sludge and other toxic waste on Ramapough Lenape land for decades beginning in the 1960s.

Tribal members say the contamination is the source of numerous illnesses and even deaths.

CBS News reports the land contains arsenic, chromium, lead, and other toxins even after several clean-up attempts. The waste comes from the Mahweh auto plant that dumped thousands of tons of waste in the forests and mines in the area.

The commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection told CBS the automaker’s actions are the definition of environmental injustice. The state is seeking an undisclosed amount of money.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. has reversed a decision to stop flying the Oklahoma state flag at tribal facilities. KOCO-TV news reports Hoskin signed an executive order earlier this month banning the state flag on Cherokee properties. But he changed his mind after council members and citizens objected.

Hoskin originally said putting the Oklahoma flag on par with the tribal flag was inconsistent with tribal sovereignty. He says he’s since been persuaded by concerns that the action could deepen divisions between the tribe and the state.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that handed tribes expanded criminal jurisdiction has been the source of disagreements between tribes and Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK).

The state of New Mexico has reached a $32 million settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the 2015 Gold King Mine Spill. Contractors working for the EPA caused the release of thousands of gallons mine drainage into the San Juan and Animas Rivers.

The spill contained acids and toxic heavy metals that disrupted water use including drawdowns for drinking water and agriculture downstream on into the Navajo Nation.

The state filed suit against the federal government in 2016. Officials secured an $11 million settlement from the mining company on behalf of water users in 2021.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) rejected plans by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians for an off-reservation casino and resort.

The proposal for the $180 million project has been in the works for more than 14 years. Because it’s not on tribal land, it needs both state and federal approval.

The Interior Department signed off on the plan in December 2020 starting the clock for the state to act.

M-Live.com reports Gov. Whitmer informed the U.S. Department of Interior that she can’t approve the Little River Band project until she knows there’s a decision on the status of the Grand River Band, which would like pursue their own casino if they are granted federal recognition.

The Little River Band already operates a casino in another city.

Gov. Whitmer told Interior she would be willing to reconsider the project once the Grand River Band’s status is decided.

The Peacock Network show “Rutherford Falls” is premiering its second season. The comedy show has a Native storyline supported by a number of Native writers, producers and actors. KLCC’s Brian Bull catches up with Lakota actress Jana Schmieding about what’s in store for the show.

Schmieding plays Reagan Wells, a member of the fictitious Minishonka Tribe and friend to Nathan Rutherford, heir to the town’s colonial legacy. That legacy – and their friendship – was tested last season, but season 2 suggests they’re on to new misadventures.

Reagan: “Adversity makes us stronger.”

Nathan: “No Reag, is this sweater too sexy?”

Reagan: “For what?”

Nathan: “How about a vest?”

Schmieding says with the world-building of “Rutherford Falls” established in season 1, the writers cut loose with season 2.

“It’s a very comedy-forward season. We have things like a Halloween episode, we are doing some goofy stuff. Reagan decides that she wants to apply for a plot of land on her rez, so we see tribal bureaucracy this season, we have a pretendian episode.”

“Rutherford Falls” has won praise for its portrayal of Native Americans, due to its team of Indigenous writers.

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Anchor: Art Hughes

Texas cannot prohibit tribes from offering high stakes electronic bingo games. That’s the 5 to 4 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

It’s a major legal victory for the Alabama Coushatta and Ysleta del Sur tribes and a blow to the state that has worked for decades to prevent tribal gaming. The case boils down to who has the authority to control gaming.

Part of the argument from Texas relied on refuting precedent set in the California vs Cabezon Band of Mission Indians case which solidified tribes’ rights to pursue gaming.

That decision was instrumental in the subsequent Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). In this exchange during oral arguments in February, Justice Neil Gorsuch questions the counsel for the Texas Attorney General’s office on why the Cabezon decision should apply everywhere else, but be disregarded in this case.

In the majority opinion, Gorsuch wrote that the high court finds no evidence Congress endowed Texas law with anything like the power the state claims. The justices noted that Texas allowed charitable bingo while banning tribal bingo.

The decision says if the state doesn’t specifically prohibit the game, then it can’t impose the prohibition on the tribes. In a statement, the Alabama Coushatta tribal council chair said the court’s decision is an affirmation of tribal sovereignty and a victory for the Texas economy.

Photo: Provincial Archives of Alberta

There are renewed calls in Canada from some Indigenous leaders for criminal charges for abuses at the country’s residential schools.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the calls come a little over a year since tribal leaders say they found remains of more than 200 children at the former residential school site in British Columbia.

Since then, the possible remains of more than a thousand children have been found at other former school sites in Canada and searches with ground penetrating radar are also taking place at even more sites.

Indigenous leaders say they are also searching for justice, especially against those linked to running the schools or were involved.

Rose LeMay is the CEO of the Indigenous Reconciliation Group. LeMay says given the number and severity of abuses at the schools, she sees no reason why there should not be a criminal prosecution.

“I’m not entirely sure there was ever a good reason not to do criminal prosecution. What could it look like? It could be a national led investigation which could, conceivably be the RCMP. That raises some questions. The RCMP was likely one of the police forces that took many kids away from their families for the churches. The other question is whether it could be an international investigation such as the International Criminal Court to the Hague.”

The problem there is that the International Criminal Court does not investigate crimes prior to 2002. The last residential school in Canada closed in the mid 1990’s. However, LeMay says advocates want to see some kind of prosecution.

From the late 1800’s to the late 1900’s, more than 150,000 Native children were forced to attend the government-funded church-run Indian Residential Schools across Canada.

Thousands were physically, sexually, and emotionally abused. Many died.

Photo: Lacey Kinnart

A citizen of the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin is cleared of a murder charge after serving more than 17 years in prison for the crime.

Native News Online reports Danny Wilber is free from prison after his conviction for a 2004 murder at a house party.

Wilber largely acted as his own legal representative since he was put behind bars, but his appeal gained steam after a pair of forensic experts took up his case.

They concluded Wilber was convicted despite evidence that showed he could not have committed the crime. There were no witnesses who supported the prosecution’s case.

At the end of May, the Milwaukee District Attorney filed a motion to dismiss the charges.

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The National Park Service is renaming one of Yellowstone National Park’s largest mountains to honor Native Americans. Parks officials say the original name is an affront to Indigenous people. The new name reflects recommendations from the Rocky Mountain Tribal Council. Taylar Stagner from Yellowstone Public Radio reports.

Yellowstone National Park is changing the name of Mount Doane to First Peoples Mountain. It’s located east of Yellowstone Lake and settlers named the mountain after Gustavus Doane who has been cited as instrumental in the conquest of the area.

According to a Yellowstone National Park press release, Doane led an attack in 1870 against a band of Piegan Blackfeet and killed 173 Indigenous people including elders and children suffering from smallpox.

The event is called Maria’s Massacre and Doane boasted about that attack for the rest of his life. Tribes have been calling for the renaming of the mountain for many years. Two years after the massacre, Yellowstone was named the first national park.

Members of a Native American Methodist Church in Oklahoma said the congregation has been targeted numerous times by intruders who inflicted thousands of dollars of damages.

KCCO-TV reports officials with the church, located in Norman, thought the suspects were looking for money. Instead they left $10,000 worth of damages and stole candy and chips and drove a butcher knife into a table.

Reverend Justine Wilson said she thinks that was a message and many parishioners don’t feel comfortable coming back to the church until the suspects are caught.

The church had been raising money for a new sanctuary but that will now go towards repairing the damage.

Authorities in Brazil said on Tuesday they arrested a second man in connection with the disappearance of an Indigenous expert and a British journalist.

The New York Times reports officials were shifting from a search-and-rescue operation to homicide investigation. Police say they arrested the brother of a fisherman who was detained last week.

Journalist Dom Phillips was reporting on patrol teams that Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira helped create to tackle illegal hunting and fishing in the area – work that led to threats against Pereira.

Reuters reports the two were in a remote area that has the world’s largest number of uncontacted Indigenous people and has become a center for drug smugglers, illegal logging, and mining.

A Senate committee later this week will hold a listening session called “Cannabis in Indian Country”.

Marijuana Moment reports the Senate Indian Affairs Committee will meet on June 17.

Chairman Brian Schatz (D-HI) said it’s an opportunity for tribes to offer feedback to Senate staffers on cannabis issues.

In March, nine senators sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland urging him to direct federal prosecutors to not interfere with tribes that pursue cannabis legalization polices. The Department of Justice used to follow a guidance from the Obama Administration that embodied that kind of prosecutorial discretion.

But that was rescinded by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions along with another memo that sought to curtail prosecutions in states with legal cannabis markets.

The senators are urging Garland to reinstate that prosecutorial discretion.

A former tribal vice chairman and tribal council speaker for the Navajo Nation has died.

Edward T. Begay died on June 12. He was 87.

Begay helped secure the first gaming compact with the State of New Mexico.

He also led a delegation to the United Nations to advocate for the recognition of the human rights of the Navajo people.

Navajo council member Amber Kanazbah Crotty said, “Many of us are here because we were able to hear his words in fighting for our people and making decisions that are in the best interest.”

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Anchor: Art Hughes

Native Americans prosecuted in tribal court can be prosecuted again in federal court. That’s the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court this week.

The case involves Merle Denezpi, a citizen of the Navajo Nation. He was accused of rape, but was convicted of assault and battery in what’s known as a Court of Indian Offenses—a consortium of several Native nations that might not individually have the capacity to tackle court cases.

Following his conviction, he was released after serving less than five months in jail. Typically tribal courts can impose sentences of less than a year. He was then subjected to another trial for the same offense in federal court. There he was convicted of rape and sentenced to 30 years in prison. His lawyers argued the second trial amounted to double jeopardy.

The majority Supreme Court decision, however, concluded Denezpi’s separate trials were for violations of both a tribal ordinance and federal law, which are two separate things.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, though, is among the three dissenting justices, saying the case involved the same crime and same prosecuting authority” and the majority’s ruling is “at odds with the text and original meaning of the Constitution.”

Tribal officials are putting their support behind a bill to permanently ban new uranium mining near Grand Canyon National Park. They gave their testimony at a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing. Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, for decades, Southwestern tribes have been some of the most outspoken opponents of mining in the area.

The Grand Canyon Protection Act would make permanent a 2012 moratorium put in place by the Obama administration on new claims throughout more than a million acres near the park.

The Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining heard from supporters of the legislation.

Havasupai Chairman Thomas Siyuja Sr. submitted written testimony calling for the protection of the area’s groundwater and urged passage of the bill. The Havasupai Tribe lives in the Grand Canyon and has resisted uranium mining for decades. They say it could threaten their lands, sole water source and very existence.

In addition, Siyuja said one uranium mine less than 10 miles from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon endangers Red Butte, a sacred site to the Havasupai and an origin point of the tribe’s creation story.

Advocates for the bill, including U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) who sponsored the legislation, say the more than 600 active uranium claims near the canyon could eventually turn into mines without a permanent ban.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Grand Canyon Protection Act last year.

The uranium industry says new mining methods are safe and won’t contaminate area aquifers.

Minneapolis Indigenous restaurant Owamni won the restaurant world’s highest honor.

The James Beard Foundation awarded the restaurant the Best Restaurant in the nation at a ceremony at the Lyric Opera in Chicago.

Chef Shawn Sherman says he hopes the award helps to encourage more Indigenous restaurant openings.

Sherman opened the restaurant on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in 2021 with co-owner Dana Thompson.

The two received a previous James Beard award for their cookbook The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen.

Listen to Shawn Sherman’s 2019 conversation on Native America Calling

Listen to Dana Thompson’s 2021 conversation on Native America Calling’s regular feature The Menu

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is planning a visit to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.

The in-person appearance is intended to highlight the benefits of the Rosebud’s portion of federal America Rescue Plan money to offset the effects of the pandemic.

One tribal official told Reuters the 191-million dollars in ARPA money was a “lifesaver” for the tribe.

Officials say much of the money will go toward building affordable housing for tribal members living on the reservation.

Reuters reports there’s no record of any treasury secretary visiting any Native reservation.

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Anchor: Megan Kamerick

The National Congress of American Indians placed CEO Dante Desiderio on administrative leave just as the organization starts its mid-year conference in Anchorage.

In a written statement, NCAI President Fawn Sharp called the timing of the action “inopportune”, but says it’s “necessary and proper to fulfill governance duties and to abide by NCAI’s policies and procedures.”

The statement declined to provide any additional details. NCAI’s conference in Alaska is the organization’s first in-person conference in almost two-and-a-half years.

Meanwhile, Indianz.com paints a picture of dissatisfaction with NCAI from member tribal leaders and points to an inability to connect with members, slow progress with hiring goals, and continued high staff turnover.

NCAI says Desiderio is not separated from the organization and that team leaders from the executive committee will take over day-to-day duties and ensure the mid-year conference continues operations as expected.

In Oklahoma, a Cherokee Nation gaming subsidiary will pay $450 million for a Mississippi casino, currently owned by MGM Resorts.

KODE and the Las Vegas Review Journal report the tribe plans to expand gaming outside of Oklahoma with the purchase. The Gold Strike Tunica casino is located on the Mississippi River about 30 minutes from Memphis and has over 1,100 luxury rooms. It features high stakes gaming as well as a conference center and dining.

Cherokee Nation Entertainment Gaming already owns and operates the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa and nine other tribal casinos. It’s also pursuing another casino in Arkansas after regulators issued the state’s final casino license to the tribe in late 2021.

The U.S. Army has begun another disinterment at the site of the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School to reunite the remains of eight Native American children with family members.

WITF reports the children were from the Washoe, Catawba, Umpqua, Oneida, Ute, and Alaskan Aleut tribes.

It’s the fifth such disinterment with the remains of 21 Native American children returned to date. The school was operated by the Department of Interior from 1879 until 2018 with the motto “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.”

More than 10,000 children attended the school from approximately 50 different tribes and more than 180 died from hunger and disease.

Starting in 2016, some remains began being returned as tribes reached out to the Department of the Army.

The Army reimburses families for their travel to participate in a transfer ceremony. It also funds the cost for transport and reinternment.

The Portland Museum of Art and tribal leaders held a transfer ceremony recently to return nine objects of cultural patrimony to the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

The museum said the objects were collected by a school superintendent in Wrangell and Skagway, AK between 1921 and 1944. After his death, the museum purchased them from a dealer in 1948.

The Central Council and the Wrangell Cooperative Association claimed the items in 2002 under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

The objects included a Killer Whale Hat from the original Chief Shakes House Flotilla, robes, a Mudshark hat, Mudshark shirts, and the Storm Headdress.

Kathleen Ash-Milby (Diné) is curator of Native American Art for the museum.

She said in a press release that by returning these objects, the museum can begin to “repair a complicated history between Indigenous people and museums.”

Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe/Greenpeace

The bodies of a missing Brazilian Indigenous expert and a British journalist may have been found in the Amazon rainforest.

The Guardian reports Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips went missing a week ago when they were returning from a reporting trip. An aide to the Brazilian ambassador to the UK gave the news to Phillips’ family and said the men were tied to a tree.

But federal police are apparently denying the aide’s comments. However, they did confirm personal belongings of the men and “biological material” had been found. That discovery was due to a small but determined Indigenous search team.

Pereira had faced threats for his work in the region where he helped 26 Indigenous tribes monitor and protect their land from illegal loggers, miners, hunters, and fishers.

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