Minnesota Native News

 A national nature refuge in Minnesota celebrates the opening of a new amphitheater that honors the site’s Indigenous history 

Native food trucks are becoming more popular to start family-owned and operated businesses.  Image: Anne O’Keefe and Frankie Jackson’s Food Truck “Wanna Wotapi.” Courtesy of Travis Zimmerman 

This week, we hear about how the box-office hit, Star Wars: A New Hope returns to the big screen in one of Minnesota’s Indigenous languages. Producer: Deanna StandingCloud

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This week on Minnesota Native News, the celebration of life and remembrance of those lost in the Sandy Lake Tragedy that took place in Northern Minnesota in the 1800s. And, a look at why Native Cannabis dispensaries have been operating while the rest are still waiting to open. Chandra Colvin has more. 

 This week, two examples in Minnesota that support the larger “Land Back” movement across Indian Country, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe’s new Chief Executive, urban Native-led organizations celebrate during a collaborative open house, and a new tribally operated recreational marijuana dispensary now open in Minnesota.  

A newly appointed Dakota-led design team restoring Owámniyomni, also known as St. Anthony Falls has plans to transform the Minneapolis site into a space that centers the land and its Indigenous history.

Photo: A design sketch of Owámniyomni envisioning the land after its restoration by a Dakota-led design team. Courtesy of Owámniyomni Okhódayapi.

This week, we discuss Two-Spirit Identity within Native Communities and the upcoming Two-Spirit Powwow in Minneapolis.  The Third Annual Two Spirit Pow Wow will be at South High School in Minneapolis on July 13th, 2024. 

This week, we’ll hear from the organizers of an Indigenous Writers Series in Duluth. The American Indian Housing Community Housing Organization, or AICHO, recently hosted State Poet Laureate Gwen Westerman and the award-winning author Linda LeGarde Grover. 

Image: Moderator Jill Doerfler, Ph.D., Linda LeGarde Grover, and Gwen Westerman during the Q&A portion of the Indigenous Writers Series event on May 18, 2024. Photo Credit: Ivy Vainio

This week, the newly established state Office of American Indian Health gets to work, a new database of Indian boarding schools helps Indigenous people trace their ancestry, and a Dallas Mavericks player honors his Standing Rock Sioux heritage on the court.

This week, the Hinckley-Finlayson School District Board officials voted unanimously to disallow a Native American student drum group to perform at their high school graduation ceremony on May 24th. The ruling garnered statewide attention. Image: Hinckley Finlayson Schools Native American Student Association Drum Group practices on the big drum. Credit: HFS NASA Advisors