National Native News

A long-standing argument over funding for law enforcement on northwest Montana’s Flathead Reservation is over – for now.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton reports Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) has signed off on funding to help county and tribal officials hash out a long-term plan.

For years, Lake County and Gov. Gianforte have sparred over who’s financially responsible for prosecuting tribal members for felonies on the Flathead Reservation.

Lake County has historically done that work under an agreement known as Public Law 280. But the county says it can no longer afford that service.

Both the county and the state had planned to leave the agreement.

That would mean federal law enforcement would take over, but federal officials have said they don’t have the resources.

This session, county, state, and Confederated Salish and Kootenai (CSKT) officials hashed out a plan.

The state is providing $6 million over the next two years to help transition more cases to tribal courts.

CSKT Spokesperson Rob McDonald says some of that work has already started.

“We have in the past 18 months or so taking on more than 150 felonies and increased our efforts to reduce the workload on the county.”

But Lake County is expected to continue handling more serious felonies that require prison time.

The CSKT and Lake County are required under the new law to hash out an agreement laying out the balance of cases each will take on.

This month has seen many awareness events across Indian Country for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP).

This included an event in Gresham, Oreg., organized by MMIW Search and Hope Alliance.

Honor songs were sung with dancing – and people affected by the murders or disappearances of Native people shared their stories before an audience.

Kim Lining is founder of MMIW Search and Hope Alliance.

She says there was power in what people shared about their missing or murdered relatives.

“The power lies in experience. So many times, people say they understand, but sometimes they don’t. And they don’t understand because they haven’t seen it firsthand from experience. So when you bring in surviving family members, family members that are still searching for their loved ones, it brings a different environment of emotion to the audience that’s listening.”

While many cases remain unsolved, one outcome brought relief: Louann Aiken, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota, was found alive on May 10 in Portland, Oreg., after a two-year disappearance.

Lining says she verified it was Aiken, then contacted her relatives.

“A lot of tears, a lot of relieved emotions. And some sadness because of the situation, she’s been missing for so long. We did offer them help if they needed help to come out and take Louanne home if Louanne chose to go home. We’re just letting them as a family kinda figure that out. And if they so choose to take us up on that, then we have offered to bring them out here so that they can travel as a family back home to North Dakota.”

Lining says her organization will hit its one year anniversary in July.

She says the celebration will focus on volunteers, who keep things going.

Lining says while MMIW Search and Hope Alliance is largely a regional effort, they try to help with national cases. This includes the Oklahoma City case of Seneca Shemayme, whose family says he was killed in a deliberate hit-and-run last October.

MMIP events will continue through May.

Those who want to get involved can contact their tribes or look up community calendars.

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Tribal leaders from across the country spoke out last week at a U.S. Senate hearing against recent changes within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Others are eyeing how potential cuts to the department’s Indian Health Service (IHS) could affect Native communities.

The Alaska Desk reporter Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more.

HHS announced in March that it would cut 20,000 health jobs and close regional offices.

That was in response to an executive order from President Trump to optimize the workforce across the federal government.

The senate hearing looked at how that decision could harm HHS programs that benefit Native Americans.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) chaired the hearing.

“These aren’t just federal services. They’re really critical components of the social safety net, and my view is that these programs support family stability, child development and basic dignity.”

One of the witnesses at the hearing was Melissa Charlie, the executive director of the Fairbanks Native Association.

The association provides a Tribal Head Start program offering educational and cultural activities. The association also receives HHS funds for emergency shelter for survivors of domestic violence.

“As women leave a domestic violence situation with just the clothes on their back, they can’t afford the temporary housing, not in Fairbanks, and especially in remote Alaska.”

The senate hearing focused on HHS programs that are not part of IHS, but that agency might be also facing changes.

The Trump administration has proposed cutting $900 million from IHS.

William Smith is a National Indian Health Board Chairman. He said the proposal would lead to closure of clinics, losses of essential staffing, and an increase in preventative deaths in Native communities.

“When we talk about the budget cuts to the Indian Health Service, these are not just budget numbers, you know. These are our lives.”

Smith says that the federal government has treaty and trust obligations to ensure Native people have access to healthcare.

“We paid with our land, we paid with our health, we paid with our culture.”

The Indian Health Board wrote letters to the HHS secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., speaking up against the cuts.

Sec. Kennedy was not at the Senate hearing, but was present at two Congressional hearings that same day.

Sen. Murkowski said the concerns of tribal health officials will be shared with him.

(Courtesy Elderberry Wisdom Farm)

A farm in Salem, Oreg. that teaches Traditional Ecological Knowledge to youth has just had some federal funds unfrozen.

After President Donald Trump took office this year, many federal agencies have weathered cuts, cancellations, and freezes.

That includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which had previously approved three grants to Elderberry Wisdom Farm.

Board president, Rose High Bear, explains its mission.

“The roots of traditional ecological knowledge are grounded in our spirituality. And a lot of people have forgotten their traditions, and we need to restore our own native spirituality and our relationship with our oldest grandmother, the mother earth.”

High Bear says U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-OR) helped restore one grant worth $750,000.

Elderberry Wisdom Farm is now looking for interns to do Native stewardship practices.

One will be planting trees in a lower-income area of Salem.

“We have heat waves here in Salem, when you’ve got a low tree canopy, it can be 30 degrees hotter than in the more prosperous neighborhoods. So we’re really committed in a number of ways to help our ecosystem and to help our young people to get into careers that are more fulfilling to them.”

High Bear says funding still remains a concern, as the internship program’s account will dry out next year.

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Montana’s Native families face higher rates of separation with a disproportionate number of Native kids in foster care.

A nonprofit in Lodge Grass is developing a center aimed at keeping tribal families together and out of social services.

MTPR’s Victoria Traxler has more.

Mountain Shadow Association recently began construction of a family healing center to support communities on the Crow Reservation.

Executive Director Megkain Doyle explains addiction and behavioral health issues can break apart families.

She says children from the reservation are often sent to foster care families out of state when these issues arise.

The center, called Kaala’s Village, aims to change that.

“That’s what Kaala’s Village is really trying to do is provide this consistent and constant relationship and connection and to help repair those places where connection and relationship are broken.”

The center’s approach is based in restorative justice, which aims to address the root cause of crimes, instead of incarceration.

Doyle says they hope to help break cycles of abuse and trauma.

Kaala’s Village was developed from years of direct dialogue between the nonprofit and Lodge Grass community members.

“They really wanted it to be a safe place for them and for their children. And they also wanted to make sure that they were gonna be surrounded by people who shared similar goals with them in recovery.”

The 13-acre campus will have housing, along with a preschool and caretakers to help supervise children.

Doyle says they hope to fully open by the end of 2026.

Extreme heat can affect the health of pregnant mothers.

As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Yvette Fernandez reports, a new study shows the warming climate is adding to that risk, and several states in the Mountain West region are leading the way.

One of the most significant findings from the Climate Central study is that excessive exposure to heat can lead to premature births.

The policy neutral organization’s Vice President of Science Kristina Dahl says heat incidents can have lasting effects on the baby and the mother.

It’s exacerbated by their “socio-economic vulnerability.”

Air conditioning in areas that are experiencing hotter summers is important.

“So people who have less access to cooling, have less of an infrastructure around preventative health care, tend to be more at risk when it comes to extreme heat exposure.”

Lower income women are disproportionately affected.

In the Mountain West region, Utah experienced the most additional pregnancy heat-risk days during the past five years.

Overall, the study shows Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico experienced among the highest number of pregnancy heat-risk days in the country.

“Navajo Highways”, a new children’s television series, is helping teach kids the Navajo language.

The live-action puppet series follows the summer adventures of Sadie, a young girl from an urban background who spends time with her Navajo grandmother.

Through the guidance of her family and community, she explores Navajo traditions, language, and values.

Lori Tapahonso is a co-producer of the show.

“It is an accompaniment to any kind of immersion program but also a standalone language program that teaches children about culture and language in a fun and engaging way. It encourages families to learn together but also children can learn on their own.”

The series is written and directed by Pete Sands with support from the Navajo Nation and the New Mexico Public Education Department.

The series will soon be featured on First Nations Experience (FNX)’s new streaming platform.

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Acclaimed Indigenous chef Sean Sherman is expanding his nonprofit to Montana.

Yellowstone Public Radio’s Ruth Eddy has more about his plans in Bozeman.

“So we’ve got ground elk, onions, delicata squash. We just chopped it up real fine. It’s got sumac, cedar, and salt in it “ 

Chef Rob Kinneen with the nonprofit Indigenous Food Lab is grilling at the kitchen of Fork and Spoon in Bozeman.

The social enterprise restaurant run by the Human Resources Development Council (HRDC) serves pay what you can meals five nights a week, but also rents out its commercial kitchen.

“Our goal is to try and get food access to tribal communities all across the state, and that’s what we’re hoping to do right here in this building”

Sean Sherman’s restaurant in Minneapolis was named James Beard’s best restaurant in America in 2022.

Owamni highlights Indigenous ingredients by removing colonial ingredients like dairy, wheat, flour, cane sugar, beef, pork, and chicken.

Tonight’s 7 course pop up does the same.

The elk skewer is plated on top of a dark red circle of sauce made from currents, topped with fresh ramps, and drizzled with a pine syrup. Sherman explains.  

“We harvested this pine cut it all up and then we’re going to cook it down with some maple syrup and some water and just let it simmer for a long time till the water starts to evaporate but it’ll absorb a lot of this pine flavor”

This is the only Bozeman pop-up on the calendar for the time being, but Sherman says he hopes a restaurant in Bozeman isn’t too far away.

Sherman says their first step is improving Native food access, and making educational videos. 

Megan Vincent was one of 80 guests at the pop up. She is a culinary arts teacher at a high school in Lewistown.

She said the food was amazing, and the braised bison and wild rice flan were favorites. 

“I want to figure out that dessert. I really want the dessert recipe, to see if I can make that with them. I think the idea of making desert taste that good without using those standard ingredients like sugar and dairy would be an amazing experience.”

(Courtesy PBS Kids)

The next season of the PBS KIDS show “Molly of Denali” will be the last for the foreseeable future.

KTOO’S Jamie Diep reports.

The team behind the award-winning children’s TV show will stop working on new content.

The show is widely celebrated in Alaska because it features an Alaska Native lead character and showcases Alaska Native culture.

This comes as the Trump administration is cracking down on federal funding.

But Alaska State Writer Laureate Vera Starbard, who is a writer and story editor for the show, says that’s not the full story.

While she and other writers knew the decision was in the works before the presidential election last year, she says they didn’t get the official announcement until recently.

And she says she doesn’t think there’s just one reason for the decision.

“What I don’t want is for a show this great and this exceptional to be put into this very polarized political lens of ‘it’s x person that did it. It’s this x action that did it.’ It’s actually a lot of sort of typical television reasons. I do think the funding atmosphere that has been tough for a while, political atmospheres, those all for sure, contribute to the much bigger reasons.”

This is not the end for the show though – another season will air – but PBS is not commissioning another season of the show.

“Molly of Denali” premiered in 2019 and was the first nationally distributed children’s program to feature Indigenous main characters.

The show won its first Emmy Award earlier this year for an episode written by Juneau resident X̱’unei Lance Twitchell.

He and Starbard were among several Alaska Native writers who contributed to the show during its run.

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Photo: A ballot booth at the polling station in Wyoming Indian High School’s Tech Center in Ethete, Wyo. (Lindsay D’Addato / Flickr)

A group of Democratic lawmakers are warning an election bill would make it more difficult for Native Americans to vote in national elections.

Christina Aanestad reports.

Democratic Senators from California, Hawaii, and Oregon are warning the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would disenfranchise Native American voting rights.

A letter sent to Secretary of the Interior says the requirement that voters use ID to register that shows the place of birth would be hard to meet, since the majority of Tribal IDs lack that data.

The letter signed by more than a dozen senators representing 10 states also says the SAVE ACT would force Tribal voters who live in rural and remote locations to travel significant distances to prove their citizenship just so they can register to vote.

Native communities often rely on mail-in voting because of a lack of infrastructure and transportation.

The letter says the president’s executive order penalizes states that accept absentee or mail-in ballots received after Election Day, harming Native voters in states like Alaska, North Dakota, Oregon, and California that process ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

In Alaska, which has 229 federally recognized Tribes, vote-by-mail polling sites can be hundreds of miles away for villages that are not on the road system, making vote by mail essential the lawmakers write.

Among the signatories are U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Tina Smith (D-MN) as well as Democratic senators from Nevada and Hawaii.

Pope Leo XIV during an audience with the media May 12, 2025. (Photo: Edgar Beltrán, The Pillar / Wikimedia)

Canada’s Indigenous community is, for the most part, welcoming the new pope.

But as Dan Karpenchuk reports, many are hoping that the new pontiff, Leo XIV, will continue his predecessor’s legacy when it comes to reconciliation.

Pope Francis was praised for his historical apology to Canada’s Indigenous people for the role of the Catholic Church in the notorious residential school system.

For over a hundred years, from the mid-1800’s, the government funded schools, run by churches, were aimed at assimilating Native children into white culture.

Thousands were physically and sexually abused, many died.

Survivors of the schools say the apology from Pope Frances was long overdue. But some, like Geraldine Shingoose, say it wasn’t enough and there needs to be more dialogue with the new pope.

“Not with Indigenous leadership, or the federal government of Canada. But with residential school survivors. That needs to happen.”

Meanwhile the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, says there is still a lot of work to do.

“I hope that we can work on reconciliation together, continue on the hard work that the late pope had left for us to finish. And there’s lots of work to do.”

Among the issues still remain are the repatriation of Indigenous artifacts from the Vatican collection, and she wants more education around the church’s role in the residential school system, and to make the world a better place.

Natasha Singh. (Courtesy AFN / Facebook)

The Alaska Federation of Natives will hold its annual October convention in Anchorage.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more.

The theme this year is “Standing Strong, Standing United”.

The keynote speaker is Natasha Singh, President and CEO of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

AFN President Ben Mallott says Singh was chosen because of her commitment to unity and her extensive experience in bringing tribes together to work for common causes.

Just recently, after a two-year hiatus, two major tribal organizations – Tanana Chiefs and Tlingit and Haida – announced that they were rejoining the AFN, the largest statewide Native organization in Alaska.

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Photo: A post marks where Enbridge’s Line 5 crosses the reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa on Friday, June 24, 2022. (Danielle Kaeding / WPR)

Federal regulators said in a hearing Tuesday that data doesn’t support a Wisconsin tribe’s claims that a pipeline project will violate its water quality standards.

As Danielle Kaeding reports, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa says Canadian energy firm Enbridge is underestimating impacts from its Line 5 reroute.

Enbridge wants to reroute the oil and gas pipeline after Bad River sued to shut down and remove Line 5 from its lands.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a hearing over the tribe’s objection to permitting the project under the Clean Water Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency says Bad River didn’t submit data or studies that show water quality violations would occur, but Bad River Tribal Chair Robert Blanchard says permitting the project would cause irreparable harm.

“Whatever happens upstream from our reservation will affect the waters that we and many others depend on for survival.”

Enbridge’s environmental projects manager Joe McGaver disputes that.

“The Line 5 project will not impact Bad River’s water quality standards. We designed the project for that to be the end result.”

The tribe says the reroute would have a negative impact by filling wetlands, blasting bedrock and disrupting groundwater flows.

Enbridge and its consultants say wetland impacts will be temporary and blasting won’t affect groundwater or nearby wells.

Disclosure: Enbridge is a sponsor of National Native News.

Mayflower Island viewed from Gastineau Channel on Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Photo: Clarise Larson / KTOO)

The federal government may soon return a traditional subsistence site connected to Douglas Island in Southeast Alaska to its original tribal owners.

KTOO’s Clarise Larson reports.

Mayflower Island is a small, 3-acre island adjacent to Douglas Harbor and Sandy Beach.

It’s near the site of the former Douglas Indian Village, which Douglas’ city government burned in 1962.

The City and Borough of Juneau formally apologized for the burning last fall.

At a Juneau Assembly lands, housing, and economic development meeting last week, members gave initial approval for a plan that would acquire the island from the federal government and then give it to the Douglas Indian Association (DIA).

DIA officials did not respond to KTOO for a request for comment.

Dan Bleidorn, the city’s Lands & Resources manager, says this is a plan that has been years in the making.

“This is on the list of 2025 Assembly goals for community wellness and public safety. The goal states to support Douglas Indian Association’s efforts to acquire Mayflower Island.”

The island once served as a traditional subsistence site and yielded a herring run and spawn used by DIA.

DIA is currently in the process of building a cultural learning center near former site of the village.

According to a spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the property has been under the federal government’s stewardship since 1890.

The island was originally reserved for the U.S. Navy to use as a naval station, but, in 1948, it was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Mines, which constructed a mineral laboratory on the site to process ore samples for research.

The BLM took over the property in 1996 when Congress closed the Bureau of Mines.

The U.S. Coast Guard also used the site under an agreement with the BLM, but that ended in 2023.

Bleidorn says the actual property transfer is likely still a few years out. But the Juneau Assembly’s approval is the next step in moving that process along.

The resolution will still need to come before the Assembly for final approval.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is holding a hearing Wednesday on public health and social services for Native Americans.

The hearing will examine federal programs serving Native Americans across the Department of Health and Human Services.

The hearing comes as the committee’s leaders, U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Brian Schatz (D-HI), recently sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., raising concerns about potential impacts on Native communities with Trump administration workforce reductions and funding cuts.

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Photo: The Alaska Native Heritage Center’s new boarding school exhibit includes an interactive map. (Rhonda McBride)

A new exhibit on Native boarding schools has opened in Anchorage at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, it reveals new research into how churches and the federal government teamed up to operate schools in Alaska.

Bob Sam is a Lingít Culture Bearer from Sitka.

“This is a really difficult subject we’re talking about.”

Earlier this month, Sam opened a day-long summit on boarding schools at the Heritage Center to help Alaska Natives emotionally prepare for the exhibit and discussions that could awaken old traumas.

Bob Sam, a Lingít elder from Sitka, is an expert on the use of Native language and culture to heal. He led a ceremony at the end of the boarding school summit to help bring closure to the historical trauma. (Photo: Rhonda McBride)

As Sam shared an ancient story about how the Arctic wind tormented humans, he made the sound of the wind.

“The wind can be born a whisper.”

The wind never really goes away, Sam says, but once its nature is understood, it can be dealt with.

National Native News host Antonia Gonzales moderates a discussion on the new research into Alaska Native boarding schools with Emily Edenshaw, president of the Alaska Native Heritage Center, and Benjamin Jacuk, director of Indigenous research at the center. (Photo: Thea Lawton)

Emily Edenshaw, president of the Heritage Center, says the center’s research is part of a larger effort to bring about truth and healing from boarding school trauma by first understanding what took place.

“Every single Indigenous person across the country has been impacted, either directly or indirectly, from boarding schools.”

Edenshaw says the Heritage Center has gained unprecedented access to the Rev. Sheldon Jackson archives at Princeton University, where he studied before he became a famous Presbyterian missionary and, later in 1885, a General Education Agent for the territory of Alaska.

History often gives him heroic status, a religious leader who brought education and even reindeer herds to help Alaska Natives.

But the research reveals a darker picture, where the boundaries of church and state were crossed – in which military methodologies and religious life coalesced into schools that were run more like prisoner of war camps.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center and Koahnic Broadcast Corporation held a day-long summit on Native boarding schools on May 2 to coincide with the opening of a new exhibit that looks at how the federal government and churches teamed up to educate Alaska Native children. (Photo: Rhonda McBride)

Benjamin Jacuk, the Heritage Center’s director of Indigenous Research, is also an ordained minister and a descendant of Native boarding school students.

“Where did all this stuff come from?”

He says churches and the federal government had the same mission — to either displace or assimilate Alaska Natives.

Jacuk says the records show their motive was resource extraction.

“It’s really important to recognize that this version of Christianity was so interwoven with nationalism that you couldn’t pull apart being a quote American in terms of the way that they defined American or a Christian.”

The summit that preceded the opening of the exhibit also brought together many survivors of boarding schools, who told of harsh punishments for speaking their Native language, as well as physical and sexual abuse.

The Heritage Center says work goes on to document these stories.

Disclaimer: Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, which owns National Native News and KNBA, co-hosted the boarding school summit at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

(Courtesy MHA Nation Tourism / Facebook)

A new grant program in North Dakota aims to help tribes promote tourism.

Mike Moen has more.

A bill recently signed by the state’s governor sets aside $100,000 for North Dakota’s five tribal nations for tourism-related projects.

Kiera Fox of the MHA Nation Tourism Department says her team can use it to improve signage and other needs, while promoting their history in a culturally appropriate way.

“We get to tell our stories with our own voices, you know, reeducate a little bit, correct some of those misconceptions everybody has about Native Americans.”

She says MHA Nation is off the beaten path. So, more visibility with signs might convince drivers to take a detour and check out sites, including a local museum and the Crow Flies scenic overlook.

The bill sailed through the Legislature with minor opposition.

However, the final sum is lower than the proposed $500,000.

Bill sponsors say the initiative benefits regional economies, with promotion from tribal and non-tribal areas working hand-in-hand.

As for Indigenous communities, Fox says having more tourists spend money locally expands their revenue base.

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Photo: Luke Goodrich, senior counsel at the Becket Fund, speaks for his client, Apache Stronghold, on May 7, 2025. (Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ)

A federal court has temporarily halted the federal government’s plan to transfer Oak Flat, a tribal sacred site in Arizona, to Resolution Copper.

The transfer was expected to take place as early as June.

Apache Stronghold – a coalition of Apache people, other Native people, and non-Native allies – filed an emergency request to halt the transfer while the Supreme Court considers the case.

That request was granted on Friday.

The coalition has been fighting the land transfer for years saying the copper mine threatens religious freedom, while Resolution Copper has touted jobs and an economic impact.

New Mexico and Colorado recently created alerts for missing Indigenous people.

Now Arizona is poised to join them with its own “turquoise alert.”

As Gabriel Pietrorazio reports for the Mountain West News Bureau, a legislative bill awaits the governor’s signature.

Had the Turquoise Alert already been law, bill sponsor State Rep. Teresa Martinez (R-AZ) says it could’ve helped find 14-year-old San Carlos Apache Emily Pike.

“Not only was she killed, but she was dismembered. And it breaks my heart that we in the state of Arizona didn’t even go looking for this little girl.”

Another supporter is State Rep. Myron Tsosie (D-AZ) from the Navajo Nation. He remembers 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike, who also went missing.

Her 2016 death aided in bringing Amber Alerts to Indian Country.

“This is for Shiyázhí Emily Pike, this is for Shiyázhí Ashlynne Mike and many others who are still missing. This is for you.”

Jeffrey Lazos-Ferns (Yaqui) speaks to a group of reporters about the importance of specific plants to Indigenous peoples in Arizona.

Native experts in foraging for traditional food are sharing some of their recommendations.

Chuck Quirmbach of station WUWM reports.

In Papago Park, east of Phoenix, Twila Cassadore points to the base of a Palo Verde tree where small branches, dried leaves, and other plant matter have formed the ground nest of a desert wood rat.

Cassadore says the rodent is both a source of nutrition, and knowledge.

“Many of us may not think much about the desert wood rat. But as people who study environmental science and engineering, this friend of ours, also delicious friend, will tell us about climate change.”

Cassadore is a traditional food forager and educator with the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

She explains to a tour organized by the Society of Environmental Journalists that other researchers have found that as the planet warms, the wood rat uses larger plant material to shade or insulate its home.

Twila Cassadore (San Carlos Apache), a food sovereignty advocate and educator, examines the seeds of a mesquite tree during a talk on the importance of desert plants to Indigenous peoples in Arizona.

But where the rat is plentiful, as it is here in the Sonoran Desert, it can also be a source of what Cassadore calls pre-reservation food, from before the years when the U.S. government forced Native people away from their longtime homes.

“They took everyone away from the landscape where they originally foraged from and hunted from.”

Helping Cassadore with the effort to discover more traditional foods is Jeffrey Lazos-Ferns, a naturalist and member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.

He points to blossoms and seeds on the Palo Verde tree.

“These flowers, you can make tea out of them. Also, the pods which you may be seeing some of the younger trees out here, they taste like edamame, so you can eat them fresh off the tree, or you can till them, boil them, put salt on them, or store them, for the season you actually do want to use them.”

Lazos-Ferns says some larger cities like Tucson have started to plant more Indigenous plants that need less water or no fertilizer and  be a source of  food or medicine.

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Photo: White Mountain Petroglyphs in southwestern Wyoming. (James St. John / Flickr)

Protections for Indigenous rock art in Wyoming are in limbo after state lawmakers and the Trump administration took potentially conflicting actions related to them.

Kathleen Shannon has more.

Senate File 91, which handily passed the state Legislature, increased the penalties for any kind of petroglyph or pictograph site destruction to a $750 fine and up to six months in prison.

The measure moved forward as the U.S. Department of the Interior fast-tracked energy projects through a decades-old legal review of such sites.

Crystal C’Bearing, tribal historic preservation officer for the Northern Arapaho Tribe, said she used to have 30 days to comment on a project, but now has seven.

“In terms of tribes, our sacred sites and our places of significance, that’s our history on the ground. It’s not in books, it’s on the land. So it’s really important for tribes to have that voice in there to protect those sites.”

The original Wyoming bill included nearly $500,000 for the state’s Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources to survey and make 3D models of Wyoming’s petroglyphs, but it was ultimately cut.

According to a 2024 “State of the Art” report, of the nearly 1,100 Indigenous rock art sites across Wyoming, about a quarter have been vandalized or defaced.

Beyond Wyoming’s borders, C’Bearing noted her office provides legally mandated consultation on any projects in her tribe’s ancestral migratory territory, which includes portions of 17 states. She added she takes on hundreds of requests.

“That 30-day window was barely enough time. Now we have to kind of prioritize those so we can push them through. But it’s a challenge.”

C’Bearing emphasized the office is allowed to request more time to review projects, giving consultants some leeway.

When Native-owned businesses first begin navigating the market, it can be a challenge.

However, one organization is providing more than financial support to business owners.

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

The Four Bands Community Fund offers support alongside loans for Indigenous-owned businesses – and these programs directly impact the lives of South Dakota’s Cheyenne River tribal members.

Members like Bonnie LeBeaux, who used their resources to successfully grow her quilt making business.

“Being a new entrepreneur, you’re learning everything as you go. I was taking college courses at the time for business, but the college business curriculum doesn’t prepare you for entrepreneurship.”

Assistance like credit management, business planning, and loan assistance. Assistance LeBeaux says was vital to the success of her business.

“It’s so easy, they’re accessible to the community. I think that’s what makes it not so intimidating. I don’t think that there’s any other programs that are able to help entrepreneurs in the hands-on way that Four Bands does.”

Now, LeBeaux says she hopes to use her loan to expand her businesses workspace.

The first Four Bands program was the Cheyenne River Entrepreneurial Assistance Training and Education (CREATE).

Under that program, LaBeaux and other locals have managed to revitalize the Cheyenne River economy.

According to Four Bands, prior to their programs less than 1% of businesses in Cheyenne River were Native owned in a community that was 75% Indigenous.

A bill to create a statewide alert for missing Indigenous people passed the Arizona Legislature this week.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 57 to 0.

Lawmakers believe such an alert may have helped in the case of Emily Pike, a Native teen who went missing and was later found dead.

The Turquoise Alert, also known as Emily’s Law, was sent to the state’s governor for approval.

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Some Natives leaders in Alberta have added their voices to criticisms over separatism.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (CP) has defended a pledge of a possible referendum on the issue.

The idea of Alberta separatism was floated in the later stages of Canada’s national election in April.

Alberta is the heartland of the Conservative party and some people appeared frustrated over a fourth Liberal term in office in Ottawa, and raised the issue that long standing grievances might lead to a move for separation.

Premier Smith proposed legislation that would make it easier for citizens to call for a vote to secede from Canada.

But that’s concerning to many First Nations in the province and in Western Canada.

Recently chiefs of four Alberta First Nations issued a statement saying that any efforts to separate will be met with their full opposition.

Here’s Troy Bossman Knowlton of the Piikani Nation.

“Talking of separation is really insanity because there is no pathway to separation. You can have all the referendum you want.”

 And Billy Joe Tuccaro of the Mikisew First Nation threw a copy of the proposed legislation into the air when he spoke.

 “Bill 54 this is what we think of you. You’re garbage like that.”

The chiefs say that large areas of the province are governed by sacred treaties between First Nations and the crown. and those lands are held in trust by the Crown for the benefit of First Nations and not as property of the provincial government.

Those treaties were made before before Alberta entered into Confederation in 1905.

Some Native leaders say for Smith make that kind of a promise without engaging with First Nations shows the lack of respect for the original inhabitants of the land.

(Courtesy Asm. James Ramos / Facebook)

Tribal leaders, advocates, and California state lawmakers gathered at the state Capitol in Sacramento Wednesday to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous people (MMIP).

Assemblymember James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA), chair of the California Legislative Native American Caucus, held a press conference before hosting day-long events.

Asm. Ramos says MMIP continues to gain momentum in the state.

“This issue is not nothing new. This is something that’s plagued Indian reservations and tribal communities for a long time, for generations. What’s new is we’re gaining allies in this fight for bringing awareness around solving crimes against Native American people in the state of California, allies in the legislature, allies in law enforcement.”

Following the press conference, a hearing was held to exploring how to end violence on tribal lands.

“We want to make sure that those families that are out there going through these different crises know that you’re not alone that we’re standing side by side with you trying to get resources that you drastically need. We continue to raise that voice here at the State Capitol to ensure that California’s First People truly do have a voice when it comes to public safety.”

(Courtesy Asm. James Ramos / Facebook)

In the evening, a candlelight vigil was held with the Capitol Dome illuminated red to honor MMIP.

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(Courtesy Coalition of Large Tribes)

U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) are demanding urgent action from the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more.

In a letter to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr., they said the Indian Health Service (IHS) is unable to deliver quality health care services to American Indians and Alaska Natives, as required by federal law.

The senators say staffing shortages and a civilian hiring freeze have made matters worse for an already struggling system.

They say not only medical services are in jeopardy, but also billing, appointments, lab work and other essential tasks, even accreditation for IHS facilities.

In their letter, the senators also called on Sec. Kennedy to halt any further cutbacks without first engaging in meaningful tribal consultation.

Sen. Murkowski is chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Sen. Schatz is vice chair. Sen. Merkley is the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.

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