National Native News

Over a decade has passed since the initial proposal of a Rapid City, S.D. Indigenous community center.

Now, at last, it approaches reality with a looming hearing and fundraising push.

SDPB’s C.J. Keene reports.

It’s a project well over 70 years in the making – a community center catering the large Indigenous population of the Black Hills, while offering other community members a place to learn and engage.

Cante Heart is the executive director of He Sapa Otipi, the organization seeking to build this center.

While they have six acres and $9 million in Vision Fund grant money, the work isn’t yet finished.

“We do need to match the funds in order to access them, so we’re launching out capital campaign. Right now, we are raising $3 million to access those funds, and it’s primarily for construction only.”

Heart says this represents a chance at community healing.

“All the way back to the Winona Club for a group of grandmothers who cared about their community – who wanted a better community – because of the high tension between race relations in Rapid City. There never was a great relationship between Natives and non-Natives, so we believe it’s up to us as the new generation to create a new relationship in Rapid City. We thank all of the grandmothers and those who have created efforts to create a community center that’s been long needed for over 70 years.”

The Winona Club long advocated for a center of this kind in the mid-20th century, alongside the Sioux Addition Civic Association.

He Sapa Otipi seeks to at last complete that vision.

“It’s really going to bring our community together and highlight that we are more alike than we are different, because we all want a better future for our children, we want a safe place for our families to grow up and raise our children. That’s something we all have in common. This place will really highlight our Lakota values and what we practice every day. It’s important that we share our Lakota ways with our community.”

The plot of land is found just north of the Uptown Rapid shopping mall, and the timeframe is dependent upon funding.

Yurok Nation member Chah-pekw Jonny burns dead grass to prepare the land for native seed planting at Sakari Farms in March 2022. (Courtesy Joe Whittle)

Joe Whittle, a Native American photojournalist, is promoting a “Land Back” movement across the U.S. for territory ceded or taken during colonization.

Whittle is a member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, and descendant of the Delaware Nation.

A former backcountry wilderness ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, he’s proposing that the federal government return public lands due to violating every treaty signed with Indigenous peoples.

He says another reason is that traditional ecological knowledge can benefit the environment.

“Data shows that Indigenous people are better and more sustainable stewards of the land than private industry or the United States government has ever been, due to how deeply embedded in U.S. politics private industry has become on public lands.”

Whittle’s argument recently appeared in TIME Magazine.

He’s hoping an inspired attorney might take the federal government on and force a settlement similar to the Cobell vs. Salazar lawsuit in 2009, where the government was found to have violated its trust duties to tribes.

And on this day in 1701, William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania and Territories, and several regional tribes including the Iroquis, jointly established what’s known as the “Articles of Agreement.”

The purpose was to determine territories and form cooperation between both the Native people and the early British settlers of the territories.

Penn was a Quaker fleeing religious persecution in England, who felt it was beneficial to negotiate and work with the tribes.

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A Native American law group has launched a free online resource to help Tribal Nations obtain legal information about their water rights that they might not be able to afford.

As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel reports, this comes at a time when tribes face increasing water challenges.

The resource is called The Headwaters Report – created by the Native American Rights Fund. 

The report breaks down the ins and outs of tribal water law updates what’s going on in the courts and Congress and highlights what water issues are on the horizon.

Daniel Cordalis is a staff attorney with the Colorado-based group. He says some tribes will pay third-party firms thousands of dollars a month to provide them with that information. 

“And it’s information every tribe should have. And the cost is a barrier to getting this kind of information for a lot of Tribal Nations, and it shouldn’t be one. I think it lifts the whole tribal communities up if they’re able to have the same information.”

Cordalis says safeguarding tribal waters is increasingly important in the West where drought is shrinking tribes’ water supplies, wildfires are damaging their watersheds, and population booms are straining water resources.

The Headwaters Report can be found at the Native American Rights Fund website.

There’s been mixed reaction from Native leaders in Canada to the death of Pope Francis.

He was the pontiff that delivered a historic apology to Canada’s Indigenous people for the Catholic Church’s role in the abuses that took place in Canadian residential schools.

More from Dan Karpenchuk.

Known as the People’s Pope because of his non-traditional papacy, he made history with a long awaited apology.

Francis died of a stroke on Monday, the day after his last public appearance on Easter Sunday. He was 88.

And he left behind a legacy that will be long remembered by Canada’s Native people.

He made the historic apology before an Indigenous delegation that travelled to Rome in April of 2022.

Former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine was there as part of the delegation.

“Pope Francis relationship with Indigenous peoples is profound because he is the first pope to ever apologize for the church’s wrongdoing with our people and more importantly he asked for forgiveness for all of the church’s failures.”

Canada’s Indigenous leaders had been asking for a papal apology for decades.

Members of that delegation described the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse that took place at the residential schools, which were funded by the Canadian government and run by churches.

There was also malnourishment, neglect, the loss of culture, and forced assimilation at the schools, which operated for more than a century.

The pope also denounced the Doctrine of Discovery, a church declaration that lands being colonized belonged to no one, justifying that Indigenous lands could be seized.

He said what the Indigenous people in Canada experienced was genocide.

Many praised Pope Francis for coming to Canada six months later despite being in poor health.

(Courtesy Navajo Nation Council)

A walk for missing and murdered Indigenous people (MMIP) was held Monday in Window Rock, Ariz., ahead of the opening of the Navajo Nation Council’s spring session.

The council has a task force, which is addressing MMIP.

The task force led the walk focusing on missing children, and to raise awareness of MMIP on families across the Navajo Nation.

Task force chair delegate Amber Crotty says children must be prioritized.

Advocates were among those to join lawmakers on the walk to the council’s chamber where speakers shared personal stories and policy concerns.

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The life and legacy of Pope Francis is being remember after the Vatican announced his death Monday morning.

In 2022, in Rome and on Canadian soil, Pope Francis apologized to Indigenous people for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system in Canada, and for the abuses Indigenous people suffered.

The apology included Pope Francis saying he was sorry and asked forgiveness.

The schools operated from the late 1800s to the 1990s.

His apology was met with mixed reactions.

Pope Francis was 88.

(Courtesy Denver Parks and Recreation)

Bison are being restored to tribal lands across the Mountain West and the Great Plains.

As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Rachel Cohen reports, a herd managed in Colorado is playing a big role.

A few bison jumped into a grass-lined trailer. 

They were heading to the Kiowa Tribe in Oklahoma.

The bison are part of two herds that live in mountain parks owned by the City and County of Denver.

And the city gave these 10 away so the Kiowa Tribe could start its first herd in over 150 years.

Bison were hunted to near-extinction in the 1800s.

Rick Williams (Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne) was at the bison transfer in March.

He says it included a ceremony and songs for a safe journey.

“The buffalo were a sacred animal to us. You know, we knew that they provided all of our economy and our lifestyle and everything that we needed to survive.”

Denver’s donation is part of a larger effort to give surplus bison from conservation herds – and national parks – to tribes to restore cultural and environmental connections. 

Over the past seven years, Denver has given 140 bison to 10 tribes. That includes the Northern Arapaho in Wyoming and the Northern Cheyenne in Montana.

Four of the 2025 Champs with U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk/D-KS). (Courtesy Center for Native American Youth)

Native young people from across the country are representing their communities on a national level this year.

They were picked as “Champions for Change” for 2025 by the Aspen Institute’s Center for Native American Youth (CNAY).

The cohort is sharping their leadership skills while highlighting stories of impact from tribal communities.

Jill Fratis from our flagship station KNBA has more.

Each year, CNAY selects five inspirational youth, ages 14 to 24, from across the country, to serve as “Champs”, supporting their development through experience-based learning and tailored advocacy training.

One of the “Champs” is Maiyuraq (Maiyu) Jones from Unalakleet.

Jones is focusing on environmental issues. She’s studying Environmental Science at Western Washington University.

She says she’s been invested in climate change and its impacts on rural communities since a young age – and has seen changes to her community through her own eyes.

“I think over the time I was growing up you can’t help but see those changes in the environment. When I was a kid, I used to be able to set crab pots on the sea ice with my dad. We would go out on a snow machine, and we would set crab pots a few miles out. But the last time, I set foot on the ice, I couldn’t walk more than 10 feet before it got too dangerous to go further.”

Jones and the other “Champs” took part in a recent gathering in Washington, D.C., where she heard many stories similar to hers from different areas across the country – from clean water, to subsistence, to limited resources.

She says she knew that she wanted to be a voice for her region, and help find solutions.

“The changes in the way to from how I grew up to now, has really led me to pursue environmental justice, and dedicate time to that. Because I think its very important that future generations are able to hunt for caribou and fish for salmon like I was able to. And to bring those things back to my community is really important to me. “

Champions for Change has been around for more than ten years.

This year’s youth leaders are all in their 20s, and also are from Hawaii, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Arizona.

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Alaska organizations that provide weather and environmental information to mariners and subsistence hunters are bracing for reduced funding.

The cuts have not been approved. But according to a draft budget memo, the Trump administration is considering slashing more than a quarter of the funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2026.

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

The Alaska Ocean Observing System is one local NOAA program that provides coastal and ocean data to improve the safety of boaters, fishermen, and subsistence hunters.

Sheyna Wisdom, executive director of the organization, says the proposed budget would eliminate the program.

“It would completely shut us down. And we have projects across Alaska. We would be pulling assets out of the water.”

The organization’s projects include supporting Indigenous observers who track changes in their communities, mapping whaling trails, and monitoring harmful algal blooms.

In another project, hunters in Point Hope, Utqiagvik, and Wainwright collaborated with scientists to install buoys at popular subsistence locations to track wave height.

The buoys then provide real-time data via an app about when it’s safe to hunt whales, seals, or walruses.

Steve White is the executive director at Marine Exchange of Alaska.

The organization partnered with the program to install weather stations on vessels, so that other boaters get real-time conditions from remote areas.

He says losing such initiatives would be a huge hit to a state that already lacks weather reporting.

“Up in Alaska, you got to have good weather information. It could determine whether you die or whether you come back, whether you should go out on a boat or not.”

If the proposed changes go through, Wisdom with the Alaska Ocean Observing System says it’s unclear whether the program will have an alternative path to stay operational.

Members of the Resources and Development Committee were joined by Speaker Crystalyne Curley, Eastern Navajo Agency allottees, and Navajo EPA representatives as they met with U.S. Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum.

A Navajo Nation Council delegate is optimistic about meetings this week with the Trump administration in Washington.

Brenda Jesus, chair of the council’s Resources and Development Committee, was among a group of Navajo representatives to hold meetings with U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, staff with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs for Local and Tribal Governments.

Jesus says the purpose of the trip was to talk with the new administration, advocate for the committee’s priorities, and urged for tribal consultation in Trump administration policies.

The Navajo Nation, located in the Southwest, extends into Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

“Navajo Nation has a vast abundance of resources on our Navajo Nation and setting the stage as to Navajo Nation wants to acquire that self-governance, but we would like to continue to hold our federal partners to proper and meaningful government-to-government or tribal consultation.”

Topics of discussion included the Chaco Canyon land withdrawal in New Mexico, which the committee says has stalled key infrastructure for Navajo people like water, electricity, and roads; talks including ongoing problems with abandoned uranium mines; and water access as an urgent need.

The visit by the council members was made about a week after Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren attended a White House event where Nygren showed his support for boosting coal development across the U.S., an action the Trump administration is taking.

Jesus says coal is a sensitive topic and the committee has not taken a position on coal development, but will be meeting on it.

“We need to have a better practice going forward should we go back into the coal or the fossil fuel industry and actually maximize out the benefits that will be coming from this for generations to come.”

Jesus is one of 24 Navajo Nation Council delegates. She says the current council has 18 months of service left and the work they’re doing now is setting a blueprint.

“I just like to continue to have the Navajo Nation prosper just through any development on Navajo Nation and hope that it would be a return to Navajo.”

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(Photo courtesy Center Pole / Facebook)

Food banks are trying to adjust after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cut $500 million from a nationwide emergency food assistance program.

One of those impacted organizations meets a pressing need for food access within the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Tribes of southeastern Montana.

Yellowstone Public Radio’s Kayla Desroches reports from Crow Agency, on a recent day in April.

It’s late Tuesday morning in a gas station parking lot off interstate 90, and Center Pole founder Peggy Wellknown Buffalo directs the set up of a table, soon to be stacked with boxes of canned salmon, loose potatoes, and meat.

Cars are already lining up to pick up food.

“We try to be in a location where it’s easier for them to come from the housing projects and around town.”

With only a few small grocery stores and gas stations located across the large swath of southeast Montana, the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations are considered food deserts.

The grassroots non-profit Center Pole tries to fill that gap with help from the Montana Food Bank Network, and Wellknown Buffalo says the need is high.

“Sometimes we stay until three, but today, a lot of people have been calling.”

Wellknown Buffalo talks about her concerns going forward.

Montana Food Bank Network recently learned about cuts slated for more than 70 food banks across the state, Center Pole included.

Montana Food Bank Network distributes food through the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), a USDA program that directs food to low income areas at no cost.

Montana Food Bank Network Program Manager Jesse Schraufnagel says they had committed to delivering food through the end of the year when they learned that one of TEFAP’s primary funding streams had been eliminated. 

“And as of the beginning of this month, all of those truck loads have been cancelled, so what that amounts to is 40% of our total TEFAP allocation that we’re anticipating not receiving through the end of the year.”

According to records through the Montana Food Bank Network, the cuts account for more than a quarter of the total food Center Pole estimates it distributes in a year. 

Wellknown Buffalo says Center Pole plans to navigate the cuts to their pantry by establishing public gardens to grow food and Indigenous plants they source from the hills in the region. 

“We’re gonna get hit with the craziness of what our government is doing, but the ones who are gonna suffer is my people. Us. Natives.”

Assemblymember James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA), chair of the Native American Caucus, is insisting on a hearing to address the state auditor’s newest findings dealing with the University of California (UC) system in returning Native American remains and cultural items to tribes.

A third report from the state auditor was issued this week.

Asm. Ramos says the audit shows UC lacks accountability and urgency in returning remains and cultural items required by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and its state counterpart, Cal-NAGPRA.

According to the report, UC continues to hold the human remains of thousands of individuals and hundreds of thousands of potential cultural items.

Ramos says it’s very disturbing to him as a Serrano/Cahuilla person, who still conducts reburials of his people, that a law implemented 35 years ago is still being discussed today, and says he will insist on a hearing.

The report finds the university has not ensured the proper care and security of potential cultural items, and at the current pace, it will likely take more than a decade to repatriate all of the collections.

Ramos says the ancestors of tribal Californians deserve to be interred respectfully and in the traditions of their people, and he says lawmakers need to assess or create penalties for noncompliance with the laws.

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The House recently passed legislation to require people to prove they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote.

As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel reports, Native American groups argue if the proposal becomes law, it would make it harder for them to vote.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would also require people to register to vote in person. That means they could no longer register through the mail or online. 

That would make it difficult for many tribal members, who live on reservations that are far from cities and highways, says Jacqueline De Leon.

She’s an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund and a member of the Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico.

“The nearest election offices for many rural Native Americans can be over 100 miles round trip.”

Voters would also have to show proof of U.S. citizenship – like a passport or birth certificate.

De Leon says the bill claims that tribal members could use their Tribal IDs.

“But Tribal IDs would have to have a place of location of birth on them to qualify. And most, if not all, Tribal IDs don’t have that on them.”

But the SAVE Act does face long odds in the Senate where seven Democrats would have to join Republicans to allow it to proceed to a vote. 

(Courtesy: Wisconsin Conservation Voices / Facebook)

Voter turnout from tribal communities in Wisconsin has increased in recent years, with historic numbers for the recent state Supreme Court election.

Judith Ruiz-Branch reports.

The Menominee reservation turnout increased by more than 80% from the spring 2023 election.

Both the Red Cliff and Bad River Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa saw turnout jump more than 60%, according to Wisconsin Conservation Voices.

The group works with tribal communities through its Wisconsin Native Vote program.

Organizer Maria Haskins says listening sessions, roundtables, and regional dinners have been crucial in building relationships and getting people to the polls.

“With people seeing their peers being more active in the polls, and becoming more informed about a lot of these issues, is what is really motivating them to go out and cast their ballot, because I think that people are realizing their vote is their voice.”

Haskins says communities shared concerns at these events about issues like the opioid epidemic, which is severely affecting tribal communities, while drawing the connections of voting to their goal of tribal sovereignty.

The Menominee community has seen some of the most dramatic jumps in voter turnout.

In 2023, community voting increased by 75% and has seen a 220% increase since 2019.

Haskins says she believes the influx reflects the increase tribes are also seeing in representation, with more Native Americans running for office.

“I think that it’s a huge movement. It’s just something saying, ‘Our people deserve to have a voice in what is happening, and we deserve to have the ability to be involved.'”

(Courtesy Nevada Legislature / YouTube)

A bill to officially recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Nevada on the second Monday in October passed the Assembly Floor on Tuesday with a vote of 27 to 15.

Executive Director of the Native Voters Alliance Nevada Taylor Patterson called its passage a victory.

In a statement Patterson said with its passage, the assembly affirms the contributions, stories, and resilience of Indigenous peoples are vital to the identity of the state.

Patterson thanked the bill’s sponsor Shea Backus (Cherokee), the only Indigenous legislator in Nevada, for carrying the bill forward.

It now advances to the Senate.

Fire curtain in the Lane Tech College Prep auditorium. (Photo: Terence Faircloth / Flickr)

The Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative, a coalition of nearly 20 Native-serving organizations, is celebrating the recent passage of a bill in the Illinois House that prohibits schools from using a Native name, mascot, or logo.

The collaborative says the legislation represents a significant step in addressing the needs of Native communities across the state, and encourages a shift from stereotypes to respect and cultural awareness.

The bill is now in the Senate.

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Photo: Casper, Wyo. (J. Stephen Conn / Flickr)

A new federal effort aims to end homelessness among people released from prisons.

As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Hanna Merzbach reports, communities in Wyoming and Idaho, and a tribe in Montana, are part of the initiative.

One team is in Wyoming’s Natrona County. It’s the top destination for parolees in the state since there’s lots of re-entry services there, but it’s still hard to get long-term housing.

“We definitely see an influx of individuals who come here for assistance and who don’t qualify for as much as they think.”

But Natrona’s Kristy Oster, who’s leading the project under the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, says people released from prisons could soon get permanent housing – and other help, like career services.

So far, there’s no funding involved. But Oster says monthly meetings with federal experts keep them on track to eventually build the housing.

“Is it data that’s next? Is it partnerships that, that is next? Is it getting the city together to determine if there’s land available?”

Idaho’s Department of Corrections and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana are also working on similar initiatives.

(Courtesy Diné College / Facebook)

Police are investigating a fire on the Navajo Nation that burned the Student Union Building on the Diné College campus in Tsalie, Ariz., destroying records dating back to the 1950s and gowns for this year’s graduation.

Navajo Police say the fire was reported after 2 :30 a.m. Monday.

The campus is closed to the public while essential services like meals and housing have been relocated for students.

Remote learning was being planned for Tuesday.

No injuries were reported as of Monday. The fire is under investigation.

Willie Hensley. (Photo: Steven L. Rychetnik / Courtesy Alaska Humanities Forum and Magnetic North Productions)

Willie Hensley is a well-known Alaska Native leader, but a documentary that premiered this week in Anchorage gives you a chance to get to know what makes him tick.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has this preview.

Willie Hensley has worn a lot of hats, and you can see a lot of them in this film that filled with snapshots of his life, as well as something else, says the film’s producer Marla Williams.

“That was really fun in this film to look at how many different hairstyles Willie has had throughout life. He’s gone from a flattop and a nerdy little side part, to long sixties sideburns and now to a ponytail all the way down his back.”

The film showcases Hensley’s charisma and traditional Inupiaq humor. It’s called “Homeland“ and chronicles his rise as a champion for the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and eventually a statewide leader.

“I think he’s a man of his times. He’s always current. He’s always looking forward, but he’s not stuck in his past. He uses his past to keep him moving forward.”

The documentary is filled with moments that explores Hensley’s talent for walking between two worlds – that of Native culture and the modern world of business and politics.

It traces his roots to a sod house near Kotzebue, Alaska.

In the film, Hensley takes his daughter Priscilla to show her where he was raised as a small boy.

Only a few pieces of wood and mounds of sod remain.

“Not a table, not a chair, not a bed. This was home. It kept us warm on the coldest of days.”

The film also takes you to a religious boarding school in Tennessee where Hensley arrived as a teenager with only a shopping bag full of belongings.

His classmates didn’t know what to make of him and the care packages of whale meat and other subsistence foods he received, but were happy to have him on their football team, because he was one of the fastest on the field.

“In those days, if you’re a young Iñupiaq that age, if you survive TB and chicken pox, and influenza and everything else that everybody caught, you’re pretty damned tough.”

The documentary’s next showing will be in Kotzebue on April 17 and will be available on online in the future.

It’s the tenth installment of the Magnetic North: The Alaska Character series, which has profiled political figures like Governor Bill Sheffield and Native leaders like Jacob Adams and carver Nathan Jackson.

The series was made possible by the Alaska Humanities Forum and the Rasmuson Foundation.

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Photo: This press conference in 2024 launched California’s Feather Alert System for MMIP. (Courtesy Asm. James Ramos / Facebook)

Events are being planned at the California state Capitol in Sacramento to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous people (MMIP) cases.

May 5, on national MMIP Day, state lawmakers and tribal leaders will deliver remarks at the Capitol Park, and the Capitol Dome will be illuminated red for two nights to observe MMIP.

Events will continue through the week, including a hearing involving tribal safety and a candle light vigil will be held.

The Native American Legislative Caucus and its chair, Assemblymember James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA), are leading the weeklong activities.

Asm. Ramos is the first and only California Native American currently serving in the state legislature.

He spoke at a California MMIP summit this winter about tribal advocacy and representation in the legislature to address MMIP.

“Being in the state legislature and with all your support, we’ve been able to start to bring pieces of legislation forward … we continue to look at those issues moving forward and gaining allies in the state legislature and within law enforcement. Gaining allies to bring forward the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women.”

During the week of activities, Ramos will present a resolution on the Assembly floor to designate May as MMIP Awareness Month.

Incoming President Heather Shotton. (Courtesy Fort Lewis College / Facebook)

Heather Shotton has been appointed the president of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., becoming the first Native American to hold the position.

The board of trustees appointed her to the leadership role on Friday.

President-elect Shotton is an enrolled citizen of the Wichita & Affiliated Tribes and a descendant of the Kiowa and Cheyenne Tribes.

Shotton has more than 20 years of experience in academic leadership and has been part of the college’s executive leadership team for the past three years.

In a statement, she said she’s honored to lead Fort Lewis College and is committed to building a future grounded in belonging, access, and academic excellence for students.

She’s been recognized for advancing culturally responsive practices and policies for Indigenous students.

Her work at Fort Lewis College has included reconciliation with faculty and staff acknowledging the institution’s history as a federal Indian boarding school.

Shotton officially assumes the presidency on July 1.

A scene from season three, episode six of “Dark Winds”. (Courtesy AMC)

AMC’s acclaimed series Dark Winds has tackled various heavy issues, which now includes clergy sexual abuse in its latest episode.

National Native News’s Brian Bull has more.

In the episode titled, “What He Had Been Told”, Navajo police lieutenant Joe Leaphorn has a series of visions and flashbacks while pursuing a mysterious figure through the wilderness.

One involves a priest taking a young relative into an isolated space to do the unthinkable.

Actor Zahn McClarnon plays Leaphorn.

“There’s a lot of things I could relate to in that scene growing up, I went through some things as a kid. I’m not going to get into details but they’re very similar to how Joe was affected when he was a kid. And so it’s … I think as … human beings, we go through these painful experiences, these loss, this tragedy, joy, as an actor all I try to do is lean into that.”

McClarnon says the episode’s director, Erica Trimblay, put a lot of thought and sensitivity before shooting this specific scene.

“Erica made a very, very safe environment. Along with the other producers, Tina Elmo of the show, Jim Chory, and John Wirth, made a safe environment not just for me, but for the kids in the scene. It was a closed set, so people weren’t allowed on the set. It was just the directors and the actors, and the cameramen.”

In recent years, accounts of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse against Native children have come out in both government-run and church-run boarding schools.

Last year, President Joe Biden formally apologized on behalf of the United States for atrocities committed against government boarding school students.

AMC’s Dark Winds is on Sunday nights.

It’s been renewed for a fourth season.

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It’s a doublewide trailer off the Birchwood exit on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska, not exactly a Las Vegas-style casino, but since the Eklutna Tribe’s new gaming hall opened in January, there are often long lines of people waiting to get in.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

That could change if the state is successful in its bid to shut down the gambling operation.

On Wednesday, the Alaska Attorney General asked a federal court in Washington, D.C. to issue a preliminary injunction against it. This follows a lawsuit the state filed in February, after the Interior Department approved the project in the final days of the Biden administration.

The Chin’an Gaming Hall sits on a Native Allotment near the Birchwood Airport.

The Interior Department under President Joe Biden said the Eklutna Tribe has sovereignty over the land, just as tribes in the Lower 48 have over reservations, where gambling is allowed.

But the state is fighting that decision based on previous court cases that gave the state jurisdiction over Native allotments.

Aaron Leggett, the president of the Eklutna Tribe, called this latest court filing disheartening, a sign that Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) is escalating his attack on tribal sovereignty.

In a statement, he touted the success of the casino and its potential to bring jobs and economic opportunity to the region.

The gaming hall is in a temporary building with fewer than a hundred electronic bingo games.

The tribe plans to expand to a larger facility with more machines and restaurants.

(Courtesy White Earth Tribal and Community College)

Minnesota’s unemployment rate is low, but the state still faces a skilled labor shortage.

Mike Moen has more.

A regional college hopes to be a solution as it looks to break ground on a new training center for in-demand jobs.

Data shows Minnesota has a job vacancy rate of more than 5%.

That’s above the desired goal of around 4%, with the older population leaving the workforce.

At White Earth Tribal and Community College, school President Anna Sheppard says not having a big enough talent pool for certain types of jobs is a problem in her part of the state.

“You know, we’ve had to wait for electricians to come in, just to do work here, just because there’s not many in this area.”

The school is planning a trades building on campus to develop the next generation of plumbers, electricians, and other skilled workers.

It could also benefit White Earth’s plan to expand its renewable energy programming for students.

The project’s cost is $15 million.

Supporters hope the state will chip in, but a tighter spending mood in the Legislature, along with the impact of federal cuts, could make that difficult.

White Earth Student Senate President Deidra Berg sees this planned building as a way to keep Indigenous students, post-graduation, in surrounding communities that struggle with limited wages and a lack of resources.

“We are a ‘food desert’ area, and so, that’s like a really big issue here. We’d like to be able to offer our people, our students, the tools to get their education here and hopefully, stay close to home and build our community up.”

The organization Fresh Energy says training students for projects like solar power development can help local economies get stronger.

Campus officials say they’ve already secured land for the trades building, and the architectural renderings are complete.

If state aid is slow, White Earth will try to line up grants and other support.

Training could begin as early as fall of 2027.

Statue of the Lane Tech College Prep mascot in Chicago, Ill. (Photo: Terence Faircloth / Flickr)

An Indian mascot bill has passed the Illinois House of Representatives.

The legislation prohibits K-12 schools in the state from using a Native American name, logo, or mascot.

It passed by a vote of 71–40.

If signed into law, schools would have until 2026 to make changes.

The bill now heads to the Senate.

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(Photo: Antonia Gonzales)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he is doing everything he can to make sure there are no cuts to the Indian Health Service (IHS).

Sec. Kennedy made the brief comment Wednesday, as he was being ushered to his vehicle after a visit to a charter school in Gallup, N.M.

National Native News asked Kennedy about elevating the IHS, a pledge he made during his confirmation hearing.

“I’m doing everything that I can to make sure there are no cuts to the Indian Health Service.”

(Photo: Antonia Gonzales)

The IHS is an agency in the HHS. IHS provides service to about 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in 37 states.

Kennedy’s visit comes as leaders of tribes and Native organizations across the country are calling on the Trump administration to uphold treaty and trust responsibilities.

Among things leaders are concerned about are funding and workforce reductions. And they’re urging for tribal consultation.

Kennedy’s visit drew a group of demonstrators who were both President Donald Trump supporters and those protesting Trump administration actions.

Demonstrators included Navajo Nation citizens.

Kenneth Brown says he voted for Trump and was in support of Kennedy’s visit.

“He’s here to help, even for the school, the kids, the kids are people too.”

Kenneth Brown. (Photo: Antonia Gonzales)

Brenda Hoskie, who’s the Democratic Party Chair for McKinley County in New Mexico, was there in opposition of the visit.

“I’m here in protest. You know, make sure that the trust responsibility that we have with the United States government, that’s what they need to do. It’s plain and simple – not to take things away from Indian Country.”

Brenda Hoskie, right. (Photo: Antonia Gonzales)

Kennedy’s visit was part of a Southwest tour.

Before traveling to the town of Gallup, he met with Navajo Nation officials in Window Rock, Ariz.

He also met with other tribal leaders in Arizona this week.

Stay tuned to National Native News to hear what Kennedy had to say to school children – and what educators at the school say they’re doing to address healthy eating and fitness among young people. 

(Photo: Murray Foubister / Flickr)

Members of the Blackfeet Nation filed a lawsuit against the federal government over recent tariffs imposed on Canadian products.

They claim the move impedes tribal sovereignty.

Montana Public Radio’s Victoria Traxler reports.

State Sen. Susan Webber (D-MT) and Blackfeet Tribal Member Jonathan St. Goddard filed the suit Friday over tariffs they say impacts trade between Canada and the Tribe.

Former congressional candidate and Missoula-based attorney Monica Tranel is carrying the case.

“Congress has constitutional authority to do tariffs. The executive does not have the authority to impose tariff in this way, either under the Constitution or under the statutes that were invoked. And it’s unconstitutional, illegal, and it needs to stop.”

The Blackfoot Confederacy’s historical territory overlaps the U.S. and Canadian border.

The lawsuit says tribal members are legally exempt from tariffs.

Plaintiffs say they damage the Blackfeet Nation’s cross-border trade and commerce.

Tranel is asking the court to freeze Canadian tariffs or find other ways to protect tribal members specifically.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) has signed legislation creating an emergency response to address missing Native Americans in the state – the Turquoise Alert System.

The New Mexico Indian Affairs Department said in a statement the alert system marks a significant step forward in addressing the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

According to the New Mexico Department of Justice, there are nearly 200 missing Native Americans across the state.

Provisions include, establishing a Department of Public Safety–coordinated alert system for missing Indigenous persons; triggers alerts when disappearances involve suspicious, dangerous, or involuntary circumstances; and requires coordination with media, law enforcement, and state agencies for rapid dissemination and notification.

New Mexico is the fourth state to establish such an alert system for missing Native people.

Vision Maker Media has launched a new YouTube channel for kids, introducing viewers to Native history, language, and ways of life with host Frankie, an animated hawk.

Each month will feature a new social studies theme containing a series of short videos curated from the organization’s film archives of 50 years.

April’s theme is “Rising Together”.

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