Native America Calling

A tenuous agreement halted a tense, ongoing scuffle between Wet'suwet'en First Nations protesters and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. For now, the hereditary chiefs and members of the Unist’ot’en Camp agree to let workers from TC Energy (formerly TransCanada Corp.) onto unceded territory land in British Columbia slated for gas pipeline construction. The confrontation resulted in 14 arrests after a court ordered the protesters to take down barricades on the main road to the property. The traditional leadership is at odds with the First Nation’s elected chiefs over the pipeline. We’ll get a look at what’s at stake and what’s next in this latest pipeline construction flare-up.

A hundred years before the United States passed a constitutional amendment banning alcohol, Congress banned alcohol sales and production on reservations. The country quickly repealed Prohibition, but the reservation ban remained. That is until President Trump signed the law opening up alcohol manufacturing on Native land in December. For the first time in almost 200 years, tribes can now establish distilleries on reservation land. The Chehalis Tribe already has plans to open a distillery on their reservation in Washington State. Other than the obvious inequity based on race, the main reason to toss the outdated prohibition law is to tap into a growing trend for further economic development.

A hundred years before the United States passed a constitutional amendment banning alcohol, Congress banned alcohol sales and production on reservations. The country quickly repealed Prohibition, but the reservation ban remained. That is until President Trump signed the law opening up alcohol manufacturing on Native land in December. For the first time in almost 200 years, tribes can now establish distilleries on reservation land. The Chehalis Tribe already has plans to open a distillery on their reservation in Washington State. Other than the obvious inequity based on race, the main reason to toss the outdated prohibition law is to tap into a growing trend for further economic development.

Heating bills are projected to be a little higher this winter according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Winter Fuels Outlook. Expect to pay around 3 percent more if you heat with electricity, 5 percent more for gas and 20 percent more for home heating oil. The main reason for the increase is the higher fuel costs. In states like Alaska, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where temperatures can drop to -40 and lower, heating costs are a major burden and even a safety issue. Tribal programs like the Gwich’in Solar and Energy Efficiency in the Arctic Project and U.S. Government aid, like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), are designed to offset the high costs of heating.

Heating bills are projected to be a little higher this winter according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Winter Fuels Outlook. Expect to pay around 3 percent more if you heat with electricity, 5 percent more for gas and 20 percent more for home heating oil. The main reason for the increase is the higher fuel costs. In states like Alaska, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where temperatures can drop to -40 and lower, heating costs are a major burden and even a safety issue. Tribal programs like the Gwich’in Solar and Energy Efficiency in the Arctic Project and U.S. Government aid, like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), are designed to offset the high costs of heating.

Aaron Yazzie’s (Navajo) work is literally out of this world. Lately, the NASA mechanical engineer’s main job is designing the machinery gathering information 140 million miles away on the surface of Mars. In November he and his fellow scientists celebrated the end of an anxious six months, waiting for the successful flight and deployment of the unmanned Mars lander, InSight. We’ll hear about his own journey from the Navajo Nation to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Aaron Yazzie’s (Navajo) work is literally out of this world. Lately, the NASA mechanical engineer’s main job is designing the machinery gathering information 140 million miles away on the surface of Mars. In November he and his fellow scientists celebrated the end of an anxious six months, waiting for the successful flight and deployment of the unmanned Mars lander, InSight. We’ll hear about his own journey from the Navajo Nation to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Catholic Church ignored the abuse of Native women and children by Jesuit priests in Alaska. That’s one of the revelations from a 19-month-long investigation by the Center for Investigative Journalism and the Northwest News Network. The reporting also found the church shuffled offending priests around, sometimes to other Alaska Native villages and ultimately offered them a retirement sanctuary in Washington state. We’ll talk with the one of the reporters from the project and a survivor featured in the report.

The Catholic Church ignored the abuse of Native women and children by Jesuit priests in Alaska. That’s one of the revelations from a 19-month-long investigation by the Center for Investigative Journalism and the Northwest News Network. The reporting also found the church shuffled offending priests around, sometimes to other Alaska Native villages and ultimately offered them a retirement sanctuary in Washington state. We’ll talk with the one of the reporters from the project and a survivor featured in the report.

The new $867 billion Farm Bill just signed President Donald Trump is getting praise from tribes, Native farmers and advocates. One Native agriculture organization calls the number of Native-related provisions “unprecedented”. It also means access to more USDA programs and some changes for tribal food producers and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (commodity foods program). The bill also legalizes hemp opening doors to tribes getting into the industry.