National Native News

Indigenous high school students in Nebraska are getting a head start in a challenging job market. Chrystal Blair has more. For many young people, landing that first job can be difficult without prior work experience. A Nebraska program is helping Indigenous students overcome that hurdle by providing hands-on training, career exploration, and mentorship while they are still in high school. The late...

Native allies are deploying observers to polling sites in states like North Dakota in an effort to overcome potential barriers at the ballot box as voters prepare for the November 3 midterm election. Judith Ruiz-Branch reports. Native American Rights Fund volunteers in its first midterm election protection program aim to help voters overcome potential barriers at the polls and document recurring p...

First Nations leaders met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and provincial and territorial leaders in Ottawa Monday, in a historic gathering focused on Indigenous rights and economic development. The meeting marked the first dedicated gathering of its kind in more than two decades. Leaders agreed to explore creating a First Nations Sovereign Wealth Fund, allowing Indigenous communities to s...

Sales of handmade Native American crafts and jewelry are estimated to generate $1 billion annually. A Navajo-owned shop in Old Town Scottsdale has opened a second location in a Southwest city also known for its art scene. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more. Santa Fe, New Mexico is widely considered the nation’s third-largest art market behind New York City and Los Angeles. Hence why owners of the...

After bison were nearly driven to extinction in the late 1800s, Native nations across North America have been working to restore them to their ancestral lands. A nonprofit on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation recently celebrated a milestone in its own bison reintroduction efforts. Delainey LaHood-Burns has more. Hundreds of people gathered in the Stronghold District of South Dakota’s Badlands to w...

More than 7,000 delegates are expected to attend the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention over the next three days. AFN President Ben Mallott says Dr. Rosita Worl will speak to the theme of this year’s gathering, “Rooted in Our Land: Rising in Our Voices”. “Her life has been amazing. Her knowledge and subsistence management policy education is a treasure for our state.”...

Two major gatherings of Alaska Native people are taking place in Anchorage’s Dena’ina Civic & Convention Center this week: the Elders & Youth Conference and the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has this story. This year marks the 60th anniversary of AFN. “It was born out of this tremendous movement for...

Photo: Volunteers remove weeds and debris from the Seven Generations Children’s Teaching Garden at the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center on September 10, 2026. (Brian Bull) Volunteers come to Seattle’s Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center throughout the year to tend to plants that are traditionally important to Native people. Brian Bull (Nez Perce) of Underscore Native News and KLCC repor...

The 43rd annual Statewide Elders and Youth Conference got underway Sunday at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. Hosted by First Alaskans Institute, the gathering brings together Alaska Native Elders, youth, and community leaders to celebrate Indigenous cultures, strengthen relationships, and discuss challenges facing their communities. This year’s t...

Photo: Jason Smith and Kremena Doust at their ranch on the Warm Springs Reservation on September 30, 2026. (Brian Bull / Underscore Native News) A Native-owned horse ranch on Oregon’s Warm Springs reservation that has been struggling to recover from this summer’s wildfires is now getting ready for a challenging winter, as Brian Bull of Underscore Native News and KLCC reports. Since early September...

Photo: Navajo pro bull rider Cody Jesus sits on a bull named Dead Red as he prepares for his first ride on home turf after recently being acquired by the team on October 8, 2026. (Emma Bradford) An Arizona-born bull rider from the Navajo Nation recently celebrated a homecoming. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more from Desert Diamond Arena in the Phoenix metro. Nicknamed the “Pride of the Nav...

A college student near her hometown of Point Lay, Alaska made a startling discovery last month: A baby walrus sandwiched between two carcasses, as Alaska Public Media’s Casey Grove reports. Violet Anniskett (Iñupiaq) was helping with a walrus survey on Alaska’s northwest coast. “And I saw the stomach like move, and I was like wait. Take a step closer and his eyes opened-up.&#8221...

Photo: Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, D-Minnesota, connects with a student during an Indigenous Peoples Day event on Monday, October 12, 2026. (Courtesy Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan / Facebook) Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations in Minnesota gave educators a chance to spark curiosity for Native history. As Mike Moen reports, Minnesota is rolling out enhanced learning opportunities in K-12 schools and state...

The investigation into the death of a 19-year-old Alaska Native college student in January is still ongoing. As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, Anchorage Police say they have taken some unusual steps. Kelly Hunt’s teachers remember her as a strong student with a bright future. They say she hoped to return to Shaktoolik one day to become a teacher or work in health care. Last...

The Kitt Peak National Observatory is hosting a special family night tomorrow for the Tohono O’odham Nation, whose tribe views sacred the mountain that hosts over two dozen research telescopes. And as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, a science center there has been renamed in southern Arizona. Long before the National Science Foundation looked to the starry sky, O’odhams like Jacelle Ramon-Saub...

Photo Courtesy Stewardship Utah / Instagram Rural Native American voters in Utah often face long distances, unreliable mail service, and changing election rules ahead of the November 3 midterm election. As Mark Richardson reports, the challenges are especially acute in rural San Juan County. The Navajo Nation covers about one-third of the county’s land, with more than 6,000 people in that portion...

Photo: The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Windracers ULTRA drone, carrying chilled human blood samples, takes off from Nenana Municipal Airport on Aug. 19, 2026. (Pietr Buttelmann / Sysmex) Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have completed a 620-mile drone test flight to see if human blood stays stable in transit. The new means of delivery could dramatically...

Photo: Gallup Indian Medical Center, where some of the forced sterilization took place. (Francine K. Smith / IHS/NAV) A new group of 34 experts is working on a report about the forced sterilization of Indigenous women. As KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) reports, this comes after the passage of a Senate Memorial in this year’s New Mexico legislative session. The memorial directs...

Photo: Rhyolite formations at Chiricahua National Monument in southern Arizona. (Charles Dischinger) The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill last week that would turn the Chiricahua National Monument in Cochise County into Arizona’s fourth national park. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, the southern Arizona congressman who championed the bill is confident it will get President Donald Trump...

Photo: Albuquerque Indian Health Center. (cmh2315fl / Flickr) A new congressional resolution is confronting a painful chapter in federal health care for Native women. Lawmakers are formally condemning the non-consensual sterilization of thousands of Native women by the Indian Health Service in the 1970s. as  Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) reports. Sterilization abuse against Native wo...

Photo: Revillagigedo Island in Alaska where the old-growth forest plan is facing objections from KIC. (Anita Gould / Flickr ) Ketchikan Indian Community and two conservation groups are asking a federal court to halt an old-growth timber sale in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The Shelter Cove sale offers about 4 million board feet of timber as part of the larger South Revilla project near Ketchi...

Photo courtesy Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc Canadian political leaders are condemning a white nationalist demonstration on Indigenous land in British Columbia as “despicable”. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are now investigating the incident. (Courtesy Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc) The group displayed a sign near a former Residential school that appeared to question t...

Photo: The Alaska Federation of Natives educates young people in Indigenous villages about the importance of voting in every election. (Michelle Sparck / AFN) Alaska Native leaders are working to bring back the power of the state’s Indigenous voters. In a state where one in four voters is Native, Tribal leaders say that inaccessible geography and information gaps have combined to reduce the...

Photo: Margaret Scott testifies before the Salix City Council meeting in Iowa on September 9, 2026. (Courtesy Kevin Hurley / Riverbend Video Production / YouTube) The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska is fighting to stop a potential Google data center in Salix, Iowa, just across the state line near the Missouri River. Chrystal Blair explains. Google is considering a site spanning about 900 acres. Tribal...

An opera performed entirely in Lingít finished its run in Juneau, Alaska on Sunday. The opera is about a series of battles in Sitka between Southeast Alaska Native peoples and Russian invaders. One Lingít clan was especially involved in that history, and texts about the battles say this is their story, but members of that clan say they were never asked for permission to tell this story in the fi...