Minnesota Native News

Indian boarding schools left a devastating impact that is still felt today. We are just starting to get a true sense of just how damaging they were. Deanna StandingCloud shows us what some in Minnesota are doing to remember and reconcile that incredibly tragic part of our state’s history. Photo credit: Minnesota Historical Society For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media...

This week, we’ll learn about a podcast exploring books and other K-12 teaching resources on the Native American experience, an emerging embroidery artist, and an upcoming theatre production. Image: " Butterfly Girl.” Embroidery piece by artist Loriene Pearson. 

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

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

This week, we hear about how the box-office hit, Star Wars: A New Hope returns to the big screen in one of Minnesota’s Indigenous languages. Producer: Deanna StandingCloud For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.  instagram.com/ampersradio/ instagram.com/mnnativenews/   Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPE...

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

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

A newly appointed Dakota-led design team restoring Owámniyomni, also known as St. Anthony Falls has plans to transform the Minneapolis site into a space that centers the land and its Indigenous history. Photo: A design sketch of Owámniyomni envisioning the land after its restoration by a Dakota-led design team. Courtesy of Owámniyomni Okhódayapi.

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

This week, we’ll hear from the organizers of an Indigenous Writers Series in Duluth. The American Indian Housing Community Housing Organization, or AICHO, recently hosted State Poet Laureate Gwen Westerman and the award-winning author Linda LeGarde Grover.  Image: Moderator Jill Doerfler, Ph. D., Linda LeGarde Grover, and Gwen Westerman during the Q&A portion of the Indigenous Writers Series e...

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

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

The Minneapolis American Indian Center recently re-opened after a 32.5 million dollar renovation project. IMAGE: Mary LaGarde (left) cuts a portion of the ribbon for the new Minneapolis American Indian Center while Dawn Paro (Center) and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan look on. 

This week, a group of organizations expressed support for tribal land transfer bills at the state legislature, a heroic Indigenous Girl Scout won a prestigious award for her lifesaving efforts, information about tribal elections season, and a reminder about upcoming Native recognition during May.  

This is Minnesota Native News. I’m Marie Rock. This week, Minnesota Lynx draft part Samoan, part Alaska Native Alissa Pili, the Red Lake Nation College opens its new urban site in Minneapolis; and a celebration of Donald Eubanks’ life – an Indigenous-Black community member who, during his life, worked for the State, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians Tribe, Metro State University, among others,...

This week, the University of Minnesota is considering a new policy for how it conducts research with indigenous communities, the Minnesota Indian Area Agency on Aging plans to establish a new service, the building of an outdoor smudging space at Shakopee High School, and Bemidji State University establishes an online book club for indigenous high school students.

A new bill proposes to transfer state lands encompassing Upper Red Lake in northern Minnesota to the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. Although this proposal at the legislature is recent, the idea of tribal jurisdiction over the Upper area of Red Lake is a long-standing affair.  For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.  instagram.com/ampersradio/ instagram.com/mnnativenews/  ...

"Misi-zaaga'iganiing" Shoe Design by Adrienne Benjamin of Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Courtesy of Adrienne Benjamin  For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.  instagram.com/ampersradio/ instagram.com/mnnativenews/   Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/   This show is ma...

This week, the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resources Center (MIWRC) welcomed Ruth Anna Buffalo, the organization's new CEO. (Image: Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center Logo, Credit: MIWRC) 

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s $5 million dollar campaign to indigenize K12 curriculum has ended with some major accomplishments. Three Native educators explain their contributions. 

This week’s headlines include The Return of the Cloquet Forestry Center Lands, a newly available Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relative’s license plate, and the showing of Bear Grease , an Indigenous spin on the classic musical, Grease . 

For nearly a decade, the Minneapolis Native community has gathered in the East Phillips neighborhood to keep the missing or murdered Indigenous relatives in the collective consciousness. All too often, Native people are simply not given the same attention as their white counterparts. This Day of Action is a wake-up call to for the public to learn how drastic of an issue this is for the Native comm...

This week's Minnesota Native News Headlines include an update from Camp Nenookasi and the transfer of the Upper Sioux Agency Park, and updates in tribal leadership across the state. 

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, was recently amended, and the new rules became effective this year. Photo: NAGPRA Logo

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community are reintroducing themselves to the Buffalo nation, welcoming them back to their Dakota homelands here in Minnesota. Reintroduction of buffalo enhances the prairies on tribal lands in Minnesota by promoting biodiversity. Photo Credit SMSC.