National Native News

Photo: Nanwalek in 2015. (Courtesy Chugachmiut) Many clean energy initiatives across the country have been hit hard with federal funding freezes and abrupt cuts in recent months. But two villages in Alaska are considering a project that would harness the energy of ocean waves, potentially for the first time in the U.S. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more. W...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently held a summit with some Indigenous leaders to address the issue of laws that allow the fast tracking of major development projects. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, many of those leaders say they’re still critical of the new laws, while others are taking more of a wait-and-see attitude. Carney was trying to ease First Nations fears about the major projects la...

After floating the idea of reopening a shuttered federal prison on Alcatraz Island in California, President Donald Trump tasked two of his Cabinet members to see it for themselves last week. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, President Trump’s agenda is at odds with efforts in recent decades to honor the site’s Indigenous history. The National Park Service has been stewarding the 22-acre islan...

Photo: Andrea Ivanoff, left, and Helen MacLean during a recent recording session for the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s new Dena’ina language-learning app. (Hunter Morrison / KDLL) The Dena’ina people have lived on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula for thousands of years, but today, the group’s Indigenous language isn’t spoken as widely as it once was. That’s why the Kenaitze Indian Tribe is launching...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) axed a program this week that was supporting farmers and food producers. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA reports on what it means for farmers in the county’s most northern state. The USDA created the Regional Food Business Centers program in 2023 to strengthen local food economies, but on Tuesday, the department abruptly termi...

The U.S. Senate Thursday passed President Donald Trump’s request to take back $9 billion in foreign aid and public media funding with a vote of 51 to 48. Leaders in Native media say tribal stations across the country will be hit hard if the $1 billion in already approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is revoked. Tribal stations are among those that receive CPB funding....

Photo: The Tribal Elder Food Box Program helps feed Native elders across Wisconsin. (Courtesy Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin) It’s been more than a year since the Government Accountability Board released a study and issued recommendations addressing food insecurity among tribes. However, neither Congress nor the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have acted on them. Brian Bull of Buffa...

Photo: Donald Trump Jr., seen in this 2014 photo with his son Donald Trump III, is among the opponents of the Pebble Mine. (Courtesy Donald Trump Jr. / Facebook) The Trump administration may be on the verge of reviving plans for a controversial mine upstream from Alaska’s Bristol Bay. Alaska Public Media’s Liz Ruskin reports. The company behind the proposed Pebble Mine says it’s in talks wit...

Photo: Gabriel Bourne, left, a Fallon Paiute-Shoshone member, stands next to Dr. Steven Dalton and Crystal Hall, a medical records specialist, after being treated inside the mobile clinic. (Kaleb Roedel / Mountain West News Bureau) The Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe in Nevada is expanding healthcare access with a mobile clinic. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel has more on how tribal pati...

Manitoba has again declared a state of emergency because of wildfires. It’s the second time this year. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the province’s premier Wab Kinew says more shelter is needed for people forced to leave their homes. The wildfires continue to force community evacuations, especially in northern areas. The province is in the middle of one of the worst wildfire season in 30 years. So fa...

Photo: The Fallon Tribal Health Center’s mobile clinic parked at the Lovelock Paiute Tribe’s health fair in Lovelock, Nev., on May 16, 2025. (Kaleb Roedel / Mountain West News Bureau) Some tribal nations are among the most remote communities in the country – and the rural healthcare shortage has hit them especially hard. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel reports that one tribe in...

The Eklutna Tribe has operated its new casino outside Anchorage, Alaska, under the shadow of two separate lawsuits. As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride reports, a federal judge has dismissed one of them. Ever since a group of property owners tried to block the casino with a lawsuit, tribal advocates have kept a close eye on this case, because their attorney, Don Mitchell, challenged the Native Village of Ekl...

Photo: San Carlos Apache College Vice President and Provost Lisa Eutsey, left, and San Carlos adjunct professor Marcus Macktima commencement on May 17, 2025. (Samuel Meade) President Donald Trump is proposing drastic funding cuts for tribal colleges and universities. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more on institutions in Arizona and New Mexico. “Without doubt, this is threatening to cl...

Photo: A pendant for San Carlos Apache College hung on campus. (Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) While Congress continues mulling over President Trump’s fiscal agenda, part of the White House budget proposes to essentially defund tribal colleges and universities – reducing federal funding by nearly 90%. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports on how Arizona schools and others across Indian Country are braci...

Photo: Jalisco Miles, left, holds a checklist while Farrell Hayes and Riston Bullock check on the fire truck engine on June 12, 2025. (Lauren Paterson / NWPB) As the Trump administration looks to combine multiple fire agencies under one organization, firefighter numbers are dwindling. Northwest Public Broadcasting’s Lauren Paterson reports on how the Nez Perce Tribe is stepping up despite the chal...

In a 6-3 ruling this week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court says a Native citizen living on her reservation isn’t exempt from state income tax. The Journal-Record reports that Alicia Stroble, a member of the Muscogee Nation, had argued that her income was exempt because she lived and worked on her tribe’s land. In 2020, Stroble had filed three Oklahoma Individual Income Tax Returns for the three previou...

With a vote from U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Senate Republicans passed a sprawling budget reconciliation bill that contains much of President Trump’s domestic policy agenda. Liz Ruskin reports. Alaska tribes and Native organizations have raised concerns about the bill. The Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes recently sent a  letter to Alaska’s Congressional delegation opposing the bill with con...

A federal audit has found that the Environmental Protection Agency did not distribute millions of dollars on time to clean water programs for tribes. As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel reports, this comes as tens of thousands of tribal homes lack indoor plumbing and clean drinking water. The agency’s own inspector general examined more than $300 million from the Bipartisan Infrastruct...

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has apologized to Indigenous leaders for comments that some First Nations described as racist. The comments were sparked by opposition to Bill 5, which would allow his government to bypass environmental and other regulations in order to fast track resource development in special economic zones. Dan Karpenchuk has more. Native leaders have opposed Bill 5, which would, amon...

Photo: Alameda County Coroner’s sign. (I Love Old Signs! / Flickr ) A group of researchers have found gaps in how death certificates are maintained with implications for Native Americans’ health. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel has more. Researchers from prestigious universities to Indigenous communities studied death certificates from 2008 to 2019.  They found Native Americans...

Photo: Cherokee Nation leaders and ambassadors and Talking Leaves Job Corps staff hosting open house at new Taling Leaves Job Corps Oklahoma City office in 2016. (Courtesy Cherokee Nation / Facebook) A federal judge Wednesday halted the closure of Job Corps locations across the country. In May, the federal government announced it was pausing the Job Corps program, which helps people ages 16 throug...

As food insecurity rises across the country, groups fighting hunger are highlighting the need for food that is not only nutritious, but culturally relevant. Isobel Charle has more. Leialoha Kaula is executive director of the nonprofit Ka ʻAha Lāhui O ʻOlekona – Hawaiian Civic Club of Oregon & SW Washington (KALO HCC), which serves Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. The org...

As the Trump administration looks to combine multiple fire agencies under one organization, firefighter numbers are dwindling. Northwest Public Broadcasting’s Lauren Paterson reports on how the Nez Perce Tribe is stepping up despite the challenges. Three young firefighters are standing under the hot sun in Lapwai, Idaho, doing an engine check on one of their fire trucks. All of them are tribal mem...

Photo: Apache Stronghold supporters shout “Protect Oak Flat” outside the Sandra Day O’Connor Courthouse on May 7, 2025. (Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) Despite the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to hear arguments last month from Apache Stronghold, the nonprofit is trying to revive its religious freedom case over Oak Flat in Arizona. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, the group is asking the high cou...

(Photo: Michael Sherman) A new welcome center in the town of Blue River, Oreg. had its grand opening last week. The McKenzie Crossing and Native Center is located in the geographic “heart” of the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon. It’s also in an area hit by the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire. “I wanted to create something up the McKenzie River and Blue River to help it heal.” Katherine K’iya Wil...