National Native News

Photo: More than an hour after the levee was breached, channels in the Siuslaw Estuary begin to fill up with a mix of fresh and salt water on May 29, 2026. (Brian Bull / KLCC) A major conservation project near the Oregon town of Florence has achieved its goal: connecting a large swath of restored farmland to the ocean. The Siuslaw Estuary is a 217-acre expanse that is expected to accommodate the r...

Photo: Siletz tribal members Todd Logan, Joshua Rilatos, and Dylan Gorman work next to anatomic pathologist Kurt Williams of the Oregon State University necropsy team on November 18, 2025, The tribe removed the whale’s blubber, bones, and baleen for cultural use, while the OSU crew took away tissue samples for diagnostic testing. (Jens Odegaard / Oregon State University) A group of Siletz In...

New Mexico and the U.S. are one step closer to having the first female Native American governor as former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) beat out her Democratic opponent Sam Bregman with 72% of the vote Tuesday night in the primary election. KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) was among the attendees at her watch party. Old Town plaza was filled with New Mexica...

Photo: The South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment conducts a hearing about a uranium exploration permit application on May 19, 2026, at the Mueller Civic Center in Hot Springs, South Dakota. (Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight) A new South Dakota law requires language translation services for some government proceedings. The law does not take effect until July, but it already had a te...

Photo: Marilyn Balluta drums for the Nuvendaltun Ch’naqa K’eljeshna – Children of Nondalton Dancers. (Jeff Chen / Courtesy The MMIWG2s Alaska Working Group) The issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people (MMIP) continues to impact families and communities across Alaska. This week, advocates, tribal leaders, law enforcement, and policymakers gathered in Anchorage for the state’s fi...

Photo: U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola addresses a crowd during a meet and greet in Petersburg on May 26, 2026. Peltola is running for U.S. Senate. (Taylor Heckart/KFSK) Former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) visited Petersburg, Alaska Tuesday in her campaign to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK). Peltola addressed a group of more than fifty people at Petersburg’s Alaska Native Brotherhood John H...

Photo courtesy Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission / Facebook All eleven federally recognized tribes in Wisconsin have seats on a new committee aimed at protecting wild rice. Chuck Quirmbach reports. Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) has announced his 24 appointees to the Wild Rice Stewardship Council. One member, Gloria Waabigwan Wiggins (Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), works for the...

Photo: Kim Etsitty aboard the 223-footlong research vessel, Nautilus, in 2024. (Ocean Exploration Trust) This summer, a Navajo high school teacher will sail the high seas on back-to-back research expeditions around the globe. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has details. Born in Chinle, Ariz., Kim Etsitty spends much of her year teaching science at Navajo Pine High School in New Mexico. That is, until s...

Photo courtesy Heard Museum / Facebook The Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz. remembered Indigenous servicemembers, who made the ultimate sacrifice, during a Memorial Day observance. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more. On this hot Monday morning, Kiowa-Comanche singer Kenneth Cozad Sr. chants a series of honor songs. Each melody is meant to pay tribute to the fallen as the Oklahoma native beats upon...

Photo: The All Pueblo Council of Governors were in attendance at a press conference in Santa Ana Pueblo on Wednesday May 20, 2026 in support of Chaco Canyon making the list for America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. (Jeanette DeDios) The National Trust for Historic Preservation has placed the Greater Chaco Cultural Landscape on this year’s list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic...

Photo: Alex Osif is a former coal miner who worked at the Kayenta and Black Mesa mines. (Chris Clements / KNAU) A congressional watchdog office found some miners with black lung disease face barriers in getting federal payments for their disabilities. As KNAU’s Chris Clements reports, that rings true to a former coal miner and advocate on the Navajo Nation. Alex Osif (Navajo, Hopi, and Pima) was a...

Photo: The walls of Craven Canyon, in the southern Black Hills of South Dakota, are marked with ancient Native American petroglyphs. (Courtesy Lilias Jarding / Black Hills Clean Water Alliance) A South Dakota board is pausing a hearing on a uranium exploration project in an area considered sacred to regional Native American tribes. Meghan O’Brien of South Dakota Searchlight explains. The boa...

Photos: Anchorage police Chief Sean Case, left, and Kelly Hunt. (Rhonda McBride / Courtesy Melvin Hunt) Anchorage Police say they are in the final stages of their investigation into the death of Kelly Hunt, the 19-year-old Shaktoolik student who disappeared in January on her way to college in Soldotna, as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports. Hunt’s remains were found last month i...

At least five Native American men were detained January by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during raids in Minneapolis, Minn. As other reports of Native Americans being mistaken for undocumented immigrants continue, federal lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill to improve the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s interactions with Native Americans when they are proving citizenshi...

Photo: Diné Bizaad is the latest mobile app created by Albert Haskie, the lead developer, who is Diné and from the Navajo Nation. (Courtesy Adoonee) Across the United States, there are over 575 federally recognized American Indian tribes. According to the U.S. Census, Native North American language use fell by 6% from 2013 to 2021, but among those who spoke a Native language, nearly half spoke Nav...

Photo: Ice jam flooding in Chalkyitsik, Alaska on May 7, 2026. (Courtesy National Weather Service) Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) issued a disaster declaration Monday for two Interior Alaska communities, after they were inundated with severe ice jam flooding. The declaration covers the areas near Chalkyitsik on the Black River and Hughes on the Koyukuk River, as The Alaska Desk’s Shelby Herbert f...

Photo: One of the drilling units located on site. (C.J. Keene / SDPB) A mining company has backed down from a legal dispute connected to a standoff over mining at the sacred Black Hills site Pe’ Sla. Many are chalking this in the win column for opposition, though others contend work is not yet finished. C.J. Keene has more. After the explosion of popular support and a courtroom battle, the company...

A senior Indigenous banker in Canada cautions the Canadian government to keep Indigenous consultation at the forefront for major projects. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, he also says there is interest from Indigenous leaders in taking part in those major energy projects. Recently Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney repeated his plan to fast track major energy projects in Canada. Last week, he said Ott...

Photo: The Cannery Hotel & Casino in North Las Vegas, Nev. ( AJFU / Wikimedia ) A newly filed federal lawsuit alleges two Las Vegas hotel-casinos enabled years of sex trafficking tied to convicted sex offender Nathan Chasing Horse. The civil complaint was filed on behalf of two survivors, and names Boyd Gaming, Station Casinos, and other entities as defendants. The suit alleges trafficking occ...

The University of Arizona recognized Friday roughly 70 Native American graduates with a special celebration. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, an Indigenous actor was the event’s keynote speaker. Dallas Goldtooth (Diné and Mdewakanton Dakota) is arguably best known for his role in the Peabody Award-winning FX series, “Reservation Dogs”. Goldtooth plays a comedic spiritual guide to a teen livi...

Photo: A semi-truck carrying uranium ore from the Pinyon Plain Mine is parked near Shonto on the Navajo Nation after a collision on May 6, 2026. (Courtesy Navajo Police Department) The Navajo Police Department responded Wednesday to a crash involving a semi-truck carrying uranium ore from the Grand Canyon’s South Rim to a mill in Utah. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more on the first reported inci...

Photo: Artwork featured as part of the Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition’s installation and community gathering at City Hall, May 4, 2026. (Courtesy The Ottawa Mission / Facebook) Across Canada this week, communities commemorated Red Dress Day with ceremonies. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the annual day on May 5 has become a national day of awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP)...

The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced a new task force aimed at addressing violent crime in tribal communities. The Indian Country Violent Crime Task Force was announced May 5, which is also Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Awareness Day. Officials say the initiative is designed to strengthen law enforcement coordination and protect families across Indian Country. The effort wil...

Indigenous activists are reacting to news that President Donald Trump recently issued a presidential border-crossing permit for the Bridger Pipeline in northcentral Montana. Yellowstone Public Radio’s Kayla Desroches reports. The Bridger Pipeline would start in Phillips County, Mont. at the Canadian border and carry Alberta oil sands down through eastern Montana. Fort Peck Assiniboine Tribal membe...

Photo: Apache Stronghold supporters converge at Oak Flat campground on February 22, 2025. (Gabriel Pietrorazio) A group opposed to a massive Arizona copper mining project filed a petition last week before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. They are hoping the court will reconsider the recent Oak Flat land swap between the U.S. Forest Service and Resolution Copper. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has det...