National Native News

Photo: A wide shot of the west side of the WélmeltiɁ Preserve in north Lake Tahoe, Calif. (Courtesy Elizabeth Carmel) The Washoe Tribe announced its acquisition of more than 10,000 acres of land north of Lake Tahoe. This new WélmeltiɁ Preserve marks the largest tribal land return in the Sierra Nevada and third largest in California. KUNR’s Mariel Day has more. The Washoe Tribe recently finalized t...

Photo: Crews install the final stages of a new fiber-optic internet network across four tribal nations in northern New Mexico. (Courtesy NMPBS) The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion has announced more than $900 million in investments towards broadband infrastructure, with the help of both federal and state support. Some of the funds will go to the Navajo Nation. KUNM’s Jeanette D...

Federal fisheries regulators approved some limits on Western Alaska chum bycatch in the Bering Sea last week. The highly debated – and long awaited – decision aims to protect declining salmon stocks, a crucial food resource for Alaska tribes. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has this story. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to set a Western Alask...

As immigration enforcement actions continue across the country, Indigenous people are increasingly concerned they are being targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). And some have been detained. For the Mountain West News Bureau, Daniel Spaulding has more. On the morning of December 5, ShyLynn Allen received a panicked phone call from Jose Joaquin Sanchez Alvarado, the father of...

The federal government is encouraging tribes to partner with data centers. That could mean leasing land or, as the Mountain West News Bureau’s Hanna Merzbach reports, selling power. At a U.S. Department of Energy webinar, Ken Ahmann with Colusa Indian Energy said that is where the big bucks come in. “ Potentially billions of dollars into the coffers of tribes.” His company provides ene...

The 15th annual Bay Area American Indian Two Spirit Powwow is happening this Valentine’s Day. Buffalo’s Fire reports that organizers hope that the event goes fine, with participants and volunteers feeling safe and supported as the rawhide drum ushers in the Grand Entry. Tzapotl Flores (Salvi-Mexi Xicana) is a co-chair for the BAAITS powwow. She says, this year, the presence of Immigration and Cust...

It has been a month since hundreds of members of a northern Ontario First Nation were put in hotels across the province after a water crisis. Many, however, have chosen to stay at the reserve. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, a state of emergency was declared in early January after a parasite was found in water samples and led to dozens of cases of gastrointestinal illnesses. Medical staff left Kasheche...

Protecting tribal sovereignty is a top discussion at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 2026 Executive Council Winter Session, which is taking place this week in Washington, DC. NCAI President Mark Macarro (Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians) highlighted the importance of tribal sovereignty in his State of Indian Nations address. Macarro says before there was a U.S., there were soverei...

Tribal leaders from across the country are gathered in Washington D.C. this week for the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 2026 Executive Council Winter Session and State of Indian Nations Address. NCAI Youth Commission Co-Presidents Jonas Kanuhsa (Gila River Indian Community) and Angelina Serna (Oneida Nation and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians) kicked off Monday morning’s ass...

For decades, Native women and other women of color were subjected to forced sterilization by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service. New Mexico lawmakers introduced a memorial last week to create a truth and reconciliation commission that would conduct a study into the history, and continuing impacts of this abuse. KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) has...

Before he left office, President Joe Biden came to Arizona and formally apologized for the federal government’s role in running boarding schools designed to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, Biden’s words still carry meaning as one group continues fulfilling a promise from his administration. “Children would arrive [at] school, clothes taken off...

Photo: Kipnuk resident Larry Kalistook asks village and state officials questions about possible relocation during the meeting on January 31, 2026. (James Oh / Alaska Public Media) The Alaska Native village of Kipnuk is at a crossroads. A powerful storm last fall destroyed homes, contaminated water, and left residents with a critical decision: rebuild in the same spot or move to higher ground? As...

Photo: Members of the MMIW Search & Hope Alliance attend a cadaver session led by Dr. William Borman, in Portland, Oreg. Thursday, January 22, 2026. (Brian Bull / Buffalo’s Fire) Search teams working on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) cases must prepare themselves for the likelihood they will come across a body. One group based in Portland, Oreg. is proactively preparing voluntee...

Photo: Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin. (Ty Nigh / Flickr ) Ojibwe tribes in the Great Lakes region are raising concerns about Trump administration plans to remove a rule that limits road building in national forest land, as Chuck Quirmbach reports. The Roadless Rule is a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) policy that for 25 years has curtailed building or reconstructing roads in the nati...

Leaders of the North Slope village of Nuiqsut sued the U.S. Department of Interior on January 28, for canceling a key subsistence protection for a development project, as The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA reports. About a year ago, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management issued an agreement with Nuiqsut leaders that prohibited oil and gas development around Teshekpuk L...

Photo: The Wind River Family and Community Health Care clinic in Riverton, Wyo. would have been impacted by the proposed cuts in tribal Medicaid funding. (Hannah Habermann / Wyoming Public Media) State lawmakers in Wyoming backtracked this week on what many – including some lawmakers – believed was a big proposed cut to tribal Medicaid funding. Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann reports. Earl...

There was a hung jury in Rapid City, S.D. Wednesday in a case against Nick Tilsen, the founder and CEO of the Native-led organization NDN Collective. After three days of hearings, a mistrial was declared. Tilsen is accused of assaulting a police officer in 2022. He is facing charges for aggravated and simple assault on a law enforcement officer and obstruction of a law enforcement officer –...

From an Iñupiaq Wordle game to a new language immersion program, a wave of efforts to revitalize Iñupiaq language has been sweeping across northern Alaska. Last month, one Utqiaġvik artist received a Rasmuson award to create an Iñupiaq language workbook for kids. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more. Alaina Bankston has loved making art since she was a child...

Photo: A crowd congregates in Mesa, Ariz. where a roadside memorial remembering slain San Carlos Apache teen Emily Pike was taken down nearly a year after she disappeared. (Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) It was one year ago, on January 27, 2025, that San Carlos Apache teenager Emily Pike went missing from a Mesa, Ariz. group home. Her dismembered remains were discovered a month later in garbage bags...

Tribes are among those expressing condolences to the family of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot over the weekend by federal agents in Minneapolis. Tribes are also raising concerns for their citizens in the Twin Cities as the Trump administration’s immigration actions continue in Minnesota. In a statement, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe offered condolences and said it is standing in sol...

A bipartisan bill signed into law last year is now giving Native Americans residing in Arizona the option to update their state-issued identification to show their tribal affiliation. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, it comes at a time when Indigenous peoples are being swept up in immigration raids – including Peter Yazzie (Navajo), who was recently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs E...

The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) is pulling out all the stops to block a Safari Club International proposal to reform the federal subsistence board. As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride reports, AFN says it is a direct threat to the Alaska Native subsistence way of life. Last year, Safari Club International, a sport hunting and fishing group, petitioned two Trump cabinet members for the review. It asked...

Maleeka “Mollie” Boone, a Navajo girl who’d gone missing in the community of Coalmine near Tuba City, Ariz. marks the second time an alert system has been used in search of a Native American since its implementation last year. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, that search is now over. The FBI Phoenix Field Office confirmed that Boone’s body was found on Friday following a multiagency search t...

Tribal leaders are among those raising concerns about the stability of local mental health and substance abuse services. That’s after a temporary major cut in federal funding last week, as Chuck Quirmbach reports. The White House announced roughly $2 billion in cuts to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The government said the money no longer aligned with Pre...

Photo: Dr. Jennifer Pierce with an Anchorage Fire Department vehicle on January 9, 2026. Pierce and the vehicle are part of a new program that will offer addiction treatment to those who overdose. (Matt Faubion / Alaska Public Media) Alaska is launching pilot programs in Anchorage and Juneau to offer addiction treatment in mobile care units. Emergency responders will give people medication to help...