National Native News

The president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe has denounced Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision not to revoke medals awarded for one of history’s most infamous massacres. Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire reports. In late December 1890, members of the 7th Cavalry attempted to disarm a large group of Chief Spotted Elk’s followers they had encircled at Wounded Knee Creek, S.D. A shot went off and the sol...

Across Canada, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people marked the fifth National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day. Prime minister Mark Carney reflected on the tragic legacy of the residential school system and talked about how his government is moving toward reconciliation. But as Dan Karpenchuk reports, the country’s governor general says more work remains. There were...

It’s National Truth and Reconciliation Day, also known as Orange Shirt Day. The annual event is dedicated to honoring the survivors and children lost in Canada’s residential school system, and to recognize the abuses and effects of that system. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, on the eve of Orange Shirt Day, a multi-million-dollar settlement and an apology were announced for survivors at one northern sc...

(Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) The father of Emily Pike has filed a civil lawsuit against the Mesa group home that had the San Carlos Apache teen in its custody before she went missing and was murdered in Arizona. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has details. The seven-page complaint alleges Sacred Journey Inc. group home staff were negligent in failing to keep Emily in their care – blaming them fo...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced over 70 public health officers will be deployed to Indian Health Services (IHS) facilities across the country. IHS has faced staffing shortages serving 2.7 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives across the country. Reporter Carolann Duro (Maara’yam & Kumeyaay descendant) has more. In a request for comment, IHS Chief Me...

A resource guide to help small and medium-sized governments in the Great Lakes region adapt to climate change has been published. Chuck Quirmbach reports that some tribal communities in the area are already trying to reduce problems caused by higher temperatures and additional flooding. The guide is from the International Joint Commission (IJC), which helps implement the Boundary Waters Treaty of...

Photo: A billboard along U.S. Highway 89 encourages those living in the Western Agency of the Navajo Nation to get screened for uranium exposure by the Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation. (Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) People in tribal communities say they’re getting approached by predatory representation and solicitation in the wake of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) being re...

The U.S. Department of Education announced last week a nearly half-billion dollar investment that will, in part, help to fund tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, it comes months after the White House proposed cuts that could’ve caused some schools to close. Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren met with Education Secretary Linda McMahon, for the first time,...

Photo: This sign marks one of more than a hundred abandoned uranium mines in Cameron on the Navajo Nation. (Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was recently renewed. It provides compensation for uranium miners and people exposed to Cold War-era nuclear testing. In what could be a final round of applications, allegations of predatory representation and solicit...

This year’s New York Fashion Week made history by featuring the first Native American designer. The show coincided with the first of its kind Indigenous New York Fashion Week. Reporter Carolann Duro (Maara’yam [Serrano] and Kumeyaay descendant) has more. Jamie Okuma (Shoshone Bannock, Wailaki, and member of the La Jolla Band of Indians) is known for her intricate beadwork and clothing designs. At...

Photo: Salmon being pulled from a gillnet in June 2025. (Terese Vicente / KRITFC) The State of Alaska wants the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether rural residents – which includes many Alaska Native people – should maintain subsistence fishing preference in the waterways of federal lands. KYUK’s Sage Smiley reports that, last month, a panel of federal appeals court judges sided with the federal...

Photo: Robert Redford advocating against the demolition of Santa Monica Pier while filming “The Sting” on the pier. (Ken Dare / Los Angeles Times / UCLA) Hollywood legend Robert Redford has died at the age of 89. The longtime actor, producer, and activist passed away Tuesday in his Utah home. Among the many things Redford was known for over his career, he was a champion of the environm...

Photo: Bad River Reservation in northern Wisconsin. (Courtesy Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians) Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) offices in Wisconsin and Minnesota remain open after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targeted them for termination. As Danielle Kaeding reports, the initiative formerly led by billionaire Elon Musk had proposed canceling leases f...

While dozens of tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) are facing funding cuts that could shut them down, a new report highlights some of the economic impacts generated from tens of thousands of alumni. It’s meant to show the “positive return on investment for students, taxpayers and society.” KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has details. The study was commissioned by the nonprofit American Indian High...

In our ongoing Native American Justice Series , we recently talked to clients of the Northern Arapaho Reentry program, which is helping people return home from out of state federal prisons and state incarceration to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. The reservation is home to the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes. Many clients in the program say they’re more confident now to stay o...

(Photo: Brian Bull) During World War II, at least 100,000 Japanese Americans were forced into so-called internment, or concentration, camps across the U.S. Seen by the government as a potential threat within America’s borders, memories of the mass incarceration still burns hot for former prisoners and their families. Senior reporter Brian Bull of Buffalo’s Fire reports on a Native American college...

Photo courtesy Cheree Urscheler / Facebook A big legal win and validation for a First Nation in Ontario. The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed a request from the town of South Bruce Peninsula to appeal a lower court decision that granted a valuable section of beach to the Saugeen First Nation. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the chief of the band calls the ruling “like a breath of fresh air.&...

When former foster youth Matthew Vandenberg took the stand on the first day of the federal trial, he told the judge about a foster placement he and other foster youth called the “ramen house.” He recounted his testimony in an interview. “The people there were to give you two ramen packs a day, and if you ate them, say, in the morning, because you were hungry, you would have to wait until you...

In rural Alaska, there are a growing number of cases involving young teens in small, remote Indigenous communities, who are sexually exploited online. As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride tells us, FBI investigators want to be sure Robert Segevan from the North Slope didn’t have any other alleged victims, after they indicted and arrested him in Wainwright, Alaska this July for child exploitation. In charging...

Photo: The Ashland, Wisc. BIA office was targeted by DOGE for closure. (Courtesy Google) Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) offices in Wisconsin and Minnesota remain open after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targeted them for termination. As Danielle Kaeding reports, the initiative formerly led by billionaire Elon Musk had proposed canceling leases for several offices earlier this year...

Photo: Attorneys for the Bad River tribe present their case as part of a challenge to key permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 relocation project at a hearing in Ashland, Wisc. on August 12, 2025. (Danielle Kaeding / WPR) A case is ongoing in Wisconsin over a legal challenge to key permits for a project to reroute an oil and gas pipeline around a Lake Superior tribe’s reservation. As Danielle Kaeding rep...

The case had the potential to overturn decades of hard-fought legal battles to protect traditional fishing rights in rural Alaska, but in the end, the U.S. 9 th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the federal government in its lawsuit against the state to protect those rights. As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride tells us, the win is a major victory for tribes. This summer, for the first time in a long time,...

Photo: Researchers Alexis Schultz, left, and Nike McCampbell at Smitty’s Cove in Whittier, Alaska. (Rachel Cassandra / Alaska Public Media) Studies show microplastics can be found throughout our ecosystem – and plastic pollution disproportionately impacts Indigenous communities. So scientists at Alaska Pacific University (APU) in Anchorage are studying how these tiny particles of plast...

Summer is prime time for gathering and baking camas across the Pacific Northwest, Rockies, and Plains regions. Native people usually harvest – then bake – the plant’s bulbs, as part of their First Foods menu. As Brian Bull (Nez Perce) of Buffalo’s Fire reports, there was even a “bake-off” held outside Eugene, Oreg. recently. It started when members of the Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program (TE...

(Photo courtesy Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak / Facebook) Audio availble by 12:00 p.m. EDT A tearful and emotional reunion took place recently in Manitoba. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, a Sixties Scoop survivor was reunited with his Indigenous family after 50 years. Jonathan Hooker was taken from his family in 1975. He was two-month old. He is from the Mosakahiken Cree Nation in northern Manitoba....