• The Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Epidemic is Real in Indian Country

    Native News Online’s most read article this past week was not about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) epidemic that has gripped Indian Country. Instead it was about South Dakota’s Governor Kristi Noem, who killed a dog because she deemed the pup untrainable to become a hunting dog. Yes, she is the same Gov. Noem who has been banished from the tribal lands of several South Dakota tribes because she doesn’t give them respect and treats them with a paternalistic fashion.

  • Navajo psychiatrist bridges gaps between Native American culture and behavioral health care

    GANADO – As a Navajo himself, Dr. Richard Laughter understands mental health issues experienced by members of the Navajo Nation on a deeply personal level. As a Native American psychiatrist, he breaks down accessibility barriers for his people by blending Native cultural practices with Western behavioral health care. According to Laughter, the rural nature of […] The post Navajo psychiatrist bridges gaps between Native American culture and behavioral health care appeared first on Utah News Dispa

  • Indigenous doulas lead the fight for reproductive care access gap in Gaum.

    After the closure of the island’s only standalone birth center in December 2022, medical professionals have been sounding the alarm for what they consider a “maternal care crisis” on Guam.

  • Indigenous doulas lead the fight for reproductive care access gap in Guam

    After the closure of the island’s only standalone birth center in December 2022, medical professionals have been sounding the alarm for what they consider a “maternal care crisis” on Guam.

  • QandA: Cree Métis and Two-Spirit Artist and Fashion Designer Jason Baerg

    Renowned Cree Métis and Two-Spirit artist, activist, fashion designer, and educator Jason Baerg is set to make waves once again as they unveil their latest collection at the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) Native Fashion Week on May 5. Operating under their fashion label, Ayimach Horizons, Baerg will introduce the Kapishkum (Transcend) Collection for SWAIA, paying tribute to their Cree and Métis heritage.

  • Here's What's Going in Indian Country, May 3rd — May 9th

    This week in Indian Country, there are plenty of events for everyone to enjoy. From powwows to the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts Native Fashion Show, here is Native News Online’s weekly round-up of arts, culture, and entertainment offerings around Indian Country. The United Cherokee American Indian Pow Wow is an annual celebration of Cherokee culture, featuring traditional dances, music, arts, and crafts.

  • Presidential Medal of Freedom: Biden honours activists, astronauts and Olympians

    They include the first Native American to win a gold medal and the first woman to serve as House Speaker.

  • Rule change allows tribes to access state housing funds, but it comes too late for grants

    A state board endorsed a rule change this week that would let Native American tribes access state housing infrastructure funding, but the change comes so late in the process that all the grants are already awarded and only loans remain. The Housing Infrastructure Financing Program is a $200 million pool of state and federal money […] The post Rule change allows tribes to access state housing funds, but it comes too late for grants appeared first on South Dakota Searchlight.

  • Whitmer taps Bay Mills tribal leader for LSSU Board of Trustees

    On Thursday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced two appointments to the Lake Superior State University Board of Trustees, including a tribal leader who’s a well-known anti-Line 5 activist. “I am proud to appoint Whitney Gravelle and Kevin Cooper to the LSSU Board,” said Whitmer. “They are both dedicated members of the community and bring years of […] The post Whitmer taps Bay Mills tribal leader for LSSU Board of Trustees appeared first on Michigan Advance.

  • Jim Thorpe, the World’s Greatest Athlete, Posthumously Honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom

    Legendary athlete Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox/Potawatomi) is among the 19 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients honored today at the White House. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors. Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox/Potawatomi) was bestowed two Olympic gold medals by King Gustav of Sweden at the conclusion of the 1912 Olympic Games after winning the decathlon and pentathlon in Stockholm.

  • Drugmaker Amneal agrees to $270 million U.S. opioid settlement

    Amneal Pharmaceuticals said on Friday it had reached a deal valued at more than $270 million to resolve claims it helped fuel the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic, becoming the latest drug company to settle lawsuits over the addiction crisis brought by states and local governments. Amneal reached an agreement in principle to pay $92.5 million in cash and provide $180 million worth of naloxone nasal spray, an overdose treatment medication, to resolve lawsuits by U.S. states, local governments and Native American tribes. The settlement, which is payable over 10 years, would if finalized resolve nearly all of the more than 900 opioid-related lawsuits against Amneal, the company said.

  • Meet the Native American Activist Fighting the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples with Ohkomi Forensics

    Haley Omeasoo, the founder and executive director of Ohkomi Forensics, was 20 years old when she saw a missing persons flier for her former high school classmate, Ashley Loring Heavyrunner. Seeing the face of someone she knew on a missing persons flier wasn’t a new experience for Omeasoo, a citizen of the Hopi Tribe and a Blackfeet descendant. “It's kind of a normal thing, you see a post on Facebook about so and so being missing or an attempt to locate, and a lot of the time, they do end up showing up,” Omeasoo told Native News Online.

  • Sanders calls for free public college to boost minority health care workforce

    Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) suggested Thursday the cancellation of all student debt and making public colleges and universities free would help solve the country’s shortage of Black, Latino and Native American health care workers. “In my view, we need to cancel student debt and make all public colleges and universities tuition free, so that all…

  • Biden Expands Two National Monuments in California by 120,000 Acres

    President Biden announced today that the San Gabriel Mountains and Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monuments will be expanded by 120,000 acres. The Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, located northwest of Sacramento, encompasses nearly 331,000 acres. President Biden's proclamation aims to increase the size of this monument by 13,696 acres, offering opportunities for various recreational activities.

  • Biden expands 2 national monuments, including 1 in Southern California

    President Joe Biden on Thursday expanded two national monuments in California following calls from tribal nations, Indigenous community leaders and others for the permanent protection of nearly 120,000 acres (48,562 hectares) of important cultural and environmental land. The designations are part of the Democratic president’s “America the Beautiful” initiative, launched in 2021 in line with […]

  • Biden expands 2 national monuments in California significant to tribal nations

    President Joe Biden has expanded two culturally significant California landscapes: the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in Southern California and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Northern California. The move follows calls from tribal nations, Indigenous community leaders and others for the permanent protection of nearly 120,000 acres of important cultural and environmental land. […]

  • Here's What's Going on in Indian Country for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Awareness Day

    Sunday, May 5, is National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) Awareness Day. Native communities and organizations across Indian Country will gather over the weekend to draw attention to the MMIP Crisis and honor those who have been impacted the most. The first proclamation declaring May 5 MMIP Day was issued in 2017.

  • How queer Indigenous youth are finding safety and support after Nex Benedict's death

    After the death of transgender student Nex Benedict, who lived on a Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma, the group Cousins is expanding its offerings to queer youth.

  • North Carolina to receive $76m to replace drinking water lines that contain lead

    North Carolina will receive an additional $76 million for utilities to remove and replace lead service lines that could be contaminating the drinking water, the Biden administration announced today. The money is part of a $9 billion package for all states and U.S. territories, as well as tribal lands, through 2026, with $3 billion available […] The post North Carolina to receive $76m to replace drinking water lines that contain lead appeared first on NC Newsline.

  • DNC Marks Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day Across the Country with a Multi-State Ad Campaign

    The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced today it will launch a new print and digital awareness campaign to commemorate the upcoming Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day on May 5. The campaign’s flight begins today and will run through May 9 in Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wisconsin through a digital campaign and through print ads in local and national Native American publications. The goal of the ads is to raise awareness, honoring the victims and their families, and reaffirming Democrats’ commitment to working with tribal nations and Native communities to advance justice and safety.

  • Our Right to Consultation Will Not Be Ignored

    Nearly 4,000 miles separate Alaska’s North Slope, the ancestral homelands of the North Slope Iñupiat, and Washington D.C. But after multiple trips between the two to advocate for our self-determination in our ancestral homelands before the vast bureaucracy of the federal government, it feels like we live on different planets. This disconnect is not just physical – it can be measured by the number of policies affecting our lands and people crafted by Washington without first consulting with the North Slope Iñupiat.

  • Choctaw Nation Celebrates Chief Gary Batton’s 10 Years as Chief

    Tribal members, government officials, associates, friends and family gathered Friday, April 26, to celebrate Chief Gary Batton's 10 years of service as Chief of the Choctaw Nation. Batton was sworn into office on April 28, 2014, as the 47th Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Under Chief Batton's leadership, food distribution centers, summer education programs and healthcare facilities have expanded, tribal housing has increased, and employment has more than doubled.

  • Native lawmakers seek accountability after racial misconduct at school events

    Two Native American lawmakers voiced frustrations Wednesday with repeated reports of racist behavior at school events and urged more accountability from North Dakota education officials. The legislators — Rep. Jayme Davis, D-Rolette, and Rep. Lisa Finley-DeVille, D-Mandaree — had no shortage of examples to draw from during a presentation to the Legislature’s Tribal and State […] The post Native lawmakers seek accountability after racial misconduct at school events appeared first on North Dakota

  • Land Acknowledgments Are Not Enough

    Thefirsttime I walked through the doors of Columbia University as the first Native American student to be admitted into the creative nonfiction graduate program, I felt a wave of ambivalence wash over me. Many of them had been prepared for this moment through the years of Ivy League degrees and decades of expectations of legacy families. On the stage of Low Library, a faculty member began the orientation address: “Columbia University School of the Arts recognizes Manhattan as part of the ancestral and traditional homeland of the Lenni-Lenape and Wappinger people.”

  • A Notable Victory for Justice in Case of Murdered Pit River Tribal Citizen

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently announced the sentencing of Jarrett Bleu Rucker to 26 years to life in prison for McGarva's murder, marking a crucial development in the ongoing fight against the Missing Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) crisis. Upon arrival, they discovered McGarva, fatally wounded, alongside Rucker, who sustained injuries requiring urgent medical attention.