February 07, 2025
On Wednesday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) urging the agency to promptly issue a directive ensuring that all federal agencies protect American Indian tribes, their programs, and the federal funding they receive, from being impacted by the implementation of the President’s Executive Orders and policies.
Currents
U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) on Tuesday, February 4, reintroduced their bipartisan Bridging Agency Data Gaps & Ensuring Safety (BADGES) for Native Communities Act after it failed to pass in Congress’ last session.
From Our Partners
There is a fundamental difference between meeting the bare minimum required by regulations and actively striving to do what’s right. Too often, large infrastructure projects treat tribal consultation as a box to check rather than an opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue. But from the very beginning, Summit Carbon Solutions has taken a different approach—one that recognizes and respects tribal sovereignty in a way that is rarely seen in major development projects.
Exhibition Woven Being: Art for Zhegagoynak / Chicagoland to run through July 13, 2025
For generations, Native peoples have been pioneers in medicine, carefully testing traditional healing practices to benefit our communities. Today, as we face rising cancer rates in Indian Country, we must bring together this ancestral wisdom with modern clinical trials to create solutions for our people.
Opinion
Guest Opinion. Systemic racism is at the center of the White House’s mass deportation policies. Right now, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents are racially profiling and detaining people who are here with valid visas, and even U.S. citizens -- including a Puerto Rican family with a 3-year-old who were speaking Spanish in public.
Guest Opinion. Recent actions by the new White House administration show that funding for community-based organizations, higher education institutions, and rural programs are at risk of severe cuts in funding or even elimination.
Sovereignty
The Trump administration’s intensified deportation efforts have created unexpected challenges for Navajo citizens living in urban areas like Phoenix. As the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began widespread raids in major cities across the country following the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, concerns have surfaced about Native Americans being mistaken for undocumented immigrants.
A federal judge declined a request to bar the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians from barricading reservation roads on the same day the tribal council voted to keep the disputed roads open.
Education
WENATCHEE, Wash. – A dream of attending the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) turned into reality for Chickasaw citizen James Eric Byrd.
Arizona State University’s American Indian Studies program will be hosting the annual American Indian Studies Association Conference in Tempe from Feb. 5-7. The conference will feature a graduate student pre-conference networking event and a number of speaking and panel engagements.
Arts & Entertainment
SWAIA Native Fashion Week (SNFW) is thrilled to renew its partnership with Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week (VIFW) for the 2025 annual event, taking place May 7-11 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This collaboration highlights SNFW’s dedication to Native leadership, mentorship, and excellence in the expanding Native fashion industry.
Rebecca Kunz recently became the first ever Cherokee artist to be awarded the Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for her illustrations in Chooch Helped, a children’s book by Cherokee author Andrea L Rogers.
Health
Environment
On January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename Denali, North America’s tallest peak, back to its former name, Mount McKinley.
The Tohono O’odham Nation signed a co-stewardship agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for federal lands with deep cultural and religious ties for the tribal nation.