December 08, 2025
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Native News Online will host a special 90-minute year-end livestream on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, as part of its annual fundraising campaign to support its newsroom.
Currents
Happy Monday morning. We know our readers are busy during the holiday season — many of you may have attended your children’s or grandchildren’s sporting events. Here are some of the stories you may have missed over the weekend:
From Our Partners
For generations, many Native families have relied on community knowledge, not institutions, to guide their financial lives. That wisdom remains essential.
As First American Capital Corporation’s (FACC) influence expands across Wisconsin, it is through strong community partnerships that connect Native entrepreneurs with business loan options, education and resources for success.
Across the country today, museums are being forced to reckon with the truth. For centuries, most mainstream museums were built from taking — taking objects, taking stories, taking lands. They displayed the Ancestors of Native Nations under the banner of “education,” while silencing the very Peoples those Ancestors came from.
Opinion
Opinion. For generations, Native Americans have faced extraordinary health disparities: We die younger, suffer higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, and suicide, and are more likely to lack insurance than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States.
Guest Opinion. The first official execution in Connecticut was that of a Native American in 1639. The man, Nepaupuck of the Quinnipiac Tribe, was executed for the murder of a colonist during the Pequot War.
Sovereignty
The Tlingit Haida Tribal Business Corporation (THTBC) issued a statement on Dec. 8 clarifying the scope of its federal contracting work and reaffirming that it does not hold contracts with federal law-enforcement or immigration agencies.
Ancestry research in the modern age is often reduced to DNA, three rather impersonal letters that clinically reveal our genetic instructions and hereditary traits. Thirty-two Chickasaw citizens’ desire to experience a deeper, more personal understanding of their origin than science could provide were amply fulfilled during the most recent Chickasaw Nation Elders Homeland Tour.
Education
It’s a scene straight from a Dickens novel: a family sits around the table on Christmas Day with an empty chair amongst them and a somber air. Except this isn’t the Victorian classic, it’s real life for far too many Native families and no well-intentioned spirits to save the day. The epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) in the United States that has existed for years continues unabated. And while Native students deal with the same end of semester pressures and holiday stresses as other students, they’re more likely to also be living in a state of fear or mourning for a relative who may never make it home.
Submissions for the sixth annual Tribal College Blanket Design Contest, hosted by American Indian College Fund and Pendleton Woolen Mills, are open from now until January 15, 2026 .
Arts & Entertainment
The Zuni Youth Enrichment Project announced today that preparations are under way for the 8th Annual Delapna:we Project. Made possible with support from the First Nations Development Institute, U.S. Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and New Mexico Behavioral Health Services Division, this innovative project brings the Zuni people’s traditional oral stories to life through the performing arts.
The Chickasaw Holiday Art Market, showcasing work by Chickasaw artists, will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, in the Artesian Hotel Ballroom at 1001 W. First Street, Sulphur, Okla.
Health
Environment
Nearly 900 acres of land have been returned to the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation in California. The land borders Yosemite National Park -- one of the most visited National Parks—— and the Sierra National Forest.
Leaders of the Chilkat Indian Village of Klukwan and the conservation group Chilkat Forever are warning the new owners of the Palmer mine project that they will face “sustained and unyielding opposition” if they pursue hardrock mining in the Chilkat Valley.