Native America
Navajo Nation citizen will head Indian Health Service
Navajo Nation citizen Roselyn Tso was confirmed by the Senate Wednesday to lead the Indian Health Service, the first permanent director the agency has had in nearly two years. Tso’s term will last four years. The director of Indian Health Service is the most senior position that helps to develop healthcare policy for 2.6 million […]
Justice Department funds to aid tribal law enforcement and help Indigenous victims of crime
The U.S. Department of Justice announced it will provide more than $246 million in grants to Native American and Alaska Native communities for improvements in law enforcement and justice. The well-received announcement was made in Anchorage on Wednesday at the start of the federal government’s annual tribal consultation conference on violence against women. Allison Randall, […]
Families of missing and murdered Indigenous people call for help at Haaland event in Albuquerque
Thursday night inside the UNM School of Law was a homecoming for Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who was warmly received by an audience of hundreds. But outside, families representing 17 missing or murdered Indigenous people were crying in the rain, asking when their loved ones, or justice, will come to their homes. Haaland, a 2006 […]
Tribal law enforcement boosted under bill proposed by members of Congress from the West
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers re-introduced legislation Thursday to provide more resources for tribal law enforcement, an issue they say has become more urgent as Congress begins to consider how to respond to a July Supreme Court case that complicated state-tribal criminal jurisdiction. The bill, introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego […]
Tribal leaders testify before Congress about sovereignty in legal systems
Sovereignty on Native American land is being attacked by the United States’ highest court, leaders from various tribal nations told members of Congress this week. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta earlier this year allows state prosecutors to take over criminal prosecutions for crimes that occur on Indigenous nations, and it’s causing confusion […]
Indigenous groups say changes to utility regulation in NM would favor energy companies
New Mexico voters approved a constitutional amendment in November 2020 that changed membership on the state’s utility regulatory body from an elected position to one that’s appointed by the governor. A coalition of Indigenous groups is now petitioning the state’s highest court to block the change before it takes effect next year, arguing the amendment’s […]
New Mexico quietly closes its COVID isolation shelters
POJOAQUE PUEBLO — Since April 2020, the Buffalo Thunder Isolation & Quarantine Shelter housed 1,646 Native Americans and non-Native people from 44 different tribes and three different countries, including people from two First Nations in Canada and a woman from Puerto Rico who caught COVID-19 while she was visiting her daughter in nearby Santa Fe. […]
Four years into court-mandated education reform, lawmakers look at compliance
It takes time to reform a failed system. That’s the message state lawmakers got from education leaders providing updates on the Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit that mandates reform in public schools across New Mexico. It’s been four years since Judge Sarah Singleton ruled the state has failed to provide adequate education to students who are English-language learners, […]
NM to expand broadband in rural and tribal areas that were ‘left behind for a long time’
With millions of dollars in funding from the federal government, New Mexico is trying to expand high-speed internet access across the state, especially in rural and tribal areas, where many have unreliable or out-of-date infrastructure and feel they get largely ignored. Local, state, federal and tribal officials met on Wednesday in Los Ranchos to discuss […]
Preserving the natural sonic environment in Bears Ears
Sounds and vibration give life and disrupt it. Take a walk in any city park, and you’ll notice many wearing headphones to cancel out the noise that interjects modern urban existence. A walk in the bosque is only as serene as the distance between overpasses. Portable speakers are now common on hiking trails, furthering the […]
‘We’re Losing Our People’
As a young girl, Arlene Juanico would rush to gather the laundry before the explosions started. When the alarms sounded, Juanico would hustle to grab the clean garments off the clothesline before she was enveloped by dust clouds. But Juanico’s little legs usually couldn’t get her back to shelter in time. That’s when the yellow-flecked dust […]
Peltola wins U.S. House race, first woman and Alaska Native to represent Alaska in House
Democrat Mary Peltola will become the first woman to represent Alaska in the U.S. House of Representatives and the first Alaska Native ever to serve in Congress. The former state legislator and current tribal fisheries leader is the first Democrat to win a U.S. House race here in 50 years and will serve the remaining […]