National Native News

Antonia Gonzales
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Daily, five-minute newscast featuring the latest headlines and breaking news from Native and Indigenous communities anchored by Antonia Gonzales (Navajo) with reporters and storytellers from around the globe.

  1. 7h ago

    Friday, July 24, 2026

    Alaska’s main Native healthcare organization is set to receive a $400 million settlement from the federal government for unpaid expenses to provide medical services. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the settlement Tuesday. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA reports. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) filed a lawsuit in 2021 claiming that the federal government did not fully compensate the organization for administrative costs over seven years of providing medical services. This settlement follows several U.S. Supreme Court decisions in favor of tribal health contractors like the consortium. Lloyd Miller is a tribal attorney who handled three cases involving costs that the government had refused to pay. “To be sure, a significant amount of money is owed to tribes, and the latest settlement you heard about is just one of many settlements that have been achieved throughout the United States over the last two years.” ANTHC provides health services in clinics throughout the state and at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. The organization also runs rural infrastructure projects in villages, including improving water and sewer systems. The consortium entered an agreement with the federal government under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. Under that agreement, ANTHC is responsible for providing healthcare that the federal government would otherwise provide, through agencies like the Indian Health Service (IHS). The consortium said in its court complaint the government failed to reimburse administrative costs for healthcare services between 2014 and 2022, with the exception of one year. The consortium’s attorneys dismissed its case this month after a settlement was reached, according to court documents. Natasha Singh is president and CEO of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. She said in a prepared statement that the settlement helps make sure that “resources accurately reflect the true cost of operating a complex Tribal health system and advancing self-determination in healthcare.” Singh said the details of the settlement are still being finalized, but it helps the consortium to expand their services for Alaska Native people. Tribal attorney Miller says this and other cases follow a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision that the federal government owed money to the Carlos Apache and Northern Arapaho tribes in Arizona and Wyoming. “When the court held that those two tribes had been underpaid, the court was saying that every tribe in the United States that has a contract with [IHS] has been underpaid.” Miller says many tribes have filed or reactivated litigation with IHS in the last two years. KIC’s new gift shop is where tourists can purchase care packages for community members. (Photo: Hunter Morrison / KRBD) There is a new way to give back to Ketchikan’s unhoused population. The Ketchikan Indian Community (KIC) rolled out a new program this month where people can pay for and assemble care packages to those in need, as KRBD’s Hunter Morrison reports. Emily Edenshaw is the tribe’s administrator and CEO. To her knowledge, there is no other program like it in Alaska. She says that the initiative is aimed at tourists “We often invite tourists to our homelands, but there’s really a need for service tourism. You have the second largest tribe in Alaska that’s really tried to innovatively create an experience for our tourists to leave a community in a better place than they found it.” Care packages are $25 and include necessities like toothpaste, deodorant, socks, and sanitary products. People who purchase the care packages can also leave a handwritten note. Edenshaw says each dollar raised from the program will go to support the tribe’s permanent supportive housing project, a 28-unit housing complex for seniors, set to open next month. The care packages can be purchased at KIC’s newly opened gift shop at the corner of Dock and Main Streets downtown. That space was once home to the tribe’s seasonal warming shelter, which closed in the spring. The tribe will open another temporary warming shelter in the fall, although they haven’t determined a location yet. Edenshaw says the new care package program is a way to carry on the legacy of the former warming shelter space. She says a little bit of support can go a long way. “For those who might be wanting to do this, make it a family affair. You know, use this as an opportunity to instill the value of giving back, to your children. You know, bring your families by the gift shop and use it as an educational opportunity while also making an impact in people’s lives.” Edenshaw says visitors to the tribe’s gift shop will see information about the new program as soon as they walk through the door. She hopes to inform the cruise lines of the program so that more tourists can participate in it.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Friday, July 24, 2026 — Zuni Pueblo responds to monsoon flooding

  2. 1d ago

    Thursday, July 23, 2026

    Photo: “Navajo” Bob Sandoval announces the results of the 2025 Navajo Nation presidential primary (Courtesy Crystalyne Curley for Navajo Nation President / Facebook) Tuesday was primary Election Day not only in Arizona, but across the Navajo Nation, which includes Utah and New Mexico. And as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, incumbent President Buu Nygren will not be moving on to the general. Before midnight, the tribal radio station KTNN – known in these parts as the “Voice of the Navajo Nation” – called the 16-candidate race. Here is host “Navajo Bob” Sandoval reading the unofficial score from the 110 polling places. “Here we go, Justin Jones – 15,039. Crystalyne Curley – 8,424. Buu Nygren – 7,410.” Farmington attorney Justin Jones came in third behind Buu Nygren during the 2022 primary. Justin Jones speaks during his 2026 primary watch party in Window Rock, Ariz. (Courtesy Justin Jones for Navajo Nation President / Facebook) This time, Jones and sitting Navajo Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley beat out incumbent President Nygren, who has faced ethics violations and allegations of corruption. Now, Jones and Curley will pick their VP running mates before November. If elected, Curley would be the first Diné female president. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) makes remarks regarding her bill that passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on July 17 2026. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced last week that her bill allowing five Alaska Native communities in Southeast Alaska to receive land entitlements passed out of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The legislation, called The Alaska Native Landless Equity Act, would allow Petersburg, Wrangell, Haines, Ketchikan, and Tenakee to form Alaska Native corporations and each receive about 23,000 acres of federal land, as KFSK’s Baiz Hoen reports. Those communities were excluded from the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) when it became law over 50 years ago. ANCSA transferred 44 million acres of land to more than 200 regional, village, and urban corporations to resolve land claims throughout Alaska. The Landless movement is not without controversy. ANCSA mandated the newly recognized Native corporations to make a profit. Because of this, some who oppose Sen. Murkowski’s bill argue that it would privatize 115,000 acres of land in the Tongass National Forest. Murkowski spoke directly to the opposition in her committee remarks last week. She addressed concerns about environmental conservation, but said “this should not be the controversial measure it has historically been viewed as.” “There are no better stewards of our Alaska lands than the people who have lived on them for thousands of years.” The Alaska delegation has been introducing landless legislation since the early 1990s without success. In 2023, a landless bill introduced by Murkowski cleared committee for the first time. Murkowski also noted during remarks that a companion measure by U.S. Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) passed in the House of Representatives last month — with no recorded opposition. Rep. Begich’s bill is the first Landless bill to clear the House. “ And I think there’s good reason for that because it comes back to the inequity that we have seen, uh, and in an effort to do right by the Alaska Native peoples who were excluded so many decades ago.” Murkowski’s legislation now heads to the Senate floor for consideration. Fort Harney in Oregon in 1872. On this day in 1880, President Rutherford B. Hayes signed an executive order canceling Oregon’s Fort Harney Military Reservation and placing those lands under the existing Malheur Indian Reservation. The order expanded the reservation established in 1872 for the Northern Paiute and Snake peoples as federal policies continued reshaping Native homelands.     Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Thursday, July 23, 2026 – First Nations in Canada wary of new bill addressing longstanding water issues

  3. 2d ago

    Wednesday, July 22, 2026

    Photo: Navajo Mine is the sole supplier of the Four Corners Power Plant in New Mexico. An environmental group met in Window Rock, Ariz. Monday to argue against keeping a Navajo Nation coal mine alive. As KNAU’s Chris Clements reports, critics say it would ignore a nationwide transition away from fossil fuels. Members of the group Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment (CARE), like Devon Norberto, say the permit to extend the life of the Navajo Mine by 110 years is rushed. “A lot of the concerns we heard were around that the community hadn’t been fully notified of this permit.” The tribally owned Navajo Transitional Energy Company (N-TEC) operates the Navajo Mine in northwestern New Mexico and is pushing for its expansion. Supporters of that proposal argue it is essential to the tribe’s economic stability and sovereignty, but Norberto says members of Burnham Chapter, a community near where coal would be mined, were not properly consulted. “It would relocate some of the families within the leasing area that they are trying to mine at. It would force them to lose their grazing lands. It would remove them from their ancestral ties to the land.” N-TEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A federal agency tasked with approving the mine expansion is expected to release a decision in August. The 65-year-old Hills Creek Dam and Reservoir roughly four miles east of Oakridge, Oreg. as seen on June 24, 2026. (Photo: Brian Bull / KLCC) Across the Pacific Northwest, tribes and conservationists are working to help the eel-like fish, the lamprey rebound. As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, dams have greatly diminished their numbers. Recently near Oregon’s Coyote Creek, technicians with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs arrived with 100 lampreys in their truck. Aldwin Keo introduced himself and his slithering cargo. “They’re filter feeders, they clean out whatever is in the sediment, that’s where they stay for many years before they go out to the ocean.” A group of Native educators and students helped release the prehistoric critters into the creek. This is a practice called translocation, where adult fish are released in waterways above dams. Courtney Golts, a lamprey biologist with the tribe, says dam development has had its impact. “In the upper Willamette tributaries are areas that have been completely impassable to lamprey for decades, so these are reintroductions to areas that do not have Pacific lamprey, and as of today, they do.” The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) says lamprey once teemed in the millions through the Columbia River Basin, but only 23,000 were recorded in 2010. Jerrid Weaskus of the Nez Perce Tribe holds a lamprey before releasing it in a waterway near Hills Creek Dam on June 24, 2026. (Photo: Brian Bull / KLCC) Raymond Ellenwood Jr. is a fisheries technician with the Nez Perce Tribe. Near Oakridge, he and Jerrid Weaskus released more lamprey. The goal is to have adult lamprey stay and mate, creating little lampreys called ammocoetes. “The ammocoetes, they burrow into the sand and the substrate and they’ll filter feed off the detritus in the river or stream. And what they’re doing is the adults are smelling the ammocoetes, that are upriver in those river systems. They’re telling them, ‘Hey that river system’s good. There’s good spawning habit. That’s where we want to go.'” If all goes to plan, lamprey released here will start migrating to the Pacific Ocean around 2030, and come back as adults four years later. “Wanna welcome you guys to our annual lamprey celebration.” Recently in Oregon City, more than 1,200 people signed up for the annual Yakama Nation Willamette Falls Lamprey Celebration. It is a day of music, presentations, even a lunch with grilled lamprey. CRITFC’s Jeremy Five Crows says they have updated their plan to include a technical document for scientists, students, and resource managers, and a policy brief for lawmakers. “The lamprey has been around 450 million years. We’re closer to a T-Rex than a T-Rex was to lamprey. That’s how far back they go, and so the thought of just in the past 100 years that we could drive something extinct that’s been on Earth for that long, is terrible.”     Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Wednesday, July 22, 2026 — Accessing the vulnerability of Indigenous communities during 2026 wildfire season

  4. 3d ago

    Tuesday, July 21, 2026

    The western Canadian province of Alberta is grappling with the divisive political issue of separation from the rest of Canada. Indigenous leaders in Alberta are opposed to the idea. And as Dan Karpenchuk reports, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations recently weighed in on their side. Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak made her position known during the three-day annual gathering in Ottawa of the Assembly of First Nations. She told delegates to the meeting that any movement by Alberta to separate from Canada is illegitimate without the consent of First Nations. Chief Nepinak says First Nations have always stood for Canadian unity and they want Prime Minister Mark Carney to know that. “We have made it clear that any proposal to separate from any province or territory from Canada is fundamentally illegitimate and unconstitutional without the explicit prior informed and collective consent of First Nations. We need to make him call it what it is because Albertans need to know that if they vote to separate from Canada, that they’re not taking the land with them.” The chiefs from across the country expressed their overwhelming opposition to Alberta separation. Nepinak says First Nations chiefs want the federal and provincial governments to protect treaty rights from the threats posed by Alberta separatism. They passed a resolution asking Ottawa to ensure constitutional procedures that impact First Nations only go ahead with consultation and the consent of affected groups. They say that the Alberta government has failed to recognize or engage First Nations on the issue, adding that treaty rights would be fundamentally affected by such constitutional change. Alberta Premier Danelle Smith says she supports a stronger Alberta staying in Canada. Recently, an Alberta court quashed the approval of a pro-separation petition. The judge found that the province’s chief electoral officer did not properly fulfill his duty to consult with First Nations – and also failed to consider a previous court ruling that said separation would violate treaty rights. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is criticizing a new White House report that it says misrepresents Native history and ignores the sovereign status of Tribal Nations. The report, “Saving America’s Story“, was released earlier this month and calls for changes in how American history is presented in museums and public institutions. In a statement, NCAI Executive Director Larry Wright Jr. says the nation’s history cannot be told truthfully without acknowledging Tribal Nations, the realities of land dispossession, forced removal, federal Indian boarding schools, and other documented chapters of U.S. history. “Tribal Nations are sovereign governments with a unique political relationship with the United States. This distinction is foundational to the U.S. government’s relationship with Tribal Nations and should never be minimized or mischaracterized. America’s story begins with Tribal Nations. It cannot be told truthfully without us.” NCAI is urging federal leaders, museums, educators, and the public to reject efforts to revise the documented history of Tribal Nations and instead support accurate historical scholarship and implementation of federal Indian boarding school recommendations. (Courtesy Bureau of Indian Education) New federal data shows graduation rates are rising at Bureau of Indian Education schools. Some tribal schools credit career training, virtual classes and more accurate student records. But Crow Creek Sioux Chairman Peter Lengkeek says severely underfunded schools still depend on the government to fulfill its treaty promises. Swinomish Tribal Chairman Steve Edwards and La Conner Mayor Marna Hanneman mark the day with an inaugural slurp. (Courtesy Swinomish Senate / Facebook) The Swinomish and Squaxin Island tribes in Washington state sued the federal government last week over changes to the Endangered Species Act. Swinomish Chairman Steve Edwards called the rule “anti-science”, saying weakened habitat protections threaten Chinook salmon and treaty fishing rights.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Tuesday, July 21, 2026 – Native in the Spotlight: Laura Tohe

  5. 4d ago

    Monday, July 20, 2026

    Pueblo leaders and environmentalists are angry that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released an environmental assessment last week with the intent of eliminating a buffer around Chaco Culture National Historical Park that has prevented oil and gas leasing. As KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) reports, BLM is offering just two weeks for public comment on the report. A Biden administration order placed a 20-year ban on oil and gas development on federal lands within 10 miles of Chaco, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This upset some Navajo communities who rely on royalty payments and infrastructure from oil and gas for their livelihoods. President Buu Nygren said thousands of Navajo oil and gas allottees would be negatively impacted by the decision. But in April, the BLM gave the public one week to comment on a proposal to expand oil and gas leasing around Chaco. The current proposed environmental assessment has three options: leave the buffer intact, reduce it to five miles, or remove all protections. Brian Vallo (Acoma Pueblo), chairman for the Chaco Heritage Tribal Association, says the Trump administration is not working with Pueblo communities, despite tribes working together to create an ethnographic study on why this landscape is vital to Native cultures. The study is a first of its kind, he says, and was conducted by the Pueblos themselves. “So it really traces the ethnography of this cultural and sacred landscape from our present-day communities to the great houses in Chaco, but also everything in between, pilgrimage trails, shrines, sacred sites, springs, and other places that are significant to our continued observance and practice of our own traditions and you know, Indigenous way of life.” Vallo says the association is frustrated that the federal government is not adhering to a data-sharing agreement and not considering information from this ethnographic study, but moving forward with a draft environmental assessment. “All of humanity, the land, and the resources, the animals, the water. All of those things have connection, and that connection is maintained through the generations of those of us who are the practitioners, those of us who are the cultural leaders, and the greater Pueblo community as well.” Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation have also condemned the BLM announcement as a move to push for more oil and gas drilling. The All Pueblo Council of Governors has continued to invite Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum to visit Chaco Canyon and hold a consultation with Pueblo members, but he has not responded. Vallo says young folks at Acoma are already mobilizing. “Young people from within our community who are going door to door with laptops and or notebooks to encourage tribal members to submit letters.” Public comment closes on July 29. The view of Namaygoosisagagun First Nation as resident evacuated across Collins Lake. (Courtesy Wayne Wastaken) Across Canada this weekend, nearly 900 wildfires were burning – from the Atlantic provinces to British Columbia. Northern Ontario is one of the regions that has been hardest hit. One Indigenous community there has been destroyed. And as Dan Karpenchuk reports, Indigenous leaders are calling on the federal government in Ottawa for more support. At least one small first nation in northern Ontario has burned to the ground by a devastating wildfire, which is one of nearly 200 alone burning in the province. Residents fled the Namaygoosisagagun First Nation by boat on Collins Lake, many having only a few minutes to gather some personal belongings, according to Chief Helen Paavola. “It was just a matter of minutes before my members would have died. And even during that whole time, there was no help.” Namaygoosisagagun, also known as Collins First Nation, is only one of ten communities, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, that have been evacuated as wildfires rip through the region. Namaygoosisagagun is now is ashes – and its residents say they face an uncertain future. The Assembly of First Nations is calling on Ottawa for help including financial support. Linda Debassige is the grand chief of the Anishnabek Nation. She says when the wildfire first approached the community, the chief herself tried to contact government officials, but they said they were not aware of the fire. “And so, had the community waited for the official emergency response activiation, this would be a recovery mission at this point in time, which is unfathomable.” Debassige says the community now needs accommodations, food, and especially a commitment to support rebuilding. One of the problems is that the Namaygoosisagagun is not federally recognized as an official Indigenous first nation. The remote first nation, more than 700 miles north of Toronto, has no road access. Debassige says the Anishnabek Nation Grand Council, which includes 39 first nations, does recognize it and is supporting members by providing accommodation, food, and clothing.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Monday, July 20, 2026 — Tribes sue after feds redefine ‘harm’ in Endangered Species Act, upend decades of land conservation

  6. Jul 17

    Friday, July 17, 2026

    Photo: Salmon prepared for drying at fish camp on Kuskokwim River near Napaskiak on June 21, 2016. (Rhonda McBride / KNBA) The state of Alaska is not ready to give up its fight just yet in the Kuskokwim subsistence lawsuit. It has filed a motion to appeal a federal judge’s decision to award $1.8 million in attorney fees to several Native organizations, which joined a federal lawsuit against the state over subsistence fishing rights. The case began four years ago when federal managers sued the state for failing to uphold a rural subsistence priority, required under federal law. The state ultimately lost a series of court battles, which culminated when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Tanner Amdur-Clark works for one of the groups which joined the lawsuit, the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. He says the state’s appeal continues a long pattern of delay. “It’s yet another blow to Alaska Native organizations that are essentially taking money that they really should be using to be providing services and helping out folks in rural Alaska — and instead they’re having to do this, to essentially fight for their lives against the state of Alaska.” The other groups in the lawsuit are the Association of Village Council Presidents, the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Ahtna Native Corporation, and an Ahtna tribal advocacy group. Amdur-Clark says, combined, they spent more on legal costs than the court awarded them. “Eventually at the end of the day, it’s the state of Alaska and the taxpayers of the state of Alaska that are going to pay for all of this, so the court got it right the first time. We’ll continue the fight.” In a statement, acting Attorney General Cori Mills defended the state’s spending. She said it was necessary to get clarity on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling’s impact on subsistence management. She also said the state should not be on the hook for attorney fees, because the Native groups voluntarily joined the federal lawsuit – and that the state is appealing the award, because it is “both legally impermissible and factually unreasonable.” Briana Murphy, the Chugach Regional Resources Commission mariculture liaison, harvests kelp in a bay near Port Graham, Alaska in 2026. (Courtesy Briana Murphy) A group of tribes in Southcentral Alaska partnered with a federal agency last month, as part of an effort to advance agriculture and mariculture projects. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more. The Chugach Regional Resources Commission is a nonprofit that represents seven tribes. Last month, the consortium signed an agreement to establish the Chugach Region Tribal Conservation District. It’s a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Carolyn Spencer is the environmental director with the tribal consortium. “Partnering with NRCS in this way helps us access funding for mariculture development as well as some of the agricultural streams that we’re trying to work on.” Tribal Conservation Districts are entities across Alaska and the country created to manage natural resources on Native lands with technical or financial assistance from the federal government. Jackie Kragel is the acting state tribal liaison for the program. She says these partnerships foster communication between tribes and help with work on specific projects. “For example, there’s been a couple culvert replacements to support fish passage and salmon habitat. We have different infrastructure opportunities for community gardens for food sovereignty, such as seasonal high tunnels, low tunnels, and the different irrigation systems.” The seven tribes in the Chugach Regional Resources Commission already use innovative approaches when it comes to food sovereignty, for example, through a mariculture operation in Seward that cultivates shellfish and kelp. “They want ways to access healthy food in their backyard, without having to pay the shipping costs because they’re so remote.” One project Spencer says the partnership might make easier is high tunnel construction in Port Graham. That is a covered structure that traps solar heat for growing vegetables. She says that forming a conservation district will also help tribes collaborate with other communities that might be working on similar projects.     Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Friday, July 17, 2026 – A conversation about law, advocacy, and redemption with Cherokee attorney Courtney Jordan

  7. Jul 16

    Thursday, July 16, 2026

    Photo: “Water is life. Life is water”, said AFN Newfoundland Regional Chief Brendan Mitchell during the 2026 Assembly of First Nations. (Courtesy Assembly of First Nations / Facebook) First Nations chiefs in Canada have gathered in Ottawa for a three-day general assembly. High on the agenda for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is the issue of clean water. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, many of the chiefs say Ottwa’s new proposed clean water legislation appears to walk back their hard won rights. The new proposed legislation is in line with a preivous bill that failed to pass under the government of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Some chiefs are taking issue with new changes to the wording that no longer explicitly recognizes First Nations rights to clean drinking water … as a human right. The new bill was recently introduced with the aim of making sure that Indigenous people have reliable access to clear drinking water in their communities, according to Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation Chief Greg Sarazin. “We need to protect water. We need sustainable water. There needs to be legislation that ensures safe, clean, sustainable drinking water.” About 100 chiefs and community members recently held a march for clean drinking water. Brendan Mitchell, a regional chief from Newfoundland, says the issue is critical, but no longer appears to be a priority with the federal government. “Previously in meetings with the former prime minister, three times, I heard him state at a meeting like this, that no relationship was more important to him than his relationship with the Indigenous people of Canada. I’ve yet to hear our current prime minister say that.” The AFN is considering a proposed resolution that calls on chiefs to demand the right to clean water be included in new legislation. Executive chef Nephi Craig prepares a dish at Café Gozhóó in Whiteriver, Ariz., in Feburary 2026. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio) The food sovereignty movement is teaching tribes to reclaim healthier and more sustainable food systems. And a new memoir penned by one of Arizona’s most popular Indigenous chefs is giving direction. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports. Executive Chef Nephi Craig is in charge of Café Gozhóó in Whiteriver and is now the author of “Our Knives Will Save Us: Dispatches from a White Mountain Apache Chef”. “I’m 46 years old and 15 years into my sobriety, and I wanted to write a story that is a tool for others.” His modern, scratch kitchen inside a renovated gas station employs fellow Apaches recovering from substance abuse. “This is our legacy: To make health and healing an everyday practice, bringing back ceremonies, planting songs, cooking recipes, hunting, language – all of that great stuff. That way, it doesn’t matter if you’re in New York or on the rez.” “Dark Winds” shoots in New Mexico. (Courtesy AMC) New Mexico’s high tax incentives meant to lure film production crews are paying off – even in remote or rural communities. Roz Brown has more. After reaching a financial high mark in 2022, the state’s film industry took a hit starting the next year, after two Hollywood strikes. Now, it is showing modest gains, thanks in part to the “Uplift” program, designed to encourage film and television producers to choose more rural communities or those off the beaten path. Film Office Director Steve Graham says productions spent $325 million in the recent fiscal year – nearly a quarter in locations beyond Santa Fe and Albuquerque. “There’s a historically high mark now, from $57 million dollars worth of shooting in the rural areas. It means the uplift worked and it has spread activity across the state.” Graham says smaller towns such as Truth or Consequences and Ruidoso have shared in the windfall, along with Las Cruces – which is larger than Santa Fe, but failed to attract as many film productions until recently. The 1940 film “Grapes of Wrath” shot in New Mexico. The Uplift program benefitted from Senate Bill 12, which was signed by the governor in 2023 and increased the tax credit from 5-10%. That is in addition to the state’s 25% base film credit for expenditures on productions filmed at least 60 miles from city halls in Albuquerque or Santa Fe. New Mexico is among the top five states with the most competitive film and television tax incentives. In the past year, it has hosted 63 productions, including the hit television show, “Dark Winds”. Graham says great weather, iconic locations, robust infrastructure, world-class crews, and support from local businesses add to its appeal. “Some of the things that make it hard to shoot in larger jurisdictions, they don’t have to deal with here. Permits are inexpensive or free. Traffic is low or nonexistent. There’s places to park. It’s easy to get around.” Graham is optimistic about the film industry’s future, but he is also watching a lawsuit New Mexico joined last week to prevent a merger between Paramount Skydance Corporation and Warner Brothers Discovery. While federal regulators approved the $110 billion transaction, a coalition of attorney generals in 12 U.S. states led by California have since filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal. They claim it would create an illegal monopoly, stifle competition, and hurt entertainment workers. 19th Century illustration of Vitus Bering’s expedition wrecked on the Aleutian Islands in 1741. And on this day in 1741, Danish explorer Vitus Bering, sailing for Russia, sighted Alaska’s coast near Mount St. Elias during the Great Northern Expedition. The voyage marked the beginning of sustained Russian contact with Alaska Native peoples, forever changing the lives of Unangax̂ (Aleut), Alutiiq/Sugpiaq, Yup’ik, and other Indigenous communities through the fur trade and eventual colonization.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Thursday, July 16, 2026 — Tribal leaders condemn Trump’s downsizing of Utah national monuments

  8. Jul 15

    Wednesday, July 15, 2026

    Photo: Soren White working at the Harry Race Pharmacy in Sitka, Alaska on July 10, 2026. (Katherine Rose / KCAW) Historically, pharmacists in Alaska have been limited in what they can do. Over the last decade they have advocated for and been granted expanded authority. Now, a new law goes further. Alaska Public Media health reporter Rachel Cassandra delved into the law, which will increase access to care by changing how pharmacists can work in the state. Soren White grew up in a pharmacy. “Both my parents are pharmacists here in Sitka.” As a young adult, he worked as a pharmacy tech, then went to school in Oregon to become a pharmacist. That included a four-year graduate program with clinical training, but when he returned to Sitka, Alaska for a job at his parents’ pharmacies, his daily work was much more limited. “Typically we’ve been really stuck behind the counter, counting pills.” A new state law expands what White and other pharmacists can do as part of their practice. Starting in next January, they will be able to test and treat certain ailments, like strep throat, urinary tract infections, or the flu. State Rep. Justin Ruffridge (R-AK) is a pharmacist who supported the bill. He says pharmacists in rural areas play a vital role. “We are the most highly accessible healthcare professional.” Data shows people see pharmacists up to twice as often as primary care providers. The law builds on other legislation that has helped increase pharmacists’ authority in recent years. The bill passed by wide margins in both the Alaska House and Senate. Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) vetoed it, saying it would expand the scope of practice too much and too fast, but lawmakers had enough support to override his veto. Brandy Seignemartin is executive director for the Alaska Pharmacy Association. She helped write the legislation and says it will change healthcare in the state. “Patients are gonna be able to walk into community pharmacies and have access to care for minor ailments, test and treat.” She says that is really important in a rural state like Alaska and it will be easier for pharmacists to set up collaborative agreements where they work with a provider. With more training, that could include specialists. For example, she says initially a psychiatrist could diagnose the patient, but then work with a pharmacist to optimize their medication, so the patient does not need to see the psychiatrist every single visit. She says the new law also opens the door to pharmacists covering other healthcare gaps, especially for Alaska’s vulnerable populations, including HIV prevention medication like PrEP and PEP and medications for opioid use disorder. It also would create a pathway for pharmacists to be able to get a DEA license so they can prescribe those medications. She thinks that will be a major game changer for the ongoing opioid crisis in Alaska. Molly from Denali at a Heard Museum meet-and-greet on July 11, 2026. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio) Molly of Denali made her groundbreaking debut on PBS Kids back in 2019. The animated Alaska Native girl is the first Indigenous lead of a nationally distributed children’s series. And as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, she made a stop in Phoenix, Ariz. If you visit the Heard Museum between now through August, you will come across an Alaskan village where you can tag along with Molly on all of her wild adventures – from flying a bush plane to riding a snowmobile, wearing snowshoes or smoking salmon. “We brought Alaska to Arizona” Patty Talahongva (Hopi) is the museum’s chief programming and engagement officer. “…and therefore the Heard Museum is the coolest place in town.” Alison Nicolosi is director of the nonprofit AZ Husky Rescue. “You never know when you’re going to find your best friend, and sometimes it might be at the museum.” AZ Husky Rescue co-founders Alison Nicolosi, left, and Veronica Reece with Marley, an adoptable dog, at the Heard Museum on July 12, 2026. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio) Sadly for Heard employee Susan Taylor, Max the husky has already found a new home. “Oh my gosh, there’s one that I’m trying to adopt. He claimed me like no other.” But there are still plenty more pups – maybe enough for a pack to pull a dog sled.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Wednesday, July 15, 2026 – Native Playlist: Shub and Darksiderz

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About

Daily, five-minute newscast featuring the latest headlines and breaking news from Native and Indigenous communities anchored by Antonia Gonzales (Navajo) with reporters and storytellers from around the globe.

Information

  • Creator
    Antonia Gonzales
  • Years Active
    2008 - 2026
  • Episodes
    300
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Koahnic Broadcast Corporation - All rights reserved - Contact nola@nv1.org for permission
  • Show Website
    National Native News

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