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With sheltering mountains, canyons, underground aquifers of hot mineral water and abundant wildlife, the Coachella Valley is an ideal place for the Cahuilla Band to thrive.
And they have. The Agua Caliente Tribe of Cahuilla Indians already owns real estate, resorts, casinos, restaurants, golf courses and hiking trails, and they’re now opening a major project in the heart of downtown Palm Springs, the Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza.
The new complex will include a theater and large spa located on the grounds of the original mineral water pool the tribe began using thousands of years ago, with a world-class Agua Caliente Cultural Museum whose design is inspired by Cahuilla baskets, pottery and botanical elements.
The state-of-the-art spa has 40,000 square feet of luxurious hot mineral pools and treatments. Opening April 4 to the public, it is across the street from the tribe’s original entertainment property – Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs. READ MORE. — Sandra Hale Schulman, Special to ICT
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Residents of Greenland have switched to daylight saving time and moved their clocks one hour forward this weekend for the very last time.
Unlike most of Europe, Greenlanders will leave their clocks untouched come autumn when daylight saving time ends. While Europe and the U.S. debates whether to stick to the twice-yearly practice, Greenland – a vast Danish semi-independent territory in the Arctic – has resolved to perennially remain only three hours behind Copenhagen and most other European countries instead of four.
Greenland’s parliament, Inatsisartut, voted to stick to daylight saving time year-round on Nov. 24 last year. Officials say it will give Greenlanders another hour of daylight in the afternoons and more time to do business with Europe and farther afield.
Its 56,000 people are mainly Inuit, Indigenous people who chiefly live on the west coast in small towns and hamlets or remote coastal settlements. — Associated Press
Indigenous artists are helping the U.S. Postal Service with a new series of stamps that recognizes the artwork that adorns skateboard decks.
“I instantly knew it’s a rare opportunity,” Di’Orr Greenwood, Diné, said about being one of the artists selected for the Art of the Skateboard stamps.
Greenwood, 27, is from Sawmill, Arizona but now divides her time between there and Southern California, where she works and teaches skateboarding and produces custom-made skateboards.
Her design for the stamp features crushed turquoise inlay and wood burned designs of eagle feathers and a star pattern that represents the morning and evening stars. READ MORE. — Noel Lyn Smith, ICT
A monument to Captain James Cook in downtown Anchorage hails him as “greatest explorer-navigator the world has ever known.” The plaque under the life-size statue of him highlights Cook’s travels, including Cook Inlet, where Anchorage is located.
The inlet was no discovery, though. For at least a thousand years, the region has been home to the Dena’Ina Athabascan people.
The Eklutna Tribe, Anchorage Park Foundation and Anchorage Museum last week unveiled a Dena’ina place names sign near the Cook monument.
The new sign is due in part to the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2020, activists pushed for the removal of symbols of the slave trade, colonization and other injustices. Similar calls were made in Anchorage to have the Cook monument taken down. READ MORE. — Joaqlin Estus, ICT
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On the Tuesday edition of the ICT Newscast, a Cheyenne has been honored with the National Humanities Medal. Indigenous representation on a postage stamp. We hear from Tlingit and Athabascan artist Crystal Worl
Watch:
The Indigenous-led news organization has brought on more talent in the last couple of months.
ICT’s latest hire for the digital team was in partnership with Underscore News for the shared reporter position, a partnership nearly two years old.
The two organizations hired Nika Bartoo-Smith, a descendant of the Osage and Oneida Nations, to work from Portland, Oregon, the home base for Underscore. READ MORE. — ICT
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- Filmmaker scores big with Choctaw stickball: Mark D. Williams returns to the big screen with a new documentary about a women’s stickball team.
- Indigenous authors win recognition in book awards: Caldecott, Stonewall honor books cited in the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards.
- Tribe urges return of young relative’s remains: The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate wrote to the head of the U.S. Army’s cemetery office.
- ‘Hockey Night in Cree’ scores big in Canada: Televeision program promotes Cree language along with Canada’s national pastime.
- Joe Biden designates Avi Kwa Ame a national monument: ‘It’s a place of reverence, it’s a place of spirituality, it’s a place of healing and now it will be recognized for its significance it holds and be preserved forever.’
- Compton joins NAJA staff as associate director; Brewer fills presidency.
- Wisconsin’s 33 Most Influential Native American Leaders for 2023, Part 2.
- Native American histories show rebuilding is possible — and necessary — after catastrophe.
- Amazon Studios Teams With IllumiNative for Episodic Directors Program.
We want your tips, but we also want your feedback. What should we be covering that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know. dalton@ictnews.org.
