ICT is working to shape the future of journalism and stay connected with readers like you. A crucial part of that effort is understanding our audience. Share your perspective in a brief survey for a chance to win prizes
Greetings, relatives.
A lot of news out there. Thanks for stopping by ICT’s digital platform.
Each day we do our best to gather the latest news for you. Remember to scroll to the bottom to see what’s popping out to us on social media and what we’re reading.
Also, if you like our daily digest, sign up for The Weekly, our newsletter emailed to you on Thursdays. If you like what we do and want us to keep going, support and donate here.
Okay, here’s what you need to know today:
The American Library Association announced the 2024 Youth Media Award winners Monday. A few Indigenous authors made the list.
“Rez Ball” by Byron Graves is the 2024 Morris Award winner for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens, and a Young Adult Book winner from the American Indian Youth Literature Awards.
Graves, Ojibwe, said he is in complete disbelief that he won. He read some of the other books that were nominated and didn’t think “Rez Ball” was going to take the prize.
“It kind of felt surreal, like a dream. I just didn’t expect my writing or my book to be the winner. First of all, I didn’t expect to be nominated,” he said. READ MORE — Kalle Benallie, ICT
The federal Bureau of Land Management is looking to drastically reduce an area open to recreational target shooting within Arizona’s Sonoran Desert National Monument.
The agency announced Friday that a proposed resource management plan amendment would allow target shooting on 5,295 acres of the monument and be banned on the monument’s remaining 480,496 acres.
Currently, target shooting is permitted on 435,700 acres of the monument that includes parts of Maricopa and Pinal counties.
A BLM spokesperson said target shooting still is allowed on other bureau-managed lands in and around the Phoenix metropolitan area.
The Sonoran Desert National Monument was established in 2001.
Critics have argued that target shooting threatens cultural and natural resources the monument was designated to protect and has damaged objects such as saguaro cactus and Native American petroglyphs.
A notice announcing the beginning of a 60-day public comment period on the proposed target shooting closure was scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Monday. — Associated Press
Rhiana Jones, environmental director at the Washoe Environmental Protection Department, questioned the continuation of their burn program after running it for three years without much progress. But through the vast members in the Indigenous Peoples Burning Network, she found how it took one tribe 20 years to burn freely without the Forest Service heavily monitoring them.
She realized it was just the beginning of a long, but fulfilling, process and decided to carry on.
“As Indigenous people, we ultimately are a community based family. To work with other Indigenous people and share some of the same stories, some of the hurdles we had, is really just heartening and reinvigorating to see. It’s like okay they did it we can do it too,” she said.
Margo Robbins, one of the cofounders for Indigenous Peoples Burning Network, said it was created in 2015 by fire practitioners and cultural leaders of the Karuk, Hoopa and Yurok tribes to support the revitalization of traditional fire culture. The network is guided by its advisory team of 15 Indigenous fire practitioners and cultural leaders and is administered by The Nature Conservancy’s North America Fire Program. READ MORE — Kalle Benallie, ICT
RAPID CITY, S.D. — With colder temperatures keeping people inside, representatives from the Oyate Health Center looked for options to keep the Indigenous community connected and engaged.
Every month, representatives from the center’s Connecting With Our Youth Program hold a family friendly event to combat seasonal depression and encourage sobriety.
“With the cold weather and less social interaction, there’s a lot more isolation and depression within our community,” said Tiana Spotted Thunder, Oglala Lakota and the Connecting With Our Youth program coordinator. “Each month we gather and brainstorm different activities. We learn from what went well in the past and vote on events for the future.”
The program hosted a hand games night on Friday, January 19. From 6 to 10 p.m., the Oaye Luta Okolakiciye building was filled with singing, drumming and laughter. READ MORE — Amelia Schafer, ICT + Rapid City Journal
Sign up here to get ICT’s newsletter
In Winnipeg, Manitoba, an unmarked cemetery has been discovered near what used to be an orphanage and home for unwed mothers in the early twentieth century. APTN’s Sav Jonsa has more.
A national publication has issued its Power 100 List. “Art Review” has named Candace Hopkins in its top 50 most influential people in art. ICT’s Shirley Sneve has this interview.
A popular series on PBS has been unraveling the past for over a decade. Last week, an award-winning Cherokee actor discovered some surprising facts about his ancestry on “Finding Your Roots.” Shirley Sneve has this interview with Wes Studi, Cherokee.
WATCH
Lawmakers are trying once again to create a trust fund that would give New Mexico tribes more money and control to run their own educational programs.
The proposed legislation is sponsored by Rep. Derrick Lente (D-Sandia Pueblo). It would create a $100 million Tribal Education Trust Fund that would disburse money directly to tribes over time to help build sustainable programs.
Randall Vicente, governor of the Pueblo of Acoma, said this proposed bill can help sustain the Keres language in his community.
“During COVID, we lost a lot of our elderly, our fluent speakers, and our community members which were teaching the Acoma Keres language,” he said.
Vicente said the funds could help pay community members to teach Keres. READ MORE — Source New Mexico
- Native nations with scarce internet are building their own networks: About a fifth of people living on tribal lands don’t have broadband access
- A long, nasty history of uranium mining on Native lands: Joe Biden protected the lands surrounding the Grand Canyon. Uranium mining is happening there anyway
- Professor uses ‘many coups’ to promote healing: Harvard professor Joseph Gone uses a traditional Native storytelling practice called ‘many coups’ to help people heal from trauma
- NCAA officials preview Final Four festivities in Phoenix
- 21 Israeli troops are killed in the deadliest attack on the military since the Gaza offensive began
- Dexter Scott King, son of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., dies of cancer at 62
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.
Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute $5 or $10 today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT’s free newsletter
