Kolby KickingWoman
ICT
As 2025 draws to a close, ICT reflects on the biggest stories that shaped the year.
Below are the top stories readers like you were most interested in.
Just as former President Joe Biden was leaving office, one of his final acts as commander-in-chief was the commutation of the life sentence for activist Leonard Peltier, who has already served 49 years in prison in the shooting deaths of two federal agents during a standoff at Pine Ridge in 1975.
“It’s finally over – I’m going home,” Peltier is quoted as saying in an NDN Collective news release. “I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart. I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me.”
The year kicked off with the inauguration for Donald J. Trump and his second stint as president of the United States. President Trump began with a flurry of executive actions and set a lofty agenda for the next four years.
On the day of the inauguration, ICT’s Pauly Denetclaw hit the streets of Washington, D.C., to talk with Indigenous supporters of Trump.
She found that, “Indigenous Trump supporters offered a number of reasons why they championed the 47th president of the United States, from the economy, supporting troops, to restricting women’s bodily autonomy. Their hopes for the upcoming administration is to strengthen the economy, build infrastructure, support tribal sovereignty, funding for Indian Health Service and address illegal immigration.”
“Hopefully he’ll hear us when it comes to healthcare. Indian Health Service across the nation getting the funding, and for him to have a working relationship with the new, incoming IHS director — across the cabinet, all of the people that come to represent the Indian nations across the United States,” Michelle Martin, Navajo, said.
Federal layoffs, funding freeze across the federal government
President Trump sent shockwaves throughout Indian Country early in the year with abrupt federal layoffs and decisions by the administration to freeze federal grants and loans.
Over the course of one week in February, ICT closely monitored the impacts and ramifications the Indian Health Service and tribal colleges and universities faced in the wake of these announcements.
Ultimately, Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. verbally rescinded the layoffs of 950 Indian Health Service employees, giving some a reprieve.
“The Indian Health Service has always been treated as the redheaded stepchild at HHS,” Secretary Kennedy Jr. in a written statement to ICT. “My father often complained that IHS was chronically understaffed and underfunded. President Trump wants me to rectify this sad history. Indians suffer the highest level of chronic disease of any demographic. IHS will be a priority over the next four years. President Trump wants me to end the chronic disease epidemic beginning in Indian country.”
At the same time, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute faced an uncertain future. The two schools are the only post-secondary institutions controlled by the Bureau of Indian Education through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is under the Department of the Interior.
READ MORE
- Tribes scramble to respond to Trump administration funding freeze
- Abrupt federal layoffs expected to hit tribal programs
- ‘Life or Death Consequences’: Layoffs throw Indian Country into turmoil
- RFK Jr. rescinds Indian Health Service layoffs
Tribal colleges and universities affected by federal layoffs
Some, but not all, positions would be rehired in early March.
From the story on March 8 — the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, an organization that serves the 34 tribal colleges and universities across the country, posted a statement on its Facebook page Friday afternoon that “25 positions recently terminated at Haskell Indian Nations University and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute have been reinstated” and thanked Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum for restoring this “vital infrastructure for Indian Country.”
READ MORE:
- Haskell rehires faculty lost to federal layoffs
- ‘Devastated and heartbroken’: Federal layoffs have Haskell, SIPI wrestling with their future
Along with the administration’s ambitious agenda, Interior Secretary Burgum also vowed to “unlock America’s full potential in energy dominance and economic development.”
Burgum directed staff to “take all actions available to expedite the leasing … for oil and gas exploration and production” within the formerly protected ocean areas known as the Outer Continental Shelf; that was met with some criticism from conservationists.
“I’m from an island. I think about ocean conservation all day,” said Angelo Villagomez, a senior fellow at American Progress, where he focuses on Indigenous-led conservation. “There are only five Marine national monuments around the country and they account for 99 percent of the protected ocean in our country. I’m very concerned that Burgum’s order … is going to open up some of this country’s most important ocean areas to industry.”
Loss of giants
Sadly, as we look back on 2025, Indian Country lost a couple of icons. Actor Graham Greene and longtime Indian Gaming Association chairman Ernie Stevens Jr. both died in September.
Greene was well known as and nominated for an Oscar for his role in “Dances with Wolves” and won a Grammy in 2000 for best spoken word album for children for the book, “Listen to the Storyteller.”
READ MORE: OBITUARY: Actor Graham Greene dies after long illness
Stevens was at the helm of the Indian Gaming Association for more than 20 years and oversaw record-breaking growth.
Stevens’ death came just weeks after he was recognized in Milwaukee for leading the association during a time when tribal gaming operations nationwide reached record revenues of more than $43 billion in 2024. A growth from $11 billion in 2000 which made “tribal government gaming the largest segment of the U.S. gaming industry,” according to the association’s press release.
READ MORE:
- OBITUARY: Gaming icon Ernie Stevens Jr. oversaw record-breaking growth in tribal gaming
- Hundreds gather to remember Ernie Stevens Jr.
Affronts to Indian Country are nothing new and conservative pundit Ann Coulter drew backlash from tribal leaders after a comment on social media in July saying “We didn’t kill enough Indians.”
The statement immediately drew criticism from Native leaders across the country and Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. who issued one of the first public statements rebuking Coulter’s words.
“Coulter’s statement, on its face, is a despicable rhetorical shot trained on the First Peoples of this continent, designed to dehumanize and diminish us and our ancestors and puts us at risk of further injury,” Hoskin posted on Facebook. “We have faced enough of that since this country’s founding. Such rhetoric has aided and abetted the destruction of tribes, their life ways, languages and cultures, the violation of treaty rights, violence, oppression, suppression and dispossession.”
The year was not entirely doom and gloom.
On Thanksgiving, during the famous and iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, a group of nine Indigenous dancers from across the United States and Canada took the stage in New York City.
Justice happened
A few tribes also scored major wins.
In Washington state, the Puyallup Tribe received a donation of a 22,000-square-foot former community center near downtown Tacoma; no strings attached. Across the country in Florida, the Seminole Tribe won a $832 million verdict against Wells Fargo Bank.
A jury found that Wachovia Bank and its new owner Wells Fargo Bank charged more than $7 million in unauthorized fees and mishandled a trust fund set up for the tribe’s children.
“Justice has prevailed,” said attorney William R. Scherer Jr. at the time.
READ MORE:
- ‘Stay tuned’: Puyallup Tribe lands major downtown Tacoma property
- ‘Justice has prevailed’: Seminole Tribe wins $832M verdict against Wells Fargo Bank
As we move forward into 2026, ICT looks forward to bringing our readers all the happenings across Indian Country.
As always, make sure to check ictnews.org for the latest news and features on tribal nations, businesses, communities and people.
Merry Christmas and happy new year to all!