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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed the first Native American woman to serve as a federal judge for the state of Oklahoma, despite some Republicans’ protest of her work as the top prosecutor for the Cherokee Nation.

Sara E. Hill, the Cherokee Nation’s former attorney general, was confirmed as a U.S. District judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma in a 52-14 vote, joining just a handful of Native Americans appointed to lifetime judicial positions in U.S. history.

Hill’s confirmation faced opposition from some of Oklahoma’s highest-ranking GOP officials, including Gov. Kevin Stitt, but she retained support from the state’s two Republican U.S. senators, James Lankford and Markwayne Mullin, during her nomination process.

Immediately following the vote, Lankford said he has “no doubt (Hill’s) an American first.” READ MORE — Oklahoma Voice

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LAS VEGAS — The Nevada Supreme Court has denied Nathan Chasing Horse’s request to toss a sprawling indictment that accuses the former “Dances With Wolves” actor of leading a cult, taking underage wives and sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls for decades.

The court’s decision means prosecutors can proceed with their 18-count criminal case after months of delayed proceedings while Chasing Horse challenged it. The 47-year-old has been in custody since his arrest in January near the North Las Vegas home he is said to have shared with five wives.

Chasing Horse pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping and child abuse.

His lawyers argued that the case should be dismissed because, the former actor said, the sexual encounters were consensual. One of his accusers was younger than 16, the age of consent in Nevada, when the alleged abuse began, authorities said. READ MORE — Associated Press

Around the world: A Uyghur professor jailed for his support of the Uyghur people draws Nobel Prize nomination, a Canadian university offers a new Nisga’a language degree program, and a new service in Western Australia helps Aborigines learn their family histories.

CHINA: Uyghur academic nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

High-level officials and experts across the world have nominated jailed Uyghur academic and blogger Ilham Tohti for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, citing his role as “the true symbol of the Uyghur people’s fight for freedom” under Chinese rule in Xinjiang, Radio Free Asia reported on Dec. 11.

The nomination includes signatures from ministers, parliamentarians, university rectors and professors from countries including Canada, Japan, Rwanda, Australia, Paraguay, Turkey and France – a “broad international coalition” that supporters said could bolster Tohti’s chances at winning the award.

“At a time when the U.N. is denouncing ‘crimes against humanity’ in Xinjiang, it is our duty to break the silence towards Xi Jinping’s totalitarian regime and support the true symbol of the Uyghur people’s fight for freedom,” according to a statement released by leaders of the initiative, Vanessa Frangville of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, and Belgian Member of Parliament Samuel Cogolati. READ MORE — Deusdedit Ruhangariyo, Special to ICT

The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced a program on Monday that would cover all of the costs for students who are members of one of Wisconsin’s 11 federally recognized tribes.

Any enrolled member of one of the tribes will be eligible for the program and eligibility will not depend on a student’s financial need. The program was announced less than a week after the UW System Board of Regents voted to approve a deal with the Republican-controlled state Legislature to freeze hiring for positions focused on diversity, equity and inclusion in exchange for the release of pay raises for thousands of UW employees and funds for capital projects — including a new engineering building on UW-Madison’s campus.

UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, who supported the deal with the Legislature, said the program for Native American students has been in the works for more than a year so its announcement is not related but added that it shows the university remains committed to diversity.

“I have said and will continue to say that diversity is a core value for us as an institution here at UW Madison,” Mnookin said at a press conference announcing the program. “And this program is another example of the ways that that is and will continue to be true.” READ MORE — Wisconsin Examiner

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ICT’s Stewart Huntington traveled to New York recently for a story on Indigenous canoeists retracing river routes that were the continent’s original highways.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is the home of the Mashpee Wampanoag. The tribe embarked on some major cultural and economic rejuvenation projects, but only after turning back the latest challenges to their homelands. ICT’s Stewart Huntington has this report.

At just 29-years-old, one Dine citizen is making a name for herself in the world of politics. Christina Haswood is a member of the Kansas state House of Representatives, a champion of reproductive rights and of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives. Now she has been named to the first Leaders USA class by the Obama Foundation.

Around the U.S., children are dusting off their backpacks and getting excited for the start of a new academic year. Last year, we aired a back-to-school segment with Aliyah Chavez’s sister Lorilei Chavez. She’s a teacher at the Santo Domingo Pueblo elementary and middle school in New Mexico.

WATCH

The winter solstice season is upon us.

On Dec. 21, the mainstream Gregorian calendar celebrates the first day of winter, but various Indigenous tribes honor the symbolic and noticeable change of seasons close to this time of year.

The Blackfeet tribe was willing to share with readers its sacred ceremony honoring the wintry season and its bounty.

The Blackfeet call the main ceremonial component a Blacktail Dance, sometimes referred to as a Jump Dance or Smokehouse Dance in other tribes. READ MORE — Renata Birkenbuel, ICT

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