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.
Okay, here’s what you need to know today:
More than 85 Indigenous candidates won election on Nov. 8 to political offices up and down the ballot in 22 states, adding Indigenous representation to Congress, statehouses, courtrooms and local governments across a wide swath of the nation.
The election will bring the first Native person back to the U.S. Senate in nearly two decades, put a record number of Indigenous women judges on the bench in Arizona and place more than 65 Indigenous politicians in state legislatures across the country, according to an analysis of election results by ICT.
“We were saying it was going to be a nailbiter election, but in Indian Country, we were always certain we were going to have an incredible year,” said Jordan James Harvill, Cherokee and Choctaw, the national program director for Advance Native Political Leadership, which also tracked the election.
Twelve Indigenous candidates ran for Congress, and five will take their seats in the nation’s capital next year. READ MORE. — Dianna Hunt and Joaqlin Estus, ICT
SUPPORT INDIGENOUS JOURNALISM. CONTRIBUTE TODAY.
Grants awarded to tribal governments in Alaska and the Lower 48 are only a start in what is expected to be a long process of funding relocation of Indigenous communities that are threatened by climate change, a top Interior Department official said Thursday.
Interior on Wednesday announced that tribal governments in the Yup’ik villages of Newtok and Napakiak, both in unstable locations undermined by erosion, flooding and permafrost thaw, and the Quinault Indian Nation in Washington state, which is threatened by flooding, will each get $25 million to fund relocation projects. Additionally, eight other tribal governments, four of which are in Alaska, were each awarded $5 million grants to help plan for relocation or other forms of climate resilience.
Selecting the three communities that received the $25 million grants was a process that considered a variety of factors, including community consensus, community readiness and progress to date, said Bryan Newland, assistant Interior secretary for Indian Affairs. READ MORE. — Alaska Beacon
Gov. Doug Burgum announced Friday that he has signed agreements with tribes in North Dakota that lowers the legal gambling age from 21 to 19 at tribal-owned casinos and allows gamblers on reservations to use credit or debit cards to place bets.
The tribal-state agreements known as compacts also allow online sports betting using mobile devices within reservation boundaries but not outside of them.
Burgum last month rejected a plea by the state’s five tribes to give them exclusive rights to host internet gambling and sports betting outside the reservation because it isn’t allowed under state law.
The second-term Republican governor said in a statement that tribal representatives signed off on the compacts Friday after months of meetings. READ MORE. — Associated Press
A cherished, century-old Acoma shield was stolen from the pueblo in the 1970s. Decades later, it showed up in a French auction catalog.
Congress last week sent a bill to President Joe Biden’s desk that aims to crack down on the export of Native American patrimony, defined as objects with lasting historical or cultural significance.
The law — known as the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony, or STOP Act — makes it a crime punishable by fines and a year and a day in jail for those who export items like the Acoma shield. The penalty is 10 years for a second offense. The law allows some exceptions, like in cases where a tribe has relinquished possession of something.
It also empowers U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to seize such things and return them to their rightful owners. And it offers support to a coalition of tribes across the country to come up with policies to begin the return of sacred items already outside the United States. READ MORE. — Source New Mexico
Sign up here to get ICT’s newsletter
Coming up, APTN National News in Canada has a new host. We’re visiting with Darrell Stranger. And the Phoenix Suns have new jerseys with a matching court, we’ll take you there. Plus ICT’s Pauly Denetclaw recaps her time at the White House Tribal Nations Summit.
Watch:
The deadline for obtaining the Real ID needed to board a domestic flight has been pushed back again, with the Department of Homeland Security citing the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the slower-than-expected rollout.
The deadline to have a Real ID had been May 3, 2023, but DHS announced Monday that it was pushed back two years, to May 7, 2025.
“This extension will give states needed time to ensure their residents can obtain a REAL ID-compliant license or identification card,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a news release. “DHS will also use this time to implement innovations to make the process more efficient and accessible. We will continue to ensure that the American public can travel safely.”
People are getting compliant IDs as they renew driver’s licenses, but DHS said the pandemic resulted in backlogs at state driver’s license offices. Because of the backlogs, many state agencies that issue driver’s licenses automatically extended expiration dates on licenses and ID cards, rather than issuing licenses and cards compliant with the Real ID requirement. READ MORE. — Associated Press
FOLLOW ICT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK.
- What the new Congress means for Indian Country:There will be four Indigenous representatives with voting power in the Senate and House, but it’s less than those elected in 2020.
- Grand Ronde citizens vote to limit disenrollment: Many say the move to amend the tribe’s constitution is a critical step in community healing after painful disenrollments a decade ago divided tribal citizens.
- iSanti Community School graduates 100 percent of students:Santee has achieved a perfect graduation rate over the past two years, eclipsing Nebraska’s goal of 80 percent for the school.
- Researchers seek lost Native American boarding school graves: More than 80 bodies are thought buried at the former Nebraska campus, which closed in 1931.
- Nevada site sacred to tribes to be national monument:President Joe Biden told tribal leaders in Washington that Spirit Mountain is central to the creation story of several Mojave Desert tribes and he intends to designate a new national monument.
- Amid a weak caribou harvest, one North Slope village flew more than a ton of whale meat to another for Thanksgiving.
- Worst flu outbreak in more than a decade spikes hospitalizations.
- Father and son share Native American culture through skateboards.
- An Indigenous reservation has a novel way to grow food – below the earth’s surface.
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.
