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WASHINGTON — Indigenous members of Congress and several national Indigenous organizations have condemned the attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump during a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump was grazed by a bullet from an AR-style rifle on the upper part of his right ear. The FBI is still trying to determine a motive behind Saturday’s attempted assassination.
His aides said he was in “great spirits” and doing well. He arrived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Sunday evening for the convention, which began Monday, June 15.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Cherokee, was at a national wrestling tournament with his daughter in North Dakota when he heard about the attack. READ MORE — Pauly Denetclaw, ICT
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MUSKOGEE, Okla. — The day before Independence Day, several Cherokee families carried their lives in boxes into new homes in a first-of-its-kind Cherokee Nation housing subdivision.
The Warrior Addition is the tribe’s first subdivision to be built under the tribe’s historic Housing, Jobs and Sustainable Communities Act. A 12-acre plot near Grant Foreman Elementary School now boasts a dozen 1,700-square-foot three-bedroom, two-bath houses, each with a two-car garage and storm shelter.
The lot has space available for up to 30 homes for Cherokee citizens, most of whom have been on a waiting list for affordable housing provided by the tribe.
Also on Wednesday, the Cherokee Nation announced a study to examine housing needs for Cherokee families across the reservation. The comprehensive report, due in two months, will determine shortfalls in affordable rental and homeownership opportunities. Officials said researchers may explore options such as tiny homes, based on family needs. READ MORE— Felix Clary, ICT + Tulsa World
On Wednesday, representatives from the Indian Health Service, including Director Roselyn Tso, are hosting an event in Oklahoma to discuss Purchased/Referred Care (PRC) improvements and look to get feedback from attendees on the patient experience.
Tribal leaders, tribal citizens, community partners and the general public are invited to attend, according to a media advisory from the agency.
The advisory stated feedback is important to improving “customer service and processes” as the agency works to creating a patient-centered approach.
“It is also key to the Indian Health Service mission to raise the physical, mental, spiritual, and social health to highest level for the American Indian and Alaska Native communities that we serve,” the advisory reads.
The event will take place at the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Emergency Response Center in Concho, Oklahoma at 2 p.m. CDT.
A zoom link was provided to attend virtually.
When Amy Denet Deal returned to her homeland in 2019, the lessons she had learned as a corporate fashion designer came along, too.
Having worked for large, wealthy companies throughout her career, including Puma and Reebok, Deal stepped back into her community knowing she wanted to create something with reciprocity.
“I’ve worked my whole life for these big brands and I don’t know where the hell the money went,” Deal said. “With (4KINSHIP), it’s beautiful to have a small, female owned brand that’s super clear on what we’re doing, which is the most important thing, (along) with the profits of the brand reinvesting in future generations.”
Deal carried this way of thinking into her 2021 project called the Diné Skate Garden – a passion project located on the Two Grey Hills chapter (Navajo Nation) in New Mexico where both amateur and professional skaters can ride. READ MORE— Leah Mesquita, ICT
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After a decade of work, the Tule River Tribe has released nine beavers into the nation’s reservation in the foothills of California’s southern Sierra Nevada mountains. The beavers are expected to make the landscape more fire and drought resistant. Beaver dams trap water in pools, making the flow of water slower so the surrounding ecosystem can reap the benefits of the moisture while making it more difficult for forest fires to start. They can also help a forest heal after a fire by rehydrating the area.
“We’ve been through numerous droughts over the years,” Kenneth McDarmet said, who is a Tule River tribal member and former councilman. “It’s going to be wonderful to watch them do their thing.”
Around 80 percent of the Tule River Reservation’s drinking water comes from the Tule watershed. Because the area is so important for the health of the community, the tribe has been preparing the area since 2014, building manmade dams to help the new beavers adapt more quickly.
Temperatures worldwide are expected to get hotter, increasing drought and creating conditions that make wildfires bigger and more deadly. In California, some of the worst wildfires on record have happened in the last five years partly due to drought. In 2020, three fires burned almost a million acres in the Sierra Nevada Forest, and in 2021 a wildfire burned an additional 1.5 million acres. Bringing beavers back may offer a break. READ MORE— Grist
Oregon City, Ore.— A young man with two long, black braids clinging to his back took a deep breath before diving head first into a crevice at the base of the Willamette Falls, searching for a slippery Pacific lamprey — called Asúm in Sahaptin, the traditional language of Yakama Nation.
Though he didn’t catch any himself, he grinned as he held up a lamprey caught by another citizen of Yakama Nation.
Tom Farley, a 17-year-old citizen of Yakama Nation, grew up eating lamprey. He attended last year’s Lamprey Celebration at Clackamette Park, but this year marked his first time going up to Willamette Falls and learning how to harvest the eels.
“If I get the chance to eat them, I’m definitely going to eat them – even if it’s just like a bite or taste,” Farley said as he watched community members join hands and dance to the beating of a drum. “I think it’s very sentimental, very culturally relevant to do lamprey stuff.” READ MORE — Nika Bartoo-Smith, Underscore Native News + ICT
- Abortion pill access in Indian Country: The federal Food and Drug Administration has made progress in easing access to the abortion pill mifepristone, but how easily accessible is abortion medication for tribal citizens?
- Supreme Court’s Chevron ruling could bring changes for tribes: The court’s recent ruling diminishes the power of federal agencies, potentially challenging tribes’ trust relationship with the federal government
- Alaska Federation of Natives has new president: Challenge will be ‘to maintain AFN’s strength and bring back the people who have dropped out’
- Homeless Native Americans are Likely to Feel the Negative Impact of US Supreme Court Ruling
- California tribes awarded almost $20M to address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person crisis
- Judge refuses to extend timeframe for Georgia’s new Medicaid plan, only one with work requirement
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