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Executive Vice President of the Seattle Indian Health Board Abigail Echo-Hawk, Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and actress Kali Reis, Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe, are named in the list as up-and-coming leaders and emerging influencers in health, climate, politics, business, sports, arts and more.

Echo-Hawk, who is also the director of the Urban Indian Health Institute research division, said she is humbled and honored.

“Indigenous leadership is often recognized only within our own community, so I hold this recognition with immense gratitude for the past, present, and future leaders,” she said in a press release

Echo-Hawk has also worked in bringing MMIWG issues to the forefront. She co-authored a report that outlined data issues and the staggering number of MMIWG cases in 71 urban cities across the U.S.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington provided a tribute to TIME, praising Echo-Hawk for her advocacy. 

“Abigail is revolutionizing how governments, institutions, and medical professionals approach health for American Indians and Alaska Natives,” Murray said. “Her research and tireless advocacy to address violence against Indigenous women have spurred policy changes across the country, at all levels of government. Abigail is a real changemaker and all of Washington state is proud of her leadership.”

Actor Lily Gladstone, Blackfeet, provided a tribute for Reis.

“Her athletic career developed her focus, immediacy, physicality, acute listening, timing, and commitment to the present moment—these are clear in every frame she inhabits, including, recently, in True Detective,” Gladstone said. “But even these exceptional attributes of her craft are ultimately eclipsed by the vulnerability and honesty of her soul.”

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RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health established its third hub, bringing groundbreaking Indigenous research to the Black Hills.

On Sept. 20, Indigenous leaders and local leaders gathered to welcome the new Great Plains Native Health Hub to Rapid City. The hub will lead research in Indigenous healthcare, intersecting cultural teachings and traditional medicine with modern medicine.

“Being located here in Rapid City is beautiful,” said Dr. Courtney Claussen, Mnicouju/Oohenumpa Lakota and a research associate. “There are tons of incredible team members located across the nation, so having the interconnections, not only from nation to nation but to the communities of South Dakota, we were able to meet with a lot of really great folks from the Great Plains region working in the health care area.”

Lakota and Dakota people in the Great Plains experience some of the lowest life expectancies in the United States. On the Crow Creek Reservation, the life expectancy rate is a stark 45 years compared to a statewide average of 76 years. READ MORE — Amelia Schafer, ICT and Rapid City Journal

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of names echoed in the Senate Swamp on the northeast lawn outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Sept. 25 as citizens of several tribal nations held a vigil in honor of those who died due to exposure to radiation.

A group called the RECA Warriors — citizens of the Navajo and Hopi nations, as well as the Laguna, Jemez and Acoma Pueblos — made their way to Washington, D.C., to pressure the government to take action on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

In June, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act expired, ending financial compensation for those affected by the U.S. uranium industry in the Southwest. This includes thousands of Native Americans who worked in and around uranium mines on reservations like the Navajo Nation, which has over 500 former mining sites that remain abandoned or unremediated today.

In March 2024, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill introduced by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, Republican, and New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, Democrat, that would reauthorize the original legislation. If passed by the House, the bill would also extend financial compensation to thousands of people who weren’t covered under the original legislation but were impacted by the U.S. uranium industry. READ MORE — Kadin Mills, ICT

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RAPID CITY, S.D. – Pennington County State’s Attorney Lara Roetzel will not be prosecuting on behalf of South Dakota in a highly anticipated trial of a man and woman accused of killing a Lakota infant in 2022.

Last fall, the Native Rapid City community criticized Roetzel for her handling of several cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People in Pennington County. Community members staged a sit-in in Roetzel’s office and requested she resign. The family of seven-week-old Aiko White Eagle was one of the participating families, leading Roetzel to pull away from the case.

“A previous conflict between our office and the victim’s family could have been a distraction, impacting the case. I am simply not willing to take any chances when it comes to securing justice for this baby girl,” Roetzel said in an email statement.

The state’s case will instead be prosecuted by Daniel Nelson, Brookings County State’s Attorney.

Nelson said Roetzel asked him to prosecute. READ MORE — Amelia Schafer and Madison Willis, ICT and Rapid City Journal

RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Oglala Sioux Tribe is calling for the U.S. Justice Department to launch an investigation into the Rapid City Police Department citing a pattern of discrimination against Native Americans in the city.

On Sept. 24 during a regular council meeting, the tribal council unanimously voted to pass a resolution requesting the DOJ begin investigating. The resolution, No. 24-134, specifically asks for the DOJ to investigate the Rapid City Police Department and the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office.

“There is a pattern of practices by police in both Rapid City and Pennington County, South Dakota, that disproportionately targets Native Americans in police stops, in arrests, police killings, and police officer killings of tribal members,” the tribe stated on page 2 of the resolution.

“There is a pattern of practices by police in both Rapid City and Pennington County, South Dakota, that disproportionately targets Native Americans in police stops, in arrests, police killings, and police officer killings of tribal members,” the tribe stated on page 2 of the resolution. READ MORE — Amelia Schafer, ICT and Rapid City Journal 

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