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Lily Gladstone has always followed her heart and soul.

Stepping to the podium wearing a stand-up headdress, Gladstone encouraged the class of 2024 to do the same.

Gladstone noted, however, it was not the same headdress given to her during Lily Gladstone Day in Browning, Montana in March. The headdress belonged to fellow Women’s Stand-Up Headdress Society member, Theda New Breast.

“TSA is not kind to ceremonial items, to sacred items, and we have to be very protective of these so mine is protected safe at home, close to my parents,” Gladstone quipped.

The Siksikaitsitapii and Nimíipuu actress is an alumna of the university and was recruited by Ivy League schools, yet Montana had what she was looking for. READ MORE. Renata Birkenbuel and Kolby KickingWoman, ICT

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On Thursday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced two appointments to the Lake Superior State University Board of Trustees, including a tribal leader who’s a well-known anti-Line 5 activist.

“I am proud to appoint Whitney Gravelle and Kevin Cooper to the LSSU Board,” said Whitmer. “They are both dedicated members of the community and bring years of diverse experience to their new roles. I am confident they will serve the students, faculty, and staff well and continue making higher education in Michigan more accessible and affordable.”

The Lake Superior State University Board of Trustees is the governing body of Lake Superior State University. The board is granted the power of control and direction of all expenditures from the university’s funds.

Gravelle, president of the Executive Council of the Bay Mills Indian Community, has led that tribal nation in its fight against Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel project in the Straits of Mackinac. Prior to public office, she was the Chief Judge of the Bay Mills Tribal Court and also served as an Honors Clerk for the Justice Department in the Indian Resource Section, as well as in-house counsel within the Bay Mills Indian Community. READ MORE.Michigan Advance

Indigenous people have always had healers. They gathered herbs and other plants to treat injuries and diseases, long before Europeans landed on the shores of Turtle Island.

They continue to do so in tribal communities across the country, their prayers floating into the heavens along with the smoke from their sacred herbs.

A new partnership between an Oklahoma tribe and a land-grant university is preparing today’s healers – Indigenous doctors – to serve Native communities. The Tahlequah campus of Oklahoma State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine will celebrate its inaugural class of 46 students at its May 16 spring commencement. READ MORE. Felix Clary, ICT + Tulsa World

Council member Jill Sherman-Warne, Hoopa Valley Tribe, flew across the entire country to testify before the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies subcommittee under the House appropriations committee. She sat at a small conference table with members of the subcommittee in room 2008 at Rayburn House Office Building.

The room was packed with five rows of empty leather chairs. The audience was sparse on Tuesday, May 7, afternoon after a day of testimony.

Sherman-Warne was one of approximately 140 tribal leaders who gave public testimony to a House appropriations subcommittee about the needs of their community and what the funding priorities should be for Indian Country. Sherman-Warne and two other tribal leaders who testified talked about the needs for funding public safety and emergency services with an emphasis on wildfire firefighters.

She sat next to three others who are also from California tribes. Each one was given five minutes to give their testimony to two congressional members of the subcommittee. READ MORE.Pauly Denetclaw, ICT

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On Monday’s ICT Newscast, we talk one-on-one with today’s Indigenous change makers, as they share their thoughts, dreams and insights.

Watch:

The first round of the NHL playoffs began with a handful of Indigenous players with a shot at winning the National Hockey League’s most coveted prize, the Stanley Cup. At the end of the first round of the playoffs only one player remained, Brandon Montour, Six Nations of the Grand River, star defenseman for the Florida Panthers.

Following their 4-1 series win over state rival the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Panthers had a chance to put up their skates and await the wrap up of round one of the NHL playoffs. It was another solid playoff performance for Montour who had a goal and two assists to go along with his team leading time on ice of 23:26.

Their challenger was decided in extra time in the maximum amount of games. The Boston Bruins defeated Original Six rival the Toronto Maple Leafs in a game seven showdown that was won in overtime on a goal by Bruins star, David Pastrnak. Connor Dewar, Metis Nation, had a solid series for Toronto but the league’s longest Stanley Cup drought continues. READ MORE.Miles Morrisseau, ICT

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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.