Credit: A herd of caribou is on the move in the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska in this undated photo from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Many Indigenous Alaskans and environmental advocates say a proposed Ambler mining road would interfere sharply with caribou migration routes. (Photo by Tina Moran via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

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Ambler Metals says the minerals it wants to extract in Alaska’s Brooks Range are necessary for the manufacture of clean energy technologies, including electric vehicles and wind turbines.

But it will take cutting a road across salmon streams and caribou foraging and migration routes to access the areas where the minerals would be mined.

That has Alaska Native communities and environmental advocates worried. And a well-documented article by the Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan policy institute, states that more high-value minerals, such as silver and gold, will be extracted than minerals used in green technology.

Travis Cole, Koyukon Athabascan, a board member of the Fairbanks Native Association, said the impact would be disastrous. READ MORE. — Richard Arlin Walker, Special to ICT

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A woman and five children have died in a house fire in a small northwest Alaska village, Alaska State Troopers said Thursday.

The remains of the six have been recovered from the home in Noorvik, an Inupiat community of

about 650 people located just over 500 miles northwest of Anchorage.

The bodies were sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage.

The fire started about 6 a.m. Wednesday. Firefighters extinguished the blaze but the home was destroyed, Chris Hatch, the public safety director for the Northwest Arctic Borough told the Anchorage Daily News. Hatch didn’t immediately return a call Thursday to The Associated Press.

Troopers said it appears a fire started near a stove that was reportedly in poor condition. However, troopers said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The names of the victims have not been released. Troopers said they were still notifying relatives. — Associated Press

The Guatemala attorney general leading efforts to prosecute President Bernardo Arévalo and his party refused to step down Wednesday ahead of a meeting with the president.

“I am not going to resign,” said Consuelo Porras in a recorded video message released by her office on the same day that Arévalo said he would ask her to step down in a face-to-face meeting.

Porras also threatened to take legal action against anyone who tried to push her out and cited court rulings in arguing that she is also not under any obligation to meet with Arévalo, because her office “is an autonomous and independent institution.”

Porras has faced months of protests demanding her resignation for her office’s interference in last year’s elections. Her office has pursued investigations of Arévalo, his vice president and their party, as well as of electoral officials. Her agents have ordered waves of arrest warrants, raids of the party offices and seizures of electoral records and ballots.

For weeks, Indigenous groups blocked the country’s highways and for even longer have maintained a constant protest outside Porras’ office. — Associated Press

Being selected to serve as federal judge is “not an everyday experience,” Sara Hill said.

“Your text messages start to pile up when you get nominated by the president for anything, I think,” she said.

The University of Tulsa hosted a celebration recently at its College of Law for Oklahoma’s first female Native American federal judge and a university alumna. The U.S. Senate confirmed Hill’s appointment as a U.S. District judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma on December 19.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Chickasaw Gov. Bill Annoatubby were among those in attendance to congratulate her on her selection by President Joe Biden. READ MORE. — Felix Clary, ICT + Tulsa World

Skoden Coffee & Tea is an Indigenous-led and queer coffee shop centering and celebrating Diné creatives in Arizona.

The business is run by a collective of Diné family and friends including Kalynn Yazzie, Diné, Jordan Manuelito, Diné, Isabel Anzures, Diné, Natasha John, Diné, and her wife Sabrina Sugimura, Japanese.

The coffee cart tucked in the front corner of a furniture and design store named, For the People has become a space to enjoy art with your coffee.

Natasha John credits her wife, Sabrina for most of the design within Skoden. READ MORE. — ICT

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On the Thursday edition of the ICT Newscast, the ‘Gone Too Soon’ series highlights dismal numbers for life expectancy among Montana’s Native population. Land defender and climate change activist Tara Houska talks about the importance of sharing Indigenous knowledge in a warming planet. And fresh off writing a book, ICT’s Mary Annette Pember shares reporting on boarding schools since the 1990s.

Watch:

The American Library Association announced the 2024 Youth Media Award winners Monday. A few Indigenous authors made the list.

“Rez Ball” by Byron Graves is the 2024 Morris Award winner for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens, and a Young Adult Book winner from the American Indian Youth Literature Awards.

Graves, Ojibwe, said he is in complete disbelief that he won. He read some of the other books that were nominated and didn’t think “Rez Ball” was going to take the prize.

“Rez Ball” is about an Ojibwe teen named Tre Brun who plays on the Red Lake Reservation high school team and dreams of playing in the NBA. He is dealing with his older brother’s death, who was also a basketball player, and hopes to represent his team to their first state championship. READ MORE. — Kalle Benallie, ICT

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