The Daily Spark

State-Tribal Relations Day will take place Feb. 25 at the Capitol Rotunda in Pierre from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., according to South Dakota State News. The 2026 theme is “Bringing Awareness to the MMIP Crisis Through Collaboration,” with a focus on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons.

The event will bring together MMIP organizations, tribal leaders and state legislators to foster collaboration and dialogue, according to South Dakota State News. As of Jan. 1, 2026, 61% of the 118 people listed as missing in South Dakota were Native American, according to the South Dakota Missing Persons website. “We must never forget the lives lost and the families still searching for answers,” said Algin Young, secretary of the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations, according to South Dakota State News. The event is open to the public, and formal invitations have been extended to all nine tribal leaders and councils.

The Office of Sovereign Partnerships & Indigenous Initiatives at the University of Kansas will host the Sovereign Futures Series: AI and Data Sovereignty Across the Southern Plains March 3-4, according to the university. The event will bring together tribal leaders, community practitioners, scholars, educators and technologists to examine how artificial intelligence, data governance and emerging technologies affect tribal sovereignty and Indigenous self-determination. Sessions will be held in person at the university and livestreamed.

The event will include panels on Indigenous data sovereignty, digital repatriation, AI governance and community-centered technology design, according to KU. “AI and data systems are already shaping everyday decisions,” Chamisa Edmo, a co-organizer and graduate student in computer science at KU, was quoted by KU News as saying. “The work ahead is building shared understanding of how these systems work and ensuring tribal nations have the authority to govern them.” The event is open to the public, with in-person and virtual registration available.

Indigenous activists held a demonstration Saturday outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis to protest immigration enforcement and detentions at the site, according to MPR News. The “Not On Native Land” rally was organized and led by Indigenous clergy from Minnesota in response to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity tied to Operation Metro Surge.

Jim Bear Jacobs, program director of environmental justice with Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light, said the building’s namesake, Henry Whipple, advocated for Dakota people during the U.S.-Dakota War. Jacobs read a statement from Craig Loya, bishop of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, calling it a “painful irony” that a building named for Whipple now houses immigration enforcement, according to MPR News.

Speakers and performers, including members of Kalpulli Yaocenoxtli, addressed the crowd. Kate Beane, executive director of the Minnesota Museum of American Art, said the land where the building stands was never ceded by Dakota people, according to MPR News.

Representatives of Nuiqsut, an Iñupiat village on Alaska’s North Slope, have sued the Trump administration over the cancellation of a conservation agreement protecting the Teshekpuk Lake area and the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd, according to Alaska Beacon. Nuiqsut Trilateral Inc., which includes the city government, the tribal government and Kuukpik Corp., filed the lawsuit Jan. 28 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

The lawsuit challenges the Interior Department’s December cancellation of a 2024 right-of-way agreement covering about 1 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. Interior Department Deputy Secretary Katharine MacGregor said in a cancellation notice that the agreement violated the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act and described subsistence harvesting as a “non-use” of resources. Alaska Beacon reports that the complaint disputes that characterization, arguing that subsistence is a recognized use under federal law and that the cancellation violates longstanding subsistence protections.

Native consulting curators helped shape a new permanent gallery at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia that centers Indigenous voices and presents Native people as living communities. The exhibit, “Native North America Gallery: Rooted in Resilience, Resisting Erasure,” opened Nov. 22 and is expected to remain on view for 10 years.

Eight Native consulting curators from tribes across the United States worked with museum staff to determine the exhibit’s focus and decide which items were appropriate for display, according to reporting by ICT. Jeremy Johnson, cultural education director for the Delaware Tribe of Indians, also known as Lenape, said the collaboration marked a shift from past museum practices. “This is the first we collaborated on … to really get our story out there,” Johnson was quoted as saying.

Museum officials said the gallery was developed in alignment with updated federal regulations under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and reflects ongoing government-to-government consultation.

Federal agencies are falling short of their legal duties to tribal nations as they manage millions of acres of land important to climate adaptation, wildlife and water supplies, according to a Government Accountability Office report cited by Grist. The report says treaties ceded land to the U.S. government in exchange for commitments that evolved into government-to-government relationships on natural resources.

Since a 2021 joint order by the U.S. departments of Agriculture and the Interior, tribes have entered into at least 400 cooperative land agreements with federal agencies, the Native American Rights Fund estimates, Grist reported. The GAO recommends expanding authority for the Forest Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to enter into land and water agreements with tribes.

The report says many agency staff lack familiarity with federal Indian law, treaty obligations and government-to-government relations, and that staffing cuts and budget reductions at agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, hinder long-term partnerships, Grist reported.

Ahead of the Feb. 8 Super Bowl, Native organizations hosted the second annual Indigenous Girls Celebrity Flag Football Game, according to ICT. The Feb. 2 event in Santa Clara, California, brought together 29 Indigenous girls from California, South Dakota and Arizona to compete alongside celebrities from Indian Country.

Mike Stopp, executive director of the Native American Athletic Foundation, told ICT the event builds on the foundation’s partnership with the NFL and its efforts to expand girls’ flag football. Former NFL players Ahman Green and Cam Lynch coached the teams, along with U.S. Women’s National American Football team gold medalist Adrienne Smith.

Mille Lacs County commissioners passed a resolution last week asking the U.S. Department of the Interior to withdraw a legal opinion affirming the boundaries of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Reservation, according to MPR News. The opinion, known as M-37032, states that the 61,000-acre reservation established by an 1855 treaty remains intact and legally binding.

The county’s resolution argues the opinion is unsupported and creates confusion, and reiterates the county’s position that the reservation consists of about 4,000 acres, according to the resolution. The Interior Department issued the opinion in 2016 while approving the band’s application to exercise law enforcement jurisdiction.

In a statement to MPR News, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe said it was “deeply disappointed” by the county’s action. Tribal Chief Executive Virgil Wind said the move undermines months of government-to-government engagement and threatens recent progress between the two governments.

The nonprofit conservation group American Prairie and a coalition of more than 50 tribes have filed protests against a proposed Bureau of Land Management decision to cancel bison grazing permits on federal land, according to Daily Montanan. The nonprofit conservation group called the proposed move “unlawful, factually incorrect, and procedurally deficient.”

The proposed decision, released in January by the Department of the Interior, would cancel grazing permits across seven allotments in Phillips County, Montana, that American Prairie has used for its bison herd, Daily Montanan reported. Alison Fox, CEO of American Prairie, said the permits had been approved with environmental review and defended for years.

The Coalition of Large Tribes protested separately, warning the decision could make it “unlikely that any tribal government or tribal citizen buffalo herd would ever be eligible for BLM grazing leases,” according to the coalition’s letter cited by Daily Montanan.

Tribally led solar projects on Northern Plains reservations stalled after the Trump administration ended the federal Solar for All program in August 2025, according to Daily Yonder.

Only one home on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation in Montana received residential solar before the program was halted. “It was a gut punch,” Joseph Eagleman, CEO of the Chippewa Cree Energy Corporation, told Daily Yonder. About 200 homes had been expected to get panels through roughly $7.6 million in Solar for All funding earmarked for the tribe, he said.

Eagleman said a $135 million grant to a coalition of 14 tribes in the region would have funded those installations, according to Daily Yonder. The cuts also led to layoffs at Indigenized Energy, a nonprofit that had been preparing tribal solar projects, founder Cody Two Bears told the outlet.

UPDATE: FOUND SAFE

The Bismarck Police Department is searching for Charlie Eagle Shield, a 17-year-old boy and citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. He was last seen on Jan. 30. He is reportedly 5’11" tall and 170 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.

Bismarck Police Officer Collin Schlecht told Buffalo’s Fire that Eagle Shield went to visit his aunt in Minot, North Dakota. He was supposed to return to his foster home after three days, but he reportedly ran away.

Anyone with information can contact the Bismarck Police Department at 701-223-1212.

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe said it will oppose efforts by the Trump administration to change or remove displays recognizing Native Americans at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, according to MTN News. The Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council voted 11-0 on Feb. 2 to adopt a resolution opposing changes to signs, markers and exhibits honoring Native Americans at the site.

According to a tribal press release cited by MTN News, the tribe referenced federal Public Law 102-201, which authorized the Indian Memorial at the monument, and Article X of the Montana Constitution, which calls for preserving American Indian cultural integrity. Tribal officials said the administration flagged two exhibits near Crow Agency as non-compliant, including signage describing broken promises to tribes and the loss of Indigenous culture and language through boarding school systems. Northern Cheyenne President Gene Small said altering the displays would conflict with the Indian Memorial’s theme of “Peace through Unity.”

The Department of the Interior announced Feb. 3 a new partnership between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education to prepare Native students for careers in wildland firefighting. The initiative, called the Native Youth Firefighter Training Program, provides high school and post-secondary students with hands-on instruction, mentorship and technical training for seasonal and permanent positions with tribal, federal and state fire programs.

According to the Interior Department announcement, participating students attend schools in South Dakota, Montana, New Mexico and Oklahoma, with future participation being explored through a dual enrollment program at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in New Mexico. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the program supports workforce development and public safety by connecting education to career pathways. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland said the program links tribal schools with public service careers and supports self-determination.

The city of Portland, Oregon, has named Gerald D. Skelton Jr., a citizen of the Klamath Tribes, as its new tribal government relations manager, according to Underscore Native News + ICT. Portland Mayor Keith Wilson announced the appointment Feb. 3 during the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians winter convention in downtown Portland. The position had been vacant for nearly 16 months.

Skelton previously served for more than 15 years as director of the Klamath Tribes Culture and Heritage Department, where his work included archeological museum efforts and repatriation of ancestral remains, according to Skelton. He said he also has a background in energy development and worked with the Klamath Tribes during the Klamath River dam removal process. In his new role, Skelton will focus on government-to-government relationships with the nine federally recognized Native nations in Oregon and other Native nations across the region. He will report to Sam Chase, director of the Office of Government Relations.

Indigenous artists in Minneapolis are using visual art and fashion to respond to federal immigration enforcement actions, according to reporting by ICT.

Graphic designer Jearica Fountain, a citizen of the Karuk Tribe, is creating digital artwork from her home in south Minneapolis to raise awareness about an Immigration and Customs Enforcement surge in the city. Fountain said her designs are displayed across the Minneapolis metro area and have been used by local action groups at protests. One of her most shared images references Minnesota’s winter climate and includes the phrase “Mni Sota Makoce knows how to handle ICE.” Fountain said she is also donating proceeds from sold prints to local relief organizations.

Lac Courte Oreilles tribal citizen Aerius Benton-Banai created a red ribbon dress featuring the phrase “No One is Illegal on Stolen Land” after learning about immigration activity in the Twin Cities. Benton-Banai said she wore the dress in a video shared with her social media followers to express solidarity with impacted communities.

Tribes from across California will gather in Wheatland this week for the 4th annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Summit, according to KCRA 3. The two-day event begins Tuesday at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and will bring together tribal leaders, community members, state legislators, law enforcement, victim advocates and families affected by MMIP cases. Organizers said discussions will focus on the factors driving the crisis and efforts to address it.

According to a media release cited by KCRA 3, the summit’s theme is “Justice, Healing, and Sovereignty: Tribal Solutions to the MMIP Crisis.” Tribal leaders and state lawmakers are expected to discuss two proposed bills, SB 891 and AB 1574. SB 891 would create a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Justice Program within the California Department of Justice, while AB 1574 would establish a Tribal Foster Care Prevention Program. Organizers expect about 1,000 people to attend.

A Nevada jury convicted “Dances With Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse on 13 of 21 charges related to sexual assault, according to the Associated Press. Jurors in Las Vegas found most of the guilty verdicts centered on conduct involving a victim who was 14 when the assaults began. Chasing Horse, 49, was acquitted on some charges tied to periods when the victim was older and living with him and others. Sentencing is scheduled for March 11, and he faces a minimum of 25 years in prison.

The verdict followed an 11-day trial that included testimony from three women, some of whom were underage at the time of the alleged assaults, according to AP. Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney William Rowles thanked the women who testified. Defense attorney Craig Mueller said he plans to seek a new trial.

More than 100 people gathered Feb. 1 in Minneapolis for a ceremony honoring Renée Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed in separate incidents involving federal immigration agents. According to reporting by ICT, the event began near the site where Good, a 37-year-old writer and mother of three, was killed on Jan. 7 by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Participants held a round dance, sang and offered prayers before moving about a mile and a half to the location where Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, was killed on Jan. 24.

Star Ishkode Downwind, a Red Lake Nation activist, said the gathering was meant to stand with immigrants and others affected by ICE. Speakers included Nicole Matthews, chief executive officer of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition, and Tara Geshik, secretary-treasurer of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, who spoke about honoring the victims through justice, compassion and unity, according to ICT.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt renewed calls to limit tribal sovereignty during his final State of the State address on Feb. 2, saying the state’s criminal and taxation laws should apply to every resident without exception, according to KOSU. Stitt said the state should hold sole sovereignty and criticized what he described as different legal standards. Tribal leaders attended the address and expressed concern over the remarks.

In a statement following the speech, Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton said Stitt misrepresents the relationship between tribes and the state, stating tribal sovereignty is based on treaties and agreements with the United States. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said Stitt’s comments would erode remaining aspects of tribal sovereignty, while Muscogee Nation Principal Chief David Hill criticized Stitt’s reference to the Land Run of 1889. Oklahoma House Tribal and External Affairs Leader Scott Fetgatter and House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson also issued statements critical of the governor’s remarks, according to KOSU.