The Daily Spark

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., along with Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Rick Larsen, D-Wash., and Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., introduced the Tribal Warrant Fairness Act, according to a press release. The legislation would grant the United States Marshals Service authority to execute arrest warrants on behalf of tribal law enforcement and assist in searching for missing children. “By improving coordination and strengthening the partnership between USMS and Tribal law enforcement, the Tribal Warrant Fairness Act will make Native American communities safer and ultimately bring more criminals to justice,” Cole was quoted as saying.

According to the release, the 2023 Not Invisible Act Commission found federal law limits the ability of the United States Marshals Service to assist with tribal warrants. The bill would allow the agency to execute tribal felony arrest warrants, assist in searches for missing children and permit tribal participation in Fugitive Apprehension Task Forces. A Senate version was introduced by Sens. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev., according to the release.

Five Native American men held in maximum security at Rhode Island’s Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston have filed a federal lawsuit alleging prison officials denied their ability to practice their religion, according to Rhode Island Current. The 38-page complaint was filed Feb. 11 in the U.S. District Court in Providence on behalf of Jaquontee Reels, Anthony Moore, Louis Seignious, Craig Robinson and Wallace Cable. The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU of Rhode Island and the Roger Williams University School of Law Prisoners’ Rights Litigation Clinic, are seeking permission to hold pipe ceremonies, sweat lodge ceremonies, smudging ceremonies, drum circles and powwows.

“Again and again, Plaintiffs have asked RIDOC officials for permission to obtain Native American religious items, engage in Native American ceremonies, and obtain guidance from a Native American elder, but Defendants have turned away all of those requests,” the complaint states. The complaint also states that the Department of Corrections has not adopted policies required under a 2025 settlement addressing religious accommodations.

The federal government is encouraging tribes to partner with data centers through land leases or energy sales, according to the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration of public media stations that includes Wyoming Public Radio. At a Feb. 12 U.S. Department of Energy webinar titled “Beyond Land Leases: Harnessing Data Centers for Tribal Economic Development,” Ken Ahmann, chief operating officer of Colusa Indian Energy, said such projects could inject “potentially billions of dollars into the coffers of tribes.” Elisah VandenBussche of the department’s Indian Energy Policy and Programs Office said the administration is offering financial and technical assistance to tribes interested in partnerships.

Supporters say developers can help tribes build energy infrastructure and expand internet access. Paul Bemore, chair of the Osage Nation utility authority board, told the Mountain West News Bureau that data centers could help tribes diversify their economies and strengthen data sovereignty. Some tribal members have raised concerns about environmental impacts and sovereignty, including potential strain on water supplies, according to the news bureau.

The ND250 Commission has awarded the Turtle Mountain Tribe a $9,000 grant for a historical exhibit, according to the Dakota News Network. The funding will support an exhibit interpreting treaty making, land negotiations, federal policy and cultural traditions. The grant is part of a broader effort tied to the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The ND250 Commission has awarded 15 grants totaling more than $90,000, according to the Dakota News Network. Additional grants were issued for projects in Bismarck, Mandan, Dickinson, Fargo, Beach, Grand Forks and Jamestown. Grant applications remain open through April 1.

Update: they have been found safe.

The Bismarck Police Department is searching for three siblings who have been missing since Feb. 15.

A dispatch officer told Buffalo’s Fire that 12-year-old Nora Horned Eagle, 13-year-old Lyda Horned Eagle and 14-year-old Bella Horned Eagle were last seen by their father at the Bismarck Public Library.

The siblings are Indigenous, but the officer did not know their tribal affiliation. Anyone with information can contact the Bismarck Police Department at 701-223-1212.

Tribal leaders and federal lawmakers are advancing legislation to continue the work of the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children, according to Indianz.com. The commission, established by Congress, studied how the federal government can better support American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children. “We gathered baseline data on topics including juvenile justice, socioeconomic issues, mental health, suicide, infant and child mortality, child welfare, substance use, ACEs or adverse childhood experiences, educational achievement, physical health, and we held hearings both in-person and during COVID virtually,” commission member Anita Fineday was quoted as telling the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Jan. 28.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chair of the committee, is supporting the draft Native Children’s Commission Implementation Act. “It’s one thing to get the report and see action items,” Murkowski said at a Capitol Hill event. “It’s another thing to move it forward.” Karen Guise of the National Congress of American Indians Youth Commission said, “This bill is different because it is the bridge from recommendations to reality,” according to Indianz.Com.

FBI Director Kash Patel traveled to southern Arizona this week to meet with law enforcement partners from the Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O’odham nations, according to KGUN 9. Afterward he posted on X about the meetings, calling the nations “key partners of ours in the fight against violent crime all across the country.” He highlighted the April 2025 launch of “Operation Not Forgotten,” an interagency surge designed to deliver more investigative resources to tribal lands and said the effort aims to change vulnerabilities to drug trafficking, cartels and other violent crime.

According to KGUN 9, the Justice Department’s Operation Not Forgotten has deployed rotating teams of FBI personnel to support field offices across the country, surging 60 FBI staff into 10 field offices to assist unresolved violent-crime investigations in Indian Country. At the start of fiscal 2025, the FBI’s Indian Country program had roughly 4,300 open investigations, including hundreds involving deaths, child abuse and sexual violence. Officials said tribal and federal partners will continue coordinating on investigations, training and technology sharing.

Legislation to investigate the history of Indian boarding schools has been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to Gaylord News, an outlet affiliated with the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., are the lead sponsors of the “Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act of 2026.” The bill would establish a commission to examine past federal actions that forcibly enrolled nearly 86% of Indigenous school-age children in boarding schools, according to Cole. The legislation was referred this month to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Natural Resources.

“For years, Indian boarding schools forcibly removed Native children from their families, stripped them of their heritage, and, in many cases, took their lives,” Cole was quoted as saying. The proposed commission would have six years to locate and identify marked and unmarked burial sites and would be granted subpoena power under the new bill. The legislation calls for possible $90 million in funding to hold convenings across all 12 Bureau of Indian Affairs regions and to access an estimated 100 million pages of documents, according to Gaylord News.

The federal government told tribal nations that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have not racially profiled Native Americans during recent enforcement operations, according to MPR News. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem sent a letter Thursday to officials from more than 500 federally recognized tribes stating ICE “does not target, and will not target, Native Americans or any U.S. Citizens based on appearance, ethnicity, or community affiliation.” She affirmed tribal IDs as valid identification and encouraged Native people to also show a valid state driver’s license, passport or state identification card if approached by federal law enforcement. A DHS tribal adviser confirmed to MPR News that the letter was emailed to tribal leaders.

The statement was posted on social media by Stephen Lewis, president of the Gila River Indian Community. In the letter, Noem said “there have not been any ICE operations on tribal lands” and said she was “disappointed” when some tribal leaders moved to ban ICE from reservations. In mid-January, the Red Lake Nation Tribal Council passed a resolution prohibiting ICE and other federal immigration agents from entering Red Lake tribal lands without a court order signed by a federal judge, according to MPR News.

The Indian Health Service will phase out the use of dental fillings containing mercury and fully implement mercury-free alternatives by 2027, according to the Associated Press. The agency has used dental amalgams, which contain elemental mercury, for decades to treat decayed and damaged teeth. According to agency documents, the percentage of its roughly 2.8 million patient user population receiving amalgam fillings declined from 12% in 2005 to 2% in 2023, the latest year of available data.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said growing environmental and health concerns about mercury exposure and global efforts to reduce hazardous materials prompted the change, according to the Associated Press. “This is a commonsense step that protects patients and prevents harm before it starts,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, amalgam fillings can release small amounts of mercury vapor, though it says available evidence does not link them to long-term negative health outcomes.

Native activists have established a prayer camp at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, near the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, a center for immigration detention processing, according to ICT. The site was used by the United States as a concentration camp during the Dakota War of 1862 to imprison thousands of Dakota and Ho-Chunk people. Organizers raised four teepees at Bdóte, near the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers.

Migizi Spears, a citizen of Red Lake Nation and organizer for First Nations United, helped establish the prayer camp with Dakota, Nakota and other tribal citizens. “We are getting the land back for our Dakota people who were exiled out,” Spears was quoted as saying. Wasuduta, Dakota, said the prayer camp is intended to hold the federal government and the state accountable. Organizers said the prayer camp will remain despite changes in federal immigration enforcement activity.

Celinda Gonzales, a member of the Yurok Tribe who advocated for mental health care and suicide prevention in Northern California, died in an apparent murder-suicide, according to CalMatters. Gonzales was 59. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said deputies found two bodies Feb. 3 in a home in Weitchpec on the Yurok reservation. “Based on the preliminary investigation, the incident appears to be consistent with a murder-suicide,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release. On Feb. 12, a spokesperson said it is believed Gonzales was killed by her husband, Arthur Gonzales, who then took his own life.

The Yurok Tribe confirmed her identity in a memorial, stating, “She was a beloved friend to many Tribal Councilmembers, staff and community members. This is a tremendous tragedy for the Tribe.” Gonzales previously worked as a suicide intervention specialist in Humboldt County. The tribe is offering grief counseling at the village clinic.

Native nations are hosting tribal ID pop-ups and reimbursing passport and REAL ID fees as immigration enforcement actions increase, according to Underscore Native News + ICT. The efforts follow reports of Native people being questioned or detained by immigration agents. In Minneapolis, Jose Ramirez, a Red Lake Nation descendant and U.S. citizen, was detained in January and later charged with assaulting an ICE agent during the encounter.

Legal experts say the issue has raised broader questions about tribal citizenship criteria, including blood quantum. Matthew Fletcher, a professor of federal Indian law at the University of Michigan, said immigration agents have relied on racial profiling following the 2025 Supreme Court decision in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo. Gabe Galanda, founder of Galanda Broadman, advised descendants to carry state identification, passports and any federal Certificate of Degree of Indian or Alaska Native Blood cards. Some nations, including the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, White Earth Nation and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, are providing descendancy letters at ID events.

According to KFF Health News, enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act expired Dec. 31, increasing premium costs and straining tribally sponsored health insurance programs. By late 2025, ACA plans had about 24 million enrollees, more than double pre-pandemic sign-ups, and enrollment has dropped by more than 1 million people since the subsidies ended.

Rae Jean Belgarde, who directs the Fort Peck Tribes’ health insurance program, said rising premiums leave the tribes with one option: “Start limiting who gets help.” The Urban Institute estimates 125,000 Native Americans will become uninsured in 2026 due to higher costs, and Lyle Rutherford, a Blackfeet Nation council member, said the tribe paused the employer-sponsored portion of its program in January. Tuba City Regional Health Care Corp. estimates its costs will rise roughly 170% to nearly $38,000 per month without the enhanced subsidies, KFF Health News reported.

Jim Gray, the former Principal Chief of the Osage Nation who orchestrated the tribe's historic shift from a federal allotment system to a sovereign constitutional government, died Thursday night. He was 64.

Gray passed away on Feb. 12, 2026, at his home in Skiatook, Oklahoma, according to family sources.

Serving two terms as Principal Chief from 2002 to 2010, Gray was the youngest elected leader in the Nation’s modern history. His administration is defined by the massive government reform initiative that led to the 2006 Constitution. This victory replaced the "headright" governing system imposed by the 1906 Osage Allotment Act—which restricted voting to shareholders of the mineral estate—with a tripartite government that enfranchised all Osage citizens over age 18.

"Under the former system, only headright holders could vote... through reform, each citizen gained an equal voice," his family said in a statement as reported by the Osage News.

Born James Roan Gray on June 11, 1961, in Pawhuska, he spent his youth in Arvada, Colorado, before returning to Oklahoma. He was a graduate of Northeastern State University.

Before entering politics, Gray was a prominent figure in Indigenous media as the publisher and co-owner of the Native American Times (formerly the Oklahoma Indian Times). He remained a vocal advocate for media representation throughout his life, serving on boards for the Native American Rights Fund and the Council of Energy Resource Tribes.

Gray was a direct descendant of Henry Roan, an Osage citizen whose murder was central to the "Reign of Terror" depicted in David Grann’s book and Martin Scorsese’s film Killers of the Flower Moon. In recent years, Gray served as a cultural consultant, to help accurately portray the Osage perspective to global audiences.

He is survived by his wife, Olivia “Libbi” Gray; sons Henry and James; daughters Naomi, Annette, Mary Hammer, Sarah Ramirez-Hernandez and Olivia Ramirez; sisters Jacqueline Butler and Margo Gray; and seven grandchildren.

A new play by University of Montana alumna Kendra Mylnechuk Potter addresses the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people and premieres Feb. 14 at the Montana Theatre in Missoula, according to UM News Service. “Can’t Drink Salt Water” was commissioned by the Montana Repertory Theatre and selected by a nationwide team of Indigenous artists, including actress Lily Gladstone.

Mylnechuk Potter, a member of the Lummi Nation, said the project centers on MMIP, a crisis in which American Indian and Alaska Native people face disproportionate rates of violence and disappearance. Indigenous people in Montana are four times more likely to be reported missing than others, according to a 2024 Montana Department of Justice report cited by UM News Service. The production runs through Feb. 22 and includes professional Indigenous artists alongside University of Montana students.

Washington State University has hired Jeffrey Wall as an Indigenous-focused horticulturist at the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center, according to Washington State University News. Wall began Jan. 1 and is part of the Department of Horticulture within the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. His work examines traditional ecological knowledge and historic Indigenous-managed landscapes, including camas meadows, crabapple habitats and aquaculture systems.

Wall said he is exploring collaborations with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, the Squaxin Island Tribal Garden and Kwiáht, a nonprofit conservation biology laboratory. His research focuses on how Indigenous plant cultivation and habitat stewardship practices can inform environmental care and food systems, according to Washington State University News.

Washington State University News

South Dakota lawmakers advanced a bill recognizing principles for tribal consultation but rejected a proposal to require quarterly meetings between state officials and tribal leaders, according to South Dakota Searchlight. House Bill 1232, sponsored by Rep. Peri Pourier, D-Rapid City and a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, states that agencies should recognize accountability, cooperation and early communication with tribes when developing programs affecting tribal members, though language requiring documentation of those principles was removed before a 12-0 committee vote.

A separate measure, House Bill 1190, would have established a tribal consultation commission to meet four times a year; it failed 8-4. Algin Young, secretary of the state Department of Tribal Relations, testified that “you can’t legislate relationships,” according to South Dakota Searchlight. Another bill, House Bill 1175, cleared the House Judiciary Committee to expand tribal access to criminal background check information.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., introduced a resolution calling for an end to unsanctioned Native American mascots and imagery in schools, according to a Feb. 9 press release from his office. The measure responds to what the release describes as efforts by the Trump administration to investigate New York school districts that complied with a 2022 state rule phasing out Native American mascots.

The resolution is endorsed by the National Congress of American Indians. It urges schools, athletic associations and policymakers to retire Native American-themed mascots and calls on the Department of Education to work with tribal governments and educators. According to the release, Maine banned Native American mascots in public schools and colleges in 2019. Other states, including California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, have adopted policies restricting or phasing out Indigenous mascots in public schools.