The Daily Spark

Contamination from oil, sewage and debris is threatening subsistence resources and drinking water in Kipnuk, Alaska, after Typhoon Halong devastated the community in October, according to ICT. About 90% of the village was damaged and more than 1,600 people were evacuated across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region, making it the largest mass evacuation in Alaska’s history. Cleanup crews working with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation found roughly 120 damaged heating oil tanks and widespread pollution across the tundra and waterways, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

The contamination has raised concerns for residents who rely on hunting, gathering and natural water sources. Floodwaters spread oil, sewage and debris across the tundra and into lakes used for drinking water, according to ICT. Cleanup crews began siphoning oil from damaged tanks, but efforts paused for winter as frozen waterways prevented transporting contaminated materials. Officials said the full scope of damage and cleanup timeline will be reassessed after the spring thaw.

Former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland unveiled a public safety plan on March 5 that calls for overhauling the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department and expanding behavioral health services, according to Source NM. Haaland’s proposal includes appointing an experienced cabinet secretary, increasing staff pay, boosting recruitment and requiring data sharing between the Office of the Child Advocate, New Mexico State Police, the Health Care Authority and the Early Childhood Education and Care Department.

Haaland also proposed creating a statewide Office of Community Safety to respond to nonviolent 911 calls involving mental health crises and homelessness, according to Source NM. Her plan would prohibit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from operating within 500 yards of schools, child care facilities, government buildings, religious institutions, health clinics, public parks and significant cultural sites. Haaland announced the proposal during a news conference in Albuquerque alongside former State Police Chief Pete Kassetas, former state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino and New Mexico Behavioral Health Providers Association President David Ley.

A Native-owned medical research company based on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation is working to address health disparities and expand public health knowledge in tribal communities, according to South Dakota News Watch. Missouri Breaks Industries Research, founded about 30 years ago in Eagle Butte, manages medical research projects, provides health education and supplies medical equipment to Native populations. The organization serves the Oglala Lakota, Cheyenne River Sioux, Standing Rock Sioux and Spirit Lake Nation and operates research offices in Rapid City as well as Pine Ridge and Kyle on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Founder Marcia O’Leary, a registered nurse, said Native-led research helps ensure communities maintain control over their data and health information. “For things to change, people have to have knowledge, and they have to own their data in order to really have autonomy over it,” O’Leary told South Dakota News Watch. The organization employs about 45 staff members, more than 80% of whom are tribal citizens, to help build trust and guide research focused on health issues affecting Native communities.

A trial date has been set for Derick Wilkinson, who is charged with murdering his girlfriend, Alexia De La Cerda, in White Shield, North Dakota, on Aug. 9, 2024. 

A home security camera allegedly captured Wilkinson strangling De La Cerda, a Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation citizen. An affidavit from an FBI agent claims he then locked her children in a room and set the house on fire. 

Wilkinson’s trial will take place April 7 in Bismarck. It was scheduled days after a federal judge rejected a plea deal that would have scrubbed Wilkinson’s murder charge.

Lummi playwright Kendra Mylnechuk Potter premiered her play “Can’t Drink Salt Water” at the Montana Repertory Theatre in Missoula, Montana, drawing a full audience during its February run, according to ICT. The production explores grief and the search for missing loved ones through the story of a Native mother whose daughter is abducted. The play opened in early February at the University of Montana campus with about 450 people attending the premiere and was supported by a grant from The Roy Cockrum Foundation.

Community advocate Carissa Heavy Runner, who works to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous people, introduced the production during its opening, according to ICT. Heavy Runner said the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people and human trafficking remains ongoing. Actors including University of Montana student Shadie Wallette, Northern Cheyenne, performed alongside professional cast members in the production, which uses symbolism and storytelling to highlight the impact of disappearances on Native families and communities.

A federal judge in Oklahoma declined to confirm whether the Osage Nation’s reservation remains intact, denying a request to revive a previous lawsuit, according to KOSU. U.S. District Judge John D. Russell of the Northern District of Oklahoma issued an order denying the Osage Nation’s request for relief from a 2009 ruling after the tribe sought to confirm the reservation’s status following the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma.

Russell wrote the request was “procedurally improper” and said the court is no longer active in the case, according to KOSU. However, he indicated the tribe could pursue a new version of the lawsuit. Osage Nation Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear said the decision offers a roadmap for bringing the reservation issue back before federal courts for review, according to KOSU. He was quoted as saying in a statement that the tribe maintains the Osage Nation Reservation “was never disestablished.”

Leaders of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and Idaho state officials announced a water rights settlement agreement following more than a decade of lawsuits and negotiations. Tribal Council Chairman Chief Allan, Tribal Council Member Ernest Stensgar, Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced the Coeur d’Alene Tribe Water Rights Settlement Agreement during a March 5 ceremony in Boise, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.

The Idaho Attorney General’s Office said that under the agreement the tribe will receive certain quantities of water tied to its federally reserved water rights and control of water resources within the Coeur d’Alene Reservation, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. The agreement authorizes the creation of a tribal water supply bank and allows the tribe to lease water off the reservation. In exchange, the tribe agreed to recognize existing state law-based water rights dating to September 2023 and protect an additional 10,000 acre-feet per year of future state water rights. Officials said the agreement will be sent to the Idaho Legislature and the U.S. Congress for ratification.

A tribal court has barred a longtime elected official of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe from running for office because of a past felony conviction that was later overturned. Last month, four of five judges on the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe’s Election Appeals Court voted to decertify Arthur “Archie” LaRose as a candidate for secretary-treasurer, the second most powerful elected office on the north central Minnesota reservation, according to the Minnesota Reformer.

The appeal was brought by three candidates now running for the position LaRose held for nearly two decades before his removal in 2022. Judges ruled that the tribe’s election ordinance bars candidates who have “ever been convicted of a felony of any kind,” even though LaRose’s 1992 third-degree assault conviction was vacated by the Minnesota Court of Appeals in 2024, according to the Minnesota Reformer. In a dissent, Judge Michael Harralson of White Earth wrote that continuing to treat the conviction as a felony is “a manifest injustice.”

Sacred Storm Buffalo is a workforce development enterprise focused on meat processing, cultural preservation and food sovereignty, according to a March 4 report by Lakota Times. The program trains Native youth in traditional butchery, agriculture and ecological stewardship while reconnecting participants with cultural knowledge tied to buffalo and land stewardship. According to Lakota Times, the initiative aims to help participants build careers in food production while supporting local food systems and community well-being.

The program operates through a Native-owned buffalo processing plant and mobile slaughter unit that follows what the organization describes as a “birth-to-table” approach to food production. According to Lakota Times, the effort grew from the work of Wambli Ska Okolakiciye, a Native-led nonprofit founded in 2014 in Rapid City, South Dakota, that focuses on reconnecting Native youth and families with cultural teachings and community programs.

The 38th Sovereignty Symposium will take place June 15–16 at the OKANA resort in Oklahoma City, according to Indianz.com. The event will include panel discussions on tribal commerce and economic development, energy and natural resources, artificial intelligence, tribal health care and reflections on 250 years of federal Indian law. A keynote panel titled “Ethical Leadership: Honoring Sovereignty from the Bench” will feature five Native American U.S. District Court judges discussing judicial ethics, leadership and tribal sovereignty.

The opening ceremony will include an invocation by Bishop David Wilson, Choctaw, of the Great Plains Conference of the United Methodist Church. Gordon Yellowman, artist and peace chief of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, will deliver the Camp Call. According to Indianz.com, the symposium was founded in 1988 by Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Yvonne Kauger and offers attorneys up to 12 continuing legal education credits.

United Tribes Technical College is accepting applications for its ASPIRE programs, which provide engineering-focused learning opportunities for students through summer camps and an undergraduate internship, according to program materials.

The ASPIRE Summer Camp offers hands-on engineering experiences for youth and is free to attend, with housing, travel and food provided, according to program materials. Camp sessions are scheduled July 19–24 for students ages 16 and older and Aug. 2–7 for students ages 13–15.

The 2026 ASPIRE Academy undergraduate internship will run May 17 through July 10 and offers students opportunities to earn college credit, tour engineering labs and industries across the state and work with experts from national laboratories, according to program materials. Participants receive a weekly stipend of $670 and housing, travel and food support. Applications for the internship are due April 3, according to program materials.

Students in the Building Trades program at Sitting Bull College are working on a new tiny home addition on campus as part of their hands-on training, according to Sitting Bull College.

Program participants are currently preparing the structure for siding and roofing by securing paper and felt to the exterior, steps that help prepare the building for the next stages of construction. The work is part of the college’s Building Trades Certificate Program, which provides classroom instruction and practical job-site experience.

According to Sitting Bull College, the program follows curriculum guidelines established by the Associated General Contractors of America and the National Center for Construction and Education and Research. Students who complete the program graduate with a foundation for entry-level carpentry work, with employment opportunities available through building contractors, lumber yards and maintenance shops.

Shoshone-Paiute golfer Gabby Barker recorded her first professional win Feb. 4 at the NXXT Women’s Championship at Juliette Falls Golf Course in Dunnellon, Florida, according to ICT.

Barker finished the tournament at one-under-par, winning by four strokes over the next competitors in a field of more than 60 women golfers, according to ICT. Barker said difficult weather conditions shaped the competition. “With the wind and cold, if you got out of position it punished you pretty fast, so it turned into a strategy week more than a ball-striking contest,” she told ICT.

Barker grew up near the Duck Valley Indian Reservation along the Idaho-Nevada border and began playing golf with encouragement from her family. She previously qualified for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship from 2012 to 2014 and earned Big 12 Player of the Year honors at Texas Tech University. Barker told ICT she is now focused on qualifying for the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour and the U.S. Women’s Open again.

Utah lawmakers are advancing a bill that would create specialized law enforcement training for investigations involving missing and murdered Indigenous people, according to Utah News Dispatch.

House Bill 588, sponsored by Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, would direct the state’s American Indian-Alaska Native Health and Family Services office to develop a training curriculum for law enforcement officers. The bill passed unanimously through the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee on Monday, according to Utah News Dispatch. Romero said the measure is intended to address disparities identified in a 2023 Murdered and Missing Indigenous Relatives Task Force report.

The report found Indigenous people account for about 5% of murder victims in Utah while representing about 1.5% of the state’s population, according to Utah News Dispatch. “There are steps to addressing this epidemic, because it is an epidemic,” Romero told Utah News Dispatch. “This is just the first step of many steps while I serve in the legislature.”

The Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center in Milwaukee offers a monthly jingle dress dance class as part of its Movement is Tradition program, which encourages physical activity through culturally rooted practices, according to ICT.

The class, held the first Wednesday of each month, is open to community members of all ages and led by Emma Carufel, a citizen of the Lac du Flambeau (Waaswaaganing) Ojibwe band. The program also includes activities such as catch-and-release fishing, snowshoeing and canoeing aimed at reconnecting participants with cultural traditions while promoting movement, according to ICT.

Lisa Albright, a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and outreach coordinator at the health center, was quoted as saying the program shows people “how to get back to their cultural roots and still be able to get some activity into their lives.” Classes begin with smudging and include instruction on dance styles, regalia and pacing.

Allison Renville, a Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota candidate for South Dakota governor, announced Feb. 27 that she is ending her campaign, citing financial uncertainty, according to ICT. Renville said in a press release that her campaign will be “dissolving.” 

“Running for public office should not require personal wealth or access to elite networks. What I’m going through is just like every other American,” Renville said in the statement, quoted by ICT. “When candidates with lived experience of housing instability and working-class struggles can’t sustain campaigns, it proves the system is not designed for the common person.” 

Twenty-two tribes returned more than 1,500 buffalo to their ancestral homelands last year, according to a news release from the InterTribal Buffalo Council. Today, more than 25,000 buffalo are managed by tribal nations, which InterTribal Buffalo Council board president Ervin Carslon called “a profound act of cultural healing and Tribal sovereignty.” The InterTribal Buffalo Council and its 89 member tribes across 22 states help coordinate the restoration of buffalo populations to tribal land.

“Buffalo remain central to the spiritual, cultural, ecological, and economic life of Native Communities,” he said in the news release. 

Buffalo are a keystone species in the Northern Great Plains and are essential to the health of grassland ecosystems. An estimated 30 to 60 million buffalo used to roam North America, but fur traders, hunters and the U.S. military wiped out buffalo as a means of erasing Native communities. By the early 1900s, there were less than a thousand buffalo. Now, tribal buffalo populations are larger than they have been in more than a century.

North Dakota Ethics Commission Chair Cynthia Lindquist will step down effective June 1 to move to Denver and become chief strategy officer for the American Indian College Fund, according to the North Dakota Monitor.

Lindquist, a citizen of the Spirit Lake Nation, was first appointed to the five-member commission in 2019 and reappointed in 2023, according to the Monitor. She was elected chair in July, following the death of former chair Dave Anderson in May. Lindquist is director of the University of North Dakota’s Tribal Initiatives and Collaborations and previously served more than two decades as president of Cankdeska Cikana Community College. “In the last six years, the Commission has made significant progress and will continue to do so in the future,” Lindquist was quoted as saying in a Monday announcement from the Ethics Commission. Her replacement is expected to serve the remainder of her term through August 2027.

The Mandan Police Department said Keith Belgarde Jr., a 21-year-old Indigenous man reported missing after last being seen Feb. 26, has been located safe, according to an update shared by Mandan Police on March 2.

Police had previously asked the public for help locating Belgarde, who was described as six feet tall, 200 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. In a Facebook update, the Mandan Police Department said Belgarde has been found safe. No additional details were provided.