The Daily Spark

For the first time, data from eight tribal nations is included in the federal Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, according to The Imprint. The database tracks foster care and adoption information used by policymakers to shape child welfare programs.

The updated dashboard includes data from the Cherokee and Navajo nations, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe in Arizona, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe in Washington and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in Michigan. The tribes receive funding through Title IV-E of the Social Security Act.

Angelique Day, a Ho-Chunk descendant and associate professor at the University of Washington, said the inclusion “has the potential to enhance our understanding of American Indians’ and Alaska Natives’ child welfare needs” and could improve resources for tribes.

Catholic leaders in western South Dakota have issued a statement rejecting the defense secretary’s decision to affirm Medals of Honor awarded for the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, according to reporting by South Dakota Searchlight.

The statement, released Oct. 20 by the Most Rev. Scott Bullock, bishop of Rapid City, and the De Smet Jesuit Community of West River, said the massacre “was not a battle” and that “those who died at Wounded Knee are sacred.” The leaders said the acts committed “were grave evils and cannot be honored.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last month that the medals would not be rescinded, calling the massacre a “battle.” The Defense Department has not released the review panel’s report or responded to requests for a copy, according to South Dakota Searchlight.

Hawaii reached a legal settlement this week with midwives and students that ends criminal penalties for midwifery care, according to reporting by News From the States. The settlement resolves a lawsuit over restrictions that had threatened practitioners with jail.

The Hawaii Legislature passed House Bill 1194 after the lawsuit was filed. State law now repeals many restrictions, removes criminal penalties, protects Native Hawaiian practices and allows students to train locally through apprenticeships. Licensing violations now bring civil fines instead of jail time.

The settlement, finalized Oct 15, adds constitutional protections for traditional Native Hawaiian midwifery. Advocates say that ending the criminal law should expand access to midwifery in Hawaii, where rural residents often face travel and added costs to give birth in Honolulu. A KFF report says Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander people have the highest risk for pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. Maui-based midwife Ki‘inaniokalani Kaho‘ohanohano was quoted as saying, “We finally have a way forward to protect and pass down our sacred practices.”

The Oglala Sioux Tribe filed a federal lawsuit Oct. 17 in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, Western Division, alleging the U.S. has failed to meet treaty and statutory duties to provide adequate law enforcement on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The defendants are the United States, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Bureau of Indian Affairs leaders. The tribe asks the court to order the government to provide sufficient law enforcement resources. “There is a complete lack of adequate and effective law enforcement within the Tribe's Reservation, and the impacts to the Tribe and its members have been and continue to be catastrophic,” the tribe said in its complaint.

The complaint frames public safety as a treaty and trust obligation — not a discretionary program — rooted in the 1825 Treaty and the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868, and reinforced by later laws including the Snyder Act and the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act of 1990.

According to the filing, only 33 officers and eight investigators currently serve Pine Ridge, far below federal benchmarks that would require as many as 150 officers, depending on the population used. The tribe cites the BIA’s minimum of 2.8 officers per 1,000 residents and ties the shortfall to federal funding decisions.

The family of Renzo Bullhead (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe) is asking the community to come together to search for him along the Missouri River, according to reporting by KXNET. The United Tribes Technical College student went missing March 16. Badlands Search and Rescue, multiple tribes and law enforcement agencies will search the river, shorelines and sandbars on Oct. 30.

The family is calling for volunteers to show up in support of finding Bullhead, especially those with watercraft for shallow areas and those with knowledge of the river between Fox Island and Beaver Bay.

More information will be uploaded on the Facebook Renzo Bullhead search page and on the Badlands Search and Rescue website.

Indigenous education experts and advocates criticized New Mexico’s draft action plan to address the Yazzie/Martinez court ruling, saying it lacks detail and meaningful community input, according to ICT. Regis Pecos, former governor of Cochiti Pueblo and co-director of the Leadership Institute at Santa Fe Indian School, said during a five-hour gathering north of Albuquerque that “we may be stuck with something that is unconscionable” if the Public Education Department does not make changes before submitting the final plan to the court in early November.

The 2018 Yazzie/Martinez decision found the state was violating its constitutional duty to provide adequate education to Native American and low-income students, English language learners and students with disabilities. Advocates said the department has not fully incorporated public feedback collected over several years, including at statewide meetings held in August, according to ICT.

The University of Kansas received a $1.5 million grant from the Office of Indian Education in the U.S. Department of Education to collaborate with tribal nations and school districts in Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma, according to the Kansas Reflector. The five-year Southern Plains American Indian Teaching Pathways Project aims to prepare and mentor 15 teachers for Native-serving schools through a partnership that includes Haskell Indian Nations University.

Alex Red Corn, Osage, director of Indigenous studies at KU and lead principal investigator on the project, said the grant will provide a “funded pathway to full teacher licensure through KU and Haskell.” Students will receive financial support, including tuition, stipends and laptops, and will be required to work in Native-serving schools after graduation.

Tribal Broadband Bootcamps are helping Native communities gain hands-on experience building and maintaining broadband networks, according to reporting by ICT. Since 2021, nearly 20 bootcamps have trained more than 400 people from over 80 tribes across the United States.

Program co-founder Matt Rantanen, a Cree descendant, told ICT the bootcamps create a non-judgmental learning space where “everybody has something to learn, but everybody has something to contribute.” Instructor Davida Delmar, Navajo, said she encourages women to enter the male-dominated field, noting that more women are leading tribal internet service providers. The most recent bootcamp, hosted by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan, trained participants in fiber and wireless technology. “Together, we are advancing digital sovereignty for our people, now and for generations to come,” Dan Doyle, the tribe’s chief executive officer of enterprise operations, was quoted as saying.

Tipiziwin Tolman, a Standing Rock Sioux Tribe member and descendant of the Spirit Lake Dakota, has been appointed to the UNESCO Ad-hoc Group 2: Indigenous Language Transmission and Resilience Building of the Global Task Force for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, according to a news release.

Tolman, a doctoral candidate at Washington State University, focuses her research on Lakota and Dakota language pedagogy and literacy. “I’m honored to contribute to this global effort,” Tolman was quoted as saying. “Our languages carry the wisdom, laws, and lifeways of our people as learned from the land and water.” Audrey-Maude Perreault, Secretariat of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, said Tolman’s expertise and commitment will “enrich the collective efforts to safeguard, support, and promote Indigenous languages worldwide.”

The Native All-American football game will return to U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Dec. 14, according to ICT. The event, featuring Indigenous high school football players from across the country, marks the fourth year of partnership between the National Football League and the Native American Athletic Foundation.

Executive Director Michael Stopp said the foundation aims to use sports to develop future leaders in Indian Country and will also host a flag football clinic for Native girls on Dec. 13. Brett Taber, Minnesota Vikings vice president of social impact, said the team values its partnership with Native communities in Minnesota and surrounding states. Former NFL players Ahman Green and Levi Horn will serve as head coaches, and Randy Fine will act as athletic director.

Alaska officials are conducting one of the state’s largest airlifts to move hundreds of people from coastal villages devastated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong, according to the Associated Press. The storm brought record water levels to Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, washing away homes and killing at least one person. Two others remain missing, officials said.

Jeremy Zidek, spokesperson for the state emergency management office, said more than 1,000 residents from the two villages were being evacuated, with about 300 flown to Anchorage. Mark Roberts, the agency’s incident commander, said the focus is ensuring people are safe and warm while essential services are restored. State officials said some homes cannot be reoccupied, and local leaders have urged residents not to return due to safety concerns.

According to reporting by KOSU, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation is providing no-cost college advising services to anyone pursuing higher education. The services include help with applications, scholarships, disability forms and essay reviews, said Rachel Watson, director of the Nation’s Education Department.

Watson said the department, which began in 2016, assists both recent high school graduates and adults seeking career changes or advanced degrees. The team of four advisers meets students through Zoom, phone or text, depending on need.

Most participants are Citizen Potawatomi Nation citizens, but the program is open to everyone, including noncitizens and those living out of state, Watson said. She added that the department’s funding primarily comes from the tribe’s gaming revenue, allowing the program to remain free for all users.

More than 270 Indigenous community members and allies participated in the Remembering the Children walk on Oct. 13 in Rapid City, South Dakota, to honor victims and survivors of the former Rapid City Indian Boarding School, according to ICT.

The walk, led by the Sicangu Youth Council and Rapid City Student School Board, ended for the first time at the nearly completed boarding school memorial site. Four additional children’s deaths were recently confirmed by researchers and added to the memorial list, bringing the total number to 55, said Remembering the Children Executive Director Amy Sazue.

Elders and leaders, including American Indian Movement activist Leonard Peltier and Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out, attended the event, which organizers described as a step toward truth, remembrance and healing.

Indigenous communities across Minnesota are expanding efforts toward energy sovereignty through clean power projects, according to the Minnesota Reformer. Prairie Island Indian Community has installed onsite solar arrays and geothermal systems, energy program manager Andrea Zimmerman told the Reformer. Meanwhile the White Earth Nation operates a tribal utility commission empowered to set rates and issue binding orders for utilities serving its territory, Nate Matthews, the commission’s executive director, said.

The Minnesota Reformer reports that the Trump administration’s reduction of $7 billion in Solar For All funding has stalled some initiatives, including a proposed tribal virtual utility on the Red Lake Reservation backed by Bob Blake of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. Blake told the Reformer that up to $80 million in aid for the project is now in limbo.

Bismarck Documenters will be holding an orientation at United Tribes Technical College on Friday, October 17, in the Skill Center computer lab from 2:30-4:15 p.m. The Documenters program trains and pays members of the public to take notes at public meetings. The orientation is free and can be attended in person or virtually. Attendees will learn about local government, as well as the value of information gathering and sharing to strengthen communities. Visit documenters.org to create a profile and click on the Bismarck Workshops tab to register for the virtual orientation option or just come to campus and register there.

Contact Daniela, daniela@imfreedomalliance.org, or Castle Fox, castle@imfreedomalliance.org, for more information.

According to UC Merced, acclaimed chef, author and activist Sean Sherman spoke about revitalizing Indigenous cuisine during “Flavors & Stories: A Fireside Chat with the Sioux Chef” on Oct. 8 at the university’s Conference Center. The event featured drumming, storytelling and dishes inspired by Sherman’s cookbook “The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen.”

Sherman, a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe and founder of North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems, discussed reconnecting communities with ancestral ingredients and methods. “We’re not trying to cook like it’s 1491. I’m a futurist, not a traditionalist,” he was quoted as saying. The event was part of UC Merced Dining’s Food for Thought series, which promotes conversations about food, culture and sustainability.

Alaska State Troopers have expanded the 2019 cold case list from 69 to 116 unsolved homicides following pressure from Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) advocates and others who challenged the removal of certain cases, according to Alaska’s News Source. The increase represents a 68% jump.

Charlene Apok, director of Data for Indigenous Justice, said updates have included adding victims’ names and case numbers but that location data still needs improvement. Austin McDaniel, communications director for the Department of Public Safety, said names were restored after feedback and that his office is exploring ways to include more case details while preserving investigative focus.

According to Underscore Native News, scientists monitoring the Klamath River say the ecosystem is rebounding a year after the final dams were removed. Chinook salmon have returned to spawning grounds, and wildlife such as eagles, bears and otters are appearing more frequently, said Damon Goodman, Mount Shasta-Klamath regional director for California Trout.

Goodman was quoted as saying that the river “came alive almost instantly after dam removal,” with more than 7,700 fish recorded passing the former Iron Gate Dam site between October and December 2024. Toz Soto, fisheries program manager for the Karuk Tribe, said water quality has improved as temperatures cool and harmful algae blooms disappear. However, Goodman said federal funding cuts, including the Department of the Interior’s termination of California Trout’s funding, pose challenges for continued monitoring of the river’s recovery.

New tariffs on imported materials are driving up the cost of making regalia for Indigenous artists and small businesses, according to reporting by ICT. Tin-plated jingle cones, fabric, beads and other supplies used in traditional designs are largely imported and now subject to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

Sharona Crane, Naongashiing First Nation Ojibwe and owner of Zazegaakwe in Ontario, said the increased costs have forced her to raise prices on her handmade jingle dresses and other Anishinaabe regalia. “I had a rough summer financially,” she told ICT. Beth Simmons, owner of Shipwreck Beads in Washington, said her company has also been affected by higher prices on imported beads from the Czech Republic, China and India.