The Daily Spark

Minnesota has launched a statewide tip program to support investigations into long-standing missing and murdered Indigenous persons cases, according to NewsNation. The Gaagige-Mikwendaagoziwag Reward Fund, created through a $250,000 state allocation, currently offers rewards in 16 active cases, including two missing persons cases.

The initiative is led by the state’s Department of Public Safety’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office. Tipsters can remain anonymous, but eligibility for rewards ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 may require follow-up communication. Cases must be open and active with law enforcement. According to the MMIR office, 57% of the 716 Indigenous people reported missing in Minnesota last year were women. Proceeds from MMIR license plate sales and donations have increased the program’s available funding to $350,000 as of July 10.

The fourth annual Monster Truck Challenge will take place Tuesday, July 29, at the Healing Horse Ranch near Parshall, North Dakota, according to KXNET. Hosted by the northern segment of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, the event will feature nationally known trucks such as Vendetta, Jurassic Attack, Barefoot, Barely Tamed and Monster Patrol.

The evening begins with a pit party at 6 p.m. where attendees can meet drivers, take photos and ride in the Jeepers Creepers truck. The main show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 for kids, $10 for teens and $20 for adults. The Healing Horse Ranch, located on Highway 23, includes an indoor-outdoor racetrack and rodeo arena. According to announcer Randy Taylor, the ranch also supports youth and rehabilitation programs in the community.

The Documenters program will host a community meet and greet on Thursday, July 31, to introduce residents to its work documenting public meetings in Bismarck, Mandan and Lincoln. The event will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Sitting Bull College campus and will include a free meal, according to event organizers.

The Documenters program trains and pays local residents to take notes at government meetings, helping to create a new public record. Organizers say the program gives participants a sense of purpose and strengthens community accountability. For more information, attendees can contact daniela@imfreedomalliance.org or castle@imfreedomalliance.org.

An executive order issued by President Donald Trump his first week in office directed the Interior Department to create a plan for recognizing the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, according to The Associated Press. The plan was submitted to the White House in April, but last week the White House told The Associated Press that recognition for the tribe must come through legislation.

The tribe has been lobbying for decades to be recognized as a sovereign nation and has been working with U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina to pass the Lumbee Fairness Act, which was referred to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in January. Critics, including Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Michell Hicks, have questioned the Lumbee's genealogical claims. Lumbee Chairman John Lowery said the federal application process could take decades to complete and has instead urged congressional action. A 2022 estimate by the Congressional Budget Office put the cost of recognition at more than $360 million over four years.

Federal officials on July 7 disclosed a proposal to open more than 2,600 square miles of public lands in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana to coal leasing, according to The Associated Press. The plan reverses the previous administration’s effort to end coal sales in the Powder River Basin due to climate concerns.

The proposal follows an executive order signed by Trump on his first day in office. A tax bill enacted July 4 lowered royalty rates from 12.5 % to 7 % for coal mined on federal lands and mandated that up to 6,250 square miles be made available for leasing. A spokesperson for the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management declined to say how much interest the proposal might attract or how quickly new mines could open.

The Institute of American Indian Arts has appointed Shelly C. Lowe as its next president, according to a July 23 announcement. Lowe will begin her role on Aug. 1, succeeding longtime president Robert Martin, who plans to retire.

Lowe previously chaired the National Endowment for the Humanities and held leadership roles at Harvard University, Yale University and the University of Arizona. “IAIA is an extraordinary institution dedicated to nurturing creativity, innovation and leadership within Indigenous communities,” Lowe said in a statement. IAIA Board of Trustees Chairperson Beverly Morris said Lowe’s leadership and commitment to Indigenous education make her “uniquely suited to lead IAIA into its next era of excellence.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday extended a hold on changes to North Dakota’s legislative district map, maintaining current boundaries while a tribal voting rights case advances, according to the North Dakota Monitor. The order prevents the 8th Circuit’s ruling from taking effect, which would have ended private citizens’ ability to sue under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in that region. The lawsuit, filed by the Spirit Lake Nation, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and three tribal citizens, challenges the 2021 map for diluting Native American voting power.

Jamie Azure, chair of the Turtle Mountain Band, said the decision allows Native voters to continue protecting themselves “from discrimination at the polls.” Colette Brown, a plaintiff and state representative, said the ruling helps protect Native voices while the legal fight continues. The tribes have until early October to ask the Supreme Court to formally hear the case.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe has condemned political commentator Ann Coulter’s recent statement, “We didn’t kill enough Indians.” In a press release issued July 22, Oglala Sioux Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out called the remarks “a dangerous expression of white supremacy that emboldens extremism and domestic terrorism.” He urged federal and state officials, media organizations and public figures to denounce Coulter’s words and called on the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Civil Rights Division to investigate whether her statement violates federal hate crime or incitement laws. “Free speech is not a shield for hate speech,” Star Comes Out said. “There is a legal and moral difference between controversial opinion and inciting genocide.”

The Spirit Lake Nation is hosting the 57th Annual Fort Totten Days celebration at the Andrew Shaw Arena in Fort Totten, North Dakota. According to organizers, the four-day celebration, which ends July 27, will feature a youth pageant, powwow, rodeo and golf tournament. The Spirit Lake Veterans group has led the event planning for the last three years and will continue to play a central role. The powwow is expected to draw over 300 dancers in 32 categories. Additional events include a rodeo and youth rodeo hosted by the Rough Rider Rodeo Association and a golf tournament hosted by Cankdeska Cikana Community College.

Native comic creators from across the country are gathering for Indigi-Con, California’s first Indigenous comic convention, according to KPBS. The event takes place July 25 and July 27 at UC San Diego Park & Market, just blocks from San Diego Comic-Con 2025. Chag Lowry, co-director of Indigi-Con and executive director of the Indigenous Futures Institute at UC San Diego, said the convention was inspired by past Native-led presentations at Comic-Con.

Historian and San Diego State University professor Ethan Banegas is a featured panelist. His comics “Beyond Gaming” and “Our Past, Present, and Future” are on display at the La Jolla Historical Society as part of the Kumeyaay Visual Storytelling Project. “It’s truly an immersive experience here,” Banegas said. “It’s literally like jumping into the comic.”

Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Bureau of Land Management, monitored Indigenous and environmental activists opposing the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada for years, according to more than 2,000 pages of internal records reviewed by ProPublica and The Nevada Independent. Surveillance efforts included social media tracking, video monitoring and meetings of a joint terrorism task force, with one protester arrested to date.

The main company behind the mine, Lithium Americas, hired a former FBI counterterrorism agent to help develop its security strategy. The Indigenous activist group People of Red Mountain describe the surveillance as targeted and unjust. “We’re being watched, we’re being followed, we’re under the microscope,” Gary McKinney, a spokesperson for the group and member of the Duck Valley Shoshone-Paiute Tribe, was quoted as saying.

The Indigenous Farm Hub in Corrales, New Mexico, is helping Native youth reconnect with the land while increasing access to fresh food, according to reporting by New Mexico In Depth. The hub partners with the Native American Community Academy (NACA), allowing students from kindergarten through high school to learn farming skills outside the classroom. Co-founder Alan Brauer said the farm also runs a residency program to encourage new farmers, as the average farmer is about 58 years old.

The hub grows thousands of pounds of vegetables annually, distributing food through paid shares and donations to families with children attending the academy and a Diné language nest. The program emphasizes regenerative farming practices rooted in Indigenous traditions disrupted by colonialism.

North Dakota is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to use its 2021 legislative district map while a voting rights case filed by two tribes and three Native citizens proceeds, according to the North Dakota Monitor. In a Tuesday brief, state attorneys argued federal courts have overreached by allowing private plaintiffs to challenge redistricting plans.

The lawsuit, brought by the Spirit Lake Nation, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and three individuals, claims the 2021 map violates the Voting Rights Act. A federal judge ordered new district lines in 2023, but the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled the plaintiffs lacked standing. The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked changes to the current map, which places both reservations in the same district, while it considers a longer stay. The plaintiffs and supporters, including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, argue that there is a “clear record” of Congress supporting private enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.

More than a dozen Indigenous artists, musicians and writers will gather Aug. 1-2 for IndigiPalooza, a Native arts and storytelling festival at the Missoula Public Library, according to Montana Free Press. The free, public event includes panel discussions, a traditional foods cooking demonstration, an art market and live performances by Native musicians Foreshadow and Supaman.

Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray, a citizen of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, co-organized the festival alongside Selya Avila of the Missoula Public Library and Anna East of Chickadee Community Services. Joy Harjo, a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and the first Native American U.S. Poet Laureate, will deliver the opening keynote.

La Tray said IndigiPalooza offers Native creators a space to share work with one another. “Native people need opportunities for us to be gathered among ourselves,” he told Montana Free Press.

Republican members of the New York State Senate’s Subcommittee on State-Native American Relations have backed calls for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy’s inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, according to WXXI News. The confederacy — composed of Oneida, Onondaga, Mohawk, Tuscarora, Seneca and Cayuga nations — views lacrosse as a traditional spiritual game, returning to Olympic competition for the first time since 1908.

State Sen. Rob Ortt, who co-authored a letter to the International Olympic Committee, said, “It’s only fitting Native American tribes are properly represented as an independent, sovereign nation.” LeRoy “Jock” Hill, Haudenosaunee Nationals board member, was quoted as saying, “Lacrosse is interwoven, and so it has great spiritual significance to our people and to the Creator.” The IOC has not yet ruled on whether to recognize the Haudenosaunee as their own nation for the Olympics.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will host an intertribal canoe journey from July 31 to Aug. 5, marking the 30th annual gathering and the first time the tribe has hosted since 2005, according to ICT. The event comes 20 years after the Washington State Department of Transportation desecrated Tse-whit-zen, an ancestral village and burial site, during a construction project that led to the recovery of 335 human remains and more than 100,000 artifacts.

Tribal cultural coordinator Mark Charles said more than 100 canoes are expected to land on Elwha shores, followed by a five-day potlatch featuring traditional foods, songs, dancing and gifting. “The dams have been removed and the river is being restored, but everything with the dams coming out is still a healing process,” he said.

More than 200 teams representing about 160 tribal nations are competing in the 22nd annual Native American Basketball Invitational across Phoenix, according to the Arizona Republic. The tournament, founded in 2003, showcases Indigenous high school athletes and has awarded over $600,000 in scholarships.

The event runs until July 26, when championship games will be held at PHX Arena, with opening ceremonies and a national anthem performance by guitarist Rudy Perez. NABI President and CEO GinaMarie Scarpa was quoted as saying, “It celebrates rez ball and our Native American athletes.” Scarpa said the tournament continues to grow, with more than 500 games scheduled in just three days. Alumni, including professionals and community leaders, return to mentor youth and share their experiences.

The Native Land Conservancy and the Land Trust Alliance have released a new report aimed at advancing Indigenous land access and return. “Partnerships for Indigenous Land Access and Return: A Summary of Legal and Relational Pathways” was developed in collaboration with Tahoma Peak Solutions and an advisory team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts, according to the Land Trust Alliance.

The report outlines more than 70 examples of land being returned or access being restored to tribes and Indigenous-led nonprofits across the United States. It includes case studies, legal strategies and recommendations for building partnerships. Ramona Peters, founder of the Native Land Conservancy, was quoted in a press release as saying, “Restoring land to the care of the original people will revitalize those connections to the land.” The report is available on the Land Trust Alliance’s Resource Center and the Native Land Conservancy Initiatives website.

A sage field on the University of Alberta’s Augustana campus, protected for years by Métis professor Willow White, was accidentally mowed down in May, according to CBC News. White began working to preserve the sacred site after joining the campus in 2022, creating a plant walk that features signs with Indigenous language and cultural teachings.

White, a citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta, collaborated with elders, knowledge holders and students on the project. Following the mowing, students, faculty and alumni joined her to pull invasive weeds and support regrowth. “There’s a community of care now around the field where three years ago that didn’t exist,” White said. The university issued an apology by email.