The Daily Spark

The 2025 United Tribes Technical College Tribal Leaders Summit is getting underway in Bismarck, North Dakota, with the opening plenary session on Wednesday morning, Sept. 3, in partnership with Great Plains Tribal Leaders’ Health Board.

Two days of panel discussions, interactive workshops and networking opportunities aim to promote cultural exchange and foster collective progress on healthcare, education, culture, economic development and more. Cody Two Bears, founder of Indigenized Energy, anchors the program with his keynote on Thursday. Learn more.

This big week gets even bigger Friday with the kickoff of the UTTC International Powwow, among the largest powwows in the country. Thousands are traveling to Bismarck for the array of dance contests, memorials and vendors offering Indigenous food, art and resources. On Friday and Saturday evenings, the International Powwow will welcome TaikoArts Midwest to share their dynamic performance of drumming, dance, martial arts and athletics. Learn more.

Buffalo’s Fire will be on-site covering the conference and the powwow live with regular Daily Sparks and news stories.

First Nations actor Graham Greene died Monday in a Toronto hospital after a long illness, according to ICT. He was 73.

Greene, Oneida, was born in Ohsweken on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario. He earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor in “Dances with Wolves” and appeared in films including “Wind River,” “Maverick” and “The Green Mile.” His television credits included “Reservation Dogs,” “Northern Exposure,” “Tulsa King,” “Wolf Lake” and “Echo.” He also won a Grammy in 2000 for best spoken word album for children, and in 2021 received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, according to Variety.

“He was a great man of morals, ethics and character, and will be eternally missed,” his agent Michael Greene said in a statement to Deadline. Greene is survived by his wife, Hilary Blackmore, and daughter, Lilly Lazare-Greene.

NDN Collective announced major organizational changes in response to what it described as an “unstable economic and political environment.” According to NDN Collective, the shifts include layoffs and reductions or eliminations of certain programs.

“Over the last seven years, NDN Collective has resourced an incredible network of Indigenous leaders, organizations, Nations, and businesses through our central lens of Defend, Develop, Decolonize,” the group said. “We recognize now that it is time to pivot our strategies to respond to the time we are in.”

According to NDN Collective, the decision to restructure was “heartbreaking,” noting that laid-off employees “are our relatives.” The organization said it remains committed to advancing the LANDBACK movement and building Indigenous power.

Recent federal cuts to food programs will force more tribal members in New Mexico to rely on the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, often called “commodities,” according to James Mountain, chairman of the All Pueblo Council of Governors. Mountain spoke Thursday to an interim New Mexico legislative committee, Source NM reported.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently ended its Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement program, which had allocated more than $5.7 million to the Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo. Congress also reduced funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Mountain said the commodities program, which has existed since the 1970s, serves many low-income households but operates on a flat budget. “We will see an influx of those participants migrating back into the Food Distribution Program,” Mountain said. “And our question to USDA, to President Trump and the administration and to lawmakers, is, how are we going to fund this?”

The federal government finalized an $18 million settlement with 12 people abused by former Indian Health Service physician Dr. Stanley Patrick Weber in Montana and South Dakota, according to Montana Free Press. Weber worked on the Blackfeet Reservation from 1992 to 1995 and at Pine Ridge from 1995 to 2016. He was convicted in 2018 and 2019 of abusing Native boys and is serving multiple life sentences in federal prison.

A 2020 independent report found that several IHS leaders were aware of Weber’s behavior but failed to act. Blackfeet Tribal Councilmember Lyle Rutherford said the consequences of the abuse remain in the community, with some survivors facing mental health challenges and a loss of trust in IHS. “This whole Weber issue is still here,” Rutherford said. “I have constituents who are still worried for their children being serviced by IHS.”

Native American radio stations will begin receiving $9.4 million in federal stopgap funding by October, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds said Thursday during a Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce event, according to South Dakota Searchlight. The money comes from a handshake deal Rounds made with the Trump administration after Congress canceled $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funds in July. The funding will be administered through the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Indigenous Connectivity and Technology, Rounds’ staff said.

An Interior Department spokesperson said the department will coordinate with tribes and stations before distributing the funds among 37 broadcasters. Four South Dakota stations received a combined $820,760 in 2024, including KDKO in Lake Andes, KLND in McLaughlin, KILI in Porcupine and KOYA in Rosebud. Rounds said the temporary funding will keep stations operating while lawmakers seek a permanent source of support.

Hundreds of Minnesotans gathered Wednesday night to mourn the deaths of two children and injuries to more than a dozen others after a shooting at Annunciation Church in south Minneapolis, according to the Minnesota Reformer. The vigil was held at the Academy of the Holy Angels in Richfield, where Bernard Hebda, archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, led mourners in prayer. Gov. Tim Walz, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Attorney General Keith Ellison were in attendance.

Michael Thomas, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, said his 14-year-old son was present during the Mass disrupted by the shooter but was unharmed. Thomas said his son remains shaken because his best friend was among those shot and is hospitalized. “I’d rather send them to a place where I know they’ll be safe at, but as of today that’s changed,” Thomas said.

Seven of the 16 candidates running for Maine governor in 2026 have pledged to support full sovereignty for the Wabanaki Nations, according to Maine Morning Star. Democrat Troy Jackson, former Maine Senate president, said he would submit legislation on day one to restore tribal sovereignty. Other Democrats, including Hannah Pingree and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, and independent Rick Bennett also voiced support.

Some candidates, like Democrat Kenneth Pinet and Republican Kenneth Capron, expressed backing for tribal sovereignty without detailing legislation. Candidates including Jason Cherry support self-determination with caveats, while Republican James Libby opposed full sovereignty. The Wabanaki Nations — Houlton Band of Maliseet, Mi’kmaq Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe and Penobscot Nation — remain limited under a 1980 land settlement that treats them similarly to municipalities, the report said.

Navajo and Hopi artists were among the winners at the 103rd Santa Fe Indian Market, which took place Aug. 15–17, according to the Navajo-Hopi Observer. Master weaver Lola Cody, Diné, won Best Textile for a Two Grey Hills Navajo rug. Robert Albert, Hopi, took Best Wooden Pueblo Figurative Carving for “White Cloud Clowns Jumping off Clouds,” which also swept the Best of Division in the katsina category.

The market’s Best of Show, Best of Classification and Special Awards were announced at a ceremony on Aug. 15. Regina Free, Chickasaw, received the top honor for her mixed-media sculpture “Windswept (Bison).” More than 60 judges and 120 volunteers evaluated this year’s entries, the Observer reported.

The Trump administration canceled nearly $7 billion in Solar for All grants earlier this month, including $260 million awarded for projects in tribal and rural communities in and around South Dakota, according to South Dakota Searchlight. The Environmental Protection Agency said the funding source was eliminated in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law by President Trump.

Indigenized Energy was managing $135.6 million awarded to the Northern Plains Tribal Coalition, which includes 14 tribes across five states. Founder and Executive Director Cody Two Bears, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said the cancellation is “another broken promise to Native tribes.” Indigenized Energy had planned thousands of projects, hired 20 people and expected to bring on 70 more, but staff were laid off after the cuts. Two Bears said the group is seeking alternative funding to continue the work.

The Smithsonian traveling exhibition “Americans” will open at the Fort Garland Museum and Cultural Center on Sept. 13, according to the Alamosa Citizen. Based on a major exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, “Americans” examines how American Indians are deeply tied to U.S. history, popular culture and national identity.

The exhibition arrives just as “Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces” completes its run on Aug. 31. Fort Garland Museum Director Eric Carpio said the timing “lined up perfectly.” The Smithsonian said the six-year national tour will reach small towns in about 20 states. Through photographs, objects, interactives and video, the exhibition explores stories such as Pocahontas, the Indian Removal Act and the Battle of Little Bighorn, while highlighting the continued presence of Native imagery in U.S. culture.

Tribal radio stations across more than a dozen states are still waiting for word on $9.4 million in federal funding promised through an informal agreement between U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds and the Trump administration, according to the North Dakota Monitor. The pledge followed Congress’ decision to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which many rural tribal stations had relied on for operational costs.

An Interior Department spokesperson said Indian Affairs has received a list of 37 stations and is working to distribute the funds but did not provide a timeline or details on allocation. Loris Taylor, president and CEO of Native Public Media, said she has written to Rounds and the Bureau of Indian Affairs but has not received a response. Station managers in Alaska, Wisconsin and Oregon said they cannot plan budgets without clear information and expressed concern about the long-term stability of tribal broadcasting.

A jingle dress created by Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe elder Anita Lovelace is on display at the Minnesota State Fair to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous people, according to MPR News. The black dress features the names of 51 individuals inside red handprints, including three of Lovelace’s family members, and was made with contributions from her daughters, relatives and community members.

Lovelace said the dress is a “living remembrance” and an act of cultural activism to educate fairgoers about the epidemic of violence affecting Indigenous communities. She and her daughter Alita Todd used acrylic paint to add the names and plan to bring the dress to a northern Minnesota powwow next summer. “I want it in the arena to lock in the medicine, collect all the healing thoughts and maybe to help them all heal. They’re not forgotten,” Lovelace said.

The Naabik’íyáti’ Committee approved Legislation No. 0178-25 on Aug. 21, extending a limited waiver of the Navajo Nation’s sovereign immunity through Sept. 30, 2029, according to Native News Online. The measure allows the Nation to be sued only in federal district court for issues related to the National Environmental Policy Act, a requirement by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for releasing housing grants.

The waiver, first adopted in 2000 and reaffirmed in later Council actions, authorizes the Navajo Nation president to sign HUD Form 7015.15. It passed on the consent agenda with a 15-2 vote. The Navajo Housing Authority supported the measure, which it said is essential to building and rehabilitating homes. “It’s not a surrender of our sovereignty — it’s an exercise of it,” Council Delegate Jesus said.

Community members on the Crow Creek Reservation held a walk Aug. 15 to honor Garrett Hawk and other Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, according to ICT. Hawk, Crow Creek Dakota, was killed in front of his home two years ago. About 50 people walked from the Missouri River to the Fort Thompson Community Center, where families gathered with photos and posters of loved ones lost to violence.

The walk also called attention to gun violence just days after two men, Teron Sazue and Tayshawn Battese, were shot and killed on the Lower Brule Reservation. “Every young life lost to gun violence is an unspeakable tragedy,” Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out said in an Aug. 15 statement. He later issued a state of emergency for all Oceti Sakowin lands in South Dakota following the shooting.

United Tribes Technical College will dedicate the Snow Country Prison Japanese American Internment Memorial on Sept. 5 to honor nearly 2,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated at Fort Lincoln during World War II, according to the North Dakota Monitor. Fort Lincoln later became the site of the college in the late 1960s.

The memorial, designed by MASS Design Group and funded by private donations and a National Park Service grant, features the names of 1,850 prisoners, a drum circle shaped like an Indigenous medicine wheel and walls made from slate tiles salvaged from the former prison buildings. The dedication ceremony begins at 1 p.m. in the Education Building courtyard and will include remarks by Satsuki Ina, whose father was imprisoned at Fort Lincoln, a blessing by the Rev. Duncan Ryūken Williams and performances by Native and Japanese American artists, according to the North Dakota Monitor.

The memorial dedication on Friday afternoon and a performance by TaikoArts Midwest’s Ensō Daiko Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 6 at 8 p.m., are among special events featured at the UTTC International Powwow at the Lone Star Veterans Arena in Bismarck.

Tribal leaders, educators and food sovereignty advocates are working to make buffalo a regular part of school meals, according to NPR. At the first Buffalo to School conference in South Dakota this summer, participants gathered for butchering demonstrations and discussions on how to overcome barriers such as processing costs and access to animals.

Lisa Iron Cloud, an Oglala Lakota woman who has taught buffalo butchering for nearly a decade, said getting traditional foods into schools is central to improving Native children’s health. “I’m trying to bring back healthier food for our kids,” said Krystal Northcott, food services director for Fort Washakie Schools in Wyoming.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently updated rules so schools can be reimbursed for serving buffalo and other Indigenous foods, creating opportunities to buy meat directly from Native producers.

The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate will hold a groundbreaking Aug. 27 for a new 28,000-square-foot law enforcement center on the Lake Traverse Reservation, according to Yahoo News. The facility will sit next to a 25-bed detention center nearing completion, creating a centralized hub for justice services across the tribe’s territory in northeastern South Dakota and southeastern North Dakota.

The center, designed by EAPC Architects Engineers of Sioux Falls, will feature modern technology and secure operational spaces. In a statement, Chairman J. Garret Renville said the project “marks a pivotal step in the tribe’s commitment to public safety” and will foster partnerships with state and federal agencies. Chief of Police Gary Gaikowski said the facility is “something our tribe can take immense pride in, not just for our law enforcement department but for all the future employees who will serve here for generations to come.”

A federal judge ordered the closure of the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades after the Miccosukee Tribe joined environmental groups in a lawsuit, according to court documents reported by El País. The lawsuit argued that the center threatened wetlands, endangered species and access to traditional hunting and gathering sites.

Federal Judge Kathleen Williams ruled that the facility, built in eight days in June along the Tamiami Trail, would cause direct harm to the tribe, whose identity is tied to the Everglades. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would continue to defend the center, calling the judge “an activist.” Miccosukee tribal members said the ruling affirms their long history of protecting their ancestral lands. “The Everglades is meant for our tribes, it protects life, it shields it. It’s not meant to detain life,” museum guide Troy Sanders said.