National Native News

Photo: The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Windracers ULTRA drone, carrying chilled human blood samples, takes off from Nenana Municipal Airport on Aug. 19, 2026. (Pietr Buttelmann / Sysmex) Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have completed a 620-mile drone test flight to see if human blood stays stable in transit. The new means of delivery could dramatically reshape health care services in the most remote reaches of the state, many of which can become inaccessible during extreme weather, as Mark Moran reports. Scientists in Alaska have successfully carried the human blood samples for the International Testing Agency, which investigates doping by athletes at the Olympics and other major sporting events. The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration’s nearly nine-hour flight near Nenana, Alaska tested whether unmanned aircraft can rapidly transport blood samples without them degrading. The Center’s Cathy Cahill says using the technology in the future can make delivering medicine and other essential healthcare safer and more efficient. “A community can get fogged in, they might need blood because of a crash victim or some other emergency. How do we get that blood into that community safely and not put manned aircraft and pilots at risk?” Teams of emergency medical services workers collected small blood samples from volunteers the day before the test flight, which were tested by an international agency for stability. Cahill says commercial use of the technology is still a few years off, but scientists will continue to make test flights with the drones and work with the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure drones can interact safely with commercial air traffic. Alaska has become a leader in drone research, mostly because of its vast geography, challenging landscapes, and harsh weather, but in addition to making medicine and other services safer and easier to deliver, Cahill says drones can also create economic benefits in a state where, right now, it is more expensive to transport remote people to healthcare services than the actual healthcare. “So if we can get the healthcare into the communities so they don’t have to fly out, that is a huge savings of time, effort, money, and it lets people be treated in their home community.” Alaska has come a long way since 1925, when mushers used sled dogs to deliver serum to Nome during a diphtheria outbreak, which prompted the genesis of the now storied 1,100-mile Iditarod sled dog race. Cahill says while there are no planned routes yet for medicine delivery by drone. If and when that happens, researchers may create a ceremonial run from Nenana to Nome – and call it the “Flyditarod.” To get voters on Standing Rock Reservation to the polls in 2018, the Lakota People’s Law Project commissioned a bus. (Courtesy Nicole Donaghy / North Dakota Native Vote). With less than five weeks until the midterm elections, new data shows Native voters in North Dakota could face potential barriers at multiple points in the voting process, as Judith Ruiz-Branch reports. The new report from the Native American Rights Fund examines data from the past three federal elections in four North Dakota counties where Native Americans make up between 28-84% of the population. Allison Neswood with the group says the findings confirm what Native communities have long known to be true. “Their registration is getting denied, their ballots [are] getting rejected, and all of this really adds up to the systemic disenfranchisement of our people in our own homelands.” The report finds voting barriers can compound – from registration and mail delivery to polling place access and ballot processing. Mail-in voting is a major part of North Dakota’s elections. Forty-one percent of ballots cast in the state’s June primary were either absentee or early votes, even as the state requires absentee ballots to be received by the close of polls on Election Day. While North Dakota counties reported relatively low numbers of rejected ballots, the state did not provide the number of rejected provisional ballots for the years included in the report. The findings come as the U.S. Supreme Court blocked efforts from the Trump administration for the U.S. Postal Service to oversee mail-in ballots, a move plaintiffs successfully argued would have severely restricted voting by mail. But the administration says it will continue to verify voter eligibility and prevent illegal voting. A recent MIT study found no evidence of fraud at a scale that actually impacted election outcomes. Neswood believes partisan actors are intentionally pushing a false narrative. “It feels like an effort to sow doubt. What impacts the outcome of elections is the systematic disenfranchisement of groups that are already disempowered in our society.” To curb potential barriers for Native voters, the report recommends expanding voting options on or near Tribal lands. Neswood also says election officials should consult Tribal governments before making changes that could affect access to the ballot. “Making sure that our Native communities have polling locations in a reasonable distance from where they live, making sure they have registration opportunities, making sure that they can participate in mail voting.”     Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Wednesday, October 7, 2026 — Native Playlist: Jeremy Dutcher and Mali Obomsawin

Photo: Gallup Indian Medical Center, where some of the forced sterilization took place. (Francine K. Smith / IHS/NAV) A new group of 34 experts is working on a report about the forced sterilization of Indigenous women. As KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) reports, this comes after the passage of a Senate Memorial in this year’s New Mexico legislative session. The memorial directs the state’s Indian Affairs Department and New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women on how to lead a study with the goal of identifying all cases of forced sterilization in New Mexico. According to the memorial, between 25 and 50% of Indigenous women of childbearing age were sterilized. Some of the highest concentrations of procedures were in the Indian Health Service regions of Albuquerque, New Mexico and the Southwest. State officials told members of the legislative interim Indian Affairs Committee last week that experts will gather survivor testimony, evaluate access to reproductive health care, and develop policy, education, and recommendations for reparations. State Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (Piro Manso Tiwa Indian Tribe of the Pueblo of San Juan de Guadalupe), D-New Mexico, shared her own experience of being nearly sterilized against her will in 1975. “Had my husband not been there and asking the questions on a form that was being given to me with a checklist, and I being traumatized, I would have exited that very common post miscarriage procedure, fully sterilized at a very young age of 25.” Roybal Caballero said that the brave women who shared their stories is what encouraged her to share hers and it is horrific that these practices are still occurring. State Rep. Michelle Paulene Abeyta (Navajo), D-New Mexico, hopes the results will yield efforts to bring the topic of forced sterilization among Native Americans to school curriculums within the state. “I think that’s an important thing that needs to be in our school curriculum. I, for one, did not learn that until I was in a Native American Studies higher education program, unfortunately.” The Indian Affairs Committee has until December 2027 to publish a report. Support for this coverage comes from Thornburg Foundation. Alaska Native veterans unveil a new monument at the Alaska Native Heritage Center’s Ngíisdla Garden on Sunday, September 27. (Photo: Alena Naiden) A monument honoring Alaska Native veterans was unveiled at the Alaska Native Heritage Center last month. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA reports that the monument was shaped through months of meetings between the artist and a group of veterans. The Alaska Native Heritage Center’s garden was glowing with fall foliage last month as dozens of veterans gathered for the unveiling of a new monument honoring their service and healing. Kelsey Wallace is the center’s president and CEO. “This monument creates a permanent place here at the Heritage Center to recognize that service – your service, sacrifice, strength, and your legacy.” The monument depicts a large Tlingit dagger in a sheath covered with quilt-style Athabaskan designs. Yéil Ya-Tseen Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit and Unangax̂), an artist from Sitka, hand-carved the sculpture. “The intention of this work is to have this dagger in the sheath, so it’s representing peace in that sense, not really violence, but maybe vigilance, memory and resilience.” The day started with veterans posting the colors and lighting a seal oil lamp. Some reflected on their service and shared memories of friends and family who died in wars. Chief Bill Smith (Valdez Native Tribe), a Vietnam Veteran, says he wears a Vietnam hat … “to find other brothers and sisters and welcome them home.” Smith says coping with his experiences has been a slow and complicated process. “We’ll never be cured, but we can always walk that healing journey.” Tlingit elder George Bennett from Sitka also served in Vietnam. He spoke about the importance of healing through culture and remembering to treat your loved ones right. “You know who else got hurt? We don’t speak of them. It’s the family of that veteran. Their veteran came home – they didn’t recognize him. The military changed you. It changed how you think. … The way we live as you interact with each others, treat each others good, how we speak to one another is like medicine to your soul.” Organizers say a group of Alaska Native veterans met every month over the past year to discuss the monument and offer feedback to Galanin. They say more monuments will be developed in the coming years and placed in the garden.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Tuesday, October 6, 2026 — What removing questions about race from the U.S. Census means for Native Americans

Photo: Rhyolite formations at Chiricahua National Monument in southern Arizona. (Charles Dischinger) The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill last week that would turn the Chiricahua National Monument in Cochise County into Arizona’s fourth national park. As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, the southern Arizona congressman who championed the bill is confident it will get President Donald Trump’s signature. Chiricahua is the unmistakable name of the Apache band that nomadically inhabited the rugged borderlands between the U.S. and Mexico. Among them was Geronimo. Historically, tribes like San Carlos, Mescalero, and Fort Sill Apache have not backed the national park designation. The bill’s sponsor, U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Arizona, sought to ease concerns that Apaches could no longer access the 12,000 acre site for ceremonies, but Ciscomani promised them that their right to pray and worship freely would not be infringed upon because of visitors or traffic. “We were able to assure them of that and make sure that was protected. That addressed most of their concerns on this – enough to not oppose this anymore.” Ciscomani is confident that Trump will sign the bill despite his administration’s funding and staffing cuts to the National Park Service. “We expect this to get done very soon, sooner than later. We should expect the president to sign this – no indication at all that there’s any kind of reservation from the White House on this. Quite the opposite, they’re celebrating it.” The state currently has three national parks – Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and, most recently, Saguaro, which was designated in October 1994. “So October has become a great month to designate national parks in Arizona – 32 years apart – but nevertheless it happened in the fall. Beautiful time of the year. I encourage everyone listening to go check out the Chiricahuas, and a lot more people are going to find out about them soon.” Rocky Shore area in September 2026. (Photo: Andrea Taylor) The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians ceded much of their ancestral land as the U.S. ratified treaties across Oregon in 1855, but as Brian Bull of Underscore Native News and KLCC reports, some of that land will be returned soon. It is called Rocky Shores, and it is on the Oregon coast south of Yachats. After colonization, it fell under private ownership, but with the help of the McKenzie River Trust and some conservation non-profits, this seven-acre area will soon be back under the tribe’s stewardship. The Siletz’s natural resources director, Angela Sondenaa, says Rocky Shores is a  pristine space rich in biodiversity. “There is a freshwater stream that runs through it. It’s rich in ferns and mosses and mushrooms. Abundant salal, other coastal species that are so critically important to us and our efforts to restore kelp and sea otters to our territory.” The acreage was bought for $120,000 and is expected to be transferred to the Siletz soon. The tribe will not open it to the public to protect its ecosystem, but might hold organized events there. Land within Coppermine Chapter on the Navajo Nation. (Courtesy Loren Thomas) A Navajo Nation community near Page, Arizona passed a resolution in August denying a controversial copper mine proposal. KNAU’s Chris Clements reports the denial means the mine likely will not be able to move forward — for now. The resolution says the community of Coppermine unequivocally opposes any company digging for copper due to concerns about public health. David Kelley is the CEO of Chakana Copper, the Canadian mining company tied to the proposal. He says he is aware of the resolution. “We want a project that’s wholeheartedly endorsed by by the community until such time that it gets to that point, then you know there there’s not going to be a project.” That comes as a big relief to tribal members like Destinee Bigman, who opposed the mine because she is worried about environmental impacts. “Our land holds a lot of meaning to us as a family, and it means a lot. I mean, we ranch out there. Everything we do our traditional ceremonies there.” Bigman says she does not think the community will ever allow the mine to move forward.     Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Monday, October 5, 2026 — One tribe breaks from the pack on prediction markets

Photo: Albuquerque Indian Health Center. (cmh2315fl / Flickr) A new congressional resolution is confronting a painful chapter in federal health care for Native women. Lawmakers are formally condemning the non-consensual sterilization of thousands of Native women by the Indian Health Service in the 1970s. as Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) reports. Sterilization abuse against Native women is at the center of a congressional resolution introduced this week. U.S. Reps. Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk Nation), D-Kansas, and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania, introduced a resolution officially condemning the non-consensual sterilization of Native American women by IHS during the 1970s. According to Davids’ office, a federal investigation found that between 1973 and 1976, IHS performed sterilization procedures on more than 3,400 Native women in four service areas without fully complying with informed consent requirements. The Government Accountability Office, then known as the General Accounting Office, found problems including inadequate consent forms, improper waiting periods, and procedures performed on women under the age of 21. The resolution acknowledges the lasting harm caused by the practice and calls for greater awareness of the federal government’s role in the abuse. Davids says the history is personal for Native communities and that acknowledging what happened is necessary to rebuild trust. The resolution also calls for continued efforts to protect informed consent and reproductive autonomy for Native people receiving health care. Davids is one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress. (Courtesy National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation / Facebook) Across the country, Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians marked the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation this week. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, September 30, also known as Orange Shirt Day, has become an important day of survivors of Canada’s notorious residential school system. It is also known as Orange Shirt Day and was declared by the Canadian government following the discovery of more than 200 unmarked gaves at the site of a former residential school in British Columbia. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation says more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children attened the schools between the mid 1800’s to the late 1900’s. Many of them never returned to their homes and families. The children were taken from their families and communites and sent the residential schools which were run by churches and financed by the government. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke in Edmonton about the sixth National Day for Truth and Reconcialiation. He said the day is about the children – those who survived and those who did not. “And this is not a distant chapter in Canada’s past, but a truth that endures. And truth is the foundation of justice. We shouldn’t choose, as we used to here, in Fort Edmonton, which parts of our history to remember. We shouldn’t admire the bead work, and foreget the children that were forced into uniforms. We shoudn’t honour the drum and ignore the years that it was made to fall silent. And we should not hear the truth of residential schools and fail to act on it.” Across Canada, survivors of the schools told their stories of abuse and loss of culture. In Ottawa, Governor General Louise Arbour said it is important for all Canadians to face their unsettling past. She said truth does not change the past; it is a reminder that memory carries responsibility, to recognize the injustices to learn from them, and to ensure that they are never repeated.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Friday, October 2, 2026 — Indigenous design as visual sovereignty

Photo: Revillagigedo Island in Alaska where the old-growth forest plan is facing objections from KIC. (Anita Gould / Flickr) Ketchikan Indian Community and two conservation groups are asking a federal court to halt an old-growth timber sale in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The Shelter Cove sale offers about 4 million board feet of timber as part of the larger South Revilla project near Ketchikan. The groups argue logging would harm subsistence resources, wildlife. and remaining old-growth forest. KIC President Gloria Burns says Indigenous knowledge cannot be treated as an afterthought in decisions about Tribal homelands. The groups are seeking an injunction while the court considers their broader lawsuit challenging the South Revilla project. Bids for the timber sale are scheduled to open October 20. Tesuque Casino in Santa Fe, N.M. (Courtesy Tesuque Casino) Prediction markets are becoming an issue for Native American tribes who argue they are threatening their gaming revenues and thus their ability to fund vital services. As KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) reports, New Mexico tribes and state lawmakers are looking at taxing them. Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are online platforms where people wager bets on an outcome around future real-world events, like sports or elections, but because of the way they are regulated they do not usually pay taxes to states. Tribal gaming in New Mexico, however, contributed over $151 million to the state’s general fund in the last fiscal year. Tribes fear that prediction markets will lead people away from gambling in tribal casinos to online markets, which people can access on their phones while on tribal lands. and tribal officials say that is a violation of the gaming rights they negotiated with the state as sovereign governments. Tribes also use those revenues for things like early education programs, housing, and healthcare. During a meeting of the Indian Affairs Interim Committee last week, Navajo Nation Council Delegate Eugenia Charles-Newton describes how prediction markets are also targeting minors to bet. Right now, with prediction markets, we know that a 10-year-old standing next to the sheep camp, they can go onto a website and they can wager a bet. Prediction market websites are classified as federal financial exchanges rather than traditional gambling platforms, which allows them to market to people 18 and older. With weak age verification on social media, minors have been reported making wagers. Prediction markets currently exist in a legal gray area and gaming officials want the state to tax them, but lawmakers raised concerns. Those include whether taxes would affect current gaming compacts, how online activity would be tracked on tribal lands, and who would collect revenue. The Mescalero Apache, along with Isleta, Pojoaque, and Sandia pueblos are suing Kalshi. The New Mexico Attorney General also filed suit in June. They are among a number of lawsuits across the country against the platforms. In response, the federal government is suing New Mexico to block the state from enforcing its gambling laws against prediction markets. (Courtesy Native Voters Alliance Nevada) Voting disparities have deep roots for people of color and new research shows New Mexico’s Native voters are likely to face numerous roadblocks at the November ballot box. Roz Brown has more. Native voters in New Mexico face many barriers to voting, including disproportionately high rejections for voter registration and mail-in ballots. The new Native American Rights Fund and Blockwell Consulting report, “Obstacles Persist”, analyzes data collected by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission from the 2020, 2022, and 2024 general elections. The report found rejected voter registration applications increased by an average of 200% in counties where Native Americans make up at least a quarter of the population. Senior staff attorney Allison Neswood says the report confirms what Native communities have long known to be true. “Their registration is getting denied, their ballots [are] getting rejected, and all of this really adds up to the systemic disenfranchisement of our people in our own homelands.” The report also outlines how disruptions at the U.S. Postal Service had a significant impact on Native voters. Even as overall mail-in voting numbers declined between 2020 and 2024, the rejection rate of ballots in areas with larger Native populations increased by 134%. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order, calling on the Postal Service to oversee mail-in ballots, a move plaintiffs successfully argued would have severely restricted voting by mail. The report’s recommendations include expanding automatic and same-day registration to areas with larger Native populations, and paying poll workers comparable wages. Neswood says more investment is needed for voting infrastructure in Indian Country. “Making sure that our Native communities have polling locations in a reasonable distance from where they live, making sure they have registration opportunities, making sure that they can participate in mail voting.” The study focused on counties with high Native populations, including Cibola, McKinley, and San Juan counties in New Mexico along with Apache and Navajo counties in Arizona. Research by the Brennan Center in 2024 found voters of color are more likely to turn out when they live in jurisdictions where their ethnic group is the majority.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Thursday, October 1, 2026 — Indigenous leaders take on organized attempts to downplay residential school narrative