Barr orders resumption of federal executions; Navajo among those targeted
WASHINGTON – Attorney General William Barr ordered a resumption of federal executions and named a Navajo double-murderer as one of the first five death-row inmates who will be put to death. Lezmond Mitchell is scheduled to be executed Dec. 11 with a fatal injection of pentobarbital.
House panel OKs bills to rein in mining around Grand Canyon, elsewhere
WASHINGTON - Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee beat back a series of GOP amendments before advancing bills to restrict mining around the Grand Canyon and on tribal lands in Arizona and New Mexico, and rein in uranium mining.
Lack of broadband puts tribal, rural areas ‘in jeopardy,’ lawmakers told
WASHINGTON - The Havasupai tribe is falling behind in education, health and emergency needs because - like millions of residents in rural communities - it lacks affordable, reliable and high-speed broadband, a tribal councilwoman told House lawmakers in a hearing on rural broadband.
K-12 teachers learn ways to bring Native American history and traditions to the classroom
PHOENIX – Native American history, culture and art were the focus of the Heard Museum’s second annual Teacher Institute.
Navajo, Hualapai water-rights bills get warm reception in House hearing
WASHINGTON - Navajo and Hualapai tribal leaders urged House lawmakers to support a handful of bills that would guarantee water to their tribes in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico and fund the water treatment plants and pipelines to deliver it.
Federal, Arizona tribal leaders seek solutions to violence against women
SACATON – Federal officials met Tuesday with tribal leaders in Sacaton in the Gila River Indian Community to discuss the violence faced by native women in Arizona.
The Navajo mother: Nellie Shirley
HOUCK – Nellie Shirley was born in 1932 on the Navajo Reservation and has lived there except during the years she attended boarding school. After her parents died when she was 13, she was sent to two schools where she was able to strengthen her Catholic faith as well as embrace her Navajo culture.
Kinaaldá: A Navajo girl comes of age in traditional ceremony
LUPTON – Kieloh Nellie Poolah, 11, came of age in the eyes of her Navajo community in February. Surrounded by four generations of women in her family, she completed a series of tasks and hours of prayer to complete the Kinaaldá ceremony.
Trump OKs Navajo Nation disaster declaration in wake of February storms
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump approved a disaster declaration for the Navajo Nation that will allow it to seek reimbursement for funds it spent responding to a February storm that dumped snow on the reservation, isolating some communities and leading to flooding in other areas.
Hopi journalist leads others on journey of Phoenix Indian School, other Native American history
PHOENIX – Patty Talahongva grew up on the Hopi reservation, practicing traditional Hopi ways and Catholicism. After she attended Phoenix Indian School in the late 1970’s, she began to learn more about the fraught history of boarding schools. Today, she works as a journalist and as a curator at her former school, now a museum and community center, helping to teach the surrounding community more about Native American culture and history.
In Indian Country, potholes can be a bump in the road to an education
WASHINGTON - Of all the problems facing tribal schools, impassable roads are not the biggest problem, "but it is the most annoying one." With three-fourths of Bureau of Indian Affairs roads unpaved, students are often stranded and districts are forced to spend precious resources on bus repairs.
Thin on broadband: Tribal areas still struggle with lagging technology
WASHINGTON - To some Hopi, "just Google it," is an inside joke - only about 29% of Hopi households have broadband internet access, compared to 79% in Arizona and 78% nationwide. On tribal lands across Arizona, fewer than half the homes have broadband access, stifling business, health and schooling.
