Played among livestock, medicinal plants, ‘rez golf’ builds community among Navajo
LOW MOUNTAIN – “Rez golf,” played with secondhand clubs on rugged courses amid rocks, livestock and medicinal plants, is gaining popularity among Navajos.
Challenges to law could redefine Native American foster care, adoptions
PHOENIX - The Indian Child Welfare Act is designed to keep Native American children in Native families and communities, and in touch with their heritaage, but 40 years after its passage the law faces rising numbers of legal challenges and a critical courtroom loss.
Native Americans hope to protect ancestral sites threatened by multibillion-dollar copper mine
TONTO NATIONAL FOREST – In the wake of the Oak Flat protests, Resolution Copper funds a program in which Native Americans record culturally significant sites with an uncertain future.
Pulling no punches: 14-year-old girl aspires to be first Navajo boxer to win Olympics
CHINLE, Ariz. – Mariah Bahe dreams of becoming the first Navajo boxer to win Olympic medal.
Violence burdens ‘bone and skin’: Indigenous women run in prayer to outpace pain
BAPCHULE – Women in the Gila River Indian Community prayed for an end to violence against indigenous people days before a new report found that Arizona has the third-highest number of missing and murdered indigenous women cases.
Report: Crimes against Native women vastly underreported in urban areas
WASHINGTON - A lack of solid data in government and law enforcement records has led to the underreporting of hundreds of deaths and thousands of missing persons cases for Native American women and girls who are living in urban areas, a new report says.
Court gives tribe, environmentalists new chance to fight uranium mine
WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court said the Havasupai tribe and environmental advocates can challenge an existing uranium mine on land near the Grand Canyon where mining was recently banned, a partial reversal from an earlier ruling that sided with the mining company.
Protesters call for end to ‘hottie’ Native American costumes based on stereotypes
PHOENIX – More than 23,000 people have signed an online petition calling for Yandy.com to stop selling more than 40 Native American costumes organizers say misrepresent and sexualize indigenous people. Protesters said the Phoenix-based company should show the same respect it offered when a social-media furor led it to pull a costume inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale.
Likely closure of coal-fired power plant bringing dramatic change to Navajo Nation
LECHEE CHAPTER HOUSE, Navajo Reservation – SRP announced last year it planned to shut down the Navajo Generating Station ahead of schedule because producing electricity from coal is much more expensive and dirtier than natural gas. No other job on the Navajo Reservation pays as well as the Navajo Generating Station. Revenue, taxes and royalties from coal make up about a third of the Navajo operating budget and most of the Hopi Tribe’s budget.
Judicial nominee defends tribal law record in low-key Senate hearing
WASHINGTON - Federal appeals court nominee Eric Miller tried to dispel concerns about his record on tribal law, telling a Senate committee that his previous work on behalf of clients did not reflect how he would rule as a judge and that tribal sovereignty "pre-exists the Constitution."
Tribal officials, Democrats push back on 9th Circuit judicial nominee
WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to proceed this week on a judicial nominee for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Arizona, despite the objections of both tribal officials and committee Democrats.
Report: Dip in gaming revenues offset by other gains at Arizona casinos
WASHINGTON - Gambling revenues dipped slightly at Arizona's tribal casinos in 2016, but those losses were more than offset by a strong jump in non-gaming revenues that helped boost total income to $2.23 billion for the year, just shy of pre-recession levels, a new report says.
