Justices uphold law giving Native families priority to adopt Native youth

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a federal law that requires tribal families get priority in the adoption or foster placement of an Indigenous child, a law aimed at stopping what one justice called the "nightmare" of family separation.


Truth and Healing Commission legislation heads to Senate floor

The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has sent to the Senate legislation that would create the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States.

Dora Morning, a member of the Cheyenne Nation, is buried in the Carlisle Indian Cemetery on the former grounds of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, where she died in 1885. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School sits on the grounds of the present-day U.S. Army War College. (Photo by Addison Kliewer/Gaylord News)

Landless San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe could finally get its own homeland

WASHINGTON - For more than 160 years, the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe has lived on Navajo Nation land, and for 23 years it has had a pending treaty that would give the tribe its own lands. It's long past time for Congress to ratify the treaty, the tribe's president testified.


Eating disorders marked by diagnosis, treatment gap for men, women of color

PHOENIX – Mental health experts are finding it harder to diagnose eating disorders in men because of the lack of clinical research.

(Illustration by Emily Mai/Cronkite News)

Mohave County official blasts plans for expanded national monuments

WASHINGTON - A Mohave County supervisor said Wednesday that a proposed new national monument in northern Arizona would "devastate the economic growth potential" of the region, leaving little more than what he called "poverty with a view."


Honor your ‘mother’: Working to keep traditional ways, types of Hopi corn

MAYER – Michael Kotutwa Johnson, a farmer from the Hopi Tribe, is focusing on bringing Hopi corn back to the dining table – not only for the health benefits but also to connect his people to their culture.

Michael Kotutwa Johnson says Hopi corn "has 10 to 15 times more mineral content" than supermarket corn. He hopes to share it with the Hopi people and believes they will see an improvement in health. (Photo by Sierra Alvarez/Cronkite News)

Gov. Katie Hobbs establishes missing and murdered Indigenous people task force

PHOENIX – Gov. Katie Hobbs signed an executive order in March establishing an Arizona Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Task Force. Incomplete data and a lack of collaboration among tribal and governmental entities have blocked addressing the issue.

Arizona Department of Public Safety Capt. Paul Etnire is part of Arizona’s newly formed Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Task Force. He speaks about the issue via video on March 28, 2023. (Video screengrab by Alexia Stanbridge/Cronkite News)

No more silence: Boarding school survivor Anita Yellowhair shares her story, over 60 years later

Anita Yellowhair is a Navajo woman and a boarding school survivor. Yellowhair left her home and family in 1950, stripped of her identity and forced to assimilate into American culture alongside other Indigenous children.


Arizona tribal gaming contributions up 20% over last year, nearing $2 billion mark since 2004

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Gaming announced its contributions to the Arizona community, which are up 20% from last year. Close to $2 billion has been contributed to educational, emergency and other Arizona funds.

Arizona is home to 24 Class III casinos, which contribute a percentage of their gross gaming revenue to the state, cities towns and counties. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Tribal leaders, lawmakers want new 1.1 million acre monument in Arizona

WASHINGTON - Tribal leaders joined state lawmakers Tuesday to call on President Joe Biden to set aside more than 1.1 million acres around the Grand Canyon as a new national monument.


Arizona tribe to get millions in federal payouts for water conservation

The Gila River Indian Community could get up to $233 million in federal funding for water conservation, one of the first to get the money under a program aimed at encouraging water cutbacks in Arizona, California and Nevada.


Ken Koshio marks three years of hiking Piestewa Peak every day

PHOENIX – Every morning, for the past three years, Ken Koshio has hiked Piestewa Peak, the third-highest peak in Phoenix, and played music at the top. The three-year anniversary of his prayer hike was also the 20th anniversary of Lori Piestewa’s death. She is the first Native American woman to die in United States military combat.