Native American Affairs

The 624,000-acre Chuckwalla National Monument is located just south of Joshua Tree National Park, where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet. The Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe and Colorado River Indian Tribes maintain ancestral ties to the area.

Charles “Monty” Roessel, a former director of the federal Bureau of Indian Education and president of the first tribal college to be established in the United States, has died. He was 63.

A new exhibition at the Heard Museum of Native American art combines fine art — and footwear.

Petroglyphs are synonymous with the Southwest, and can be found all around Arizona. However, there’s a hidden gem near the border of Glendale and Phoenix that’s celebrating a milestone this month while paying homage to ancestral Indigenous peoples who once inhabited the Valley of the Sun.

The House Natural Resources Committee said Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva's bill to create the Great Bend of the Gila National Monument is ineligible for floor votes since Republicans control the legislative agenda and no hearings have happened yet.

The Interior Department identified 973 children who died in the care of the U.S. government during the 150-year federal Indian boarding school era. A yearlong investigation found three times as many deaths and nearly double the burial sites than previously reported by the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, launched by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

Gov. Katie Hobbs announced on Friday that a longstanding tribal land dispute, nearly three decades in the making, is finally getting settled. It’ll transfer thousands of acres of state land into trust for the Hopi Tribe.

A bill introduced last year by Congressman Ruben Gallego to help tribes address this pressing issue finally got Senate approval this month and is now headed to President Joe Biden’s desk.

As Congress readies to recess for the holidays, the fate of two Indian water settlements remains uncertain. Although Gov. Katie Hobbs has already signed these agreements on behalf of Arizona last month, they still need to be ratified by federal lawmakers.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren wants his own chief of staff to serve as the tribe’s new attorney general. The move comes after former Attorney General Ethel Branch was ousted earlier this week.