Native American Affairs

As one of his final presidential acts on Monday, Joe Biden commuted the sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents in a 1975 shootout in South Dakota.

This investment from the Powering Affordable Clean Energy Program is supposed to generate more than 30 megawatts of renewable energy for the not-for-profit utility’s roughly 40,000 tribal customers in rural Arizona and New Mexico.

Friday was the Navajo Scouts’ eighth straight day battling the Eaton Fire outside Los Angeles, while 11 electric utility journeymen from the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority also have deployed to assist in the wildfire response and recovery.

The American Cancer Society released a study that reports Native American mortality rates are two to three times higher than whites for certain cancers.

Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum testified Thursday before members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, including U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego. He wanted to know how President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee would help tribes in Arizona if confirmed as the 55th secretary of the Interior.

Saying the process is too slow, Gov. Katie Hobbs said Wednesday that she wants $7 million to speed up the repatriation of Native American human remains and artifacts. In an address to tribal leaders Wednesday, Hobbs said the collection at the Arizona State Museum has continued to grow.

This gathering, organized by the Governor’s Office on Tribal Relations, among the state’s 22 federally recognized tribes has been a tradition since 1995. Since then, the Grand Canyon State and its tribal neighbors have worked to strengthen their ties.

A new investigation by The Associated Press and Chalkbeat found that Native American students are more likely to be chronically absent from school — way more likely.

President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team named outgoing North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to lead the agency that manages the nation’s natural and cultural resources. He’s set to replace Deb Haaland, the first Native American Interior Department secretary.

Arizonans want national monuments in the state to remain protected. That is the result of a survey commissioned by the environmental group, Grand Canyon Trust.