Former North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum is now officially Interior Secretary, with help from Arizona’s U.S. senators and a couple of its tribes.
Democrat Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly sided with the Senate Republican majority to confirm Burgum as the 55th secretary of the Interior. In overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion, the U.S. Senate approved him in a 79-18 vote on Thursday.
Seventeen Democrats plus Bernie Sanders opposed the nominee, while 25 other Democrats backed President Donald Trump’s pick to run the federal agency responsible for managing the nation’s natural and cultural resources.
About 180 federally recognized tribes from across Indian Country endorsed him for the job, including the Navajo Nation and San Carlos Apache Tribe.
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Some traditional Indigenous stories can only be uttered during the wintertime. A member of the Gila River Indian Community has been workshopping a new collaboration with the Great Arizona Puppet Theater that’ll bring old creation tales to life on Saturday.
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A lawsuit has prevented some Arizona ranchers from using wells due to water rights claimed by the Gila River Indian Community.
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The Navajo Nation government recently came to an agreement with mining company Energy Fuels on the transport of uranium from a mine south of the Grand Canyon.
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A temporary exhibit featuring a little-known 1940s American art movement is nearing the end of its run at the Heard Museum in Phoenix. The show highlights the interconnection of Native and non-Native artists as they separately looked to redefine American and Native art.
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After the recent federal funding freeze, a coalition of tribal organizations is calling for confirmation that recent executive orders won’t harm programs and services their communities rely on.