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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From frybread to biscochitos, Indigenous cooks have relied on Blue Bird Flour in its iconic cotton bag since the 1930s. The Southwest staple has now found space inside the Heard Museum in Phoenix. -
Tuesday marks the deadline to comment on a Trump administration proposal that could roll back a two-decade ban on mineral leases — including oil and gas drilling — around Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. -
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a lower district court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit from 2024 that looked to overturn Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni — or the Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon. -
Navajos refer to Monument Valley as Tsé Bii’ Ndzisgaii, which essentially means “the streaks that go around in the rocks.” If you ever take a road trip there, you’ll see why this legendary landscape is so much more than just a movie set. -
Despite being under new ownership, the Resolution Copper president and general manager stresses Oak Flat will remain mostly untouched. Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, as Apaches call it, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
