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Heating bills are projected to be a little higher this winter according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Winter Fuels Outlook. Expect to pay around 3 percent more if you heat with electricity, 5 percent more for gas and 20 percent more for home heating oil. The main reason for the increase is the higher fuel costs. In states like Alaska, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where temperatures can drop to -40 and lower, heating costs are a major burden and even a safety issue. Tribal programs like the Gwich’in Solar and Energy Efficiency in the Arctic Project and U.S. Government aid, like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), are designed to offset the high costs of heating.

Guests:

Wes Alexander (Athabaskan from Nenana) – energy specialist for the Tanana Chiefs Conference

Henry Red Cloud (Oglala Lakota) – executive director of Red Cloud Enterprises

Bruno Zagar – environment special and energy projects manager for Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

Loren Anthony (Navajo) – community warrior

Break 1 Music: Intertribal Song (song) Black Lodge (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs Recorded Live At Coeur D’Alene (album)

Break 2 Music: Rattle Dance (song) Asani (artist) Rattle And Drum (album)

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The Catholic Church ignored the abuse of Native women and children by Jesuit priests in Alaska. That’s one of the revelations from a 19-month-long investigation by the Center for Investigative Journalism and the Northwest News Network. The reporting also found the church shuffled offending priests around, sometimes to other Alaska Native villages and ultimately offered them a retirement sanctuary in Washington state. We’ll talk with the one of the reporters from the project and a survivor featured in the report.

Response from Gonzaga University

Guests:

Emily Schwing – correspondent for the Northwest News Network

Elsie Boudreau (Yup’ik Eskimo) –  president Arctic Winds Healing Winds

Patrick Wall – former priest and Benedictine monk and canon lawyer

Break 1 Music: The Real People (song) RiverFlowz (artist) RiverFlowz Rural Recordings Atauciq (album)

Break 2 Music: Plains Vs Coast, Pt 2 (song) Fawn Wood (artist) Iskwewak (album)

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The new $867 billion Farm Bill just signed President Donald Trump is getting praise from tribes, Native farmers and advocates. One Native agriculture organization calls the number of Native-related provisions “unprecedented”. It also means access to more USDA programs and some changes for tribal food producers and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (commodity foods program). The bill also legalizes hemp opening doors to tribes getting into the industry.

Guests:

Erin Parker – research director and staff attorney at the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative

A-dae Romero-Briones (Cochiti and Kiowa) – director of programs for First Nations Development Institute

Joe VanAlstine (citizen of the Little Travers Band of Odawa Indians) – vice president for the National Association for the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations

Jeff Cormell – attorney with McAllister Garfield, P.C. in Denver

Break 1 Music: Plant The Seeds (song) Digging Roots (artist) We Are (album)

Break 2 Music: Plains Vs Coast, Pt 2 (song) Fawn Wood (artist) Iskwewak (album)

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Plains tribes used dyed porcupine quills to adorn clothing, dolls and other items (called quillwork) before the introduction of beads. Many Native artists still choose to express themselves with the art form that begins with many hours of meticulous quill harvesting from porcupines—which may or may not still be alive. It also requires involved processing that includes flattening and dyeing the quills. The resulting work is vivid and unique. Join our conversation with some contemporary Native quillworkers about this traditional art form.

Guests:

LaVerne Whitebear (enrolled member of the Ft. Peck Assiniboine Sioux from Poplar, Montana) – aspiring traditional Dakota quillwork artist

Shauna Elk (Dakota and Lakota from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe) – quillworker

Nancy Fonicello – conservator in private practice

Molina Jo Parker (Oglala Lakota) – artist

Break 1 Music: Song Of Encouragement (song) Porcupine Singers (artist) Alowanpi – Songs Of Honoring – Lakota Classics: Past & Present, Vol. 1 (album)

Break 2 Music: Plains Vs Coast, Pt 2 (song) Fawn Wood (artist) Iskwewak (album)

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We carry on a tradition by devoting an hour to looking back at some of the outstanding books for young people published in the last year. Debbie Reese (Nambé Pueblo), founder of American Indians in Children’s Literature blog, will discuss her annual list of standouts. We’ll also hear from Dallas Hunt (Cree), author of “Awâsis and the World Famous Bannock” and Roy Boney (Cherokee), whose essay titled “Tell It In Your Own Way” is published in “We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices.”

Guests:

Dr. Debbie Reese (Nambé Pueblo) – founder of American Indians in Children’s Literature blog

Eric Gansworth (Onondaga from Tuscarora) – author of Give Me Some Truth

Roy Boney Jr. (Cherokee) – artist and author

Dr. Dallas Hunt (Swan River First Nation) – professor at the University of Winnipeg and author Awâsis and the World Famous Bannock

Break 1 Music: Itchick (Tim Yellowtail’s Song) (song) Supaman (artist) Illuminatives (album)

Break 2 Music: Plains Vs Coast, Pt 2 (song) Fawn Wood (artist) Iskwewak (album)

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As the partial government shutdown stretches into its third week its effects are starting to surface. Elected leaders’ inability to agree on a funding plan has furloughed thousands of Bureau of Indian Affairs employees and suspended some Indian Health Service operations. The main disagreement is over funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, one of President Donald Trump’s priorities. We’ll talk with employees and Native organizations about how the shutdown affects Native America.

Guests:

Verlon Jose (Tohono O’odham Nation) – Vice Chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation

Dr. Aaron Payment (Tribe of Chippewa Indians) – chairperson of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and first vice-president of the National Congress of American Indians

Stacy Bohlen (Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa) – executive director of the National Indian Health Board

Francys Crevier (First Nation Algonquin) – executive director of the National Council of Urban Indian Health

Break 1 Music: Keep It Hopping Remix (feat. Cris Derksen) (song) Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie (artist) Round Dance & Beats (Powwow) (album)

Break 2 Music: Solstice feat. Alexandria Rose Holiday (song) Neon Nativez (artist) Hózhó EP (album)

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Beverages made from plants like green thread, bear root, sassafras and stinging nettles make up a variety of drinks that we might refer to as ‘tea’. Tribes continue to utilize a variety of leaves, roots, berries and other ingredients to create traditional drinks or medicine. We’ll hear about the different flavors and benefits of Indigenous tea.

Guests:

Valerie Segrest (Muckleshoot) – Native food nutritionist

Linda Black Elk (Catawba) –  ethnobotanist at the Mni Wiconi Clinic

Alana Yazzie (Diné) – creator and founder of the Fancy Navajo

Break 1 Music: Nitohta (song) Asani (artist) Listen (album)

Break 2 Music: Solstice feat. Alexandria Rose Holiday (song) Neon Nativez (artist) Hózhó EP (album)

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The Lummi Tribe is hoping 2019 will be the year an orca named Tokitae is freed from captivity. Named ‘Lolita’ by Miami’s Seaquarium, the animal has lived and performed in a man-made tank since 1970. The tribe and a host of animal rights groups are putting pressure on the Seaquarium to return her to her home pod in and around Puget Sound. The push to return the orca is part of a bigger effort to bring attention to the health of the marine ecosystem that is part of the Lummi’s ancestral territory. We’ll talk with Lummi representatives and others about Tokitae and the traditional importance of orcas.

Guests:

Squillehele Raynell Zuni (Lummi Tribe) – manager of the Lummi Nation Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office

Dr. Kurt Russo – senior policy analysist for the Lummi Nation Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office

Break 1 Music: Awita Noosisim (song) Violet Naytowhow (artist) Wind Of The North (album)

Break 2 Music: Solstice feat. Alexandria Rose Holiday (song) Neon Nativez (artist) Hózhó EP (album)

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We’re starting the New Year by striking a balance between art and academics. We talk with two Native women who were named MacArthur Foundation Fellows. The awards are also referred to as “Genius Grants”. Rebecca Sandefur (Chickasaw) is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and the College of Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is credited with innovative approaches to civil justice for low-income people. Poet Natalie Diaz (Mojave) was a professional basketball player before earning her MFA in poetry. She is language activist and uses her art to highlight the joys and pitfalls of reservation life.