Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:00 — 38.5MB) | Embed

A possible rat sighting has the remote Pribilof Island of St. Paul in Alaska on high alert. Scientists are concerned an infestation of the invasive species could threaten nesting seabirds and other wildlife. They have reason to be concerned: rats from a Japanese shipwreck more than 200 years ago inundated a series of Alaska’s Aleutian islands, devastating the native species. And a part of Louisiana offers another cautionary tale about invasive rodents. Nutria were originally introduced to help the fur trade. Now the aquatic rodents destroy the vegetation that protects land and coastal marshes from erosion. We’ll look at how tribes are grappling with invasive rodents.

GUESTS

Karen Pletnikoff (Unangan), environment, and safety program administrator for Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Inc.

R.J. Molinere (United Houma Nation), alligator hunter, arm wrestling champion, and star on the History Channel reality series Swamp People

Dr. Lauren Divine, director for the Ecosystem Conservation Office for the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island

James Karst, communications director for the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana

Break 1 Music: Tikitaummata (song) Susan Aglukark (artist) The Crossing (album)

Break 2 Music: Butterfly Wings (song) Midnight Sparrows (artist) Born in the City (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:06 — 38.5MB) | Embed

An Albuquerque, N.M., organization is cutting the ribbon on a new building they say will help in their mission to developing Native entrepreneurs. New Mexico Community Capital (NMCC) has had to be flexible to meet Native business owners “where they are” to provide mentorship, business consultation, and other services that help them succeed. They’re among a number of business incubation efforts with a personal approach to help start and work with people who have ideas, but are from populations that statistically need more assistance to get going.

GUESTS

Henry Jake Foreman (Absentee Shawnee), Program Director at New Mexico Community Capital

Liz Gamboa (Mexican/Apache descent), Executive Director of New Mexico Community Capital

Adrian Tsosie (Diné/Zia/Jemez/Hopi/Comanche), Business Owner of Coat of Colors

Carla Catolster (Crow), Business Incubator Manager and IDA Coordinator at the Plenty Doors Community Development Corporation

Break 1 Music: Working for the Man (song) Bluedog (artist) Red, White & Blues (album)

Break 2 Music: Mr. Businessman’s Blues (song) DM Lafortune (artist) Beauty and Hard Times (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:29 — 38.1MB) | Embed

The increasing demand for power is prompting challenges from a number of tribes who say the means to transmit that power is harming culturally significant tribal land. The Tohono O’odham, Hopi, Zuni, and San Carlos Apache tribes were dealt a legal setback by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year in their opposition to a proposed $10 billion transmission line through a pristine Arizona canyon. And pueblos and other tribes say they are concerned about additional transmission capacity planned to boost power at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. In both cases, tribal officials say the proposals did not adequately take cultural and archaeological significance into consideration.

GUESTS

Stephanie Stringer, deputy manager for business, security, and mission for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Los Alamos field office

Reyes DeVore (Jemez Pueblo), project manager for the Pueblo Action Alliance

Break 1 Music: The Dance [2007 Studio Version] (song) Robert Mirabal (artist) In the Blood (album)

Break 2 Music: Mr. Businessman’s Blues (song) DM Lafortune (artist) Beauty and Hard Times (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:57 — 38.4MB) | Embed

Tlingit warriors enjoyed an initial victory in defending their home against Russians intent on re-establishing their settlement in Sitka. But after first driving the Russians back and wounding their leader, Alexander Baranov, in the first week of October, 1804, the Tlingits concluded they couldn’t sustain another armed assault. They moved to the far end of the island that now bears Baranov’s name, but remained contentious cohabitants with the Russians, keeping the settlers on guard. Even though the Tlingits lost, the battle was a landmark event that influenced Russian settlement that came after. We’ll hear about the Battle of 1804, and also the 1869 American assault on the Village of Kake, for which the U.S. Navy just formally apologized.

GUESTS

Louise Brady (citizen of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska), Kiks.ádi clan member

Yeidikook’áa Dionne Brady-Howard, (citizen of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska), Kiks.ádi clan member and educator

Joel Jackson (Tlingit), president of the Organized Village of Kake

Break 1 Music: Kunax yak’ei gayshagook (song) Khu.éex’ (artist) Siy​á​adlan (album)

Break 2 Music: Mr. Businessman’s Blues (song) DM Lafortune (artist) Beauty and Hard Times (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:49 — 38.3MB) | Embed

With help from Lakers’ superstar Lebron James, a Native director and cast tell the story of trauma and healing playing out within a reservation small town high school basketball team. Sydney Freeland (Navajo) is a gifted storyteller (Echo, Reservation Dogs, Drunktown’s Finest), teaming up with Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Muscogee) to tell the sometimes heartbreaking, always human drama of the fictional Chuska Warriors. It’s sure to resonate with current and past rez ball warriors and adds to the growing list of films that show the world what can be achieved when Native talent delivers Native stories.

GUESTS

Sydney Freeland (Diné), filmmaker

Kauchani Bratt (Quechua/Coahuiltecan), actor

Dallas Goldtooth (Diné and Dakota), actor

Ernest Tsosie III (Diné), actor

Break 1 Music: DefPhilthy (song) Def-I & Phillipdrummond (artist) Nomad’s Land (album)

Break 2 Music: Zumbi (song) XOCÔ (artist) XOCÔ (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:46 — 38.3MB) | Embed

Two years after the EPA found high levels of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) contamination in the drinking water at the K-12 tribal school on the Leech Lake Reservation, students and staff are still forced to consume only water brought in from outside the building. Leech Lake is one place tribes are having to respond to the presence of PFAS, a class of man-made chemicals used in fire suppressing foam, water repellents on textiles, and older nonstick cookware. High PFAS exposure is connected to some health problems including cancer and thyroid disease. Nearly 100% of Americans have PFAS in their body. Information specific to Native Americans is limited. We’ll talk with some tribes that are trying to address PFAS in their water and explore what can be done.

GUESTS

Laurie Harper (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe), director of education for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe

Michael Jacobs (Waccamaw Siouan Tribe), Chief of the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe

Fred Corey, natural resources assistant for the Mi’kmaq Nation

Dr. Kimberly Garrett, environmental health toxicologist at Northeastern University

Break 1 Music: The Opening (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

Break 2 Music: Zumbi (song) XOCÔ (artist) XOCÔ (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:43 — 38.3MB) | Embed

Playing college athletics takes more than just a love of sports. To be successful at that level takes years of dedication, focus, and a good deal of talent. We’ll hear from athletes turning athletics into a pathway to academics at Division 1 colleges about how to recognize and develop their own skills, lessons they learned along the way, and how to deal with setbacks.

GUESTS

Eliana Malnourie (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe, MHA Nation, Cochiti Pueblo), fourth year undergraduate student and cross country athlete at the University of North Dakota

Julian Greendeer (Ho-Chunk/Oneida), University of Detroit Mercy Titans Men’s Lacrosse player

Grace White (Red Lake Band of Ojibwe) Red Lake Public Schools K-5 wellness counselor, former Valparaiso University basketball player

Lance Kelley (Creek, Shoshone-Paiute), college instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

Break 1 Music: The Move (song) DDAT (artist) DDAT (album)

Break 2 Music: Zumbi (song) XOCÔ (artist) XOCÔ (album)