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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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There is a flip side to the narrative about the cultural richness that Spanish colonists brought to California. Likewise, the discovery of gold at Sutters Mill in 1848 did more than just spark the largest settler migration in the country’s history. In both cases, the damage to the lives and cultures of the state’s Indigenous populations was profound. At the time, there were far more Indigenous people than the Spanish or European-descended Americans. In its effort to provide Native-led historical instruction, the National Museum of the American Indian has developed curricula that provides perspective about the people who were there long before anyone else. We’ll learn about NMAI’s educational goal and how it’s being used.

GUESTS

Irene Kearns (citizen of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria), program manager for Native Knowledge 360 at the National Museum of the American Indian

Aaron Golding (Seneca Nation), co-chair of the education committee for the Chicago American Indian Collaborative and senior program administrator at the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University

Maria DesJarlait (Arikara from MHA Nation and Ojibwe from the Red Lake Nation), education presenter, children’s author, and teacher

Melissa Kiesewetter, vice chair of the Native American Heritage Fund in Michigan

Break 1 Music: California Indians (song) Arigon Starr (artist) Backflip (album)

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

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A new study finds the five federally recognized tribes in Idaho contribute some $1.5 billion to the state’s economy every year. Another new study finds the economic impact of Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians alone reaches $1 billion for that state’s annual total bottom line. Both studies echo similar research over the years in other states that show tribes are major players in their states’ economic viability. And the sources aren’t just gaming — categories like construction, tourism, government operations, and education are major economic contributors.

GUESTS

Ann McCormack (Nez Perce), economic development planner for the Nez Perce Tribe

Tralynna Scott (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), chief economist for Cherokee Nation Businesses and special envoy to the U.S. Department of Treasury

Andrew Huff (Cree enrolled at Rocky Boys), senior policy and legal advisor to the Center for Indian Country Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Steven Peterson, clinical associate professor in economics at the College of Business and Economics at the University of Idaho

Break 1 Music: Boujee Natives (song) Snotty Nose Rez Kids (artist) Trapline (album)

Break 2 Music: Brown Fool Eyes (song) Hataałii (artist) Waiting for a Sign (album)

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The fire that killed 101 people and destroyed much of the town of Lahaina on Maui Island left financial, environmental, and emotional damage in its wake that will require years and significant resources to overcome. Not least on the list is a mountain of toxic burned debris that residents and officials are having trouble finding a suitable place for. Officials are studying whether the charred landscape will harm the delicate coral reef just offshore. Somewhere in the country, a new wildfire appears at least once a week during the most active season, and many of those leave lasting implications for tribes and residents.

GUESTS

Dr. Andrea Kealoha (Native Hawaiian), assistant professor of oceanography at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Don Gentry (Klamath Tribes), natural resource specialist and former chairman of the Klamath Tribes

Bodie Shaw (Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs), deputy regional director for the Northwest Region of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

Blaze Lovell, reporter for the Honolulu Civil Beat

Break 1 Music: To Keep the World We Know (song) Bruce Cockburn (artist) O Sun O Moon (album)

Break 2 Music: Brown Fool Eyes (song) Hataałii (artist) Waiting for a Sign (album)