On 28 August 1963, I was 12 years old. When I awoke that morning, I had no idea that my life, my outlook on life, and my approach to life would be molded, changed, and decided that day....
     

Around the world: Traditional Owners demand input in Australia, a genetic variant found in Māori and Pacific people could help cholesterol levels, a palm oil company in Ecuador faces allegations of illegal operations, a study finds that extractive industries hit Indigenous people disproportionately, and U.S. lawmakers propose priority refugee status for Uyghurs....
  

by Jonel Aleccia & Laura Ungar; Associated Press -- Cherokee Phoenix -- 23 JUN 2023

For the first time, U.S. regulators on Wednesday approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer “lab-grown” meat to the nation's restaurant tables and eventually, supermarket shelves.

The Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesn't come from slaughtered animals — what's now being referred to as “cell-cultivated" or “cultured” meat as it emerges from the laboratory and arrives on dinner plates....
  

Native American Water Protectors Assaulted During Enbridge Lecture at Northern Michigan College

by Sierra Clark, Contributing Writer -- Native News Online -- 29 JUN 2023

PETOSKEY, Mich.—A public lecture featuring transnational pipeline and energy company Enbridge last week escalated to the assault of an Anishinaabe water protector and allies protesting the controversial Line 5 project.

The event, hosted by North Central Michigan College (NCMC) in Petoskey on June 22, featured an Enbridge representative speaking about the Great Lakes Tunnel Project that would house a section of Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinac....

Three videos obtained by Native News Online show protesters being shoved around and grabbed by the shirt collars as they tried to unfurl an “Enbridge Out! No Line 5” banner.

In one video, NCMC President David Roland Finley is seen struggling with a protester as he tries to rip the banner away from the protester's hands....
  

by Darren Thompson -- Native News Online -- 20 JUN 2023

RED LAKE, Minn.—On Monday, June 12, a woman who was an enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation of North Dakota died while in custody at the Red Lake Detention Center on the Red Lake Nation in Minnesota.

Dwan White Owl, 42, was pronounced dead at the Red Lake Hospital, less than a mile from the detention center....
  

by Elyse Wild -- Native News Online -- 30 JUN 2023

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday it will be dedicating new resources to address the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) crisis.

Under a new Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Regional Outreach Program, the DOJ will permanently place ten attorneys and coordinators in five regions across the United States to assist in the investigation of unsolved MMIP cases and related crimes while promoting collaboration among federal, Tribal, local and state law enforcement as well as non-governmental stakeholders. The five regions include the Northwest, Southwest, Great Plains, Great Lakes, and Southeast Regions, and MMIP personnel will be located within United States Attorneys’ offices in the Districts of Alaska, Arizona, Eastern Washington, Minnesota, New Mexico, Northern Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, and Western Michigan....
  

Opinion
by San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler -- 29 JUN 2023

Opinion. A stunning loophole in Arizona’s water laws has left the state powerless to address a groundwater crisis rapidly unfolding in the Phoenix metropolitan region.

To pass the seminal Groundwater Management Act of 1980, state politicians exempted the powerful mining industry from restrictions on how much water mines can pump. That decision is now colliding with the stark reality that Arizona is facing an economically devastating deficit in groundwater supplies.

The 1980 law allows mines to pump unlimited groundwater without paying the state a dime. Based on current water prices, Arizona is poised to give away $400 billion worth of diminishing groundwater to the two largest foreign-owned mining companies in the world that plan to construct the Resolution Copper Mine 70 miles east of Phoenix....
  

U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Affirmative Action: Native American Education Organizations React

by Levi Rickert -- Native News Online -- 30 JUN 2023

In a historic ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday decided colleges and universities cannot use race for consideration for admissions.

The ruling struck down affirmative action in public higher education institutions. In Thursday’s decision, the court ruled on admission practices at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

Using the 14th Amendment as the basis of his argument, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the two universities' programs “violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," in his 6-3 majority opinion on both cases: Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard, and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina.... 

by Nina Totenberg, Meghanlata Gupta - NPR - 15 JUN 2023
Heard on "All Things Considered"

In a major victory for Native American rights, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld key provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law enacted 45 years ago to remedy decades of past government abuse.

By a 7-2 vote, the court ruled that the law does not impermissibly impose a federal mandate on traditionally state-regulated areas of power.....
  

by Mark Trahant -- Indian Country Today -- JUN 2023

WASHINGTON – This won’t be an easy conversation: Can tribal nations love mining? Or at least accept mining as a necessary step in the creation of a clean economy? And can governments and international mining companies figure out how to respect and work fairly with Indigenous communities?...