Indigenous Affairs
RSSAlaska Native and tribal affairs: governance, ANCSA regional corporations, subsistence rights, language, and cultural preservation. Spans roughly 20% of Alaska's population and every major policy domain the state touches.
Norton Sound Health Corporation gets $250,000 federal grant for produce prescription program
A $250,000 Indian Health Service grant will help Norton Sound Health Corporation give food-insecure households monthly produce vouchers or shipments.
by Maggie AlaskaNews7h ago2 min read
Native Village of Paimiut gets $900,000 to teach the Hooper Bay dialect of Yup'ik
The Native Village of Paimiut gets $900,000 to teach the Hooper Bay dialect of Yup'ik. The tribe says 72 elders are its last first-language speakers.
by Maggie AlaskaNews7h ago2 min read
Ketchikan Indian Community gets $900,000 to revive its fleet for subsistence trips, training and charters
Ketchikan Indian Community is putting 23 boats back to work with a $900,000 federal grant: elder-led subsistence trips, youth training and halibut charters.
by Maggie AlaskaNews7h ago2 min read
Eight of nine Alaska tribes get smaller military cleanup agreements in latest Defense Department round
Nine Alaska tribes signed new Defense Department agreements to clean up old military contamination. The money has shrunk every year since 2023.
by Walter AlaskaNews3d ago2 min read
Three Alaska tribal housing groups win $15.7 million in federal grants for 58 homes
Three Alaska tribal housing groups won $15.7 million in HUD's latest competitive round, enough for 58 homes in Haines, Galena and Anchorage.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3d ago2 min read
Tlingit & Haida delegates reelect Richard Peterson as president
Tlingit & Haida delegates reelected Richard Peterson as president Thursday and chose Clinton Cook as first vice president at the tribe's 91st Tribal Assembly.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago1 min read
Sitka Tribe and Metlakatla May Request Return of 11 Ancestors and 16 Items in October
Four museums and federal agencies hold at least 11 Alaska Native ancestors and 16 cultural items the Sitka Tribe and Metlakatla may request returned starting in October.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago3 min read
Senate Indian Affairs Committee advances Native housing rewrite to full Senate
A Senate committee advanced a rewrite of the law funding village housing. It would let aid reach teachers and nurses who earn too much to qualify now.
by Maggie AlaskaNews5d ago2 min read
A federal grant funds Tlingit & Haida's plan to hear child protection cases
The Tlingit & Haida Tribal Court is preparing to open its own child protection cases, using authority Alaska courts recognized more than a decade ago.
by Maggie AlaskaNews5d ago3 min read
The Lake Clark subsistence commission meets Oct. 3 to review federal wildlife rules
Sockeye is more than 60 percent of everything Port Alsworth and Nondalton take. The commission that advises on those rules meets on Oct. 3.
by Maggie AlaskaNews6d ago1 min read
Federal rules leave some village homes out of water projects
Homes in Alaska villages are left out of federally funded water projects because a spouse or grandparent who owns them is not a tribal member.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 5d ago2 min read
Alaska Native tribes begin five-year youth suicide prevention programs
Ten Alaska Native tribes and health organizations begin five-year youth suicide prevention programs next week, sharing about $4.1 million in federal money.
by Maggie AlaskaNews6d ago2 min read
Nine candidates are running for three Aleut Corporation board seats
Nine candidates are running for three Aleut Corporation board seats, and the early proxy deadline is 5 pm Wednesday. Final deadline is Oct. 14.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 6d ago1 min read
The Indian Health Service is paying an Alaska firm to clear a coding backlog
An uncoded clinic visit is an unbilled one, and unbilled means money the clinic never sees. IHS is paying an Anchorage firm to help catch up.
by Melinda Communities.News1w ago1 min read
Federal notices clear 11 Sitka ancestors for return
Two federal notices make at least 11 ancestors and 11 funerary objects eligible for return to the Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Bert Adams takes over as Sitka Tribe of Alaska general manager
Bert Adams started as general manager of Sitka Tribe of Alaska on Aug. 17, ending nine months without a permanent leader after the previous manager resigned in November 2025.
by Alaska Newsadded 1w ago1 min read
Alaska contracts tagged with the anti-DEI clause go almost entirely to Native corporation firms
Nearly all Alaska contract dollars carrying Trump's anti-DEI clause went to Native corporations. No agency has said if the clause covers Native preferences.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago3 min read
Kotzebue gets $1.5 million to keep growing food above the Arctic Circle
Kotzebue gets $1.5 million for Alaska Native food sovereignty work. The USDA calls it national security. The people doing it call it something else.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
BIA sends nearly $800,000 to five Alaska tribal governments, most of it road money
The BIA sent about $794,000 to five Alaska tribes this month, mostly for roads in Y-K Delta villages that have no road system.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago1 min read
An Alaska arts staffer built a free tool to describe images for screen readers
An Alaska arts council staffer built an AI tool that writes image descriptions for screen readers in 2023, then made it free for anyone to use.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
A Dena'ina artist's work is headed for downtown Anchorage's signs
Dena'ina artist Sebastian Garber's MOA50 designs reach downtown Anchorage's wayfinding signs next year, drawing on Indigenous quillwork patterns.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Congress weighs $500 million in tribal water money Alaska can't reach
Congress is moving $500 million for one California tribe's water rights, a kind of federal money that Alaska's tribes, by their legal status, can barely reach.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago3 min read
Unalaska student wins national naval history award for Angoon bombardment project
Unalaska student River Zaochney won a national Naval History Award for a project on the 1882 Navy bombardment of Angoon, a Tlingit village the Navy formally apologized for in 2024.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
House subcommittee hears testimony on conveying 21,578 Denali acres to Doyon
Doyon selected a sacred rock formation in Denali as its own in 1978. Forty-eight years later, Congress is still deciding whether to hand it over.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Federal library grants open to qualifying Alaska Native tribes and corporations
Qualifying Alaska Native entities offering library or archival services can seek $6,000 to $150,000 from IMLS by Nov. 13.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Remains of at least 10 and an 1895 mortuary pole can return to Sitka Tribe after Oct. 16
Tongass National Forest cleared remains of at least 10 Native individuals for return to Sitka Tribe of Alaska starting October 16, including a mortuary pole held since 1895.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Senate panel will take up Native housing bill co-sponsored by both Alaska senators
The law that funds housing in Alaska Native villages is up for renewal. Overcrowding there runs about double the rate on tribal lands nationally.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Native corporations keep 8(a) status as individuals face a new test
Alaska Native corporations keep their place in the federal 8(a) contracting program under a new rule, but individual Native applicants now face a tougher test.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago3 min read
House passes Begich bill to open treaty talks with Japan over Alaska Native handicrafts made with bird parts
Alaska Native artists can use feathers from 27 bird species in work they sell. A House bill would open the door to more, by way of talks with Japan.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
A Doyon director steps off the board to lead its scholarship foundation
Geri Simon stepped down from the board of Doyon, Limited — Alaska's largest private landowner — to lead its scholarship foundation, leaving a seat to fill.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Museums have cleared 46 Alaska Native ancestors to come home
At least 46 Alaska Native ancestors and 14 belongings have been cleared to come home. Twelve of the dates they could have left have already passed.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago3 min read
Southwest Alaska carried most of the state's tuberculosis cases last year
Southwest Alaska, with about 5% of the state's population, had 46 of Alaska's 77 tuberculosis cases last year — roughly nineteen times Anchorage's rate.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago2 min read
War-driven oil prices are filling Alaska's treasury while straining its households
The same oil price spike is filling Alaska's treasury and straining its households — and Trump's $2 gas promise would take more than the war ending.
by Alaska News2w ago5 min read
Ninth Circuit says tribal law cannot shield employees from federal civil rights suits
A federal appeals court ruled tribal governments cannot shield their own employees from civil rights lawsuits by writing immunity into tribal code.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago3 min read
Bristol Bay students can apply for a December leadership forum
Bristol Bay high school students have until Oct. 9 to apply for a youth leadership forum in Anchorage in December.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Nine EPA climate grants for Alaska projects ended with 99 percent of $151 million unspent
$151 million in federal climate grants for Alaska tribes ended with less than 1% spent. One $20 million award was terminated the same day it was signed.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago3 min read
Wrangell elder's headpiece cleared for return from Wisconsin museum
A Tlingit headpiece worn by Tom Ukas can return to Alaska from a Wisconsin museum starting Sept. 23 after federal review confirmed it holds human remains and belonged to the Wrangell elder.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read
An Anchorage firm staffs the State Department's internal watchdog
An Anchorage company owned by the Kodiak regional corporation holds a contract worth up to $75 million to staff the State Department's internal watchdog.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
A tiny Bering Sea tribe runs its own healing court, from the island to Anchorage
A tiny tribe in the Bering Sea runs its own healing court for people facing addiction, and a federal grant will extend it to members who've moved to Anchorage.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
The Knik Tribe has $1 million to design youth mental health care
The Knik Tribe has nearly $1 million to design a mental health system for Alaska Native young people in the Mat-Su. The money cannot pay for treatment.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
