Indigenous Affairs

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 AlaskaNews1mo 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 AlaskaNews1mo ago2 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 AlaskaNews1mo 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 AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min readFrom Aug 11

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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Sep 9

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 News2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Follows: Bristol Bay Native Corporation is taking pitches for its December leadership forum

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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo 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 AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Federal grant will test a Yup'ik healing framework against homelessness

Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness won $450,000 to serve Alaska Native households facing homelessness through case management and traditional Yup'ik healing practices through August 2027.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Nine Southeast Alaska communities are getting naloxone vending machines

Naloxone is going into vending machines in nine Southeast Alaska communities you can reach only by boat or plane. None of the sites exist yet.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

BBNC shareholders have until Sept. 30 to return proxies

BBNC shareholders must complete an education and employment survey by Oct. 9 to help the corporation track job and training prospects.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Federal Medicare outreach grants send $174,880 to 10 Alaska tribal elder programs

Nine Alaska tribal elder programs will share $160,460 in federal Medicare enrollment grants running through August 2027, with the largest awards going to groups in Anchorage, Dillingham, and Palmer.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Federal money for elder abuse work, with a deadline next week

Alaska tribes and nonprofits can apply for federal grants of up to $750,000 to help older Alaskans facing abuse. Applications close Sept. 16.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

NOAA will stop briefing Alaska tribes before every council meeting

NOAA Fisheries will stop briefing Alaska tribes before every North Pacific council meeting, citing a substantial drop in staff since 2025.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Tribal consortium takes ownership of Alaska Native Medical Center

The Alaska Native Medical Center is now owned by the tribes it serves instead of the federal government — a first, and one with real money behind it.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min readFrom Aug 24

You can name your own price to see the Tlingit opera in Juneau

The closing performance of Juneau's Tlingit opera is entirely pay-as-you-can at the door, with limited pay-as-you-can seats at four other performances.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

Follows: Creators of first Tlingit opera take public questions Thursday in Juneau

The Tlingit & Haida tribal government opposes opening the Tongass

Tlingit & Haida opposes lifting Tongass road limits. Native corporations once cut more than half the region's timber, then left the business entirely.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

BBNC Dillingham IT apprenticeship applications close Friday

BBNC is hiring one IT apprentice in Dillingham, applications close Friday, Sept. 4. The one-year role includes CompTIA certifications and requires BBNC or Choggiung shareholder status.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Bristol Bay Native Corporation is taking pitches for its December leadership forum

Bristol Bay Native Corporation is taking pitches through Oct. 2 for its December leadership forum — a corporate-led gathering, and not the region's only one.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Nome to host 2030 Inuit Circumpolar Council General Assembly

Nome will host the Inuit Circumpolar Council's 2030 General Assembly, drawing 400 delegates from Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia to vote on Arctic sovereignty and food security.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska's missing Indigenous list drops to 355, with suspicious cases unchanged

Alaska's count of missing Alaska Native and American Indian people fell by eight. None of the drop came from the cases nobody can explain.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

Tanana Chiefs holds first culture camp for K-6 students

Tanana Chiefs Conference held its first culture camp for K-6 students in Fairbanks, teaching Athabascan languages, potlatch dancing and traditional skills, with plans to repeat annually.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

TCC will hold a November summit on what villages told it this summer

Tanana Chiefs Conference will hold a November summit on priorities its chief gathered during summer visits to seven Interior villages.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage police force falls hardest on Alaska Native residents

A review found Anchorage police use force disproportionately on Alaska Native residents, more than comparable cities — and likely overstated what they've fixed.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago4 min read

Doyon shareholders have until Oct. 5 to apply for four open board seats

Doyon Limited shareholders must apply by Oct. 5 for four board seats up for election at the March 2027 annual meeting.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Army plans to return four Alaska children's remains from Carlisle

The Army began disinterring four Alaska Native children from a Pennsylvania cemetery in September to return their remains to families, more than 120 years after they died at a federal boarding school.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

UAF launches a fellowship to grow Alaska Native leaders in food and agriculture

UAF is launching a program to grow Alaska Native leaders in food, farming and natural resources — fields where Native people are badly underrepresented.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

None of Ketchikan's $1.65 million in landslide aid has been paid out

FEMA committed $1.65 million for Ketchikan's 2024 landslides. A year later none of it has been paid out, and the window to spend it closes Sept. 30.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Trust land near Control Lake would become a store, laundromat and fuel stop. Comments close Oct. 9.

Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office approved a negotiated sale of Control Lake land on Prince of Wales Island, skipping competitive bidding.

by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read

Chugachmiut's Sugt'stun language game gets new gameplay footage

Nunaka means my village in Sugt'stun. It is also a free game teaching the language to children in a region where fluent speakers are dwindling.

by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read

A Sugpiaq artist who works in fish skin is in residency in Sitka

Sugpiaq artist Larissa Kramer, who works in fish skin, resin and botanicals, gives two free talks in Sitka this month during a museum residency.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

SSA awards Anchorage's Koniag IT Systems $2 million for print work in Durham and Baltimore

A Koniag subsidiary in Anchorage will print and mail Social Security cards for the next year, under two federal contracts worth about $2.06 million.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

ICE is paying an Anchorage company to wire the 11th floor of a building in Washington

ICE is paying an Anchorage company $31,049 to wire the 11th floor of a federal building in Washington, D.C.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read