REPORTING

The Native American Youth and Family Center invited students from all over Portland to show up authentically at Queer Prom.

The former WNBA star will plead guilty at a sentencing hearing in August. Her sentence is unclear, but a similar case shows one potential outcome.

The new state law banning the social media app has prompted some in Indian Country to ask if tribal sovereignty extends to technology, specifically data.

Kathryn Harrison was a key leader in efforts to restore Grand Ronde's federal recognition. At the time of her passing, Harrison was the oldest Grand Ronde tribal member, at the age of 99.

Serina Fast Horse is helping the city of Portland change the way it thinks about environmental preservation.

The Intertribal Canoe Journey is back this year, after a three-year break during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Native and Strong Lifeline provides mental health support to Native people in crisis across Washington state.

In an accord with the Sauk-Suittle Indian Tribe, the city of Seattle agreed to create passageways so salmon can swim past three hydroelectric dams on the Skagit River.

An idea sparked by Warm Springs teens culminated this spring in a new skate park enjoyed by community members of all ages.

Coast Salish youths revive land management and harvest practices on their ancestral prairie.

Private collectors are now trying to repatriate items of cultural, historic and traditional importance to their place of origin.

At a bootcamp aimed at cultivating leadership among Indigenous women, the goal is community and connection. Leaders hope more Native women will see themselves as candidates for public office.

Twenty years ago, tribal youth founded the Salmon Run to call for the removal of four dams along the Klamath River. This year’s run will coincide with work to demolish them.

‘It's a really exciting time to be a Native person in Hollywood,’ Jana Schmieding said. ‘Especially as a storyteller and as a writer.’

Two of the new environmental justice centers in the Pacific Northwest seek to amplify the voices of tribes and other communities particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. They will get part of a recent $177 million award from the Environmental Protection Agency shared between 17 groups.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek reiterated that she will maintain the policies of former Governors John Kitzhaber and Kate Brown regarding tribal gaming in Oregon.

Meagan Byrne wants to create a world where Indigenous gamers can envision a post-Colonial future.

‘Billy was a kid with a dream,' said Sydney Mills Farhang, Mills’ granddaughter and executive director of Running Strong. 'It's truly an honor to be able to make the dreams of other Native youth come true, in honor of my grandfather.’

The Yakama Nation is fighting a pumped hydro storage development near Goldendale, Washington – but it’s just one of many.

A $3.7M grant to the Native American Youth and Family Center will replace baseball fields with food gardens and cultural sites.

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians leverages government-issued commodities to build a resilient food system that nourishes tribal members. It’s paying off.

Protecting Indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon could prevent millions of respiratory diseases and billions in healthcare costs.

An Indigenous writer reflects on learning to make acorns into San-chvn-tuu-’i’ or ‘juice of the acorn,’ a hot porridge and staple food.

Legal challenges protect tribal rights to traditional fishing, hunting and gathering.

As the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs holds traditional first foods feasts in its ceremonial longhouses for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, tribal youth have stepped up to carry the knowledge of the many elders who passed during the pandemic.

Series Co-Manager Nicole Charley introduces a series of stories about traditional Indigenous knowledge and practices that honor and strengthen the relationship to the plants and animals that sustain all of us.

Local food, grounded in cultural and spiritual values, forms the basis for a growing food sovereignty movement.

The Vatican issued a statement rejecting a series of declarations by popes in the 15th Century that formed a legal and political justification for colonization and are still relevant in federal law today.

The landmark 1823 Supreme Court case enshrined the Doctrine of Discovery in U.S. law, setting a precedent that has undermined tribal sovereignty ever since.

The rail company trespassed by increasing train traffic across reservation.

The Dolphin Company and Friends of Lolita announced a formal agreement and promise to return the orca from Florida to her home waters in the Salish Sea.

'We've been here since time immemorial, and we're making a statement that we're going to continue to be here.'

A judge resentenced Herbert Rice Jr., undoing a life sentence the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a decade ago. Rice, a citizen of the Colville Tribes, is one of about 2,500 U.S. prisoners held on life sentences without parole imposed when they were minors.

The estimated 3,000-gallon diesel leak comes as BNSF and tribe head to court in a right-of-way dispute.

Offended by multiple employees who told her to remove her traditional woven willow baby carrier, Sophie Weinstein left the Portland Art Museum’s exhibit on Yankton Sioux artist Oscar Howe. The incident caused an uproar.

Indigenous mushers sweep the top three spots for the first time in 50 years.

Employee told an Indigenous woman she was not allowed to wear the carrier while visiting an exhibit of Native American art at the museum.

Despite controversy, the 50-foot cedar poles could be reinstalled before Seattle's Victor Steinbrueck Park reopens this fall.

Short international films rooted in Native issues received nominations for the Oscars.

Alaska Native language professor estimates only about 200 speakers are actively using the Lingít language.

Three decades after a federal law required institutions to return “cultural items” and remains to their Indigenous nations, Western Washington University still possesses a vast majority of its collection. Western was among the more than 600 institutions nationwide in possession of more than 210,000 remains, according to the Repatriation Database released by ProPublica in January.

When Bobbie Hill returned home from treatment for addiction, she knew she wanted to do something to help others on their journey to sobriety. So she started a business.

The AIM occupation of 1973 endures in a new generation of Native activists at Standing Rock and other protests.

At the 2023 State of Indian Nations, President Fawn Sharp’s address calls on tribes, tribal leaders to seize momentum and keep pushing forward on issues facing Indian Country.

Unanimously approved by the MMIWP Task Force, HB 1177 would launch a permanent and fully funded statewide unit.

Indigenous community in Manitoba continues protests over police refusal to search for remains.

After its 2021 opening of the first tribally run opioid treatment clinic in Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde have launched a second location.

Black Belt Eagle Scout gears up for a spring tour, after the release of the band’s third album.

Native American people are incarcerated at rates up to seven times higher than white people in the United States.

What was described by a tribal leader as a benchmark achievement in a landback initiative has inspired what could become landmark litigation.

Dakota modernist Oscar Howe redefined Native American art, making space for younger generations. New exhibits at the Portland Art Museum showcase the conversation between Howe's work and contemporary Choctaw and Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson.

In a remote frozen corner of the north, a Labrador Inuit creature exhilarates and terrifies the locals.

1973 was a year of transition. Richard Nixon's White House had officially ended the policy of termination and was proclaiming self-determination. But termination would not go quietly.

How one single mom uses her sewing machine to support her family, business and doctoral degree.

Betting and adoption cases take aim at tribal sovereignty.

Take a closer look at what we do.

The Lummi Nation in northwest Washington is part of a push to give Native Americans more control over food assistance program.

Family and advocates have continued to shine a light on the case of Mary Johnson-Davis, who vanished from the Tulalip Reservation on Nov. 25, 2020.

A 500-year-old log is carved into Tulalip welcome.

Many see the move to amend the tribe’s constitution as a critical step in community healing after painful disenrollments a decade ago divided tribal members.

At the behest of former chairman, the Washington tribe paid millions to gaming consultants in Oregon, trying to forestall competition from other tribes.

‘It is a day of recognition and mourning of the genocide that has happened against our people. It’s a celebration of our resilience and recognition of the scarcity of our First Foods.’

Tribes along the Klamath River hope removing four dams will lead to better habitat for fish and help revitalize Native cultures that rely on salmon for sustenance and view the fish as relatives.

Grand Ronde tribal member Steph Littlebird designed a new logo for Yahoo in honor of Native American Heritage Month.

About 330 bison are coming from a Nebraska preserve operated by the Nature Conservancy.

‘If you take our children, you take our identity.’

About 70 percent of Native people in the U.S. live in urban areas. Cities in the West are home to some of the largest Indigenous populations in the U.S.

The Imprint walks readers through highlights of the Brackeen v. Haaland case.

Noel Rude, Bruce Rigsby and Haruo Aoki gave decades of their lives to Plateau language preservation. All three men “crossed over to the land of light” in the last year.

Habitat restoration continues on White Salmon River, where 33 miles of spawning area has been formed after the removal of Condit Dam.

Chinook people have fought for federal status for close to two centuries. This portrait shows what federal recognition means for the nation’s land base, healthcare, education and legal protections. But, more than anything, tribal members want to be recognized for who they are, and who they have been for millennia.

In 1954, the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act removed federal recognition of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and the tribe spent the next three decades fighting to restore it. Cheryle A. Kennedy, the tribe’s chairwoman, shares her personal experience, as told to Underscore News' Karina Brown, of losing federal status and her support for the Chinook Indian Nation.

The government bulldozed an Indigenous religious site along a busy Oregon highway, but tribal elders and their families still visit Ana Kwna Nchi Nchi Patat in order to satisfy their religious obligations. Now, the elders want the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their claim to restore the site.

The growing power of tribal courts is on full display at the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Yakama citizens voted out their tribal chairman and nearly half of their tribal council over allegations they overlooked the misuse of tribal government funds and allowed subordinates to give themselves raises and bonuses during a time of widespread layoffs.

Annessa Hartman, Haudenosaunee, hopes to join Tawna Sanchez, Shoshone-Bannock, Ute and Carrizo, in the Oregon House of Representatives.

A blessing and celebration took place Oct. 2 along the Pacific Northwest waterway.

Ku Stevens’ great-grandfather escaped an Indian boarding school, repeatedly, by running 50 miles through the desert to get home. Decades later, Ku runs to honor that legacy, and his speed has earned him a spot at his dream school.

An 1855 treaty with the U.S. government ensured one of the Yakama Nation’s most important sites would remain part of its homelands. The tribe recently celebrated the decades-long effort to see that promise kept.

Roger Nyhus founded a Seattle-based public relations company, and served as communications director for both a mayor and a governor.

Dante Desiderio, dismissed in June, alleges NCAI officials retaliated for disagreeing over personnel matters

For Native Americans incarcerated at the Washington State Penitentiary, the September event was a highlight of the year that they fought to preserve.

The politically minded hip hop duo from the Haisla Nation kicked off their latest tour in Portland, after building a fanbase with the release of hit songs like “Skoden” and “Boujee Natives.”

An apology from the Academy of Motion Pictures recognizes her historic role in bringing change to the film industry.

For the Center for Indigenous Midwifery, the goal is rebirth.

Criminal charges against Dawn Dumont Walker in Oregon have been put on hold while Canadian charges are pending.

Why tribes are pursuing a controversial salmon recovery strategy.

Pedalpalooza’s first ride geared exclusively toward Native and Indigenous riders drew attendees from as far away as the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona.

Families of the five Cayuse men executed by the government for the 1847 killing of Marcus Whitman are still searching for their graves.

Dawn Dumont Walker, a citizen of the Okanese First Nation who faces criminal charges in U.S. and Canada, will appear in an arraignment hearing in Portland on Sept. 7.

Organizers Nanette Beyale and Alexis Vazquez want their Aug. 27 ride to build connections within Portland’s Native American and Indigenous community.

Tribes come together at Willamette Falls to celebrate the annual harvest of Pacific lamprey, a first food of Native peoples in the Pacific Northwest, in the midst of ongoing tribal conservation efforts.

Tamara and Sarah Podemski describe the real-life bond they bring to the new season of the hit show.

NASA Astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann will be traveling to the International Space Station and, if chosen, could be the first woman on the moon.

The university hired three Indigenous faculty on tenure tracks this year, doubling the program’s full-time faculty.

Underscore staff writer and photographer Jarrette Werk shares his experience mentoring at the weeklong High School Journalism Institute, a collaboration between Oregon State University, The Oregonian and other media outlets. 

In a July 28 letter, most of the federally recognized tribes in Washington pushed the state to deny permits to a developer because its project along the Columbia River would mean the unavoidable destruction or damage to sites sacred to the area’s tribal nations.

Coast Salish peoples are finally recognized at San Juan Island National Historical Park.

Only one of the state’s 147 legislators is Native American, but a strong group of candidates this year is trying to boost Indigenous representation.

The Northwest Indian Language Institute’s efforts to preserve Indigenous languages are now supported by a grant from The Roundhouse Foundation that will fund a needs analysis and tribal outreach programs.