REPORTING

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.

The Oglala Lakota journalist "has been a champion of free press in Indigenous communities his entire career and faced challenges, threats and political pressure, but always pushed to bring essential news and information to the people."

While the national discussion surrounding this issue often focuses on reservations, the majority of Native Americans live in cities and also experience high rates of violence. In Portland, home to one of the country’s largest urban Indigenous populations, the city’s tribal relations director is spearheading efforts to tackle the problem.

Oregon's police training academy is crafting curriculum to address the gaps, while a tribal police chief calls for law enforcement to receive more comprehensive historical education.

For Indigenous families, the struggle to prosecute crimes committed by non-Natives on tribal land has created lasting trauma.

Coyote's story, told through hours of interviews and documents, reveals how years of trauma and systemic failures drove her to advocate for survivors like her.

Three Indigenous women in Oregon, all survivors of violence who have become advocates in the footsteps of Desireé Coyote, share their personal stories in an effort to inspire and help other survivors.

Access to abortion was already difficult for Indigenous women and people who birth before the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision, due to the Hyde Amendment banning the use of federal money for abortion care.

Jack Malstrom’s journey of self-discovery, beginning as an adoptee to a non-Native family, has been defined by revelations of family history and roles as an Indigenous advocate, radio host, DJ and director of the Portland Two Spirit Society.

'Where this Court once stood firm, today it wilts,’ Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the dissent opinion, while reaction throughout Indian Country was swift, with a law professor saying the ruling 'dismissively and casually cuts apart tribal independence.'

Amid drastic declines in Chinook salmon in the Coquille River watershed, the Coquille Indian Tribe last year began pushing the state for more authority in managing natural resources in southwest Oregon, culminating in a state commission approving an agreement on June 17.

Authorities release body cam footage and say law enforcement's actions were justified, but family and supporters say police used excessive force in March shooting death of Barney Peoples in South Dakota.

The Diné performer has blended jazz, rap, soul, funk, blues and Indigenous rhythms throughout his career. Now, as the BLM's artist-in-residence, he's embarking on a tour that includes a stop in Oregon on June 27-28.

Kermit Mankiller, the former Nez Perce tribal executive, says the quarter is an "excellent representation" of his aunt Wilma, the first woman to be elected primary chief of the Cherokee Nation and now just the sixth American woman to appear on a U.S. coin.

Greg Urquhart of Washington is a student, activist and healer.

Roselyn Tso, Navajo, has spent much of her nearly 40-year career with the agency in the Portland area.

Raynell Morris was the first Native American staffer to be appointed to the White House, one of many firsts in her distinguished career and life.

A 1972 executive order returned the sacred Pahto mountain to tribal lands, but disputes have continued to arise, including a recent challenge that culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court affirming the tribe's standing in April.

The findings show the federal Indian boarding school system consisted of at least 408 federal schools across 37 states and that roughly 53 different schools had been identified with marked or unmarked burial sites.

The bills were the result of an unlikely agreement struck between conservation and logging stakeholders over expanding environmental protections.

Activists say overturning Roe v. Wade would be another move in a long history of federal policies that have impacted Indigenous people’s right to choose when and if they have children.

Bryan Newland, the Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, says the money will help begin tackling a lengthy list of longstanding problems at in-lieu and treaty fishing access sites.

Sam McCracken works to bring sports resources to Indigenous communities.

As conversation shifts to prevention and intervention, events on May 2-6 include virtual powwows and panels, discussions on law enforcement, proclamations and an in-person community gathering at South Hawthorne Waterfront Park.

With the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria playing a key role, tribal citizens in California will be able to attend one of the state system campuses tuition-free starting this fall.

A restored chinook run there could add significantly to the number of anadromous fish in the entire basin.

A lawsuit filed in state court comes after an appeal from the United Nations failed to convince the U.S. to intervene in planned evictions.

Osage Nation joins with city, county for economic development projects.

Some families have royalty checks and second homes, while others just want their businesses to get a piece of the action.

A proposed lithium mine along the Nevada-Oregon border would produce critical materials for electric car batteries along with local jobs, but critics say the damage to the environment, including the ancestral lands of multiple tribes, isn't worth it.

Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s ranch and meat processing plant generate jobs, food security.

Tribes work to harness energy from sun, wind and water as demand for green energy grows.

Federal and tribal regulations cut benefits for people earning even poverty wages, but help is on the way to put people to work.

Citizen Potawatomi Nation makes history in Oklahoma with new professional basketball team.

A growing industry for environmental remediation needs local workers with the right training.

Tribes contemplate the future beyond gaming after pandemic shows risk of overreliance on casinos.

‘Stealth’ economy for tribes hides billions of dollars in jobs, growth and revenue for rural communities.

Following a March 31 signing ceremony attended by tribal leaders, community members and lawmakers, the new legislation will require statewide alerts similar to when a minor or vulnerable adult goes missing.

Leadership, including President Fawn Sharp of the Quinault Indian Nation in Washington state, met in Arizona to work on a ‘strategic direction’ for the organization.

Native groups organized a rally in Rapid City, South Dakota on March 23, while a federal civil rights class-action lawsuit was filed against Grand Gateway Hotel.

After a judge dismissed charges of shellfish trafficking on treaty grounds, tribes and treaty rights organizations say the case exemplifies how Washington officials are working to undermine treaty fishing rights and agreements, which the state denies.

The recent publication of a four-volume Kalapuya dictionary and a separate ongoing effort to build an expansive digital archive have brought renewed attention to an Indigenous language that has been dead in spoken form for more than a half century.

Benjamin Parker is one of only three dozen Indigenous mathematicians in the U.S. who have completed the field's most advanced degree, although that number is beginning to grow more rapidly.

Tribe says U.N. call for U.S. to stop evictions of disenrolled citizens is filled with ‘misinformation.’ 

In an unusual move, two U.N. Human Rights Council special rapporteurs ask the U.S. government to intervene in the tribal dispute.

Chief Seattle Club announced the completion of 80 housing units for homeless Indigenous people and veterans. The units are in a nine-story building that will also include a health clinic, café serving traditional foods, social services and Indigenous artwork.

A 2019 U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirmed off-reservation hunting treaty rights for the Crow Tribe. Wyoming officials have been resisting that decision ever since, despite recent losses in state courts.

After a successful start to the partnership, the Coquille Indian Tribe wants to be named a co-manager of the river, a proposal backed by local governments, watershed associations and business groups. The effort comes amid a broader push by Oregon tribes to gain more authority in natural resource management and water policy decisions.

The NHL's newest franchise, the Seattle Kraken, is leading the way with art and youth programs to build Native American ties to a sport that traces much of its history to Indigenous peoples of North America.

In a sit-down conversation with Underscore.news, Chuck Sams, the country’s first Native American parks director, discusses the role his agency can play in better representing Indigenous people and their stories.

Federal government is investigating tribe's planned evictions of more than 60 disenrolled citizens.

More than 60 former tribal citizens in Washington are set to be kicked out of their homes in a years-long saga over disenrollment.

Oregon's Charles "Chuck" Sams III has a long list of challenges, while tribal leaders hope he will incorporate more Indigenous culture and history into the National Park Service's operations.

Aja DeCoteau becomes the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission’s leader at a pivotal time for the future of the river and salmon.

Three tribal leaders who started the case want the federal government to restore an important religious site they say the government unnecessarily destroyed for a highway-widening project in 2008 near Oregon’s Mt. Hood.

Canadian-based airline Iskwew Air launches inaugural scheduled flight after pandemic delay.

Critics say newly drawn state legislative maps in Oregon will make it more difficult for Native American voters to elect candidates who best represent their interests. In Washington, initial maps led to worries that the only Indigenous lawmaker in the state Legislature could lose her seat.

The summit will give tribal leaders a chance to hear about the Biden administration’s work in Indian Country and to tell the White House what they’d like to see happen.

Charles “Chuck” F. Sams III, who would become the first Indigenous person to lead the National Park Service, told senators that he would prioritize hiring more staff, addressing maintenance backlogs and consultation with tribal nations

City leaders in Oregon are partnering with nonprofits and tribes to promote first foods, which may hold clues to climate change resilience while connecting urban Native Americans to important ancestral knowledge and practices.

New federal-tribal partnership will deepen the Corps of Discovery journey with stories from the many tribes who helped the explorers find their way.

Several tribes announced vaccine requirements for tribal employees weeks before President Joe Biden’s announcement in early October.

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation tried early and often to protect its members from COVID-19, but in this case, to no avail.

Chuck Sams’ nomination to lead the National Park Service is a source of pride for Umatilla Tribes.

In the aftermath of the Bootleg Fire, Klamath tribal leaders vow to persevere on the land where they have lived for millennia.

For the Klamath Tribes, the damage wrought by the Bootleg Fire is deeply personal.

The Klamath River flows through two states and the lands of several tribal nations. It’s home to First Foods and provides irrigation. And there’s not enough water to meet everyone’s needs.

Decades after saber-toothed cat bones were discovered in Oregon, two scientists realized they belonged to a previously unidentified species. Cayuse scholars helped name the feline, which they say shows their language persists.

Tribal nations in the Pacific Northwest leverage sovereignty and experience to fight the pandemic.

The Constitution of the Choctaw Nation bars enrollment for the descendants of enslaved Black people. Chief Gary Batton says enrollment is based on ‘a federal construct that has fueled division and racism.’

COVID-19 created a need for more internet access. On reservations, barriers remain to high-speed broadband.

Earlier this year, 17 members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation went on trial for violating COVID-19 restrictions. In court, they argued that they had a right to practice their traditions. Pandemic restrictions have made it harder for many Native Americans to maintain contact with their culture, some leaders say.

The COVID-19 pandemic and mismatched databases confound efforts to address failures investigating Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Wednesday is a national day of action.

Oregon tribes are reintroducing a species that creates important habitat for First Foods. But the Beaver State’s laws don’t work in the animal’s favor.

The economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has hit Indian Country particularly hard. Entrepreneurs are turning to small, local lending institutions in a region that’s often outside the reach of traditional banks.

As employment by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation drives an economic engine, tribal members and reservation residents lack access to traditional banking. Nixyaawii Community Financial Services is trying to bridge that gap.

Once leery of federal health initiatives, Native Americans embrace COVID-19 vaccines as a way to protect communities and families.

Members of Congress are threatening to hold up housing funds for tribes. To the chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, it’s infringing on tribal sovereignty. For those seeking citizenship, it’s a chance to change a ‘system of hidden anti-Black racism.’

If Rep. Deb Haaland is appointed by Congress, she will oversee the Department of Interior, managing “the earth, mountains, forests, rivers—and Indians”, a federal agency that has upended life for Native Americans for decades.

Incomplete data show academic slippage as many K-12 students learned from home. The push is now on to return to the classroom — safely.

The novel coronavirus outbreak is making it harder for Native Americans to fish along the Columbia River. Depleted salmon runs and the federal government’s failure to improve fishing sites had already impacted culturally and economically important harvests.

Teachers in the Central Oregon school district have gotten creative and put extra energy into engaging their students online.