Minneapolis leaders announce the return of stewardship of five acres to Dakota stewardship at a site of significance to the Dakota people in downtown Minneapolis on the Mississippi River. What was once the largest natural waterfall on the Mississippi River, the falls are central to Dakota creation story and has been visited for ceremony for eons. But for decades, the falls have been prohibited for visitors in one what was once one of the largest tourist attractions in the city.

The recent death of an inmate at a Bureau of Indian Affairs regulated jail in northern Minnesota is one of several in the last several years. The troubled detention center on the Red Lake Indian Reservation has had several deaths in the last several years and is currently in court for negligence and violating an inmate’s civil rights.

The Pentagon recently removed references and articles to Native American service members, including Ira Hayes, the Navajo Code Talkers and others from its website. The erasure didn’t stop with Native veterans and their contributions though, as other minority groups have mentions of their contributions wiped from mentions within the Department of Defense.

Last week, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians hosted a welcome home celebration for Leonard Peltier, 80, who spent 49 years in maximum security federal prison for the convictions of a two FBI agents were fatally shot in the summer of 1975. His release is a result of a commutation signed by former President Joseph Biden in his last hour of his presidency on January 20, 2025, where Peltier will serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement. Peltier, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa citizen and an American Indian Movement activist, was arrested in Canada, in February 1976, and extradited to the U.S. from a shooting incident on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation that left FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams dead on June 26, 1975. On June 1, 1977, Peltier was convicted for two counts of first-degree murder of the FBI agents and was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.

The Trump administration’s effort to eliminate government spending resulted in layoffs across several federal agencies that serve Indian Country. However, the Indian Health Service was exempt from the executive order aimed at eliminating federal employees within their probationary period by order of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr.

Leaders of the Native American Church of North America convened for the third consecutive year to advocate for peyote habitat conservation with leaders in Washington. Leaders and supporters met with Congressional leaders and staff to share progress of advocating for the conservation of peyote, a plant where only enrolled members of federally recognized tribes are permitted to possess and ingest for traditional ceremonial purposes.