Mission to deposit human remains on moon a 'desecration'
The United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket launched Monday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying Astrobotic Technology’s lunar lander Peregrine, which contains human remains and DNA to be deposited on the moon.
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren called this a “profound desecration.”
“The moon is sacred,” Nygren posted to Facebook. “It’s in our songs, our stories, our creation. The moon is a place that we’ve looked to for hundreds of years to make sure that we continue to exist. It’s part of ceremonies that have been around for the Navajo people for a long, long time.”
On Friday, Astrobotic reported that Peregrine's fuel leak had slowed down; the craft was about 225,000 miles from Earth and had about 48 hours of propellant remaining.
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FILE - Lummi Nation tribal member Karen Scott drops her completed ballot into a ballot drop box on Oct. 19, 2020, on the Lummi Reservation, near Bellingham, Wash. Native Americans have long faced barriers to voting.
Two North Dakota tribes win voting rights lawsuit
A federal judge in North Dakota this week ordered state officials to create a new joint legislative district for two federally recognized tribes.
The Spirit Lake Nation and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa sued North Dakota in 2022 arguing that a map created through redistricting in 2021 that placed them in separate districts eroded their voting power in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
U.S. District Judge Peter Welte's ruling comes after North Dakota lawmakers failed to meet a December deadline to come up with an alternative map. Tribal attorneys say the current map lowered tribes’ chances to elect candidates of their choice and receive a fair share of public resources.
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South Dakota to tribe: pay for records upfront or waive your sovereign immunity
In a related story, the city of Martin, South Dakota, is calling on the Oglala Lakota Nation to either waive its sovereign immunity or pay what could end up being a substantial amount of money in attorney and administrative fees to receive public records related to the city’s new redistricting map.
In August 2023, the tribe requested city records relating to potential violations of the Voting Rights Act over the past two decades, including election results, redistricting maps, agendas from meetings where redistricting was discussed and all analyses of the Voting Rights Act.
Attorneys for the city responded that the cost to pull 20 years of records could reach $500 an hour and asked either for payment up front or for the tribe to waive its sovereign immunity, allowing the city to file a lawsuit if the tribe fails to pay.
The city defends the action, saying it is small and lacks resources. The tribe now says it will ask for only 10 years of records and has appealed to the state for help.
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File photo shows Native Hawaiian heiress Abigail Kawānanakoa, who passed away in 2022, posed outside a Honolulu courthouse on Oct. 25, 2019. AP Photo/Jennifer Sinco Kelleher
Hawaii’s ‘last princess’ Abigail Kawānanakoa left $100M to Native Hawaiians
Multimillionaire Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa, considered by Native Hawaiians as the last Hawaiian princess and one of state’s largest landowners, died more than a year ago. This week, details of her estate were settled and made public.
She left $40 million to her wife and tens of millions to other individuals, including former housekeepers and longtime employees. The remainder of her estate, at least $100 million, will go to Native Hawaiian causes.
Kawānanakoa was the great-granddaughter of Irish industrialist James Campbell, who arrived in the then-Kingdom of Hawaii in 1850 and married Native Hawaiian aristocrat Abigail Kuaihelani Maipinepine Bright. Campbell made his fortune in Hawaii’s sugar cane industry, real estate and ranching.
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Cartoon by Ricardo Cate of Santo Domingo/Kewa Pueblo in New Mexico shows two children watching and being inspired by Lily Gladstone's speech at the 2023 Golden Globe Ceremony.
Lily Gladstone wins big at Golden Globes
Lily Gladstone made history at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday when she was named best actress in a motion picture drama for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s epic film “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Gladstone, 37, grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation in northwestern Montana and opened her acceptance speech in the traditional Blackfeet manner: "Hello my friends/relatives. My name is Piitaaki [Eagle Woman]. I am Blackfeet. I love you all,” she said in Siksika, the Blackfeet language.
"And this is for every little rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented in our stories, told by ourselves, in our own words, with tremendous allies and tremendous trust," Gladstone added.
The Golden Globe Awards are held each January, honoring artists and professionals for their work in the television and film industry.
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