Representation is important, and so are policy decisions impacting tribes on the ground.
Politics
Posted inArticles
Deadline to spend COVID-19 relief funds has tribal nations on edge
In Oregon, tribal governments are left wondering how they’ll provide services next year without an extension.
Posted inArticles
New Mexico is on track to have the weakest methane emissions regulations in the nation
Laguna Pueblo Gov. Wilfred Herrera, Jr., urges the state to strengthen its proposed air quality rules.
Posted inArticles
Interior denies all of New Mexico’s proposed LWCF projects
The rejection is considered political retribution for criticism of the Trump administration.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
Divided prospects: The fight over an immigration detention center
When a private prison company came to Evanston, Wyoming, local officials believed an economic revival was at hand. Instead, it unleashed a bitter debate.
Posted inArticles
Pebble Mine permit denied by Trump administration
The Army Corps of Engineers “concluded that the proposed project is contrary to the public interest.”
Posted inArticles
Biden needs to go beyond a Trump reset
The president-elect has an opportunity to rebuild better than before.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
Elections in the West highlight divisions and diversity
Justice, power and environment: The 2020 elections were defined by grassroots organizing and deep partisanship.
Posted inArticles
How Indigenous voters swung the 2020 election
In Arizona and Wisconsin, Native turnout — which often leans liberal — made the difference in Biden’s slim but winning margin.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
Stop the destruction of Tohono O’odham lands
Tohono O’odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. urges Congress to take action and stop Trump’s border wall.
Posted inArticles
The Alaska Native village of Kake defends their right to hunt
The state of Alaska sues the Federal Subsistence Board for approving an emergency hunt for the Organized Village of Kake, despite the tribal community’s dire food shortage.
Posted inArticles
Tribes defend themselves against a pandemic and South Dakota’s state government
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Oglala Sioux Tribe’s COVID-19 checkpoints are at stake.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
An inaccurate census has major implications for Indian Country
Indigenous people are frequently undercounted, undermining political power and representation.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
When ‘usual residence’ is a prison
Census method of counting prisoners distorts demographics.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
Young and politically empowered in Arizona
Latino canvassers push to get out the vote.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
Will Portland’s summer of unrest reshape city politics?
November’s election will test how protests shift political power.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
Killing the Vegas Pipeline
Nevada’s attitude toward water is changing.
Posted inArticles
Why the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge may not be drilled
The economic, legal and political obstacles to petroleum extraction on Alaska’s North Slope.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2020: The Next West
Tribal nations are decolonizing cultural protection
A new book looks at a ‘third way’ for Indian law.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
Federal boots on city streets
With Congress gridlocked and courts restrained, public opinion confronts authoritarian tactics.