The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is facing multiple federal lawsuits that raise a larger question: How much authority does a tribal nation have to govern and protect its reservation and natural resources? In April 2026, Wisconsin sued the tribe after it passed resolutions restricting non-member fishing for walleye and muskellunge on 19 […]
...Minnesota voters will decide on November 3, 2026, whether to amend the state constitution to change how funding is distributed from the Permanent School Fund, which could affect overall education funding levels across the state. The proposed amendment would increase annual distributions from the fund from 2.5% to 4.5% of the fund’s three-year average value. […]
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will host a public open house and hearing on Wednesday, August 12th, to gather public input on the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Tamarack Mining Project in east-central Minnesota. The Tamarack Mine, proposed by Talon Nickel (USA) LLC as part of a joint […]
On June 30th, 2026, the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that Enbridge Energy is trespassing on the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation in northern Wisconsin, affirming that the company must remove its Line 5 pipeline from Tribal lands. While the court gave Enbridge additional time to […]
The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is facing multiple federal lawsuits that raise a larger question: How much authority does a tribal nation have to govern and protect its reservation and natural resources? In April 2026, Wisconsin sued the tribe after it passed resolutions restricting non-member fishing for walleye and muskellunge on 19 […]
Concerns are rising over a proposed reroute of a petroleum pipeline near Pipestone National Monument in southwestern Minnesota; here’s what we know. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is reviewing the Pipestone Pipeline Reroute Project (Docket IP-7109/PPL-23-109). The applicant is Magellan Pipeline Company, L.P., now part of ONEOK. The proposal would reroute approximately 0.74 miles of an existing eight-inch […]
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will host a public open house and hearing on Wednesday, August 12th, to gather public input on the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Tamarack Mining Project in east-central Minnesota. The Tamarack Mine, proposed by Talon Nickel (USA) LLC as part of a joint […]
On June 30th, 2026, the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that Enbridge Energy is trespassing on the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation in northern Wisconsin, affirming that the company must remove its Line 5 pipeline from Tribal lands. While the court gave Enbridge additional time to […]
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will host a public open house and hearing on Wednesday, August 12th, to gather public input on the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Tamarack Mining Project in east-central Minnesota. The Tamarack Mine, proposed by Talon Nickel (USA) LLC as part of a joint […]
On June 30th, 2026, the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that Enbridge Energy is trespassing on the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation in northern Wisconsin, affirming that the company must remove its Line 5 pipeline from Tribal lands. While the court gave Enbridge additional time to […]
By K.E. MacPhie Shashana SkippingDay is dreaming bigger than a building—she’s helping build a future where Indigenous birthing people receive care that is safe, supported, and sacred. As the planner for a developing Native-led birth center, she’s deep in the work of creating something our communities have long needed and deserved. The vision isn’t new. […]
By Lee Egerstrom The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) as started a $6 million campaign with partners to provide facilities and conduct research on ways to improve the physical fitness and mental wellness of Minnesota’s Native American youngsters. Don’t expect to see a lot of lab coats, test tubes, syringes or scales. The laboratories will be […]
By Arne Vainio MD The whole getting into medical school thing was not something I was aiming for. My parents owned the Good Luck Tavern in Sturgeon, Minnesota and my dad wasn’t a good businessman. He committed suicide with a gun when I was four years old. My mom kept the tavern going for a […]
By Arne Vainio M.D. (Editor’s note: this was originally published in 2021.) Tashia Hart is putting together a cookbook featuring manoomin (wild rice) and other wild foods of Minnesota. This was published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press in the fall of 2021. I like to cook and she asked me for my manoomin recipe. At first […]
By Arne Vainio MD (Editor’s note: This was written in 2015.) At the end of August I danced for the first time. George Earth has wanted me to dance ever since he came back in to our lives. He introduced my mother and father back in 1957 when my father owned the ill-fated Good Luck Tavern […]
Editors note: Written in June 2020 Difficult times. Uncertain times. How many times have we heard that in the past few months? The COVID-19 pandemic came to us in March and social distancing has caused millions to lose their jobs and countless businesses won’t make it. Hospitals in some parts of the country are overwhelmed. In […]
By Arnie Vainio MD (Editors note: written in 2014.) I just got back from Atlanta, Georgia. As a board certified family practice physician I need to recertify for my boards this year. The exam covers all of medicine and no one knows for sure what will be on it. I am a member of the American […]
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By Winona LaDuke Akiing, the land to which I belong. That’s how I feel about this land. It turns out that I am a patriot to a land, not a flag, and yet some of the basic principles that the US was founded upon resonate with me. Those principles are about dignity, respect, having a […]
By Diane Pavlat A political act aimed to restrict women’s rights. In June 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v Wade (1973) leaving the onus of access to abortion on individual states. Since then, six states have taken measures to codify reproductive rights while other states ramp up efforts to abolish […]
By Michael Meuers From the Left (Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC) to Right (Wall Street Journal) Agree Today; The global war on terror isn’t ending, nor was it as long as the American Indian Wars. I take issue with the characterization that the war in Afghanistan is America’s longest war. America’s real longest war was the […]
By Ricky Defoe and Janet Keough As the year gets ready to renew itself, we have a chance to heal ourselves, our human communities, and the larger community of all beings in the natural world. We have a chance to restore our relationships to the environment and to each other. We can rid ourselves of […]
By Winona LaDuke I don’t actually have a dog in this fight, I am technically a member of the Green Party, not a Democrat or a Republican. I may not be fond of the candidates running for President – Joe Biden and Donald Trump – but what I do know is that I am going […]
By Winona LaDuke It’s 2020 and the stakes are high. In every area of civil society, from the rights of women, the right to clean water, the right to security of home, immigration, and the right to a future, the American election in 2020 will count. Being president of the U.S. is like being president […]
The Walker Art Center will host two artist-led programs this month featuring Indigenous perspectives through film and music. The final screenings of “Once Upon a Time in Manhood”, a film series curated by actor, comedian, and activist Dallas Goldtooth (Mdewakanton Dakota/Diné), will take place this week at Walker Cinema. The series examines how films and popular […]
Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center in St. Paul will be filled with music, storytelling, and community this weekend with two special events celebrating Indigenous creativity. Rock the Rez returns to the Twin Cities for its 2026 tour, hosting its second summer camp in the area from July 27–31 at Indigenous Roots. The weeklong youth program […]
By Eddie Chuculate The Guthrie Theater’s free five-session acting from a Native perspective class reached capacity so quickly that workshop leader and actor Ernest Briggs (White Earth) hopes to see another one this summer or fall. “I was shocked that it filled up so fast,” said Briggs, 40, of Minneapolis. “We wanted to keep it […]
By Lee Egerstrom Minnesota’s sports world and Native American communities learned this past month that hockey great and former Olympian Henry Boucha died while being treated for a heart ailment. He was 72. That won’t end Boucha’s influence in the state. His memory will live on for generations to come and his advocacy work and […]
By Dan Ninham LeRoy Staples Fairbanks, a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, has been appointed to the Minnesota State High School League Board of Directors. He lives in Cass Lake, MN, with his family. “I’ve worked in the various areas in my professional career including construction, human services, and executive leadership positions, […]
By Jon Collins/MPR News On an unseasonably cold and windy Sunday morning, dozens of players cluster together at the center of the football field at Hamline University. Each player, ranging from elementary school kids to the parents of high schoolers, is carrying a wooden stick that’s bent into a small net at the end. One […]
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