Northern Arapaho Tribe

Some Mountain West states are seeing a big boost in federal funding to reduce the risk of wildfire around communities. And one state is putting that chopped wood to good use.

State agencies, nonprofits and the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes are teaming up to try and get $17 million in federal funding for wildlife crossings on Highway 26/287 east of Dubois. The hope is to reduce collisions between vehicles and wildlife along an especially dangerous stretch from milepost 58 through 67.

Nationally, Native American people experience disproportionately high rates of recidivism. The Northern Arapaho reentry agency is intended to fight that trend on the Wind River Reservation.

Earlier this year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a data collection project to gather more information about missing and murdered cases involving Native Americans throughout Wyoming. Over a 90-day period, the agency received 35 tips, including four homicide cases and three missing persons cases. They’d all been previously reported to law enforcement and investigated already.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a ruling on Becerra v. San Carlos Apache Tribe, a case centered on questions about funding for tribally-run health care from the Indian Health Service. The 5-4 ruling affirms that the IHS is required to fully reimburse tribes for administrative expenses connected to running their own health care.

A federal agency wants to give up management of just under 60,000 acres of land on the Wind River Reservation.

If Ivan Posey wins in Nov., he’ll be the only Native American representative in the state Legislature. He’s running as a conservative Democrat against Rep. Sarah Penn (R-Lander) for House District 33, which encompasses part of the Wind River Reservation.

On Monday, March 25, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for a case titled Becerra v. San Carlos Apache Tribe, which revolves around questions of funding for tribally-run health care from the federal Indian Health Service (IHS). The case consolidates arguments from two previous lower circuit cases, titled Becerra v. San Carlos Apache Tribe and Becerra v. Northern Arapaho Tribe.

The remains of five Native American children who died at a notorious Indian boarding school more than a century ago will be returned to their living relatives.

On November 29, 1864, Colorado’s third cavalry descended on a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho, mostly women, children and elders. The massacre that ensued is often considered one of the worst in U.S. history. Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper has apologized for the massacre, but the Northern Arapaho tribe is now negotiating with the City of Boulder for other reparations: some land where the troops trained. Wyoming Public Radio’s Melodie Edwards spoke with Alan O’Hashi, a documentary filmmaker who just released a film about the negotiations.