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Treasury tribal affairs office undergoes leadership change as founding director departs

19 September 2026 Brian Edwards

Fatima Abbas has left the U.S. Treasury Department office responsible for coordinating tribal policy across the agency to join a global law firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

Tunica-Biloxi partners with Kalshi, breaking with tribal gaming groups on prediction markets

19 Sep

A Louisiana tribe has struck a partnership with prediction market operator KalshiEX LLC, putting it at odds with tribal gaming organizations challenging Kalshi’s sports-event contracts in federal...

Q+A: Wahleah Johns on a $100M fund to close tribal energy’s predevelopment gap

September 19

Wahleah Johns (Navajo) recalls growing up near a massive coal mine in northern Arizona. Coal from the mine helped power much of the western United States — while tribal members just miles away went...

Penobscot Nation regains 11,297 acres in first phase of major land return

September 17

The Penobscot Nation has regained 11,297 acres of ancestral land, completing the first phase of a planned return of more than 30,000 acres.

The Briefing | What tribes should know about the new $21B BEAD funding round

September 13

The federal government is giving states another opportunity to fund broadband service for unserved locations omitted from earlier deployment plans, potentially including homes and businesses on...

Native housing needs, federal barriers draw scrutiny at Senate hearing

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs heard from federal officials, researchers and tribal leaders Wednesday about the scale of the housing crisis facing Native communities and proposed changes to...

Sponsored Storytelling

Tribes Built the Gaming Industry. Who Will Lead it Next?

Tribal nations built a $46.2 billion gaming industry. Preparing more Native professionals to lead it will require education, mentorship and real opportunities to advance.

Tulalip Tribes partners on NBA expansion bid, proposed arena district

Economic Development

The Tulalip Tribes is partnering with a private equity firm on a bid for a Seattle NBA expansion franchise and proposed arena and entertainment district on tribal-owned land near Marysville, Wash.

From powwow concessions to a growing Native-owned hospitality brand

Indigenous Entrepreneurs

For many restaurant startups, a food truck is the first step toward opening a brick-and-mortar location. For Indigenous Eats, it happened in reverse.

Oweesta closes first NMTC deal with $16M for Spirit Lake health clinic

Finance

Oweesta Corp. closed its first New Markets Tax Credit transaction, providing $16 million in allocation toward a $73.4 million health clinic for the Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota.

Michigan Tribal Communities are Driving Tourism On Their Own Terms

Sponsored Storytelling

For generations, the Anishinaabe of the Bay Mills Indian Community (Gnoozhekaaning) have passed their histories on through oral storytelling. Today, that tradition of narrative ownership is taking a...

Federal judge upholds Coquille Tribe’s Medford casino approval

Gaming

After more than a decade of legal disputes over tribal gaming in southern Oregon, a federal judge has upheld a U.S. Department of the Interior decision placing 2.4 acres into trust for the Coquille Indian Tribe and determining that the property is eligible for gaming.

Murray, Cortez Masto reintroduce bill to expand food assistance for tribal households

Food | Agriculture

Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., reintroduced legislation that would expand nutrition assistance for tribal households by allowing eligible families to receive benefits through two federal food programs in the same month.

Supreme Court declines Chinook bid for federal recognition through courts

Sovereignty

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the Chinook Indian Nation’s petition on whether federal courts can recognize Indian tribes.

Native-led nonprofit launches multimillion-dollar campaign to acquire, restore Martha’s Vineyard property

Real Estate

A Native-led nonprofit has launched an $8 million capital campaign to acquire and restore the former Aquinnah Shop, a 3.5-acre restaurant property overlooking the Gay Head Cliffs on Martha’s Vineyard.

Tribes looking beyond gaming and geography for revenue

Sponsored Storytelling

For decades, gaming has been a primary revenue source for tribal nations, funding housing, healthcare, education, infrastructure and other essential services while creating jobs and economic...

Native joint venture wins $45M Army contract for Fort Buchanan microgrid

Native Contracting

A joint venture between a tribally owned enterprise and a Native-owned energy developer has secured a $45 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contract to build a mission-critical microgrid at Fort Buchanan in Puerto Rico.

California woman fined $10K after admitting to selling counterfeit Native jewelry

Arts and Culture

A San Francisco woman was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine after pleading guilty to selling counterfeit Native American jewelry falsely marketed as authentic work by Native artists, federal prosecutors said.

Cherokee Nation, Rogers State sign clinical training MOU

Higher Education

The Cherokee Nation is expanding clinical training opportunities across its health system through a new agreement with Rogers State University, building on a $4 million tribal investment in the university and a separate nursing scholarship commitment.

AI, Genomics, and Tribal Sovereignty: Native Nations Need to Prepare for the Next Frontier

Sponsored Storytelling

As artificial intelligence (AI) and precision medicine transform healthcare and scientific research, Indigenous leaders say tribal nations must prepare to govern one of their most valuable...

Disney Cruise Line signs 15-year agreement with Huna Totem for Icy Strait Point

Tourism

Disney Cruise Line and Huna Totem Corporation have signed a 15-year agreement securing Disney ship calls at the Alaska Native corporation's Icy Strait Point through at least 2041, extending a partnership that provides long-term passenger traffic for the Indigenous-owned cruise destination.

DOE cancels tribal transmission corridor aimed at bringing reservation power to market

Energy | Environment

The U.S. Department of Energy has halted a proposed transmission corridor that tribal leaders hoped would unlock grid investment needed to develop and export power from reservations across the northern Plains.

Gila River invests $25M in tribal-land medical school to build physician workforce

Health Care

Gila River Health Care will invest more than $25 million to establish a University of Arizona medical school branch on the Gila River Indian Community, a long-term workforce investment aimed at training and retaining physicians within tribal and rural health systems.

The Insects Moved Faster Than the Paperwork

Opinion | Op-Ed

Guest Essay. In the summer of 2019, a fire started along Interstate 5 in southern Oregon, at a spot the highway signs mark as Milepost 97. It burned into the forest that the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians had regained only the year before, when Congress placed more than 17,000 acres of the tribe’s ancestral homeland in trust for it. 1 The fire destroyed about 3,600 of those acres and damaged more than 45 million board feet of timber.

Why Infrastructure Stewardship Starts With Knowing What You Own

Sponsored Storytelling

Sponsored Storytelling. Tribal governments invest millions of dollars in clinics, administrative buildings, public safety facilities and other community infrastructure. Before leaders decide what to...

Bipartisan bill aims to streamline tribal access to federal economic development programs

Policy and Law

A bipartisan bill in Congress aims to streamline how tribal governments and other tribal entities access federal programs that support job creation, business development and local economies.

Most Recent

Q+A: Wahleah Johns on a $100M fund to close tribal energy’s predevelopment gap

Treasury tribal affairs office undergoes leadership change as founding director departs

Native housing needs, federal barriers draw scrutiny at Senate hearing

Tunica-Biloxi partners with Kalshi, breaking with tribal gaming groups on prediction markets

Penobscot Nation regains 11,297 acres in first phase of major land return

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