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Storylines we’ll track in 2026

28 December 2025 Brian Edwards and Chez Oxendine
At the end of 2024, with the election decided and a new administration headed to Washington, we laid out four areas we expected would shape Indian Country’s economic story this year: artificial intelligence, agriculture policy, clean energy and access to capital. The choices weren’t speculative. They reflected active programs, bipartisan commitments and billions of dollars already in motion.

Treasury awards $10B in tax credits to support economic development

30 Dec
The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund on Dec. 23 awarded $10 billion in New Markets Tax Credits to 142 organizations for 2024-2025, including nine organizations that committed to...

Top 10 Stories of 2025

December 28
2025 was a year of unprecedented challenges to tribal sovereignty and economic self-determination, as the Trump administration's sweeping policy changes — from proposed budget cuts to federal grant...

Our Favorite Stories of 2025

December 28
These were our favorite stories of 2025 because they reflect Indian Country as it actually is — and the kind of journalism we’re committed to doing. Not aspirational. Not abstract. Just stories...

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK: Why it took 30 years for Washington to trust tribes with tax certainty

December 22
There are federal policies that move slowly because they’re controversial. And then there are policies that move slowly because everyone agrees — but no one knows how to act.

REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: Tribes rebuild energy future after $2B federal collapse in 2025

Covering Indian Country energy in 2025 felt a little like watching someone finish some wiring, hit the switch, and hearing a “pop” somewhere as the bulbs flickered and died. The repair work now is...
 

People on the move in Indian Country

Economic Development
This month's People on the Move highlights new directors, officers and board members at organizations including Cherokee Nation, the Alaska Native Heritage Center, Cook Inlet Region Inc., North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems and the University of Arizona Comprehensive Cancer Center.

IN SERVICE | Ho-Chunk attorney Samantha Skenandore on tribal law and sovereignty

Indigenous Entrepreneurs
Samantha Skenandore once planned to be a veterinarian. Today, she is a founding partner at Madison, Wisc.-based Skenandore Wilson LLP, specializing in tribal law and governance.

Mission Driven Finance deploys $1.2M to Native, rural-serving New Mexico businesses

Finance
Impact investor Mission Driven Finance has closed $1.2 million in financing connected to New Mexico, with loans to four businesses, including a Native woman-owned construction company based in Pueblo de San Ildefonso.

Casino Del Sol secures $60M naming rights deal for Arizona Stadium

Gaming
The Pascua Yaqui Tribe's Casino Del Sol will pay more than $60 million over 20 years for naming rights to the University of Arizona's football stadium, the largest such deal in Big 12 Conference history.

Lawmakers reintroduce bipartisan bill to help tribes preserve traditional seeds

Food | Agriculture
Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) and Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), along with Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), reintroduced the Native American Seeds Act on Thursday, legislation that would authorize the Department of the Interior to support tribal seed banks and traditional farming practices.

Q+A: Joe Kalt and Randall Akee on the Harvard Project — 40 years of tribal governance insights, a changing of the guard and the future of Native nation building

Sovereignty
After nearly four decades building the Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development into the preeminent research center on tribal governance, Joseph P. Kalt handed the reins to economist Randall Akee this summer, marking a generational transition in how academic institutions study and support Native nation-building.

Mashantucket Pequot Tribe plans 2026 reopening of Two Trees Inn; selects Waterford as operator

Real Estate
The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation plans to reopen the Two Trees Inn in Ledyard, Conn. in spring 2026, reviving a tribally owned hospitality property that has been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic.

SBA extends deadline, issues clarifications amid confusion over 8(a) audit

Native Contracting
The U.S. Small Business Administration has extended the deadline for a sweeping audit of companies in the 8(a) Business Development Program and released new guidance clarifying what firms — including tribal enterprises and Alaska Native corporations — must submit, following widespread confusion over the scope of the request.

Blackfeet filmmakers win Frank Blythe Award for buffalo documentary

Arts and Culture
Blackfeet filmmakers Ivan and Ivy MacDonald won the Frank Blythe Award from Vision Maker Media for their documentary Bring Them Home/Aiskótáhkapiyaaya, which chronicles efforts to return wild bison to the Blackfeet reservation in Montana.

Muscogee Nation college partners with UNLV on tribal gaming, hospitality degrees

Higher Education
The College of the Muscogee Nation and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas signed an agreement that will allow tribal college students to transfer into UNLV's hospitality program with a focus on tribal gaming and hospitality management.

South Dakota Native Tourism Alliance wins $175,000 to build tribal-controlled tourism economy

Tourism
A coalition of South Dakota's nine tribal nations will use a $175,000 prize to train Native youth and develop tourism businesses that keep revenue in Indian Country rather than flowing to outside operators.

D.C. Circuit to rehear case over frozen tribal clean energy funds

Energy | Environment
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will rehear a dispute over the Environmental Protection Agency’s freeze of billions in federal grants, including an estimated $1.5 billion earmarked for tribal communities.

Tribe to build new co-location health model on reservation land

Health Care
The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation will build a new 21,000-square-foot health center in partnership with Hartford HealthCare, expanding access to medical services for tribal members and the broader southeastern Connecticut community.

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Congress releases defense bill with Lumbee federal recognition, other tribal provisions

Congress releases defense bill with Lumbee federal recognition, other tribal provisions

Treasury finalizes tribal tax rules ending decades of uncertainty 

Treasury finalizes tribal tax rules ending decades of uncertainty 

SBA orders 8(a) firms to submit financial records by Jan. 5, raising stakes for tribal contractors

SBA orders 8(a) firms to submit financial records by Jan. 5, raising stakes for tribal contractors

Native firms challenge Ernst’s effort to halt SBA’s $25B 8(a) program

Native firms challenge Ernst’s effort to halt SBA’s $25B 8(a) program

Prairie Band Potawatomi chairman vows federal contract cancellation as tribal leaders respond to community outcry

Prairie Band Potawatomi chairman vows federal contract cancellation as tribal leaders respond to community outcry