Tribal leaders listen to Gov. Katie Hobbs deliver the first ever Indian Nations & Tribes State of the State Address inside the Steele Auditorium at the Heard Museum on Jan. 10, 2024. Photo by Shondiin Silversmith | Arizona Mirror The fate of the Governor’s Office of Tribal Relations is unclear after Senate Republicans refused to take up a bill allowing the office to continue operating after June that had received bipartisan backing in the House of Representatives.  Because Sen. Jake Hoffman, the Republican chairman of the Senate Government Committee, didn’t allow his committee to con ..read more

The Yuma East Wetlands. Photo via U.S. Bureau of Reclamation In the 20 years since rehabilitation efforts began in the Yuma East Wetlands, the riparian habitat has gone from a dangerous illegal dumping site overrun with invasive plants to a place where people can safely access the Colorado River as native plants, birds, bugs and wildlife thrive.  And at the beginning of April, the Department of the Interior announced it was awarding $5 million to protect and maintain Yuma East Wetlands. And another Arizona project, Topock Marsh, is receiving $20 million for restoration.  “Protecting ..read more

From left to right: Jacob Moore, the vice president and special advisor to the president for American Indian affairs, Indigenous Artist Thomas "Breeze" Marcus, Labriola Center Director Alex Soto, and Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis celebrated the grand opening of the Labriola National American Indian Data Center on April 3, 2024. Photo by Shondiin Silversmith | Arizona Mirror When Alex Soto began working at the Labriola National American Indian Data Center at Arizona State University Library in 2021, he was the center’s only full-time employee. Two years later, he reimagine ..read more

StolenPeopleStolenBenefits Advocate Raquel Shaye shares her story about fraudulent sober living homes in the Phoenix area as part of a town hall meeting held at the Phoenix Indian School Vistors Center on March 26, 2024. Photo by Shondiin Silversmith | Arizona Mirror Rosalie Nez traveled more than four hours from Coal Mine Canyon, on the Navajo Nation, to the Phoenix area in hopes of getting answers to what happened to her brother Emerson Nez, who she says died in a fraudulent sober living home in 2022. “Emerson was on his way to recovery,” she said. Nez shared her story during a town hall me ..read more

Some justices expressed concern that giving tribes more money for health care would result in a big bill for the government. Photo by Kelsey Reichmann | Courthouse News WASHINGTON (CN) — The Supreme Court appeared divided Monday over whether the government should be responsible for covering more health care costs for Native American tribes. The Department of Health and Human Services wants the court to reverse two lower court rulings that held the tribes were entitled to money for the costs of implementing their health care programs. The department claims Congress didn’t intend for ..read more

A fireball rises into the sky over Nevada after the U.S. government detonated a 61-kiloton device on June 4, 1953. Nuclear weapons experiments at the Nevada Test Site spread fallout to other states, including Arizona, research and records show. (Getty Images) PHOENIX – The $1.2 trillion budget package that Congress was working to pass Friday included everything from protection for gas stoves to restrictions on payments to the Chinese government. What it didn’t include was an extension for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which compensates people who lived downwind from nuclear test si ..read more

Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror State lawmakers on Thursday rejected a bill to crack down on sober living homes that had already unanimously passed the Senate, opting instead to back a different proposal that is opposed by Democrats. Following hours of testimony and debate, the House Health and Human Services Committee advanced Senate Bill 1361 on a party-line 6-4 vote. On a 3-7 vote, the panel defeated Senate Bill 1655.  Both bills were introduced to address the sober living home scandal that was laid bare almost a year ago when state prosecutors and health agency officia ..read more

Arizona senators debate Senate Bill 1655 on March 12, 2024, to tighten regulations on behavioral health facilities. Photo courtesy of the Navajo Nation Council Office of the Speaker Nearly a year after Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes announced a crackdown on a sprawling Medicaid fraud scheme that preyed on vulnerable Indigenous people across Arizona, state lawmakers are taking steps toward ensuring something similar can’t happen in the future. The ongoing struggle to manage the crisis caused by fraudulent sober living homes continues, but Sen. Theresa Hatathlie’s effort to re ..read more

Photo by Tvn Phph Prung Sakdi | EyeEm/Getty Images Two projects in Arizona have been preliminarily selected as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s funding for community-driven energy projects aimed at lowering energy costs and enhancing energy security in rural and remote communities across the nation.  The DOE announced more than $366 million this month in funding for 17 projects in 20 states and 30 tribal nations and communities. According to the DOE, the projects focus on accelerating clean energy deployment nationwide in rural and remote areas. The two Arizona projects selected f ..read more

A man plays a historic horse racing machine at Colonial Downs racetrack in Virginia in 2019. Photo by Ned Oliver | Virginia Mercury Arizona’s gaming compact with Native American tribes in the state doesn’t allow for the use of so-called historic horse racing devices, Attorney General Kris Mayes concluded Thursday. And if lawmakers at some point were to authorize the devices in state law, it would trigger a “poison pill” provision in the gaming compact that would release tribes from limits on how many gambling machines and what kinds are used in their casinos, and they would have to pay less o ..read more