Podcasts about kjzz

Ahead of the next legislative session this month, Arizona Democratic state lawmakers held a town hall at the end of December on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP). KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio has details. State Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales (Pascua Yaqui/D-AZ), chair of the Arizona legislature’s Indigenous Peoples Caucus, made no promises. “We will not have solutions for you today.” But she and others spent three hours listening. Reva Stewart (Diné) believes families are repeatedly asked to relive their trauma by testifying with no results. “Listening without action has become a pattern. Legislation without enforcement is not protection. Taskforce without authority or accountability are not solutions. Meetings without funding are not justice.” Roxanne Barley (Cocopah) complained that criteria changed for the state's Turquoise Alert, originally designed to notify the public of Indigenous disappearances. Of the five alerts in 2025, only one was for a Native American – a teen in Yuma. “That was the lie that we were promised, that was the hoax that we were told.” But State Sen. Theresa Hatathlie (Diné/D-AZ) explained how lawmakers negotiated and compromised. “And that is the ugly truth of politics.” Alaska state health officials are still recommending the hepatitis B vaccine for all newborns, despite a recent, controversial change in federal guidance. The virus has historically seriously impacted Alaska Native communities. Alaska Public Media's Rachel Cassandra has more. Hepatitis B is a virus spread through bodily fluids and from mother to baby during childbirth. Historically, Alaska has had high rates of hepatitis B, especially among Alaska Native people. In the 1970s, widespread infection led to high rates of liver cancer in Alaska Native children. State Epidemiology Chief Dr. Joe McLaughlin says screening and vaccinations have helped reduce rates of hepatitis B in the state. And McLaughlin says the vaccine is still important in Alaska, which has struggled with high rates of chronic hepatitis B. “This universal birth dosing helps to ensure every baby receives protection, regardless of their location or access to care or any follow-up challenges that they might have, this approach has definitely helped reduce disparities in hepatitis B outcomes across Alaska for decades.” Public health experts credit the vaccine with dramatically lowering the risk of developing chronic hepatitis B, serious liver diseases, and liver cancer. For over three decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that all babies across the country get the vaccine at birth. Then, last month, the CDC narrowed its guidance, recommending the vaccine only for infants born to women who test positive for the virus or whose status is unknown. The guidance says women who test negative should consult with a health care provider before vaccinating their newborn, but McLaughlin emphasizes that the CDC also acknowledged that each state has to consider its own hepatitis B rates and risk factors. “Alaska, where the rates are nearly three times the national average, clearly falls into a higher-risk category as a state in general. And our data support continuing universal birth dose vaccination to protect infants in Alaska.” Health insurers have said they will continue to cover the hepatitis B vaccine. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, January 6, 2026 — The Pleiades star cluster ushers in winter story season

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

Photo: Youth royalty from the Colorado River Indian Tribes stamp the Ireichō – or Book of Names – in Parker, Ariz. on October 25, 2025. (Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II is among the chapters of U.S. history that the Trump administration is actively working to erase. It is part of a sweeping campaign to remove so-called “disparaging” signs and markers of the country's past and focus only on “American greatness”. In the final installment of his series on the camps, KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio visits the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) to see how others are making sure victims are highlighted in – not erased from – the history books. Inside a strip mall owned by the tribe, hundreds flock to its museum in Parker, Ariz. Director Valerie Welsh-Tahbo says her space used to be an old swimwear shop. Tucked in one teal-hued corner is an exhibit dedicated to the Poston camp's 18,000 internees.  “This was already up here, this structure in this store and I said, ‘Let's hang onto this … just because of where it was situated, and that design, it just spawned that idea.” To honor Poston's past. another way the museum is paying respect is by welcoming Soto Zen Buddhist priest Duncan Ryūken Williams and his Ireichō. “Chō, chō means like a book or a registry, and so we created a book with everybody's names in it, and said, ‘How do we honor everyone?' And we came up with this idea of stamping or placing this mark under people's names.” The Japanese word Irei essentially means “to console the spirits”, and that's what Wiliams hopes his book does by bringing forth personhood and dignity – one name at a time. “A lot of government camp rosters mangle Japanese names, and so we can't honor people if their names are misspelled.” And their goal? “To make sure all 125,284 people whose names are printed in this book get at least one mark of acknowledgement.” There's still 30,000 names unmarked, but Williams has a plan. “We'll just systematically, from the beginning of the book, invite the general public to come and place a mark under the next name in the sequence of names that doesn't yet have a mark.” “I think this person – Hisayo Kotsubo – does not yet have a stamp. She's born in the year 1897 so if I could ask you to just place this stamp right under the letter H.” Their blue-tipped stamp is no bigger than your thumb. Some even practiced that art of dotting with Susan Kamei. “It's a personal story.” Her parents, grandparents, and one set of great-grandparents were internees. Her dad's side was brought to Poston, while her mom's ended up in Heart Mountain, Wyo. “I try to put myself in their shoes.” 84-year-old Janet Brothers doesn't have to imagine, because she lived it. “I was here at camp as a baby. I was six months old … feeling the heat, looking around, and seeing the desert and the mountains, knowing that's what my parents saw every day, was very emotional for me.” The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is remembering the life of former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne/R-CO), who died Tuesday at age 92. NCAI President Mark Macarro in a statement said Campbell broke barriers and left a path for those who seek to follow as leaders in Indian Country and in America. Sen. Campbell is being remembered for his work on Indian policy and elevating Indian Country issues, serving on the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The Associated Press reports, his daughter said Campbell died of natural causes surround by family. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Wednesday, December 31, 2025 – Memorable moments in Native film and TV in 2025

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

During World War II, Japanese Americans were held captive in 10 internment camps throughout the US. Two of them in Arizona, built on reservations without tribal consent. In our last story, we heard how the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) in western Arizona have made a point to preserve the remnants of one such war-time prison. Today, KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio takes us to the state's other site, which sits well-hidden in the shadows of Phoenix – slowly fading away atop of the Gila River Indian Community. He had the privilege to see this restricted site twice this year with the tribe's Wally Jones, who supervised his trip. “I can't give, really the location. I wanted to, but people do search it.” They first met in April at the Chevron gas station in Bapchule, Ariz. about 30 miles south of downtown Phoenix. The tribe did not allow KJZZ to record inside the camp itself, but Jones agreed to let Pietrorazio document their short ride there. No matter who is coming out, Jones stresses they're not tours. “This is not a tourist camp. This is a regulated entry that the department processes for the council's consideration for your visit. It's not just anyone can come out here. These are one of the few sites that the community allows non-members to come in and kind of experience what was here.” What was here in 1942 would've equated to Arizona's fourth-largest city, home to over 13,000 internees stuck in the Sonoran Desert. “The camp is not maintained. The community has decided to let nature recapture its natural state, but there are remnants of various barracks, facilities.” And there are at least 230 ornate garden ponds – now dried up – that prisoners built. “It always amazes me that we find these ponds out here, that it was a signal of their tradition and their hope that they would not let their culture fade away.” Seven months later, Pietrorazio returned – this time not on his own, but as a guest of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in a caravan of at least 20 vehicles. Bill Staples Jr. is president of the JACL Arizona chapter. “And I was really touched by how emotionally connected the Gila River Indian Community was in welcoming the Japanese Americans…” Pietrorazio caught up with Staples at the tribe's Huhugam Heritage Center after a November ceremony. Also there, making the trip from Seattle, was 85-year-old camp survivor Sylvia Domoto. “They've been so welcoming and continue to respect and to keep the land there, so that we can say, ‘Yes, this really happened. It isn't just a fantasy.'” Suicide prevention sign and phone on the east sidewalk of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif. (Photo: Guillaume Paumier / Wikimedia) A new law in California aimed at preventing suicides is taking effect in the new year. The measure requires the transportation and public health departments to identify best practices and countermeasures to avoid suicides on state bridges and overpasses. The bill by Assemblymember James Ramos (Serrano/Cahuilla/D-CA) builds on his previous work, which includes efforts to improve mental health services and the establishment of a suicide prevention office. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, December 30, 2025 — The Menu: A memoir and a documentary film document two tribes' connections to food sovereignty

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

Arizona tribal reservations were home to two of the nation's 10 internment camps during World War II. On the western edge of the state, the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) welcome visitors to see abandoned relics from that dark past. In fact, there is even an annual pilgrimage – and this year, KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio went along, in part three of his ongoing series. One way to remember those who lived – and died – at the internment camp officially known as the Colorado River Relocation Center, and more commonly known as Poston, is by rebuilding, with CRIT entrusting the care of crumbling buildings to the nonprofit behind the pilgrimage. Barbara Darden is a preservation architect from Aurora, Colo. “It's not Poston Community Alliance. It's not anybody that we work for. The building is our client.” She's been restoring Poston piece-by-piece since 2009, turning that camp into a construction zone – this time, along with Andrew Phillips, owner of a Durango, Colo. company called Natural Dwelling. “The same mud, the same walls, the same exact material being reworked a second time around.” In October, camp survivors and descendants repaired a classroom wall internees made from adobe clay and mud. Youth groups from the Colorado River Indian Tribes honor Poston pilgrimage guests with bird dances and songs on October 25, 2025. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ) “My first guess is they were able to find these little pockets of windblown clay in the foothills here … they used the few scant resources they had, made great brick and their workmanship and their mix design and how they laid it and stacked it and built it, is all top drawer.” For the restoration, new slabs were hauled out from a Phoenix, Ariz. brickyard to replace that broken wall, but the old material isn't going to waste. It's being blended into new mortar that will fill in the cracks, using a mixer much like one the U.S. Army gifted to internees over eight decades ago. Hard work also being done by CRIT member Adrian Antone Jr. to restore vandalized structures. “I thought it was pretty disrespectful. And so finally, giving my part to help out, especially build this little wall.” Darden dreamt of rebuilding a lot more. “We would love to restore everything.” But that comes with a big price tag, defrayed by National Park Service grants to preserve interment sites like this one. Now, the Trump administration is eradicating signs marking the camps and other so-called “disparaging” reminders of the country's history. “We do not anticipate any more grants. Being more realistic, we're looking at maybe four buildings here, and then the others will just have to let them go and watch them fall into ruin.” Either way, CRIT will keep working to protect this history – one brick at a time. President Donald Trump signed a bill into law on Friday that will give Alaska Native veterans more time to file for their Native allotments. KNBA’s Rhonda McBride has more. The deadline to apply is Monday, December 29, but legislation passed earlier this month gives veterans a five-year extension. The Native allotment program was created more than 100 years ago to put more federal land into private ownership. It allowed individual Alaska Natives to each claim 160 acres, but when the federal program ended in 1971. Vietnam vets missed out, because many were overseas fighting the war. As of mid-December, only about 25% of eligible veterans had applied for their allotments. Many said the process was too difficult to navigate. U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), one of the main sponsors of the bill, said he will make staff available to assist veterans with their applications. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Monday, December 29, 2025 – Wounded Knee's perpetual stain on history

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

The Alaska chapter of Safari Club International took a group of men from Kipnuk deer hunting last month. The hunters were evacuees from a storm that ravaged the Western Alaska coast, unleashed by Typhoon Halong. After more than a month of staying in shelters and hotel rooms in Anchorage, they were quick to accept the invitation. As KNBA's Rhonda McBride tells us, what transpired turned out to be more than just a hunt. The Safari Club and Alaska Native subsistence hunters have often been on the opposite side in debates over fish and game management. And some who have followed the politics over the years find it puzzling that the Safari Club reached out to help Kipnuk hunters displaced by the storm. But John Sturgeon, a longtime Safari Club member, says it should not be a surprise. “The Safari Club and the subsistence people are much closer together than most folks would think. We're hunters. They're hunters.” Sturgeon helped to organize the hunt. “We have the resources to help. And them eating wild game and going out after wild game is really important to them. And we just said, ‘Well, this is something we can do to help, especially at Christmas time.' So we're hoping this will make a few people happy.” What started out with five hunters snowballed. The evacuees had no clothes or gear, which they either lost in the storm or had to leave behind. Club members loaned them guns and scopes. One dug into his own pocket to outfit them for the hunt. The Safari Club bought them hunting licenses and chartered a boat from Whittier, Alaska to Montague Island, where the men took nine Sitka black-tailed deer. It's the first time Darrell John had gone hunting since an ocean surge carried his house away. “We were hunting deer on a beach, which I never ever thought I would be hunting.” “When I was gutting deer, I knew my family was going to eat something. Made me feel like I was providing for my family again.” Although John never dreamed he'd go hunting in a such in a faraway place like Prince William Sound, he suddenly felt more like his old self. When the hunters returned, they wanted to share their catch with others displaced by the storm. Suddenly plans mushroomed into a feast to feed more than 200. The Safari Club collected donations of fish and wild game, which included a seal from Kodiak Island. John's wife Lacey John knew right away what was cooking. “Seals have a strong scent. The seal that was baking. It smelled like home. I just breathed in. (laughter) ” Karson Apodaca. (Courtesy Sayetsitty Family / gofundme) A Christmas parade on the Navajo Nation was suddenly cut short this week after a suspected drunk driver struck and killed a child and injured three bystanders. KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio has details. The Kayenta Township near Monument Valley shared joy on social media ahead of its annual Christmas market and parade at the rodeo grounds. “The parade is going to start on Navajo Route 591, which is right behind Chevron, okay? It's like you're going to the flea market here if you live in Kayenta … That one's gonna start right at 5:00 p.m., so be ready.” But about 10 minutes later, that holiday cheer came to an abrupt halt after an alleged drunk driver entered the parade route and hit four people, including a child and a pregnant woman. The Navajo Police Department confirmed three-year-old Karson Apodaca died and a suspect is in custody. The Kayenta community and guests came together to honor and remember Karson Apodaca with a peaceful vigil walk, the singing of Christmas carols, and the decoration of a Christmas tree in his honor, followed by prayer circle. (Courtesy Sayetsitty Family / GoFundMe) The sale of alcohol, as well as possession and consumption, is prohibited on tribal land. Josephine Romines, a volunteer from Unconquered Life, during the Holiday Resource Rally on December 10 in Ada, Okla, which served about 800 families during the event. (Courtesy Chickasaw Nation) This year, the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma and Feed the Children partnered to bring holiday packages to an estimated 800 Ada, Okla. area families. The recent drive-thru distribution included a 25 lbs. box of food, and a 15lbs box of personal care items, books, toys, and other products. This is the 10th year the tribe and organization have partnered to help families during the holidays. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Friday, December 26, 2025 – For all its promise, AI is a potential threat to culture

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning news podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

Long before World War II, the U.S. forced Native Americans onto reservations. After the Pearl Harbor bombing in 1941, the U.S. forced Japanese Americans into camps. In Arizona, the federal government once again looked to Indian reservations. In part two of his series on World War II internment camps in Arizona, KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio has more. None of the eight other internment camps in the U.S. were on tribal lands, so why here in Arizona? UCLA anthropology professor Koji Lau-Ozawa has an answer. “John Collier, who was the commissioner of Indian Affairs at the time, advocated for all of the camps to be put on reservation lands. He thought that the Office of Indian Affairs was well suited to this task of managing these confined racialized populations.” The “Indian New Deal”, as FDR called it, was part of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and tried making amends for past treatment by investing in tribal infrastructure. That was, until the war effort began. “Funds were starting to dry up. This presented an opportunity.” An opportunity to turn Japanese Americans into a source of prison labor to develop tribal resources, as shown by a 1943 propaganda film narrated by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's brother, Milton, about an internment camp in western Arizona. Brian Niiya says the U.S. embraced a stereotype. “Japanese Americans, with their supposed expertise and farming and agriculture, could help build up the land that would allow for the Native Americans to benefit from – without the consent of the tribes themselves, of course.” Niiya is editor of Densho Encyclopedia, which chronicles the camps' history. Without much legal representation or political clout at that time, the Gila River Indian Community and Colorado River Indian Tribes both tried fighting camp construction, but failed. “Through the Office of Indian Affairs, I think there was just a thought that we could bulldoze our way through.” Once again, today's federal government is butting up against tribal land. The Trump administration's “Alligator Alcatraz” is being built near the Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park. “We're right in the middle of it. We have members that live within 500 feet of the detention center. You know, it's not like this distant thing that it is for a lot of Floridians in Naples or Miami.” Talbert Cypress is chairman of the 600-member Miccosukee Tribe, which brought Alligator Alcatraz to a halt. “We don't go to war anymore with the tomahawk or anything like that. You know, we go to courtrooms now, and we go to meetings with politicians.” (Photo courtesy Maxpixel / Boise City Archives, John Hardy Family Collection, MS084) Children across the country are being raised by relatives or close family friends. The Mountain West News Bureau's Daniel Spaulding has more on a new report highlighting the challenges facing these kinship families, which are more common within Indigenous communities. According to the U.S. Government of Accountability Office (GAO), these households are more likely to experience poverty and mental health issues. Kinship families are common in Mountain West states with high Indigenous populations like New Mexico and Arizona. Kathy Larin at GAO says kin caregiving is an important part of tribal culture, but because many Indigenous caregivers are outside the formal foster care system, they often receive less financial support. “One of the biggest challenges that we heard across the board for grandparents and other relatives that are raising, you know, their relative children is just the financial burden of it.” Larin says states could adopt standards and programs designed to better support kinship families. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling https://www.nativeamericacalling.com/wednesday-december-24-2025-2025-in-native-books/

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

The Lumbee Tribe is celebrating the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes legislation to grant the tribe federal recognition. The U.S. Senate passed the defense bill Wednesday, as Lumbee citizens gathered in Pembroke, N.C. for a watch party. Lumbee Chairman John Lowery was in Washington D.C. for the vote, and shared a short video message saying he's the last chairman to go the nation’s capital to fight for full federal recognition. “Now our children and our grandchildren, our great grandchildren can come up here working and fighting and promoting other things for our people.” The tribe has sought federal status for more than a century. The Lumbee's effort has faced opposition, including by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, while President Donald Trump promised the Lumbee Tribe federal recognition. President Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt in 1941 and President Donald Trump in 2025 invoking the Alien Enemies Act. This December marked the 84th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor bombing – a shocking attack that drew the U.S. into World War II and unleashed a wave of anti-Japanese hysteria. While the U.S. would join a global fight against fascism and Nazi concentration camps, it was erecting camps of its own at home, forcing tens of thousands of Japanese Americans into internment. Two of those camps were set up on tribal lands in Arizona. In the first of a 5-part series, KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio examines the law that has given presidents power to imprison perceived enemies. It all began December 7, 1941, a Sunday morning in Hawaii, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. More than 2,400 souls were lost at the naval base on the island of Oʻahu. The U.S. was suddenly swept into the Pacific Theater. “And we're going to fight it with everything we've got.” During President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's “Day of Infamy” speech, he invoked the Alien Enemies Act. It's a 1798 wartime law authorizing the president to legally detain and deport anyone suspected of engaging in acts like espionage and sabotage. “Not only must the shame of Japanese treachery be wiped out, but the forces of international brutality wherever they exist, must be absolutely and finally broken.” Weeks later, President Roosevelt directed the Secretary of War to herd more than 120,000 people with Japanese ancestry into camps in Arizona, California, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and as far east as Arkansas. Two-thirds of prisoners were American-born citizens. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt had empathized with them, even touring a camp south of Phoenix in 1943. Barbara Perry says Mrs. Roosevelt was simply ahead of her time. “And certainly on how she viewed Japanese Americans, but she couldn't convince her husband of that.” Perry is co-chair of the Presidential Oral History Program at the University of Virginia. She also points out precedent was set a century prior when President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 – marching tribes west of the Mississippi River. “America was pretty discriminatory…” Despite not being at war, President Trump reinvoked the Alien Enemies Act on day one of his second term. “…to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks, bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities.” This proclamation wasn't surprising to John Woolley, co-director of the American Presidency Project at UC Santa Barbara. “This is a domestic political rallying point that is very powerful with Donald Trump's base.” Part two explores why a pair of Arizona reservations were picked to house the camps. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Thursday, December 18, 2025 — Amid Greenland's independence push, Denmark accounts for colonial blunders

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning news podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation neighboring Fountain Hills, Ariz. recently dealt with reports of “aggressive dogs running loose”, resulting in attacks that prompted its police department to increase patrols while urging the public to stay away. KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio reports. Two tribal members were bitten last week and are now recovering from non-lethal injuries, according to acting chief of police Jesse Puffer. “We did catch three out of the four dogs.” Incidents like this are not uncommon on tribal lands with canines roaming their 24,000-acre reservation. Some are seen as strays – often dogs that are dumped there by owners who do not wish to keep them – while others are claimed by tribal members as pets. “We also have a dog ordinance, too, so people get cited for that as well – depending on what the nature anywhere from, you know, $150 fine and plus you and it can be higher if you can't show record of vaccination and also licensing.” The documentary “Remaining Native” tracks Yerington Paiute Tribal member Ku Stevens as he confronts the horror of what his great-grandfather went through in boarding school. Stevens created a remembrance run tracking the same route his great-grandfather took to escape his boarding school. KNPR's Jimmy Romo attended a screening of the film and brings us this report. Warning: This story includes accounts of violence against children In 1913, government officials ripped 8-year-old Yerington Paiute Tribe member Frank Quinn from his family and placed him in the Stewart Indian Boarding School near Carson City, Nev.  As part of her history PhD studies at UNLV, Annie Delgado researches what actually happened to Native children in the U.S. boarding school system. “The early years are just filled with trauma, abuse, pain, and just assimilation.”   Many students tried to escape the abuse. Quinn's great-grandson Ku Stevens is the protagonist in the documentary, “Remaining Native”. In the film, viewers learn, along with Stevens, the story of his great-grandfather. To remember the courage of Native children who tried to escape, Stevens organized a remembrance run from Yerington, Nev. to the Stewart Indian School.  The first run took place in 2021, followed by three others. The route marked the same 50-mile run Quinn took to go back home, as Stevens explains.   “They were running, sweating and bleeding. I think of this guy Russell, who I consider just like an uncle, broke both his feet, fractured them by the end of the run. And he did all 50 miles.”   In the most recent class action lawsuit, the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California filed a case against the federal government in May. They are suing over misused funds. Currently, the sovereign nations are requesting the U.S. itemize a $23 billion trust fund, established by pressuring Native nations to sign agreements. Most of  these treaties promised that the U.S. would educate Indigenous children in exchange for their land. That wasn't what happened, according to UNLV's Annie Delgado. “The United States government itself knows that these schools did not educate [children] the way they intended to educate.”  The communal trauma of boarding schools still affects Indigenous families across the nation.  “Remaining Native” is still available for community screenings. The Bridging Agency Data Gaps & Ensuring Safety for Native Communities Act has passed the U.S. Senate. It supports the recruitment and retention of Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) law enforcement officers, bolsters federal missing persons resources, and gives Tribes and states tools to combat MMIP. The legislation is led by U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NM), John Hoeven (R-ND), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), and Mike Rounds (R-SD).   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Tuesday, December 16, 2025 – Native in the Spotlight: Randy Taylor

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

A Tucson, Ariz. resident is facing federal charges for allegedly excavating and trafficking archeological resources from the Gila River Indian Community. The U.S. Attorney's Office says 46-year-old Leo Reynoso stands accused of violating the Archeological Resources Protection Act. Prosecutors said Reynoso allegedly removed several artifacts from the community without authorization. This included jewelry, Indian Trader tokens, crucifixes, and buttons from archeological sites on tribal land. He also stands accused of selling these items without a permit. The archeological value of the items is estimated at $29,000, while the cost of repairing the archeological sites is estimated at $23,000. If convicted, Reynoso faces a $20,000 fine and could get up to two years in prison. U.S. soldiers at a burial for some of those who were killed at Wounded Knee, S.D. on January 1, 1891. December 29 will mark 130 years since the Wounded Knee Massacre. In part two of his story, KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio shares some Native reactions to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's assertion that the soldiers who took part in the violent and tragic incident deserved their Medals of Honor. David Martinez (Akimel O'odham) is founder and director of ASU's Institute for Transborder Indigenous Nations. “Wherever you see America invading, sending troops, trying to intimidate – all that comes from America's original attitude towards the so-called frontier, which was regarded as wild, which was regarded as dangerous, which was regarded as full of savages.” From the Utes across modern-day Utah and Colorado to the Apaches in Arizona and New Mexico, the Army fought over a dozen conflicts predating federal recognition of tribal governments. “There's not a tribe anywhere in North America that did not experience deep, historic trauma.” Even the Bureau of Indian Affairs emerged in 1824 from within the original War Department. Two centuries later, Martinez suggests it's fitting that President Donald Trump has restored the agency's old moniker. “Well, for me, the Department of War is the true name, because, from my point of view as an Indigenous person, the objective in America's conquest of Indian Country was to make Indian Country like America. It did so at the expense of Indian land and people. And so the reservation system that we see around us today, which includes my people, Akimel O'odham, is a product of war.” Lakota attorney Chase Iron Eyes calls the reservations prison camps. “There are those of us who never perceived an end of war. If you look at what the reservation system is, it's not peace, prosperity, and privilege for Native people; it's a little open-air prison camp.” For Iron Eyes, who runs the Lakota People's Law Project, Wounded Knee is deeply personal. “As the great-great grandson of people who were killed at Wounded Knee, nobody in their right mind takes pride in the slaughtering of non-combatants – women and children.” Marlis Afraid of Hawk grew up hearing horror stories from her grandfather, Richard, who was only 13 when he survived Wounded Knee. The 68-year-old Oglala Lakota elder insists Sec. Hegseth is wrong. “He's in denial, look it up. But he's not going to.” Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out the latest episode of Native America Calling Friday, December 12, 2025 — Persistence pays off for tribes working to remove disturbing public monuments

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ news.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.

KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.