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Prairie Band chairman discusses ICE contract exit and oversight of tribal businesses

18 October 2026 Elyse Wild, Native News Online

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick discussed his tribe’s decision to end its involvement in a $29.9 million federal contract to design potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities.

White Earth narrows land trust proposal for Minnesota casino

18 Oct

The White Earth Nation plans to seek federal trust status for 80 acres in Clay County, Minn., cutting the acreage in its proposed casino trust application by nearly three-quarters to address local...

Built for buffalo: A different kind of solar project at Standing Rock

October 19

Wózu Inc. relied on generators to power its buffalo barn on the Standing Rock Reservation after the building’s electrical service was disconnected. Staff used the barn to treat animals and...

Q+A: San Manuel Chairwoman Lynn Valbuena on hotel investments and economic diversification

October 18

Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation is expanding its luxury hotel portfolio to diversify its economy as its gaming business marks its 40th year.

Mississippi Choctaw secures $12.6 million for industrial park, workforce training

October 18

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has secured $12.6 million in federal grants to develop an industrial park and equip a workforce training center, pairing space for business tenants with...

DOE launches tribal energy research training program at national labs

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs has launched a program offering tribal staff, students and tribal college and university faculty hands-on research...

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.

Agua Caliente tribe expands fuel business with third Coachella Valley station

Economic Development

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians is expanding its fuel business with a third station in California’s Coachella Valley, adding a Cathedral City location less than two months after opening one in Palm Springs.

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...

Seminole Tribe sues DraftKings over alleged illegal sports betting in Florida

Gaming

The Seminole Tribe of Florida sued DraftKings and CEO Jason Robins on Oct. 8, seeking to shut down products it alleges constitute illegal sports betting and divert revenue from its gaming operations and government services.

Rincon tribe to close brewery, ending nearly a decade in craft beer

Food | Agriculture

The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians will close Rincon Reservation Road Brewery at the end of October, ending nearly a decade in craft beer for a venture billed as Southern California’s first tribally owned and operated brewery on tribal land.

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.

Siletz coastal land return builds on broader reclamation effort

Real Estate

A small stretch of Oregon’s central coast is returning to tribal stewardship after more than a century and a half as part of a long effort to restore lands once taken from the Siletz Indians.

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 Hawaiian-owned Shearwater, TekSynap launch federal IT joint venture

Native Contracting

Shearwater, a Native Hawaiian Organization-owned federal contractor, and TekSynap have launched ShearTek Government Services, a joint venture that will pursue federal technology contracts.

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.

ASU renames tribal policy institute, expands digital and leadership programs

Higher Education

Arizona State University has renamed its American Indian Policy Institute the Tribal Nations Policy Institute, a change its leaders say better reflects its work with tribal governments and their citizens.

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.

Alaska tribes establish conservation district to advance stewardship, access federal resources

Energy | Environment

An intertribal commission and its member tribes have completed an agreement with the Department of Agriculture intended to strengthen land stewardship, habitat protection and coordinated resource management across a large region of western and interior Alaska.

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...

Minnesota finds discrimination in businesses’ rejection of tribal IDs

Policy and Law

Two Minnesota businesses denied Native customers banking services and bar service by rejecting identification issued by their tribal nations, according to state civil rights investigations announced Oct. 16.

Most Recent

Agua Caliente tribe expands fuel business with third Coachella Valley station

Rincon tribe to close brewery, ending nearly a decade in craft beer

Minnesota finds discrimination in businesses’ rejection of tribal IDs

Built for buffalo: A different kind of solar project at Standing Rock

DOE launches tribal energy research training program at national labs

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