Podcast: Play in new window | Download (54.0MB) | Embed

Installing and maintaining broadband internet on rural reservations is not cost effective. That’s why access to broadband on tribal land lags behind cities and even other rural areas. But some innovative companies are trying out new technologies and are spurring the federal government to update policies and offer incentives to expand into areas that have not been feasible before. Internet access is necessary for commerce, education and economic development. We’ll be live at the state of New Mexico’s first-ever Rural Networks Conference to hear how tribally-owned telecommunications companies are overcoming barriers to bring high speed internet to Native America.

Guests:

Jonathan Nez (Navajo) – President of the Navajo Nation

Cristopher Becenti (Navajo) – executive director of the Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission

Theresa Becenti-Aguilar (Navajo Nation ) – New Mexico Public Regulation Commissioner representing district 4

Godfrey Enjady (Mescalero Apache) – general manager for the Mescalero Apache Telecom Inc. and president of the National Tribal Telephone Association

John Badal – president and CEO of Sacred Wind Communications Inc.

Break Music:  Smoke Dance One (feat. Frazer Sundown) (song) DJ Shub (artist) PowWowStep (EP)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (27.0MB) | Embed

Tourists sometimes don’t bother to learn about tribal customs or wishes before visiting. Other times tourists take things that they shouldn’t or desecrate important places. Sometimes they’re just rude. The Navajo Nation had to specifically ask visitors to stop spreading cremated human remains in the picturesque Monument Valley. Internationally, the Indigenous Anangu are expressing concern over the damage caused by thousands of tourists eager to climb Uluru, a sacred mountain in Australia, before a climbing ban takes effect in October. We’ll get tips on how to be a good tourist and consider questions to think about before traveling to a tribal area.

Guests:

Sherry L. Rupert (Washoe/Paiute) – executive director of American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association

Sara Mathiun – owner of Go Native America

Mona Olivas Tucker (tribal member of the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and region) – tribal chair for yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and region

Louise Tsinijinnie (Navajo) – media representative for Navajo Parks and Recreation

Break 1 Music: War Cry Movement I (song) Cris Derksen (artist) The Cusp (album)

Break 2 Music: Let’s Hop to It (song) Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie (artist) Round Dance & Beats (Powwow) (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (54.0MB) | Embed

Alaska faces severe budget cuts that significantly affect higher education, social services, and public safety, especially in rural villages. We’ll get an update on efforts to both prepare for and halt the budget vetoes taking effect. A Navajo man is making a bid for the 2020 presidential race. His platform includes re-writing the constitution. Also authorities continue to clash with protesters in Hawai’i over the pending construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. We’ll get an update from people who are there. And the Red Press Initiative is looking at press freedom in Indian Country. We’ll find out why. We’ll round up the most recent news.

Mentioned on the show:

Dunleavy says budget vetoes weren’t too aggressive

A simple assignment? Nope. National Park Service warns journalist to leave memorial #YDL

Red Press Initiative

Indigenous Investigative Collective

Full interview with Mark Charles

Guests:

Andrew Kitchenman – State government and politics reporter at KTOO and Alaska Public Media

Dr. Kalamaoka’aina Niheu (Kanaka Maoli) – co-founder of the Standing Rock Medic Healer’s Council and the Mauna Medic Healer’s Hui

Jourdan Bennett-Begaye (Diné) – reporter and correspondent for Indian Country Today

Bryan Pollard (Cherokee Nation)- director of programs and strategic partnerships for the Native American Journalist Association

Tristan Ahtone (Kiowa) – associate editor for tribal affairs at High Country News

 

Break Music:  For Dallas (song) Fawn Wood (artist) Kikāwiynaw (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (54.0MB) | Embed

As New Mexico and Colorado argue about who has the best green chile, let’s not forget the plant’s Indigenous origins. Scientists believe the plant’s cultivation goes back as far as long as 9,000 years ago in Mexico. Different varieties of chiles swept the Americas and became part of many Indigenous communities. Christopher Columbus took a chile plant to Europe. He and other European traders had a hand in spreading it to Africa and Asia. Now, Native seed savers are working to preserve early versions of the plant. We’ll talk about this fiery pepper’s place in Native America, past and present.

Guests:

David Toledo (Jemez Pueblo)- Governor of Jemez Pueblo

Rick Coriz (Santo Domingo Pueblo) – owner Coriz Farm and Ranch

Miranda Cisnero – program coordinator Chile Pepper Institute

Gabriel Vega (Mestizo) – farm manager for the San Xavier Co-op Farm

Phyllis Valenzuela (Tohono O’odham) – tour and events coordinator for the San Xavier Co-Op

Break Music:  Plant The Seeds (song) Digging Roots (artist) We Are (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (54.0MB) | Embed

The Canadian government says it’s moving forward with the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion from Alberta to the west coast of British Columbia. But the proposed $4.5 billion project faces considerable opposition from a number of tribes and Indigenous groups. Construction would mean a new pipeline next to the existing line from Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, British Columbia. It would significantly increase the amount of oil flowing to tanker ships going to Pacific nations. Tribes on the U.S. side of the border express concern over the increased potential for a catastrophic oil spill. A coalition of First Nations is suing over a lack of consultation. But another Indigenous group is working on an investment strategy to benefit tribes along the pipeline route.

Guests:

Charlene Aleck (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) – councilor liaison for Sacred Trust Initiative

Merle Alexander – Principal at Miller Titerle + Company

Raynell Zuni (Lummi Tribe) – manager of the Lummi Nation Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office

Dr. Kurt Russo – senior policy analysist for the Lummi Nation Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office

Break Music:  O Canada (song) Asani (artist) Listen (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (54.0MB) | Embed

New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona lead the nation in the total number of hantavirus cases. But infections show up in more than two-thirds of the continental United States. Every year there are a handful of fatalities from complications of the virus that’s spread by mice. Native Americans are particularly susceptible. The mortality rate reported by the Navajo Nation Epidemiology Center is significantly higher than that of the general population. It’s not a new disease, but the first outbreak wasn’t identified until 1993 in the Four Corners area (New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona). We’ll get an update on efforts to tackle the spread of hantavirus.

Guests:

Del Yazzie (Navajo) – epidemiologist with Navajo Ep Center

Dr. Michelle Harkins – chief of pulmonary critical care and sleep medicine in the department of internal medicine at the University of New Mexico

Sandra Melman – zoonotic disease epidemiologist for NM DOH

Amy Kuenzi (Kinsey)-  professor of biology at Montana Te4ch

Dallin Peterson MPH – epidemiologist focused on animal and vector borne illnesses with Utah dep of health

Break Music:  Red Man Groove Thing (song) Aaron White and Anthony Wakeman (artist) Handprints Of Our People (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (27.0MB) | Embed

“Between Two Knees” is the first play from the Native comedy troupe, the 1491s. It’s at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon through Oct. 27. It’s a biting comedy that the Seattle Times calls “a loose pastiche of irreverent historical satire.” We’ll hear from the 1491s about using comedy and live theater to open a dialogue about systematic oppression.

Guests:

Dallas Goldtooth (Diné and Dakota) – Keep it in the Ground campaign organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network

Sterlin Harjo (Muskogee and Seminole)

Migizi Pensoneau (Ponca and Ojibwe)

Bobby Wilson (Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota)

Break 1 Music: NDN Kars (Remix) (song) A Tribe Called Red & Keith Secola (artist) NDN Kars (Remix) (single)

Break 2 Music: Niizh Straight (song) Niizhoo Sullivan (artist) Rez Kid Rhythm (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (27.0MB) | Embed

An investigation by the Los Angeles Times found the federal government and 18 states awarded at least $300 million in construction contracts to companies that claim to be owned by Native Americans. The contracts are specifically reserved for minority business owners. But the contractors’ heritage claims are unsubstantiated. The contractors say they are members of Cherokee groups like the Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory and the Northern Cherokee Nation which are not federally recognized. The investigation into the business owners awarded the contracts found no Cherokee relatives. We’ll talk about the investigation with one of the reporters and explore who qualifies for minority contracts.

Guests:

Adam Elmahrek – investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times

David Cornsilk (Cherokee Nation/United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indian in Oklahoma) – historian and genealogist

Sean McCabe (Diné) – managing shareholder of McCabe CPA

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Pakosiyimitan (album)

Break 2 Music: Niizh Straight (song) Niizhoo Sullivan (artist) Rez Kid Rhythm (album)