Monday, December 15, 2025

For the last few months, Navajo Nation leaders have been butting heads over who is its official controller – the person responsible for handling the tribe’s finances.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren tried firing that top official.

As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, that dispute is now over.

Sean McCabe has been reaffirmed as the sole lawful controller through a legally binding stipulation between him and President Nygren, which also orders Controller McCabe to receive backpay and have his attorney fees covered.

Nygren recently apologized for sending profanity-laced texts leaked by McCabe to council delegates.

“I used language that I shouldn’t have. In moments of great stress we don’t always act as our best selves. This was one such occasion for me.”

The October exchange preceded his sudden termination.

Screenshots show Nygren pressured McCabe to unlock his government-issued purchase card, but McCabe told him there’s no budget.

Nygren reiterates that his agreement with McCabe isn’t a “compelled admission” of any “unlawful action” or “wrongdoing.”

Quinhagak resident Patrick Jones deploys a buoy in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region in early summer 2025. (Photo: Sean Gleason)

A program that helps boaters in Indigenous coastal communities use buoys to track weather conditions wrapped up another season this fall.

Advocates of the Backyard Buoys program say it increased safety for fishermen in Western Alaska – and helped hunters in Alaska’s Arctic land whales.

The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more.

Several years ago, seven boaters went missing in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region and were never found. The loss motivated residents to find ways to better understand their changing waterways.

Nalaquq is an organization that integrates Indigenous knowledge into research in the region. The company joined a nationwide initiative, called the Backyard Buoy project, and deployed three buoys in the area for the first time this year. Lynn
Marie Church is Nalaquq’s chief executive officer.

“We wanted to understand what was going on in our ocean … in our waterways, especially with the changes in the environment that we’ve seen over the past 10 years.”

Backyard Buoys project helps Indigenous coastal communities in Ala