National Native News

Photo: Navajo pro bull rider Cody Jesus sits on a bull named Dead Red as he prepares for his first ride on home turf after recently being acquired by the team on October 8, 2026. (Emma Bradford)

An Arizona-born bull rider from the Navajo Nation recently celebrated a homecoming.

KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more from Desert Diamond Arena in the Phoenix metro.

Nicknamed the “Pride of the Navajo Nation”, Cody Jesus...

A college student near her hometown of Point Lay, Alaska made a startling discovery last month: A baby walrus sandwiched between two carcasses, as Alaska Public Media’s Casey Grove reports.

Violet Anniskett (Iñupiaq) was helping with a walrus survey on Alaska’s northwest coast.

“And I saw the stomach like move, and I was like wait. Take a step closer and his eyes opened-up.”

The calf had been under attack fr...

Photo: Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, D-Minnesota, connects with a student during an Indigenous Peoples Day event on Monday, October 12, 2026. (Courtesy Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan / Facebook)

Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations in Minnesota gave educators a chance to spark curiosity for Native history.

As Mike Moen reports, Minnesota is rolling out enhanced learning opportunities in K-12 schools and state law now requires teachers to comple...

The investigation into the death of a 19-year-old Alaska Native college student in January is still ongoing.

As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, Anchorage Police say they have taken some unusual steps.

Kelly Hunt’s teachers remember her as a strong student with a bright future. They say she hoped to return to Shaktoolik one day to become a teacher or work in health care.

Last week, the department reveale...

The Kitt Peak National Observatory is hosting a special family night tomorrow for the Tohono O’odham Nation, whose tribe views sacred the mountain that hosts over two dozen research telescopes.

And as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, a science center there has been renamed in southern Arizona.

Long before the National Science Foundation looked to the starry sky, O’odhams like Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan stood atop I...

Photo Courtesy Stewardship Utah / Instagram

Rural Native American voters in Utah often face long distances, unreliable mail service, and changing election rules ahead of the November 3 midterm election.

As Mark Richardson reports, the challenges are especially acute in rural San Juan County.

The Navajo Nation covers about one-third of the county’s land, with more than 6,000 people in that portion of the county.

Lenise Peterma...

Photo: The Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Windracers ULTRA drone, carrying chilled human blood samples, takes off from Nenana Municipal Airport on Aug. 19, 2026. (Pietr Buttelmann / Sysmex)

Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have completed a 620-mile drone test flight to see if human blood stays stable in transit.

The new means of delivery could dramatically reshape health care services in th...

Photo: Gallup Indian Medical Center, where some of the forced sterilization took place. (Francine K. Smith / IHS/NAV)

A new group of 34 experts is working on a report about the forced sterilization of Indigenous women.

As KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) reports, this comes after the passage of a Senate Memorial in this year’s New Mexico legislative session.

The memorial directs the state’s India...

Photo: Rhyolite formations at Chiricahua National Monument in southern Arizona. (Charles Dischinger)

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill last week that would turn the Chiricahua National Monument in Cochise County into Arizona’s fourth national park.

As KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, the southern Arizona congressman who championed the bill is confident it will get President Donald Trump’s signature.

Chi...