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Two-foot-high kick, Traditional Games, 2023. (Photo by Stacy Unzicker, courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute)

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Eighth annual Traditional Games kicks off this weekend, expanding Indigenous representation

Native Youth Olympics carry on Indigenous values with athletes reaching for their personal bests.

Clockwise from top center: Malia Towne, Mackenzie Englishoe, Sophie Swope and Jazmyn Lee Vent. (Image by Mer Young/High Country News)

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How Alaska Native youth are protecting the land for their future ancestors

Four women devoting careers to preservation of Indigenous lifeways under threat in Alaska.

(Illustration by Stephanie Harold)

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Woven Peoples and Place: Seals, science and sustenance

Xunaa (Hoonah) necropsy involves hunters and students

One of Nicholas Galanin’s completed totem poles, the Kaagwaantaan pole located in downtown Juneau as part of the Kootéeyaa Deiyí, on March 17, 2025. (Photo by Molly Johnson)

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Southeast carvers will create two more totem poles for Juneau’s waterfront Kootéeyaa Deiyí

Master crafters in Sitka, Hoonah will teach apprentices techniques and heritage as part of project.

‘Wáats’asdiyei Joe Yates, Raye Lankford, X̱’unei Lance Twitchell and Rochelle Adams pose with the Children’s and Family Emmy Award award Lankford and Twitchell won for co-writing the an episode of the PBS animated children’s show “Molly of Denali.” (Photo courtesy of ‘Wáats’asdiyei Joe Yates)

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‘Molly of Denali’ episode wins best writing honor at 2025 Children’s and Family Emmy Awards

First Emmy win for animated PBS show goes to episode co-writers X̱’unei Lance Twitchell and Raye Lankford.

The Tlingit and Haida Elders Group performs the entrance dance at the 89th annual Tribal Assembly of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

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Trump rescinds Biden executive order expanding tribal sovereignty and self-governance

Order giving Natives more access to federal funds cited in awarding of major Southeast Alaska projects.

Katrina Hotch is the Sustainable Southeast Partnership’s Community Catalyst for the Chilkat Valley. (Photo by Ḵaa Yahaayí Shkalneegi Muriel Reid)

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Woven Peoples and Place: Sharing knowledge as an honor and responsibility

A Q&A with Chilkat Valley Community Catalyst Katrina Hotch

Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people gather in Juneau for the opening of Celebration on June 5, 2024. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

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New lawsuit seeks to limit Alaska Native tribes’ authority, stop Eklutna gambling hall

State challenges legal interpretation that allows tribes to exert authority over as much as 2.7M acres.

Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich and his supporters wave campaign signs at the corner of the Seward Highway and Northern Lights Boulevard on Nov. 4, 2024, the day before Election Day. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

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U.S. House passes two bills from Alaska Rep. Nick Begich

One month into his term, Alaska’s lone representative says he’s generally satisfied with how things have gone so…

A sign at the former Floyd Dryden Middle School on Monday, June 24, 2024, commemorates the school being in operation from 1973 to 2024. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)

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Assembly ponders Floyd Dryden for tribal youth programs, demolishing much of Marie Drake for parking

Tlingit and Haida wants to lease two-thirds of former middle school for childcare and tribal education.

The renovated Edward K. Thomas Building, used by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, has been frequented in recent days by residents seeking tribal IDs. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Natives in Juneau rushing to get tribal IDs amidst fears of immigration detentions

115 IDs issued Tuesday is “incredibly not normal,” tribal president says; no local detentions confirmed.

President Trump signed a series of executive orders in the first hours of his term. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

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Birthright citizenship of Native Americans questioned by Trump administration

Justice Department makes argument defending executive order suspending birthright citizenship.

Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (right) listens to Katherine George-Byrd ahead of Saturday’s bombardment apology ceremony. George-Byrd, a Kiks’adi clan mother, talked to the senator about the at.óow on the table before them. At.óow are clan items that provide a connection between current clan members and their ancestors. (Sam Pausman / Wrangell Sentinel)

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U.S. Army delivers historic apology for 1869 Wrangell bombardment; three of seven clans accept

Unlike Kake and Angoon apologies, some in Wrangell reject military’s words and seek further reparations.

The pavilion at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, seen Wednesday, is the proposed site for a new set of up to five totem poles carved by local tribal artists. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Proposed totem poles at Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center get icy reception from some tribal residents

Concerns raised about accurate representation of area’s Native peoples, project’s sudden announcement

A map shows where five proposed totem poles would be placed at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. (U.S. Forest Service)

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Five new totem poles proposed at Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center as part of stewardship agreement

Open house Wednesday to discuss project intended to “represent several Tlingit and Haida clans.”

Village of Wrangell (Ḵaachx̱aana.áakʼw in Tlingit) in 1868 on present day Front Street. (Photo by Eadward Muybridge)

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Plans taking shape for Saturday’s Army apology for 1869 bombardment of Wrangell

Program starts by retracing steps of Shx’atoo, the Tlingit man hanged by Army after the 1869 attack.

An aerial view of L’áan Yík (Channel inside or Port Camden) with cars and people gathered on the bridge over Yéil Héeni (Raven’s Creek) during a May 2024 convening on Kuiu Island. Partners that comprise the Ḵéex̱’ Ḵwáan Community Forest Partnership and staff from the Tongass National Forest met to discuss priorities for land use, stream restoration, and existing infrastructure on the north Kuiu road system. (Photo by Lee House)

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Woven Peoples and Place: U.S. Forest Service’s Tongass collaboration a ‘promise to the future’

Multitude of partners reflect on year of land management and rural economic development efforts.

The Wrangell shoreline with about two dozen buildings visible, including a Russian Orthodox church, before the U.S. Army bombardment in 1869. (Alaska State Library, U.S. Army Infantry Brigade photo collection)

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Army will issue January apology for 1869 bombardment of Wrangell

Ceremony will be the third by military to Southeast Alaska communities in recent months.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy (left) talks with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and local leaders during an Aug. 7 visit to a Mendenhall Valley neighborhood hit by record flooding. (Photo provided by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office)

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Dunleavy to Trump: Give us Mendenhall Lake; nix feds’ control of statewide land, wildlife, tribal issues

Governor asks president-elect for Alaska-specific executive order on dozens of policy actions.

Equipment arriving in Wrangell in January of 2023 has been set up to provide a test wireless broadband system being used by about a dozen households. (Photo courtesy of the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska)

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Testing underway of new Tlingit and Haida wireless internet service

About a dozen Wrangell households using service officials hope to expand elsewhere in Southeast.