Thursday, May 1, 2025

Photo: Red Lake Nation Embassy in Minneapolis, Minn. (Courtesy Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians) The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians say they’re in touch with Minneapolis law enforcement after what could be gang-related shootings Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon that led to four deaths. KSTP News reports police say the shootings were three blocks apart. A 17-year-old boy, a 20-year-old woman, and a 27-year-old man were pronounced dead at the first scene. At the second, police found a man in his 30s who had been fatally shot near an intersection. All four fatalities are believed to be Native American. The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians said it plans to keep additional security present at its apartment building and embassy “around the clock”, while Minneapolis police keep up patrols. Oak Flat Campground. (Courtesy U.S. Forest Service / Public Domain) Some Apache people and their supporters are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will agree — soon — to hear a case involving a sacred site in Arizona that could become the largest copper mine in North America. Chuck Quirmbach of station WUWM reports. An appeals court narrowly ruled last year that the federal government could transfer the Oak Flat property east of Phoenix to Resolution Copper. Resolution, a joint venture of international mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP, wants to turn the 2,200 acres that is partly now a U.S. Forest Service campground into a mine two miles wide. That’s despite the Apache and other Native peoples using Oak Flat for sacred religious ceremonies for more than 1,000 years. For a decade, Henry Munoz served on the town council of nearby Superior, Ariz. He recently told the Society of Environmental Journalists that he supports tribal religious freedom. “I’m not Apache. But, I do know a lot about their religions and cultures. What’s happening to the Apache people with their first amendment rights is not right.” Munoz also chairs the Concerned Citizens Retired Miners Coalition. He says he usually backs mining, but worries about Resolution Copper promising to use an underground ore removal technique known as block cave. “Very destructive. What it does is devour Mother Earth, whether it be water, trees, anything in its path.” Resolution Copper says it’s committed to protecting the land and surrounding area while the mine is open and after mining is completed. The Trump administration says it would approve a land swap needed to open a mine at Oak Flat. Mining opponents have asked a lower court to block that transfer, while waiting to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case of Apache Stronghold v. United States. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says he’s reviewing the boundaries of several national monuments. As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel reports, officials are reportedly considering shrinking at least six national monuments in the West to increase energy development on public lands. The monuments under review include Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks in New Mexico, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni of the Grand Canyon and Ironwood Forest in Arizona, and Chuckwalla in California. That’s according to a report by the Washington Post. Kate Groetzinger is with the nonpartisan Center for Western Priorities. She says these monuments represent ecological and cultural sites that Western communities and tribes have fought to protect. “They are great recreation drivers. They really drive economic activity in really rural parts of the West that don’t have a lot of other economic activity going on.” Sec. Burgum recently said that national monuments are under review, but downsizing them is not a top priority of the agency. Such a move would build on the Trump administration’s push to further expand America’s energy security. It has announced plans to fast track oil, gas, and mining projects.     Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.