Navajo Nation

Shelly was the tribe’s seventh president and took office in January 2011. He lost in his re-election bid in 2014, but the Navajo Supreme Court extended his term for five more months.

The high court heard arguments Monday in a case that states argue could upend how water is shared in the Western U.S. if the court sides with the Navajo Nation.

Arizona, California and Nevada, and other basin states, argue that more water for the Navajo Nation would cut into already scarce supplies for cities, agriculture and business growth.

Zah served as the tribal chairman in the 1980s and later was elected as its first president in 1990 after the government was restructured into three branches to prevent power from being concentrated in the chairman's office.

New Mexico’s governor isn't backing down on her decision to nominate a former tribal leader who once faced sexual assault charges to head the state’s Indian Affairs Department.

To'Hajiilee is just one of about 80 schools funded by the federal Bureau of Indian Education that desperately need repair or replacement. The agency's priorities stretch across the country, with a price tag that tops $6.2 billion.

The Biden administration on Thursday said 15 Native American tribes will get a total of $580 million this year to fund settlements that ensure access to water that's legally theirs.

Supporters say protections enshrined into state law are important to preserving Indigenous culture for future generations.

New tribal President Buu Nygren, who was sworn in earlier in January, had pledged to roll back the requirement during his campaign.

The crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people has been a focus for President Biden’s administration since he took office. But the rollout of federal solutions has been slow, and states have been picking up the slack

Nygren beat out incumbent President Jonathan Nez in the tribe's general election by about 3,500 votes. At 36, he will be the youngest to hold the tribal presidency and has never held political office.

“Regardless of how these things were collected, oftentimes they were collected without the deep cultural knowledge that comes with an object,” said the museum’s curator of ethnography, Alexandra Greenwald.