Tulsa, Okla.-based Cherokee Nation citizen Courtney Jordan used to be a federal prosecutor, but she is now on the other side of the courtroom as a defense attorney specializing in the intersection of federal Indian law and criminal law. Jordan uses TikTok and other social media platforms to inform others about their rights and key cases in Indian Country, while openly sharing her own run-in with the law. She is a convicted felon whose legal career was turned upside down after she led police on a high-speed chase in 2022. Doctors later attributed the incident to adult on-set temporal lobe epilepsy and she eventually got her law license reinstated. She’s now at the head of a burgeoning law practice and joins us for a conversation about her storied career.

Bears Ears National Monument (Photo by Tim Peterson). President Donald Trump, once again, reduced the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah on Monday. Both monuments were downsized by about 90% opening up nearly three million acres to resource developers. Several tribes have cultural and sacred ties to the respective monument areas and have been fighting to protect them for years. The president’s proclamation also dismantles the Bears Ears Commission, a coalition of five tribes designated by then-President Obama in 2016 and tasked with co-management of monument lands with federal officials. Now, the move puts the Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the power to designate monuments, under the legal scrutiny of politicians, conservationists, and tribes that argue the 1906 law can or cannot be used to reduce already established national monuments. Also, Indigenous Venezuelans are among the thousands of people affected by devastating, back-to-back earthquakes that destroyed hundreds of buildings and homes along the country’s north coast in June. The death toll is currently around 4,700 and Indigenous communities struggle to keep up with traditional burial practices amid recovery and aid initiatives. GUESTS Davina Smith–Idjesa (Diné), co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and representative for the Navajo Nation Keitti Jake (Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah), environmental program coordinator for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah and member of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition David Hernández Palmer (Wayúu), Wayúu producer and storyteller from Columbia and Venezuela   Break 1 Music: This Land (song) Keith Secola (artist) Native Americana – A Coup Stick (album) Break 2 Music: In the Time of Chiefs (song) Estun-Bah (artist) From Where the Sun Rises (album)

Mohawk DJ and music producer Shub (formerly DJ Shub) is part of the innovative force behind the “Powwow-Step” genre, a fusion of electronic styles like dance, dubstep, hip-hop, and traditional Indigenous music. Shub further explores his signature sound and pushes its potential to new heights on his latest album, “Heritage (Part Two)”. Listeners can expect party-ready tracks, chopped powwow samples, ambient soundscapes, and collaborations with Juno Award-winning Oji-Cree artist Aysanabee and legendary Three 6 Mafia member DJ Paul.  Heavy electronic musician Aaron Wallace, also known as Darksiderz, blends hard dance and industrial music to create a chaotic soundtrack fit for a vampire nightclub. The Nisenan and Washoe musician grew up in Reno, Nev. where he started playing music in local punk and metal bands. Today, Darksiderz is a popular name in the electronic music scene and he’s performed on some of the biggest EDM stages in the world. He brings a unique, dark, yet danceable sound to his recently released collaborative singles. Both artists join us to talk about their latest works.   Break 1 Music: Origins (song) Shub (artist) Heritage [Pt. 2] (album) Break 2 Music: In the Time of Chiefs (song) Estun-Bah (artist) From Where the Sun Rises (album)

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act expanded the Federal Pell Grant, a subsidy for undergraduate students, to cover short-term workforce training programs for the first time. Native education advocates view the new Workforce Pell Grant program as a positive initiative that could help more low-income adults get into high-demand jobs while boosting enrollment at tribal colleges and universities. The program went into effect this month so it’s still too early to tell how tribal institutions will benefit. We’ll discuss the viability of vocational school and training and how the Workforce Pell Grant will take effect at tribal post-secondary institutions. GUESTS Leander McDonald (Dakota, Arikara, Hidatsa, and Hunkpapa), president of the United Tribes Technical College Nyree Kedrowski (Ho-Chunk Nation), managing partner for Five Skies Moriah O’Brien, vice president of congressional and federal relations at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium   Break 1 Music: Brown Eyed Handsome Man (song) The Wingate Valley Boys (artist) Navajoland U.S.A. Country Happening (album) Break 2 Music: In the Time of Chiefs (song) Estun-Bah (artist) From Where the Sun Rises (album)  

Tribal officials and renewable energy advocates are celebrating a major legal victory after a Minnesota administrative judge ruled in favor of the Upper Sioux Community’s solar-powered casino. The dispute centers on the tribe’s right to supplement its power with on-site solar energy, while also highlighting the friction between tribal sovereignty and local utility monopolies. In federal court, a separate legal battle is underway to reclaim frozen funding from the $7 billion “Solar for All” program. Despite the federal standstill, Minnesota tribes like the Red Lake and White Earth Nations are forging ahead, successfully building their own solar infrastructure to secure energy independence. GUESTS Robert Blake (Red Lake Nation), founder and CEO of Solar Bear and executive director of Native Sun Community Power Development Nathan Mathews, executive director of the White Earth Nation Tribal Utility Commission Talia Martin (Shoshone-Bannock), co-executive director of Tribal Energy Alternatives   Break 1 Music: Encouragement Pipe Song (song) Joseph Shields, Jr. (artist) Wahancanka [Remember Me Grandfather]  (album) Break 2 Music: In the Time of Chiefs (song) Estun-Bah (artist) From Where the Sun Rises (album)

A new report by the New Mexico Department of Justice says Native students are disciplined more harshly and miss more school days from suspensions than other students at Gallup-McKinley County Schools. The school district has a majority Navajo student population and was the focus of a 2023 news investigation that prompted calls for further investigations. In South Dakota, education leaders are looking into the state’s licensing exams after research shows a disproportionately low number of Native teacher candidates pass the costly exam. Native teachers are in short supply in the state and Native education advocates say that streamlining licensing requirements could be barrier. GUESTS Dr. Wendy Greyeyes (Diné), chair of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission and assistant professor of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico Kevin Mitchell (Diné), Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education president Priscilla Benally (Diné), Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education vice president Dr. Sherry Johnson (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), education director for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate   Break 1 Music: Dat One (song) The Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) MANITOU (album) Break 2 Music: Medicine Wheel (song) Logan Staats (artist) Rainwater (album)

Tlingit and Haida Tribes, the Ketchikan Indian Community, and other communities in Southeast Alaska are urging tourists to stop disrespecting unique cultural symbols such as totem poles. Nearly two million tourists visit the region annually and tribal members are reporting an uptick in incidents of tourists mocking Native culture. The message from the tribes remains: all are welcome and respect is not optional. While promoting responsible tourism, the Ketchikan Indian Community is also launching a new initiative for visitors to purchase care packages for the community’s unhoused population. The initiative is also aimed at supporting the tribe’s year-round housing services for unhoused residents. In the Lower 48 states, a Navajo app developer has created Tribal Trailz. It aims to help visitors navigate Diné and Pueblo lands across Arizona and New Mexico and includes historical information and other resources designed to better educate tourists about traveling in ancestral homelands. GUESTS Richard Peterson (Tlingit), president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes Emily Edenshaw (Native Village of Emmonak), tribal administrator and CEO of the Ketchikan Indian Community George R. Joe (Navajo), cultural consultant and creator of “Tribal Trailz” Bobbie Conner (Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation), director of the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute   Break 1 Music: Honoring The Homeland (song) Radmilla & Herman Cody (artist) Shi Kéyah (album) Break 2 Music: Medicine Wheel (song) Logan Staats (artist) Rainwater (album)

A new 162-page report just released by the White House flags a museum exhibition for what it says is “radical, activist ideology” that “seeks to teach disdain and inspire disgust of our great country.” The report faults Native land acknowledgements, mentions of stolen land, and the use of the term “genocide” connected to an ongoing exhibition by the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). The report by the White House Domestic Policy Council argues leaders at the Smithsonian Institution have pushed an agenda of social justice advocacy instead of objective historical research. We’ll talk with Native historians and curators about this new escalation of the Trump administration’s drive to change existing narratives about Native history. GUESTS Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and Hodulgee Muscogee), a founding trustee of NMAI, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the first Native woman elected to the oldest learned societies in the U.S. – the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Rick Hill Sr. (Tuscarora), vice president of the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations Dr. Samuel Torres (Mexica/Nahua), deputy CEO of the National Native America Boarding School Healing Coalition Sierra Biidaaban Nadeau (Kchi Wiikwedong Anishinaabe), author of “What the Ancestors Say”, award-wining journalist, and reporting specialist for Miigwech Inc.   Break 1 Music: War Dance Song 1 (song) Burton Fisher, George Fisher, Charles Little Oldman, & Clifford Bighead (artist) 12 Northern Cheyenne Songs (album) Break 2 Music: Medicine Wheel (song) Logan Staats (artist) Rainwater (album)

Named a “legendary Lakota horseman” by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Fred Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota) has enjoyed a celebrated 68-year career as a jockey. After winning his debut race in 1957, Ecoffey went on to compete in more than 17,500 races, earning inductions into both the Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame and the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. Ecoffey, 88, has retired from professional racing, though he still helps one of his daughters with her barrel racing from time to time. Today, a new generation of young Native jockeys is taking up the mantle and finding success on the racetrack. Among them is Talliyah Timentwa (Colville Tribes), a two-time national Indian Relay champion who made her debut at Washington state’s Emerald Downs racecourse last year. We’ll speak with Native horse riders about cultivating the art of horsemanship across disciplines, from relay races and jockeying to the sport of dressage. Fred Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota), retired jockey, elder, and “legendary Lakota horseman” Talliyah Timentwa (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation), amateur jockey and two-time Indian Relay champion Kate Nelson (Tlingit), journalist and amateur dressage rider Break 1 Music: My Horse (song) Courtney Yellow Fat (artist) The Lost Songs of Sitting Bull (album) Break 2 Music: Medicine Wheel (song) Logan Staats (artist) Rainwater (album)

A piece by artist Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Band of Choctaw and Cherokee) titled “Yet With a Steady Beat” is part of an exhibit in the brand new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which opened to the public in June. The large, colorful canvas is dotted with political buttons that would’ve been seen in movements for Native rights, farmers’ rights, and civil rights. Being handpicked by the Obamas for the exhibit is just one of several prestigious honors and awards garnered by Gibson in recent years. Meanwhile, up-and-coming artist and influencer Tyler Free-LaMere (Winnebago) is being recognized for her music composition work. Her music combines the Ho-Chunk language, which caught the attention of the National Endowment for the Arts. With the organization’s partnership, Tyler is now a published musician and her work was made available for music lessons and curriculums as an example of contemporary Native music. These are two of many Native artists making waves in the arts world.   Break 1 Music: Cherokee County (song) Kalyn Fey (artist) Garden (album) Break 2 Music: Medicine Wheel (song) Logan Staats (artist) Rainwater (album)