Oglala Sioux Tribe

Teacher homes on the Oglala Reservation. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Landlords for teachers: Housing projects aim to keep pace with reservation school expansion

BY: - November 26, 2023

One of the newest, most modern tech high schools in South Dakota is in one of the poorest counties in the United States. Lakota Tech High School, the only public high school in Oglala Lakota County, didn’t exist until a few years ago. It owes its existence to a $50 million flurry of activity that […]

Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes speaks to reporters Feb. 2023 after the first day of hearings in Oglala Sioux Tribe v. United States. The tribe alleges that the United States has failed their treaty obligations by providing inadequate law enforcement funding. (Photo by Shalom Baer Gee, Rapid City Journal)

Law enforcement issues unresolved following Oglala Lakota lawsuit

BY: - October 13, 2023

A 155-year-old treaty is central to defining what law enforcement services the United States is obligated to provide to the Oglala Sioux Tribe. But questions still remain about what that entails and what it means for the rest of Indian Country. The “Bad Men Clause” within the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty with the Oceti Sakowin […]

Lakota children gather and sing around a drum during the ground blessing for the new Maȟpíya Lúta, formerly Red Cloud Indian School, Heritage Center on Sept. 14, 2023, in Pine Ridge. (Photo by Amelia Schafer, ICT/Rapid City Journal)

Ground blessing marks Pine Ridge’s first stand-alone museum

BY: - September 19, 2023

PINE RIDGE — The new Màpíya Lúta, formerly Red Cloud Indian School, Heritage Center will mark the first stand-alone museum on the Pine Ridge Reservation and will feature one of the largest art collections in South Dakota. “This was one of the institutions that suppressed our culture, but here it is evolving into a place […]

Construction workers smooth tar as they pave a road on Oct. 5, 2018, in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

$14 million headed to SD as White House awards $2.2B in transportation grants

BY: - June 28, 2023

The U.S. Department of Transportation will send more than $2.2 billion in grants to state, tribal and local governments under a grant program that was expanded under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. The $2.26 billion for 162 projects provides funds for each of the 50 states, two territories and the District of Columbia. It is […]

A sunrise silhouette of the entrance to the Wounded Knee Massacre memorial in South Dakota. (Getty Images)

Burn, bury or display: Tribal nations discuss how to treat stolen items from Wounded Knee victims

BY: - March 24, 2023

Cedric Broken Nose stopped his van every hundred or so miles in a cross country trek from Massachusetts to South Dakota last November. He’d get out and circle the vehicle in an empty parking lot, smudging sacred herbs and praying as curious bystanders looked on. The stops added hours to his two-and-a-half day journey, but […]

An apartment complex on the Rosebud Reservation has drifts of snow blocking the doors and windows on Dec. 27, 2022. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

Disaster declarations for tribes land as two-part storm looms

BY: - February 21, 2023

President Joe Biden declared major disasters for two tribal communities in South Dakota on Tuesday for a pair of deadly December storms.  News of the declarations for the Rosebud and Oglala Sioux tribes arrived as snowflakes began to fall in the first of two more winter storms expected to blanket the state. This week’s storms […]

(John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Federal government opens grassland conservation program to tribes

BY: - November 30, 2022

Three South Dakota tribal nations have a new opportunity to partner with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conserve and improve grasslands. The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program pays landowners to set aside environmentally sensitive land for a specific conservation concern. Landowners get money, and the public gets benefits like cleaner water and more wildlife habitat. […]