Pine Ridge

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 […]

Participants in a Red Cloud Renewable solar energy training course. (Courtesy of Red Cloud Renewable)

Pine Ridge nonprofit awarded $1.5M grant to train Indigenous women for solar energy jobs

BY: - June 28, 2023

Pine Ridge-based solar energy nonprofit Red Cloud Renewable was awarded a $1.5 million federal grant to increase the number of Native American women working in the solar industry. The grant is part of the Biden Administration’s “Investing in America” agenda aimed at achieving a 100% clean electricity grid by 2035 while boosting economic growth across […]

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 […]

(South Dakota Searchlight/Datawrapper)

Whiteclay area substance abuse center closes, leaving few alternatives

BY: - March 27, 2023

LINCOLN, Neb. – The only inpatient substance-abuse treatment center serving the Whiteclay, Nebraska, area has closed, making help for Native Americans battling alcohol or drug problems even less accessible. The Northeast Panhandle Substance Abuse Treatment Center (NEPSAC) in Gordon, 37 miles from Whiteclay, closed Jan. 31. The center, which had operated since the 1990s, was […]

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 […]

Deadwood, SD. (Courtesy of Travel South Dakota)

Housing for small towns, reservation school teachers hit by infrastructure hold-up

BY: - January 18, 2023

Teachers in Pine Ridge, workers in Deadwood and students in Madison were among those waiting longer for a place to stay because of a hold-up in workforce housing money last year. “Our members are waiting for these funds,” Denise Hanzlik of the South Dakota Multi-Housing Association told lawmakers. “We’ve lost one construction season already.” The […]