In a historic decision, a federal court has ordered the removal of a segment of Washington’s Electron Dam from the Puyallup River, marking a win for environmental preservation and the protection of endangered species. The legal battle was initiated by the Puyallup Tribe against Electron Hydro LLC following the company’s discharge of toxic tire crumb rubber into the river and subsequent construction of a “temporary” rock dam and sheet pile wall in 2020. The court’s verdict deemed these structures pose an imminent threat to the survival of steelhead trout, Chinook salmon, and bull trout, species all listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Orange Shirt Day, also known as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation or National Day of Remembrance, is observed yearly on September 30. Orange Shirt Day was first established as an observance in 2013 as part of an effort to promote awareness and education of the Canadian residential school system and its impact on Indigenous communities for over a century. The inspiration for Orange Shirt Day came from residential school survivor Phyllis Jack Webstad, who shared her story at a St. Joseph Mission Residential School Commemoration Project and Reunion event held in 2013.
In light of last week being Worldwide Breastfeeding Week, a global campaign seeking to bring awareness to issues and barriers to breastfeeding, Native News Online sat down with Angie Sanchez (Grand Traverse Bay Band), a Michigan State University Ph.D. student researching ways to increase access to breastfeeding support resources in Indigenous communities. Sanchez is an Indigenous lactation counselor, doula, wife, and mother. She talked to Native New Online about her breastfeeding journey, why Indigenous communities have low rates of breastfeeding and what they can do to increase those rates and reclaim breastfeeding as ceremony.