Former Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly, who pushed ambitious projects that included purchasing a coal mine and building an aerial tram into the Grand Canyon, has died.
A century-old promise to provide indigenous communities access to water will soon be fulfilled, thanks in part to a renewed push to improve the nation’s infrastructure.
Department of Commerce announces $146 million in awards through the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, with another $1 billion in funding now available.
"I am grateful that Tribes, some of whom have been waiting for this funding for decades, are finally getting the resources they are owed," Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said.
“It’s time for America to support the Navajo Nation and all Indigenous communities and invest in utility infrastructure.” Tribes face a digital divide “as big as the Grand Canyon” and a “not even quantifiable” lack of utility access, just two of the problems outlined at a House hearing Wednesday on infrastructure needs on tribal land....
The plan prioritizes improving water infrastructure, internet, housing, transportation, and roads on tribal lands. The infrastructure needs of tribal lands—for everything from water to housing to broadband—are a high priority of the Biden administration’s $2.2 trillion American Jobs Plan, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said this week. Buttigieg, in a call with reporters Monday to discuss...