By Cary Rosenbaum of the CUJ BAKER CITY – It was a season for firsts and seconds for Nixyaawii Community School. For the first time ever, the Golden Eagles received the No. 1 seed to the State 1A Basketball Tournament and — as the odds would have it — they took first place, winning their second title in three years.…
By Cary Rosenbaum of the CUJ, KENNEWICK – In referencing the aspirations to work together with the City of Kennewick, Board of Trustees member Armand Minthorn recalled the discovery of Kennewick Man, a 9,000-year-old ancestor of the Columbia Plateau Tribes who gained world interest for more than 20 years. “Not too far from here, Kennewick Man was discovered,” he said…
MISSION – After a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases at the start of May, Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center saw a sharp decline. Of the 23 cases diagnosed on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, 18 were school-aged. Nine were diagnosed on one day alone on May 10. Following the increase, the Incident Command Team advised parents to keep students home for one…
By Cary Rosenbaum of the CUJ, POMEROY, Wash. – Instead of history in the making, it was history in the releasing. On May 21, the long-awaited restoration project came to fruition with the release of approximately 150,000 juvenile Pacific lampreys in waves by the thousands. A decade has passed since a revitalization effort was launched to bring back lamprey to…
From left to right: Muriel Slickpoo, General Council Secretary Shawna Gavin and Red Lodge Executive Director Trish Jordan participate in smudging during a memorial event for Phyll Mendacino at Two Rivers Correctional Facility.
-Phyll Mendacino passed away at age 65 due to COVID-19 complications By Jill-Marie Gavin for the CUJ The last time Red Lodge Transition Services (Red Lodge) organized a large event at Two Rivers Correctional Facility (Two Rivers) was in August of 2019. On August 31, 2019, inmates and visitors gathered for the annual “prison pow wow.” Throughout the whole event,…
By Wil Phinney of the CUJ Frank and Nan Taylor suffer physically, emotionally For Frank Taylor, COVID-19 “got real” when nurses in the intensive care unit at St. Anthony Hospital suggested he might want to get his affairs in order. Frank is better, but for Nan Taylor, COVID-19 is still a nightmare. First it was a matter of life or…
About five years ago Frank Lopez decided he’d create a little Halloween fun in the neighborhood and he’s been making his yard look sicker and grosser and scarier every year since. “Nobody was doing anything so I decided I’d decorate the yard and little by little … something to get the trick-or-treaters out here,” said Lopez, a Coral Aztec Indian…
Paddlers from the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere arrive by canoe at the main activist camp on North Dakota’s Cannon Ball River during a canoe demonstration in September against the Dakota Access Pipeline. photo: Terray Sylvester With tribal leaders in the front row, President Richard Nixon signs into law a bill deeding lands to the Taos and Pueblo American Indians, one…
Glavis Wagner, peer recovery mentor at Yellowhawk, participated in the Ready 2 Work program through Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation. He is joined by Susie Calhoun, program manager, Janine Winn, and Mary Ann Rhoads, HR training specialist. Wagner worked closely with them and Viola Tendler, former case manager, while working through the program.
By Casey Brown of the CUJ The open road became the long road that brought Glavis Wagner, 59, back home to Oregon in 1995. Wagner is a peer recovery mentor at Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center with the BH2I program and former bus driver on the Mission route for Kayak Public Transit. He is enrolled with the Confederated Tribes of the…
Nixyaawii Community School Coach Shane Rivera talks to players during a time out in a game at the Class 1A State Tournament in Baker City in March. Rivera is resigning after an eight-year stint after he accumulated a 171-51 record that included a state title in the 2019 tournament. Standing behind Rivera are his three assistant coaches – Alan Crawford, Ken Mayfield, and Aaron Ashley.
By Wil Phinney of the CUJ MISSION – Shane Rivera is resigning as head boys’ basketball coach after compiling a record of 171 wins against 51 losses in eight seasons at Nixyaawii Community School (NCS). Rivera took NCS to the Oregon Class 1A State Tournament five times, winning the title in the 2018-19 season. That year Rivera was Oregon Class 1A…