Corinne Sams

Corinne Sams wins 2024 EcoTrust Indigenous Leadership Award

MISSION – Corinne Sams, a Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Board of Trustees Member at Large, has been named a 2024 Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award (ILA) winner. Ecotrust is a Portland-based nonprofit working with community members and organizations toward a vision of an equitable, prosperous and climate-smart future. It celebrates determination, wisdom and continuum of Indigenous leadership…

All individuals who handle and prepare food for resale or should obtain a food handler’s card. This requirement underscores the importance of food safety training and ensures that everyone involved in food preparation understands proper hygiene and handling practices.

CTUIR’s commitment to community health: Guidelines for certified domestic kitchens

By BRIAN A. FULLEN, CTUIR Environmental Health and Safety Specialist The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) is dedicated to fostering a safe and healthy community. In line with this commitment, the CTUIR Environmental Health and Safety Program has maintained important guidelines for certified domestic kitchens since they were adopted back in 2018. These guidelines, outlined in **Chapter…

COVID-era farm, food workers may be eligible for USDA payment

MISSION – Farm and food workers who incurred expenses preparing for, preventing exposure to and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic are entitled to a one-time $600 payment from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Food Worker Relief (FFWR) Grant Program. According to the USDA, agricultural and meatpacking workers, as well as select grocery workers, may receive one relief payment…

Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, speaks during a press conference in Salt Lake City to announce state action for Utah public lands on Aug. 20, 2024. JEFFREY D. ALLRED | THE DESERET NEWS PHOTO

Utah lawsuit seeks state control over vast areas of federal land

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah’s Republican leaders made good Tuesday on a decade-old vow to launch a legal challenge aimed at wresting control from the U.S. government over much of the federal lands that dominate the state. The state’s attorney general said he asked to file a lawsuit with the U.S.…

Chuck Hoskin, chief of the Cherokee Nation, said he believes many institutions now understand they can no longer treat Indigenous items as “museum curiosities” from “peoples that no longer exist.” CHEROKEE NATION | COURTESY PHOTO

Museums closed Native American exhibits 6 months ago. Tribes are still waiting to get items back

By PHILIP MARCELO, Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Tucked within the expansive Native American halls of the American Museum of Natural History is a diminutive wooden doll that holds a sacred place among the tribes whose territories once included Manhattan. For more than six months now, the ceremonial Ohtas, or Doll Being, has been hidden from view after the…

Alvina Burke-Huesties, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, uncovers a basketful of recently harvested huckleberries at the home of her daughter, Althea Huesties-Wolf, last summer near Mission, Oregon. The family collects and preserves this important traditional food in baskets that are passed down through generations. ANNIE WARREN | NWPB COURTESY PHOTO

It’s huckleberry season in the Northwest

LAUREN PATERSON, Northwest Public Broadcasting It’s huckleberry season in the Pacific Northwest. The juicy berries with a sweet and tart flavor can be found from July until September or early October, depending on how high into the mountains you go.  Huckleberries thrive in the Rocky Mountains, and are often found in the forests of Oregon, Idaho, Washington state and Montana.…

Hot and dry conditions are expected to persist, and officials want to remind everyone that the current fire danger rating is at EXTREME and Public Use Restrictions involving chainsaw use and campfires are in effect.

Umatilla National Forest Fire update | August 8. 2024

One of the recent fires on the Umatilla National Forest has been controlled and no new fires were discovered on the forest. “Everything continues to hold, the fires are becoming more stable,” said Tyson Albrecht, Umatilla Deputy Fire Staff. Suppression efforts will continue today on all incidents and most fires remain at less than five acres in size, except Forks…

With its Sept. 2 application deadline approaching, the program offers $120 per child to help cover grocery costs when school food programs are not as easy to access.

Oregon DHS urges families to check Summer EBT eligibility 

SALEM – As summer winds down, families have a limited window to secure essential food assistance through the Summer EBT program, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS). With its Sept. 2 application deadline approaching, the program offers $120 per child to help cover grocery costs when school food programs are not as easy to access.  Thousands of…