Latest news with #Shoshone-Bannock
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘A call to do more': former ICT editor honored by Harvard
ICT Mark Trahant, former editor-at-large at ICT, has been selected for the 2025 I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence for his 50-year long career in journalism and commitment to Indigenous storytelling. "It's a wonderful surprise. Been a fan of I.F. Stone since I was a teenager. His journalism showed me what one person or even a small newsroom can do," Trahant said to ICT. Trahant, Shoshone-Bannock, will receive his medal during a ceremony at the Nieman Foundation in May. The award is administered by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. 'Mark Trahant exemplifies the journalistic spirit of the I.F. Stone Medal in that he has always been an independent and courageous journalist. He resurrected Indian Country Today from the depths of closure to create ICT, a different kind of news organization built on Indigenous values. I am thrilled to see him being recognized through this distinguished award,' Karen Michel, president, chief executive officer and chief editorial officer of IndiJ Public Media, the parent company of ICT, said. Trahant directed the revival of Indian Country Today after the news organization went dark in 2017. He brought it back as a digital newspaper with a mobile-first approach in 2018 when it was previously owned by the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C. Back then the newsroom had a staff of three and it grew to more than 30 employees in 2024. The newspaper expanded its coverage to a weekday national television program in 2020 and then turned into a weekly program in 2024.'The importance of Indigenous journalism grows as this country gets larger. It's impossible to understand this country's history — and its future — without including the people who have a 10,000-year history. So many of the problems we face today seem new, until you know how it fits into a longer arc,' Trahant said in a news release. 'I am honored to accept this I.F. Stone Medal. I see it as a call to do more.' An independent committee of journalists chaired by PBS Public Editor Ricardo Sandoval-Palos oversees nominations and selection of the medal winner. The medal was established in 2008 and honors the life of investigative journalist I.F. Stone. 'One of the pillars of I.F. Stone's work was its holding strong light to matters too often overlooked by national media. In Mark's work — in his outstanding career — we see a similar standard,' Sandoval-Palos said. 'The coverage he initiated with ICT and the high bar he set with his early work on corruption in government oversight of Indigenous affairs form a legacy that's improved the lives of many in this country. His work is an example we should all strive to emulate.'Trahant has served as editorial page editor at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer; columnist at The Seattle Times; editor and publisher of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News; executive news editor at The Salt Lake Tribune; reporter at the Arizona Republic; and editor and publisher of The Navajo Times. He also started The Navajo Nation Today, a weekly newspaper, and worked for the Sho-Ban News. Trahant has served as president of the Native American Journalists Association (now the Indigenous Journalists Association), chairman of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and public information officer at the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, 1988, Trahant was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for national reporting, recognized for a series he co-wrote for the Arizona Republic. He was the co-winner of the Heywood Broun Award. In 2017, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Two years later, he received the Indigenous Journalists Association's Medill Milestone Achievement Award. Then in 2023, he was inducted into the National Native American Hall of Fame. He was a journalism professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of North Dakota. Trahant was an editor-in-residence at the University of Idaho's School of Journalism and Mass Media and a visiting lecturer at the University of Colorado Boulder.'For over 50 years, Mark Trahant has been a trailblazer — a reporter who broke down barriers and made sure the road was easier for those coming behind him. Mark sounded the alarm about the need for more Indigenous journalists in newsrooms and when no one listened, he created,' Jasmine Brown, I.F. Stone Medal jury member and a senior producer at ABC News' 'World News Tonight with David Muir', said. ICT is owned by IndiJ Public Media, a nonprofit news organization. Will you support our work? All of our content is free. There are no subscriptions or costs. Support ICT for as little as $10. Sign up for ICT's free newsletter.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In Warm Springs, tribal members and other central Oregon residents share budget feedback
Warm Springs elder Linda Meanus, who graduated from college at 65, urges lawmakers to prioritize measures to support students on April 4, 2025. (Photo by Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle) WARM SPRINGS— Oregonians aren't supposed to clap — or cheer, boo, hiss or stomp their feet — at legislative hearings. But there was no containing the applause in the old school gym that served as a hearing room on Friday night when Louie Pitt Jr. finished his two minutes of testimony. Pitt, a former director of government affairs and planning for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, thanked lawmakers on the budget-writing Joint Ways and Means Committee for work on laws to investigate the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous people, and said tribal members and their neighbors in central Oregon still need help accessing clean drinking water and affordable housing. La Grande Friday, April 11, 5 p.m. – 7:00pm Eastern Oregon University, Hoke Union Building #339 1 University Boulevard, La Grande, OR 97850 Register to testify here Salem (statewide virtual testimony prioritized) Wednesday, April 16, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Oregon Capitol Building, Hearing Room F 900 Court St NE, Salem, OR 97301 Register to testify here Klamath Falls Friday, April 25, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Klamath Community College, Building 4 Commons 7390 South 6th Street, Klamath Falls, OR 97603 Register to testify here Pitt closed with a welcome — and a reminder. 'Welcome to Indian Country,' he said. 'It's all Indian Country, of course.' Friday night's hearing at the old Warm Springs elementary school, one of a half-dozen hearings throughout the state for lawmakers to hear community feedback as they craft the state's budget, was the first since at least 2005 to be held on tribal land. Other visits this year are to Gresham, Astoria, La Grande and Klamath Falls, while a hearing in Salem next week will prioritize virtual testimony from Oregonians who couldn't attend an in-person event. Ensuring at least one of the traveling hearings was on tribal land was especially important to Rep. Tawna Sanchez, a Portland Democrat who is of Shoshone-Bannock, Ute, and Carrizo descent and the second Indigenous person elected to the Oregon Legislature. Before entering elected office, she co-founded the Native American Youth and Family Center, or NAYA, in Portland and spent years advocating on Indigenous issues. Sen. Kate Lieber, a Beaverton Democrat who co-chairs the committee with Sanchez, told the Capital Chronicle she and Sanchez looked over the past two decades worth of hearings to decide where to visit. 'We knew we needed to come to central Oregon, and of course everybody thinks of that as the Bend or Redmond area, but we really wanted to make sure that we included Warm Springs, especially given Representative Sanchez's heritage,' she said. 'So we decided to come to Warm Springs because we realized we'd never done it on tribal land before.' Ray Moody, the tribes' vice chair, prayed over the start of the hearing and told lawmakers he hoped they understood just how far they drove on the tribes' homelands, both the 644,000 acres of the reservation and the millions of acres members of the Warm Springs, Wasco and Paiute bands ceded to the federal government with an 1855 treaty. 'We hope that you understand our reach, not only through our own boundary but the land that we call ceded territory, over 10 million acres, that the things you do in the state affect us all the time,' Moody said. 'Our people are very humble and it is often hard to come to ask for assistance, but we will come to you when we need to. We will ask you, and we appreciate those who work hard to help us.' About one-fifth of the roughly five dozen people who spoke during the two-hour hearing were members of the Warm Springs tribes, while others traveled from central Oregon cities including Bend, Redmond, Madras, Prineville. Nearly all of them came with specific requests for government spending on projects and programs that would far outpace the state's resources as laid out in a $38 billion budget framework Sanchez and Lieber released last month. Most of their budget rough draft reflects continuing current programs, with $987.5 million available for additional spending — assuming proposals to cut federal spending responsible for about one-third of the state budget don't come to pass. 'In our framework, we have just under a billion dollars to invest, $987 million,' Sanchez said at the end of the hearing. 'And if everyone was listening carefully, and I was trying to, there are multiple billions of dollars being asked for. Every single one of those asks are worthy and important, and we will do our best.' After a fire season that burned a record-breaking 1.9 million acres, much of it in eastern Oregon grassland, Crook County Commissioner Seth Crawford urged lawmakers to pass House Bills 3349 and 3350, creating a new fund for rangeland protection with at least $1 million in the next budget. Prineville Council President Steve Uffelman said the city needs about $12 million for safety-related upgrades on U.S. Highway 26. And Redmond City Councilor Kathryn Osborne said her city wants about $1.5 to $2 million from the state to join a $500,000 investment from the city to add a traffic light at an intersection that has seen 260 car crashes, two of them fatal, in the past eight years. Warm Springs elder Linda Meanus urged lawmakers to support House Bills 3182 and 3183, which would provide more than $16 million for affordable housing for college students and $2 million for textbooks and education resources. Meanus started college at age 61 and graduated from Portland State University in 2016 at 65. She relied on tribal grants and scholarships to pay for school, which left her little money for rent, bills or groceries. 'I am here to tell you that the future of the tribe's in your hands,' she said. 'Many of the Warm Springs kids will need access to food, housing and textbooks. The student basic needs bills will make it much easier for the students to graduate.' Elizabeth Johnson, a public health nurse, urged Oregon lawmakers to keep funding health care in the face of potential federal cuts. 'Actions from the White House are only benefiting the mega-wealthy, but for Oregonians like myself, the family I support and my community, they mean job loss, loss of stability and are wreaking havoc on my ability to do my job, which is to prevent infectious diseases,' she said. 'Oregon must continue to hold the line on making unnecessary cuts to Medicaid and public health based on what might happen in Washington, D.C.' Madras resident Robyn Morrison asked lawmakers to keep in mind the big picture of climate change while making their budget decisions. Morrison, who moved from Montana to Madras to be closer to family, said her grandchildren are anxious about the climate crisis and that her generation hasn't done enough to block it. 'We cannot allow the tyranny of the present to distract us from our children's future,' she said. Former Oregon poet laureate Elizabeth Woody, now the executive director of the Museum at Warm Springs, urged support of the $8.9 million in grants to cultural organizations in House Bill 3191. The Museum at Warm Springs, which opened in 1993, would receive $1.5 million under that proposal. 'We provide a gateway to think about this land in a different way,' Woody said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Globe and Mail
28-03-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
This Nuclear Energy Stock Just Signed a Major Agreement. Should You Buy It Now?
The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is fueling an insatiable demand for energy, and nuclear power is emerging as a serious contender. Unlike renewables, which face intermittency challenges, nuclear offers reliable, carbon-free baseload power - exactly what data centers and high-performance computing hubs need. As the world scrambles for scalable energy solutions, innovative players like Oklo (OKLO) are stepping up. Oklo specializes in compact fast reactors designed for faster deployment and incremental scaling. The company just hit a key milestone, signing an agreement with Idaho National Laboratory to advance site work for its first commercial nuclear plant. Backed by the Department of Energy and local Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, the deal clears regulatory hurdles as Oklo moves toward its 2027 deployment goal. With nuclear energy gaining momentum and Oklo locking in strategic partnerships, investors are starting to take notice. But should investors snag this nuclear disruptor with OKLO slashed in half since its February highs, or is it still too early to jump in? About Oklo Stock Oklo (OKLO), founded in 2013 by MIT graduates Jacob DeWitte and Caroline Cochran, seeks to revolutionize nuclear energy with an agile, market-driven approach. Eschewing costly R&D, the company refines compact, fast reactors - modular units designed for rapid deployment. Backed by investors, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Oklo went public in May 2024 via a SPAC merger. Unlike traditional nuclear firms, Oklo prioritizes scalability and flexibility, forging partnerships to advance commercialization. With a focus on delivering reliable power efficiently, Oklo is positioning nuclear energy as a practical, scalable solution for modern energy demands. Valued at $3.7 billion by market cap, shares of the nuclear energy firm currently sit 60% below their February high of $59.14. Yet, OKLO has surged more than 113% over the past 52 weeks, including a 170% rally over the past six months. Backed by favorable policies, key partnerships, and bullish investor sentiment, OKLO continues to defy the odds, outpacing broader market indices. A Closer Look at Oklo's Fiscal 2024 Results Oklo's 2024 report, revealed recently, is one of ambition colliding with financial reality. The pre-revenue nuclear innovator reported a staggering $73.62 million loss - more than double its 2023 deficit - as it presses forward with its first 'powerhouse' reactor at Idaho National Laboratory. Investors balked, sending shares down 6.4% on concerns about long-term profitability. A lifeline may emerge in 2026 with the company's radioisotope demonstration project, targeting early revenue opportunities. Licensing and construction of its first radioisotope production facility are set for 2025 and 2026, while the Aurora reactor - boasting a 10-year refueling cycle and scalable up to 50 megawatts - aims for first electricity production between late 2027 and 2028. Oklo's commercialization strategy hinges on long-term contracts for heat and power, with a tentative deal already struck with Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska - pending final approval. Investors found a silver lining earlier this week as shares climbed on news that Oklo advanced in a pre-application review with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The road ahead is steep, but if Oklo can turn vision into power, it could change the energy game. Analysts monitoring Oklo predict the company's losses to shrink to $0.43 per share in 2025. What Do Analysts Expect for Oklo Stock? Wedbush's Dan Ives keeps Oklo at 'Outperform' with a $45 target price, citing its new 75 megawatts reactor - tailor-made for data centers. The company's 14-gigawatts pipeline cements its long-term edge in advanced nuclear. With a scalable design and growing demand for clean, reliable energy, Oklo is shaping the future of power-hungry industries. Wedbush sees this as a strategic play in the nuclear renaissance, positioning Oklo as a key innovator in the energy transition. Oklo has Wall Street's attention, with consensus a 'Moderate Buy' rating overall. Of the five analysts covering the stock, three are highly bullish, advising a 'Strong Buy,' and the remaining two are playing it safe with a 'Hold' rating. The average analyst price target of $44.50 hints at 91% upside potential, and the Street-high of $58 signals that the stock could surge as much as 150%.
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Yahoo
I Ate My Way Through Montana's Cattle Country—and Found the Perfect Steak
As I stood atop a rocky precipice in central Montana, the most striking thing before me was nothing. More precisely, it was space: the all-encompassing nothingness for which the West is famous. It was off this cliff that thundering herds of bison once jumped, driven to their death by the Native peoples who hunted them for their meat, hides, and bones. 'At least 13 tribes used the jump, including Shoshone-Bannock, Nez Perce, Assiniboine, and Crow,' Clark Carlson-Thompson, the manager at First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park, told me. 'The bone bed is 18 to 22 feet deep. A lot of bison went over that cliff.' The park was my first stop on a journey across Montana's vast grasslands to trace the story of the West through its cattle ranches and the meat they produced. As I looked up from the site of so many bison deaths, I surveyed the plain of brilliant green that seemed to stretch for miles to the horizon. The view is so expansive, the local joke goes, you could watch your dog run away for three days. I hiked back to my car. The sun was low in the sky, and I was getting hungry. Fortunately, I didn't need to send any shaggy beasts over a cliff to procure my dinner. A short drive away, in the tiny settlement of Ulm, was the Beef N Bone Steakhouse, a casual restaurant with a fireplace that specializes in Montana beef and bison. Bison meat is often touted for its health benefits because it has far less fat than beef, but the lack of fat rendered the steak a little too lean for my taste. The history of Montana, where I live, is in many ways the history of cattle ranching. Native peoples hunted the great herds on these grassy plains for generations, and the animals were essential to survival. But by the end of the 1870s the bison had been nearly wiped out by settlers and the U.S. Army and were replaced by cattle, which could be more easily herded and driven to market. The beef industry was central to life in Montana during the 19th and early 20th centuries, feeding people who were mining gold and copper and cutting timber. After dinner I drove almost an hour east to Fort Benton, where I stayed at the elegant Grand Union Hotel, a slice of Montana's 19th-century history. Founded in 1846, Fort Benton lured cowboys and miners who arrived on horseback or by steamboat on the Missouri River. Related: 20 Best Places to Visit in Montana, According to Local Experts Among the first ranchers was Conrad Kohrs, a fortune seeker from Holstein, in what is now Germany. He arrived in 1862, during the Treasure State's gold rush, and became a butcher, selling beef to hungry miners. As their numbers continued to grow, Kohrs purchased a ranch in the Deer Lodge Valley, a vast meadowland near Butte; 20 years later, he had increased his holdings to more than 1 million acres and 50,000 head of cattle. I spent a couple of days in Butte, one of the places Kohrs did business, wandering among the remnants of the once-great mining town. At its height some 100,000 people called it home; the population now hovers around 36,000. A giant open pit sits in the center of town, a lasting scar from the ravages of mining. I checked in to Hotel Finlen, a French-inspired building from 1924. Its glory is somewhat faded and the refurbished rooms are small, but the hotel is comfortable and the lobby, with its high ceilings and chandeliers, is grand and well preserved. Related: 20 Best Places to Visit in Montana, According to Local Experts Butte has many prosperous-looking historic buildings, which may explain why 1923, the prequel to the hit TV series Yellowstone, was filmed there. For dinner, I went to Casagranda's Steakhouse, which occupies a 1900s brick warehouse on what feels like the edge of town. The rib eye—sourced, like all of the restaurant's beef, from ranches in the Rocky Mountains—was rubbed with a savory spice blend. The center was medium rare, a garnet shade, and so tender I could cut it with a fork. It might have been one of the best steaks I have ever eaten. The following day I drove about a half-hour north to the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. The National Park Foundation bought the land from Conrad Kohrs's grandson in the early 1970s and it now operates as a working, 19th-century-style cattle ranch with cows, chickens, and horses. 'This area is a sea of grass,' a volunteer told me. 'Beef is about all you can grow.' Staffers and volunteers role-play as cowboys and camp cooks. As I sipped a strong, robust coffee that was brewed over a smoky campfire, I was reminded that a scene from 1923 was shot there, with mountains as a backdrop. While cattle barons may seem like a throwback, their spirits still rule in Big Sky Country. Sprawling ranches are dotted with hundreds of Hereford, shorthorn, and longhorn cattle and the cowboys who herd them. Cowboy culture persists, though it has been modernized with things like microchipped cows and GPS trackers; it won't be long, they say, before drones will do the herding. Ranch ownership has changed, as well. Montana's wide-open spaces have exerted a powerful pull on wealthy out-of-staters; Tom Brokaw, David Letterman, and Rupert Murdoch are among those who own trophy spreads. Though they face their share of challenges, smaller family ranches survive and are looking for ways to thrive. On my last day, I drove to Helena, Montana's capital, where I met Cole Mannix, cofounder and president of the Old Salt Co-Op, a meat supplier that sources beef from five local farms, including his family's ranch in the Blackfoot Valley. During the pandemic, Mannix told me, with meatpacking staff falling ill and restaurants closing, the supply chain for cattle processing broke down. Rising land prices and competition from cheaper foreign beef had already been challenges. Mannix and other ranching families decided it was time to eliminate the middleman and sell their beef on their own. Today, much of what they raise is sold in Montana. Mannix also owns and runs two restaurants, including the Old Salt Outpost, a small burger shop inside the Gold Bar saloon in downtown Helena. The burgers are made with grass-fed beef raised by the local ranches; the potatoes, from a farm 60 miles away, are fried in beef fat. Across the street is Mannix's second restaurant, the Union, a modern wood-fired grill and butcher shop with meat sourced from the ranches in the Old Salt Co-Op. It serves different steak cuts nightly. I ordered the well-marbled rib eye, medium rare, smothered in marrow butter with a side of smashed purple potatoes. It was, in a word, delicious. And knowing it was part of a centuries-long tradition on the prairies of Montana made it taste even better. A version of this story first appeared in the May 2025 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline 'A Taste of the Old West.' Read the original article on Travel & Leisure
