The Weekly Brief

Indian Country news for Patty Loew

Nation

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

A Native nation tracked in The Weekly Brief beyond Wisconsin.

Coverage in The Weekly Brief

Issue 001 · May 10, 2026

South Dakota's Missouri River Water Plan Ignores Tribal Ownership, Native Sun News Reports

Native Sun News Today flags that South Dakota Congressman Dusty Johnson's federal bills to expand Missouri River water use for the state do not address the question of who actually holds water rights in that river system, a question that implicates multiple Oceti Sakowin nations whose treaty territories the Missouri runs through. The piece is a good example of the kind of story that only a Native publication is likely to frame this way: the mainstream coverage of the same bills would almost certainly not lead with tribal water rights.

Issue 001 · May 10, 2026

Ihanktonwan Dakota Elder Faith Spotted Eagle to Receive Honorary Doctorate from South Dakota State University

Native Sun News Today reports that Faith Spotted Eagle, one of the most respected culture carriers in the Oceti Sakowin and a longtime leader in the movement against the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from South Dakota State University at its 140th commencement. The recognition is overdue and meaningful. Spotted Eagle has spent decades doing the patient, unglamorous work of cultural transmission and political resistance that honorary degrees are supposed to honor.