Wednesday, March 25, 2026

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President Donald Trump swore in Markwayne Mullin (Cherokee) as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security at the White House Tuesday.

The president talked about Sec. Mullin serving in the House and Senate, mentioning that Mullin is Native American and has worked on tribal issues.

“Markwayne has also been a fantastic advocate for our cherished tribal communities. He’s now the first member of the Cherokee Nation ever to serve as a member of the cabinet. I didn’t know all these things. I would have picked him faster if I had known. I would have made a quicker decision.”

Mullin also spoke after the ceremony.

“I made this very clear that I don’t care what color your state is, I don’t care if you’re red or you’re blue, at the end of the day, my job is to be secretary of Homeland and to protect everybody the same. And we will do that. I’ll fight every single day.”

After Mullin’s confirmation this week, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. congratulated him and wished him success in his new role.

Kaktovik children sit on the floor of the new gym during the grand opening of the facility on December 1, 2025. (Photo: Angela Cox)

The predominantly Indigenous community of Kaktovik in northern Alaska hosted a regional basketball tournament last month, in a new gym that was finally rebuilt, years after the old one burned down.

The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA reports that, for at least one family, the new gym’s significance was bigger than basketball.

The Kaktovik high school girls’ basketball team is playing against Point Lay. It is the 1A North Slope regional championship and the Kaktovik Lady Rams are down by a couple of points

Senior Mya Aishanna hears her mom yelling.

“That did something to me that, like – snap, I have five minutes left, I can do this.”

The Kaktovik Lady Rams did not win the game, but Aishanna says the moment was still special.

The community’s gym and school burned down six years ago. The new gym was finally finished in December. The tournament was the first big event the community held there.

“Our crowd, just hearing them cheer for us, like, it made me so happy.”

Aishanna says not having a place to play sports for so long, the students often practiced outside.

“It was kind of difficult because of the polar bears and the wind and the coldness … All our players were kind of rusty shooting, because we had nowhere to shoot.”

Several students left the school. Mya Aishanna’s brother was one student. Mya’s mother is Stephanie Aishanna.

“He missed the gym so much, he moved to Fairbanks to live with my brother.”

She says the family lost a hunter to help during the subsistence season.

Stephanie Aishanna says the community used the facility for funerals, Thanksgiving feasts, and other gatherings.

“It was the heartbeat of our community, and we totally lost that.”

Kaktovik community and guests from across the North Slope gather at the new Kaktovik gym on December 1, 2025. (Photo: Angela Cox)

Mya Aishanna was part of a group of students who advocated for the construction of a new gym. They wrote letters to municipal leadership and held a silent protest.

“We just had to act, because us students have to have somewhere to play.”

Now that they have the new facility, Aishanna says she already feels the difference.

The weekend tournament also proved that the new facility is more than a place to practice and play.

More than a hundred people also took refuge there during a major storm over that same weekend.

Now that the basketball tournament is over, adults and students regularly go there to play and exercise. And in a few months, Mya Aishanna’s class will be the first to graduate in the new facility. Her mom says she will make sure that her son will attend his sister’s ceremony as well.

The Indian Nations Gaming and Governance Program at the William S. Boyd School of Law at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the Tribal Leadership Council announced Tuesday the establishment of the Tribal Leadership Council Endowment.