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Native News Roundup, June 19-25

Here is a summary of Native American-related news around the U.S. this week:

Mohegan chief announced as new US treasurer

For the first time in U.S. history, a Native American’s signature will appear on all U.S. currency: U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced the new U.S. treasurer: Marilynn “Lynn” Malerba, the lifetime chief of the Mohegan Tribe in Connecticut.

As treasurer, Malerba will oversee the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Printing and Engraving and the storage of about $270 billion worth of gold at Fort Knox.

“With this announcement, we are making an even deeper commitment to Indian Country,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said during a visit to the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home of the Sicangu Lakota.

Bears Ears National Monument Inter-Governmental Cooperative Agreement signatories stand in front of a newly-unveiled sign, June 18, 2022. Bears Ears National Monument Inter-Governmental Cooperative Agreement signatories stand in front of a newly-unveiled sign, June 18, 2022.

Utah tribes to co-manage Bears Ears National Monument

Federal officials and leaders of five tribal nations — Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and the Pueblo of Zuni — on June 21 signed a joint government agreement, formally reestablishing the Bears Ears Commission, which will oversee land management of the 5,500-square-kilometer (2,125-square-mile) Bears Ears National Monument.

“Today, instead of being removed from a landscape to make way for a public park, we are being invited back to our ancestral homelands to help repair them and plan for a resilient future,” said Carleton Bowekaty, Bears Ears Commission co-chair and lieutenant governor of Zuni Pueblo. “What can be a better avenue of restorative justice than giving Tribes the opportunity to participate in…

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WNBA star and ex-UConn great Sue Bird says 2022 will be her final season

Jun. 16—MOHEGAN — Sue Bird had said, “you know when you know” while discussing Thursday’s decision to announce her plans to retire at the conclusion of the Seattle Storm’s 2022 WNBA season.

The question was still posed to Bird during a surprise press conference at Mohegan Sun Arena: How did the “you know” manifest itself given she’s still playing at a high level?

“It’s funny,” Bird explained. “Sometimes someone will be like, ‘oh, man, I can’t even tell you’re 41.’ And I’m like, ‘What? Did you watch me play when I was 31? So I can tell the difference. … I’m still able to perform but I don’t feel like I’m fully myself anymore. And so there’s parts of that where it’s sad to let that go or sad to know that that’s gone, but there’s also the realization that I’m 41. That’s okay, too.

“I feel like I’ve played as long as I can at a very high level.”

Bird excused herself to take a moment to compose herself as tears began to well in her eyes.

“Stop crying,” Bird told herself.

Bird doesn’t want a retirement tour but will surely get her laurels along the way, starting Friday when she and the Storm play the Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena (7 p.m., NESN+, CBSSN).

“That retirement ceremony, I think that’ll be next year,” Bird said.

She then turned to Jeff Hoffman, the Storm’s senior manager of public relations, and added, “Jeff, I don’t plan on doing a retirement ceremony.”

Bird had an inkling that this season would be the end of one of the most successful careers in sports. The 18-year WNBA veteran became one of the faces of women’s basketball at a time where the sport wasn’t in the national spotlight as much as it is now.

She won two national championships at UConn before being…

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Sights and sounds as Sue Bird announces retirement from WNBA

UNCASVILLE — A few hours after her stunning though expected announcement that this would be her last season in the WNBA, Sue Bird tried unsuccessfully to hold back tears as she sat in a room full of TV cameras and reporters who had rushed to Mohegan Sun to see her Thursday afternoon.

“This is probably why for like, a lot of years, I’ve been saying I’m not going to announce my retirement while I play,” Bird said. “Because I know I would get like this. I’m sentimental. I don’t like change.”

“So here we are,” Bird added with a sniffle.

Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm announced Thursday, June16, 2022 of her retirement at the end of the season in the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. Photo credit: Khoi Ton / Mohegan Sun

Sue Bird had already cried a few times during the press conference, with a dozen or so reporters packed into a small multipurpose room, with more than 50 people on Zoom who weren’t within driving distance of Uncasville, Connecticut, a few hours after Bird shocked the basketball world with a social media post.

How could she not? It was a surreal experience, as Bird — and everyone watching — was forced to reckon with her long, illustrious career actually coming to an end after years of speculation that she could hang up her shoes.

If anyone was prepared for that, it wasn’t Bird.

“I’ve played as long as I can at a very high level,” Bird told reporters, her voice starting to get choked up.

“Stop crying,” she whispered to herself before taking a breath to hold back more tears so she could finish her statement.

“I feel like I’ve played as long as…

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Justin Bieber postpones Mohegan Sun Arena show due to medical issue

Photo of Jailene Cuevas

June 17, 2022

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LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 13: Singer/songwriter Justin Bieber performs onstage during An Evening With Justin Bieber at Staples Center on November 13, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Universal Music)1of3

LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 13: Singer/songwriter Justin Bieber performs onstage during An Evening With Justin Bieber at Staples Center on November 13, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Universal Music)

Jason Merritt/TERMShow MoreShow Less LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 22: In this image released on November 22, Justin Bieber performs onstage for the 2020 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 22, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/AMA2020/Getty Images for dcp)2of3

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 22: In this image released on November 22, Justin Bieber performs onstage for the 2020 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 22, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/AMA2020/Getty Images for dcp)

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Justin Bieber’s concert at Mohegan Sun Arena has been postponed as the singer recovers from an ongoing medical issue.

The venue announced Wednesday that all of the remaining Justice Tour dates in the U.S. scheduled for June and early July have been postponed after the Grammy award winning artist posted an Instagram video on June 10, detailing his diagnosis with Ramsay Hunt syndrome. The rare condition occurs when a shingles outbreak affects the facial nerve near one of…

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Mohegan Sun Pocono on PA live! 6.17.2022

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Mohegan Sun shows love for Sue Bird one day after her retirement announcement

UNCASVILLE — While the Seattle Storm headed down the tunnel from the court to their locker room an hour before tipoff Friday night, Cali Durham charged up the Mohegan Sun Arena stairs, waving precious cargo.

“I asked her to sign this,” Durham, 10, said, holding a small Pride Month poster she’d made, “and my friend, too, and she did.”

Durham was wearing one of several green-and-yellow Seattle No. 10 jerseys dotting the stands Friday night as Sue Bird, UConn legend turned WNBA legend, came to town for the second-to-last time as a pro to play the Connecticut Sun. Bird announced Thursday that this season would be her last.

The Storm, also featuring UConn alumnae Breanna Stewart and Gabby Williams, drew a solid hand as they came out for the pregame shootaround from a crowd that stretched into the upper tier of the arena.

All three Huskies products were starters. All three got applause when they were announced. Bird, called out last, drew a roar as most of the crowd of 7,088 jumped to their feet.

“Of course it means a lot,” Bird said after the game. “Especially being in Connecticut, it was kind of funny to walk out there and see so much green and yellow in the stands.”

Some of the fans wore Bird’s jersey. One, behind the scorer’s table, waved Bird’s UConn jersey. Others…

“There was a bunch of people courtside: Two guys had” — Bird chuckled — “my Sports Illustrated Swimsuit picture, like, on a T-shirt. That was hilarious.”

Bird scored 14 points in almost 28 minutes — the crowd shouted again when she hit a left-side 3-pointer in the first minute — and…

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Fans flock to Mohegan Sun Arena to catch a glimpse of Sue Bird in her final season

UNCASVILLE — Well over an hour before the start of Friday night’s game between the Connecticut Sun and Seattle Storm, fans flocked the tunnel adjacent to the court at Mohegan Sun Arena.

From little girls to middle-aged men, everyone eagerly waited with the hopes of an interaction with Sue Bird. Many wore her jersey. Some had on UConn gear. Others held signs honoring the star point guard, who officially announced Thursday that she’d be retiring from professional basketball at the end of this season.

Cali Durham’s eyes went wide and her face lit up as Bird signed a hand drawn poster wishing the 41-year-old a “Happy Pride Month.” The 10-year-old, wearing a green and yellow Storm No. 10 jersey, recently did a school project on Bird and has been wanting to see her play in person for a long time.

“I look up to her because she’s just one of the reasons why I feel like I can play basketball and I shouldn’t care what people think,” Durham said. “She’s just been a really big idol to me.”

A even larger group of fans formed in the same area a half hour later, again hoping to catch a glimpse of Bird. When she was announced in the Storm’s starting lineup before the game, the crowd erupted. Seattle’s other former UConn stars, Breanna Stewart and Gabby Williams, got loud cheers, too.

The stands at Mohegan Sun Arena were fuller than they’d been all season, the lower bowl packed and much of the upper deck crowded as well. A Sun…

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Bonner leads Sun past Storm

Mohegan — Ask DeWanna Bonner how she’s doing on any given day and the Connecticut Sun veteran will most likely answer, “I’m old.”

On a Friday night in which a sizable percentage of the 7,088 fans came to Mohegan Sun Arena to see the Seattle Storm’s Breanna Stewart and most especially old favorite Sue Bird, it was Bonner who shined when it counted.

Bonner scored 15 of her game-high 20 in the fourth and added 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals to lead the Sun to an 82-71 win.

Connecticut (12-4) clinched the season series against the Storm (9-6). It won at Seattle on June 5, 93-86.

Bonner missed 10 of 12 shots through three quarters. She made six of her seven field goals in the fourth, including two threes.

“My teammates, man, they just kept telling me to keep shooting, it’s going to fall, it’s going to fall at the right time,” Bonner said. “That’s what (happened). Once I got one going, I felt a little bit better. They just told me to keep staying aggressive because I think I passed up a couple of shots (earlier).”

Jonquel Jones had 17 points, 13 rebounds and four assists for the Sun and Brionna Jones added 19 points. Alyssa Thomas added 10 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

Connecticut shot 52.2-percent.

Stewart led Seattle with 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Bird scored 14 with four assists.

“The fourth quarter, we struggled,” Stewart said. “In order to steal a game on the road, you have to play better in all (four) quarters.”

Connecticut had gone cold in the third quarter (it shot 35.3-percent from the floor) and needed someone to get rolling. That someone was Bonner.

Bonner tied the game with a tough 14-foot pullup jumper and followed with a three…

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Mohegan Sun shows love for UConn great Sue Bird one day after her WNBA retirement announcement

UNCASVILLE — While the Seattle Storm headed down the tunnel from the court to their locker room an hour before tipoff Friday night, Cali Durham charged up the Mohegan Sun Arena stairs, waving precious cargo.

“I asked her to sign this,” Durham, 10, said, holding a small Pride Month poster she’d made, “and my friend, too, and she did.”

Durham was wearing one of several green-and-yellow Seattle No. 10 jerseys dotting the stands Friday night as Sue Bird, UConn legend turned WNBA legend, came to town for the second-to-last time as a pro to play the Connecticut Sun. Bird announced Thursday that this season would be her last.

The Storm, also featuring UConn alumnae Breanna Stewart and Gabby Williams, drew a solid hand as they came out for the pregame shootaround from a crowd that stretched into the upper tier of the arena.

All three Huskies products were starters. All three got applause when they were announced. Bird, called out last, drew a roar as most o f the crowd of 7,088 jumped to their feet.

“Of course it means a lot,” Bird said after the game. “Especially being in Connecticut, it was kind of funny to walk out there and see so much green and yellow in the stands.”

Some of the fans wore Bird’s jersey. One, behind the scorer’s table, waved Bird’s UConn jersey. Others…

“There was a bunch of people courtside: Two guys had” — Bird chuckled — “my Sports Illustrated Swimsuit picture, like, on a T-shirt. That was hilarious.”



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Sun must continue to be on the defensive vs. Sky

Mohegan — The Connecticut Sun continue to be defensive.

Defense was a foundation of Connecticut’s success during its franchise-record 2021 season with four of its starters earning WNBA All-Defensive Team honors — Briann January, Jasmine Thomas and Brionna and Jonquel Jones.

Only the Joneses remain from that group, but the Sun have continued to play well defensively this season. They’ll need to continue that Friday night when they host the defending champion Chicago Sky (7, Mohegan Sun Arena, NESN).

“Philosophically, we are who we are,” Connecticut head coach and general manager Curt Miller said. “We just have a little bit different personnel.”

The Sun (10-3) used the combination of defense, grit and deliberate pace to tie the single season franchise record for most wins in a season (26). Their 26-6 record set a single-season franchise record for winning percentage (.813). They were also first in defensive field goal percentage (40.9).

Connecticut was going to take a step back in defensive efficiency this season when it opted to sign guard Courtney Williams in free agency, meaning that it wouldn’t have the cap space to keep January, who later signed with the Seattle Storm.

Thomas, the team’s longtime starting point guard, suffered a season-ending ACL injury in her right knee in the first quarter of the Sun’s fourth game of the season (May 22 at the Indiana Fever).

Connecticut ranks fifth out of 12 teams in defensive field goal percentage (42.8) this season while holding opponents to a league-low 64.5 field goal attempts per game.

The Indiana Fever shot 37.5-percent against the Sun on Wednesday night (Connecticut won, 88-69).

Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell was shooting 44.7-percent prior to Wednesday and was the league’s third-leading scorer (19.5 ppg).

Mitchell shot 3 of 13 for nine points in 32 minutes on Wednesday. She missed 10 of 12 shots and…

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