 Red Lake Nation officials called for unity on the reservation at the annual Red Lake State of the Band of Dress. Reporter Cheryl Moore is live in our newsroom tonight with a full recap. Cheryl. Thank you, Josh. More than 250 people are in attendance tonight at tonight's State of the Band of Dress, including U.S. Senator Tina Smith. Let's be kind in one, one another, love one another. Because it's not the way of life as I should not be people. From infrastructure projects to potential policy changes, there are many topics addressed at today's Red Lake State of the Band of Dress. We talked about legalizing marijuana. We talked about environmental justice issues such as the line three replacement project that's going to impact us and having our people provide input to make sure that our decisions are really in line with what the people want. During his speech, Chairman Seeky Sr. spoke about things like reclaiming land, creating more jobs, improving communication with members, and making the reservation a safer place to live. He noted that while drug problems have been declining, the opioid epidemic is still a big hurdle. The bottom line is they're poisoning our membership, and because that's the other thing I always talk about is incarceration doesn't work. We gotta help them heal. The chairman also went into length about the impact of the government shutdown. During the shutdown, the government stopped paying what they owed us, which placed a severe financial strain on us and threatened our ability to continue providing government services for our members. He says officials had to be creative to ensure people did not get laid off. This was something Minnesota State Senator Tina Smith says really resonated with her. I was really glad to hear Chair Seeky speak out about that and I am cosponsor of legislation that would make sure that tribal nations have advanced funding for their most important projects so that they don't have to deal with what the red light band needed to deal with this year, which is to not have the money to carry on really essential really essential functions. Moving forward, red light nation says they are putting the people first. Chairman Seeky Sr. says he has an open door policy, and anyone is welcome to give their thoughts. I just want to see a friend, a friend through everybody. My door's open for them, even though they don't like me or get me. They don't need help, but I will turn them down. And some of the new infrastructure projects that are in the works include new senior housing and a new halfway house. Josh, back to you. All right, thank you very much, Sheryl, for that live report from our Lakeland Newsroom. Senator Smith also made stops at the Bugga-Negasig School on the Leech Lake Reservation and Epimagee State University. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.