Alton Villegas offered an unusual call to action on March 29 for an 11-year-old boy: “Destroy the ice cream man.”

Facing a high prevalence of diabetes, many American Indian tribes are returning to their roots with community and home gardens, cooking classes that incorporate traditional foods, and running programs to encourage healthy lifestyles. The latest effort on the Navajo Nation, the country's largest reservation, is to use the tax system to push people to ditch junk food.

For seven weeks this fall, workers and scientists labored from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., six days a week, digging up and hauling off thousands of cubic yards of uranium-tainted soil in Cove, Ariz., and sealing what remained.

With Congress required to come up with more than $1 trillion in multiyear budget cuts this fall, tribal leaders converged in Washington this week to make sure their concerns are included in the discussion.

Restoring hospice care to Medicaid-covered services in Arizona would provide better and more cost-effective care for dying patients, a lawmaker said.