The judge in the James Arthur Ray sweat-lodge trial has allowed the prosecution to present evidence from earlier “ceremonies” that Ray led in which people passed out and had other problems. Evidence from prior “Spiritual Warrior” events had been barred as prejudicial but on Wednesday the judge agreed with the County Attorney’s argument that because [...]
Apr 072011
Apr 062011
The House Subcommittee on Indians and Alaska Native Affairs held a hearing on Tuesday on legislation that would cap attorney’s fees in the Cobell settlement case at $50 million. The attorneys have filed a petition asking for $223 million. According to an AP story in the Washington Post, Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who co-sponsored the [...]
Apr 042011
Valerie Fast Horse, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s director of information technology, was recently honored by the Boise State University Women’s Center as one of its 2011 Women Making History. Read the story in Indian Country Today: Boise State Honors Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s ‘Technology Visionary’ Here’s a video from Rezkast.com, the website mentioned in the article, [...]
Akaka Introduces Bill To Correct Supreme Court Land Trust Decision
Native Sovereignty, North America
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Apr 012011
U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, has introduced a bill (S.676) to fix problems created by a Supreme Court ruling in Carcieri v Salazar which will lead to inequities in federal Indian policy if not corrected. Representative Dale Kildee (D-Michigan), the co-chairman of the House Native American Caucus, also [...]
Bill May Legalize And Tax Online Poker
North America
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Apr 012011
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) introduced an Internet gaming bill to the House Financial Services Committee on March 17. An article in Indian Country Today discusses the bill and it’s possible impacts on Indian gaming. Read the complete story: Online Poker to Be Legalized, Taxed
Apr 012011
An Associated Press story in the Washington Post says the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Seattle police department for possible civil rights violations after the shooting death of homeless Native American woodcarver John T. Williams and other incidents involving minority suspects. Williams was shot and killed last summer by Officer Ian Birk after [...]
Mar 312011
A story on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition cites Census Data that shows that Native Americans intermarry at higher rates than other races. More than half don’t marry other Natives, while 95% of whites and 85% of African-Americans, for example, do marry within their own ethnic group. This inevitably leads to issues for members of tribes that have a [...]
Mar 302011
Florence White Eagle, the Bureau of Indian Affairs superintendent at Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana who was charged with corruption last week has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Read the story at the TimesUnion.com: BIA officer denies federal corruption charges
Key Deadline Approaches for Native Americans in $3.4 Billion Indian Trust Settlement
North America
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Mar 302011
Certain Class Members Must Act by April 20, 2011 WASHINGTON, March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Court-ordered process of notifying individual Indians of their legal rights in the historic $3.4 billion class action Settlement, Cobell v. Salazar, is coming to a close. The Settlement resolves claims related to Individual Indian Money (or IIM) accounts and [...]
Senator Puts Director of Indian Health Service 'on notice' During Meeting
Health, North America
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Mar 302011
North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad met with Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, director of the Indian Health Service, on Tuesday and told her the American Indians in North Dakota “deserve better” care than they’re getting from IHS. Read the story in the Grand Forks Herald: N.D. Sen. Conrad puts director of Indian Health Service ‘on notice’ during [...]
Cherokee, NC (PRWEB) March 30, 2011 Cherokee Preservation Foundation (CPFdn) announced it has awarded 24 new grants totaling more than $2.7 million that support cultural preservation, economic development, job creation and environmental preservation for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). The grants include: A grant to the EBCI’s Strategic Energy Committee to create showcase [...]
Indian-Only Eagle Feathers Not A Religious Freedom Violation
Cultural Preservation, North America
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Mar 292011
The U.S. 10th Circuit of Appeals has ruled that it’s not a religious freedom violation of non-Indians to restrict possession of eagle feathers to members of federally-recognized American Indian tribes for religious purposes. One of the cases cited in the decision involved a man claiming to be a member of the Paiute Indian Peak Band [...]
