Report looks at urban Native population in Canada (June 24, 2005)

The number of Natives living in urban areas more than doubled -- and in some cases tripled -- over the past twenty years, according to a report from Statistics Canada released on Thursday. Based the 2001 Census, the last one...

Partisan fight looms over tribal labor law rider (June 24, 2005)

The normally bipartisan Congressional Native American Caucus is gearing up for a major fight as Republicans and Democrats trade barbs over a tribal labor union measure. Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Arizona), the Republican co-chair of the caucus, plans to introduce an...

Editorial: Congress should settle trust fund (June 24, 2005)

"America's inspiring history also has its list of shameful events, and topping it is certainly the country's inexcusable and despicable treatment of American Indians. The nation now has a chance to fix one of those wrongs - the abused federal...

Native corporation president charged with assaults (June 24, 2005)

Jacob Adams, the president of Arctic Slope Regional Corp., was arrested and charged with two criminal misdemeanor charges of assault after scuffling with police whom he says were trying to hurt his teenage son. Adams, 58, went to the...

Opinion: Reed didn't lie, he just followed the law (June 24, 2005)

"Ralph Reed has long been opposed to the expansion of casino gambling. As far back as 1997 he helped pass federal legislation creating the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. The commission found that casino gambling was exploding in America and...

Ceremony to mark shift in white-Indian relations (June 24, 2005)

Descendants of Lakota leader Sinte Gleska and an Army colonel will meet on Saturday and Sunday to dedicate an exhibit to Mni Akuwin, the 17-year-old daughter of Sinte Gleska who urged friendly relations between Indians and whites. The exhibit will...

Column: Hearing slated on two-word change to NAGPRA (June 24, 2005)

"To many, it is unthinkable for Congress to pass a law restricting or prohibiting scientific research because it might prove contradictory to biblical creationists' cherished beliefs about how the world was made and the human species came into existence....

Choctaws rehire lobbyist accused in Abramoff fraud (June 24, 2005)

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has rehired a lobbyist accused of participating in the potential defrauding of the tribe, The Jackson Clarion Ledger reports. The tribe hired Kevin Ring, who used to work with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff at...

Redding Rancheria wants study at future Wal-Mart site (June 24, 2005)

Citing the discovery of artifacts, the Redding Rancheria of California is calling for further study at the site of a future Wal-Mart Tribal members say they have found arrowheads, beads and shells. But officials in the city of Anderson said...

Chairman of Spirit Lake Nation recalled in vote (June 24, 2005)

Members of the Spirit Lake Nation of North Dakota voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to recall chairman Valentino "Tino" White. The vote was 275 to 55 against White, The Grand Forks Herald. The paper said he didn't attend the hearing to...

Utah senator withdraws rider against Goshute waste (June 24, 2005)

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Thursday proposed but immediately withdrew a rider to the national energy policy legislation that would have blocked the Skull Valley Goshute Tribe's nuclear waste repository. The proposal has not previously been the subject of...

'Medicine man' arrested, charged in peyote flap (June 24, 2005)

A self-described "medicine man" from Utah was arrested and charged on Thursday for illegal possession and distribution of peyote and for misrepresenting himself as an American Indian in order to obtain the hallucinogen. A federal grand jury indicted James...

Supreme Court rejects suit over water usage (June 24, 2005)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that water users in California who are fighting tribes cannot sue the federal government to enforce a water contract. In a unanimous decision, the court rebuffed users of the Westlands Water District. The...

Supreme Court rules in property rights dispute (June 24, 2005)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments make seize land from property owners to further an economic development interest. The 5-4 ruling affirmed the Fifth Amendment allows local governments to exercise eminent domain for public use. "Promoting...

Yakama Nation buys minor league basketball team (June 24, 2005)

The Yakama Nation of Washington announced the purchase of the minor league Yakima Sun Kings basketball team on Thursday. The tribe plans to rename the team the Yakama Sun Kings. The purchase was called a part of the tribe's economic...

Tribe, ACLU accuse school district of discrimination (June 24, 2005)

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint on Thursday accusing the Winner School District of discriminating against Indian students by subjecting them to harsher disciplinary practices. The complaint [PDF] was filed on behalf of...

State willing to meet with Tulalip Tribes over park (June 24, 2005)

The state of Washington won't sell a new beach park to the Tulalip Tribes but is willing to accommodate tribal concerns about the development, the state parks director said. The state is restoring the 430-acre Cama Beach State Park....

Idaho senator inserts rider to kill salmon counting (June 24, 2005)

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has inserted a rider into an energy appropriations bill that eliminates the Fish Passage Center, a federal agency that keeps track of salmon that run though dams in the Columbia River. The agency has collected...

Ralph Reed pressed by rival to document tribal ties (June 24, 2005)

Ralph Reed should document his ties to tribes, his Republican opponent in Georgia's lieutenant governor race said. Reed accepted $10,000 from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in his bid to become chairman of the state Republican party. The...

Editorial: Washington in worst lobbying scandal ever (June 24, 2005)

"Washington is mesmerised by its worst lobbying scandal in decades as evidence emerges of political fixers taking millions from casino owners and funnelling the cash to themselves and friends in Congress. Senators have expressed disbelief at details of the scheme....

Column: Jack Abramoff's Choctaw Nation (June 24, 2005)

"Is Jack "I don't want sniper letterhead" Abramoff, the paleface Republican lobbyist whose fleecing of the Mississippi Choctaw alone will earn him a permanent place in the history of Washington chicanery (though not, alas, his desired sobriquet, "Scholar of Talmudic...

Editorial: Reed lied about taking money from Choctaws (June 24, 2005)

"Until recently, the office of Ralph Reed, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, issued a standard prepared denial whenever the press inquired about allegations that Reed had knowingly accepted millions of dollars from Indian tribes with gambling interests. The statement...

Column: No limits to Republican sleaze in Washington (June 24, 2005)

"When faced with evidence of corruption and sleaze by such Republican stalwarts as Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay, conservatives have responded in three ways. The first is to deny the accusations altogether. The second is to concede them, but insist...

Harjo: Tribes lobby to fleece their own people (June 24, 2005)

"Increasingly in recent times, national Indian efforts have been weakened or thwarted by one, two or a dozen tribes striking out on their own for a better deal; not for everyone, but for themselves only. The backstory to this series...