Senate Indian Affairs Committee passes bills (June 29, 2005)

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee held a meeting this morning to consider pending business [Agenda]. A large number of bills, including some high-profile ones, were considered. They included the U.S. apology resolution, the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians trust land...

Opinion: Indians should thank the Europeans (June 29, 2005)

"Before Europeans arrived, the scattered tribes occupying North America lived in abject poverty, ignorance, and superstition--not due to any racial inferiority, but because that is how all mankind starts out (Europeans included). The transfer of Western civilization to this continent...

Penobscot Nation to sell prescription drugs (June 29, 2005)

The Penobscot Nation of Maine is getting ready to launch a business that will offer discount prescription drugs through the mail. PIN Rx will launch by mid-August, The Portland Press Herald reported. It will offer discounts of up to 30...

Oklahoma senator loses Indian health care vote (June 29, 2005)

The Senate voted 75 to 17 against a rider offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) that would have added $121 million to diabetes and substance abuse programs. Coburn offered the rider as part of the 2006 Interior appropriations bill. It...

Appeals court dismisses land claim in favor of state (June 29, 2005)

A divided federal appeals court dismissed the 64,000 acre Cayuga land claim on Tuesday, ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court has "dramatically altered the legal landscape" of Indian land claims. Two judges of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals said...

Lewis and Clark event puts spotlight on tribes (June 29, 2005)

Montana's tribes will take the spotlight during the Lewis and Clark bicentennial commemoration in Great Falls, Montana. "Explore the Big Sky" begin today and run through Monday at the Montana ExpoPark. They include table games, a three day powwow, a...

Indian education program proposed for Oklahoma (June 29, 2005)

Educators in Oklahoma are developing a strategic plan to implement an "Indian Education For All" program similar to the one in Montana. The Oklahoma Native Education Network heard about the program from Montana Superintendent of Schools Linda McCulloch. The state...

Native students get crash course in college prep (June 29, 2005)

Fifty-nine Indian high school students representing 40 tribes attended a five-day "crash course" in college preparation at Harvard University in Massachusetts. The students are taking part in the College Horizons program. They will learn how to pick colleges, how to...

Appeals court upholds stop, search by tribal police (June 29, 2005)

Tribal and Bureau of Indian Affairs police officers didn't violate the constitutional rights of an Indian man who was stopped for an alleged violation of the Oglala Sioux Tribe's motor vehicle code and later charged with possession of marijuana, the...

Soboba Band signs law enforcement contract (June 29, 2005)

The Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians signed a law enforcement contract with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday, said to be the first of its kind in California. The tribe will pay about $387,000 a year for the county...

Utah 'medicine man' won't be released from jail (June 29, 2005)

A federal magistrate in Utah ordered a self-proclamed "medicine man" to remain in jail pending trial on charges of illegal possession and distribution of peyote. James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney is accused of misrepresenting himself as an Indian in order...

First Ute graduates under college's tribal program (June 29, 2005)

Farrell McCook is the first person to graduate from Colorado Mountain College under a program that gives a tuition break to members of the Northern Ute Tribe of Utah. The tribe was based in western Colorado before being forced out...

High hopes for preservation of Miami language (June 29, 2005)

The Miami Nation of Oklahoma and Miami University of Ohio are collaborating on efforts to preserve the Miami-Peoria language. The school's Myaamia Project completed an audio CD of the language in 2002 and just published the first Miami language dictionary....

Lawsuit filed over reservation hog farm settlement (June 29, 2005)

Four groups filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Indian Affairs for approving a hog farm settlement on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. Concerned Rosebud Area Citizens, Humane Farming Association, South Dakota Peace and Justice Center and Prairie...

Native activists arrested at gunpoint in Canada (June 29, 2005)

Two Native activists from British Columbia are questioning why they were arrested on Monday in what CBC News reports was a "full-scale police takedown." David Dennis, James Ward and a third man weren't charged with anything after they were...

Wisconsin governor signs consultation policies (June 29, 2005)

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) signed a series of policies on Tuesday requiring 12 state agencies to consult the 11 federally recognized tribes. The goal is to resolve policy disputes, improve state-tribal relations and correct for past problems, Doyle said....

Column: Indians teach others how to be American (June 29, 2005)

"A week ago, at the conference of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) meeting at the Morongo Casino Resort, the evening banquet opened with a ceremony that begins most formal Indian gatherings. Several Indian men, often military veterans, march...

Wisconsin court upholds award to Mole Lake Band (June 29, 2005)

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a $370,796 jury award to the Sokaogon (Mole Lake) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa for negligence and breach of contract by the tribe's former accounting firm. The tribe sued the Schenck accounting...

Column: Kosher deli owner brought home the pork (June 29, 2005)

"The regulars who savored briskets and corned beef at Stacks, the only kosher deli ever to grace Pennsylvania Avenue, never figured that the Orthodox Jew who owned the joint would become infamous as Washington's most conniving purveyor of pork. Jack...

Groups prepare quick response on Supreme Court pick (June 29, 2005)

Liberal and conservative groups are preparing campaigns in order to quickly shape public opinion within hours of a potential U.S. Supreme Court nomination. No one knows whether there will be a vacancy on the court, much less who might be...

Abramoff cut Ralph Reed off from Choctaw money (June 29, 2005)

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff funneled money from his tribal clients to Republican activist Ralph Reed but cut him off in 2002, CNN reports. Abramoff used Mississippi Choctaw funds to help Reed in his bid to become chairman of the...

NCAI's Hall praises Senate passage of energy bill (June 29, 2005)

The Senate voted 85 to 12 on Tuesday to approve a national energy policy bill that includes an Indian energy title aimed at helping tribes develop their lands. National Congress of American Indians President Tex Hall said the measure will...