Live from NCAI annual convention in Tulsa (November 3, 2005)

Welcome!Indianz.Com is in Tulsa, Oklahoma, all week for the 62nd annual National Congress of American Indian convention. Join us daily for updates on all the happenings and events! Indian Health Service Dr. Charles Grim, a member of the Cherokee Nation...

Navajo president testifies in sacred site trial (November 3, 2005)

Navajo Nation resident Joe Shirley Jr. testified on Wednesday against the expansion of a ski area in the sacred San Francisco Peaks. Shirley said the use of reclaimed wastewater in the peaks will hurt the Navajo way of life. "The...

Man sentenced for wreck that killed Sac & Fox elders (November 3, 2005)

An Oklahoman man was sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to pay $1,500 for causing a car accident that claimed the lives of three Sac & Fox elders. Mary Clark, 82; Janice Stevens, 51; and Juanita Goodreau, 71,...

First woman elected president at Fort Belknap (November 3, 2005)

Julia Doney was elected president of the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana on Tuesday. Doney, an Assiniboine, and her running mate, Raymond Chandler Sr., a Gros Ventre, defeated their opponents with 55.4 percent of the vote. This was Doney's...

Harvard Project recognizes tribal excellence (November 3, 2005)

The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development handed out its Honoring Nations awards at the National Congress of American Indians convention in Tulsa. Honoring Nations recognizes innovation and excellence in tribal governance. Fourteen tribes, from Alaska to Mississippi to...

Griles, Rossetti clash at Abramoff hearing (November 3, 2005)

Two former Interior Department officials clashed at Wednesday's Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on the Jack Abramoff tribal lobbying scandal. Former deputy secretary J. Steven Griles and former legal counselor Michael G. Rossetti offered conflicting accounts of Abramoff's contacts with...

Northern Cheyenne Tribe charges councilors (November 3, 2005)

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana has charged two council members with official misconduct. Vice President Rick Wolfname and Lame Deer District Councilman Charles Yellowfox were arrested on Tuesday. They pleaded not guilty in tribal court and were released on...

Editorial: Tantaquidgeon kept Mohegan culture alive (November 3, 2005)

"Gladys Tantaquidgeon, the Mohegan medicine woman and elder who died this week at age 106, reportedly carried a sound philosophy: You can't hate someone you know a lot about. By that standard, Miss Tantaquidgeon did her American Indian peers...

Man claims Indian heritage blocks county action (November 3, 2005)

A Florida man says county authorities can't tell him to clean up his yard because he is Native American. Robert Sumner says he is Turtle Mountain Chippewa. He is threatening to sue officials in Charlotte County if they come on...

DeLay staff helped Abramoff gain access to Norton (November 3, 2005)

Staffers for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) helped Jack Abramoff's tribal clients gain access to Interior Secretary Gale Norton by suggesting they go through a Republican environmental organization that she had founded, the Associated Press reports. Two DeLay aides traded e-mails...

Column: NMAI cafe offers history, health lesson (November 3, 2005)

"I find myself stuck by choice and, I suppose, inclination on the ground level, in the Mitsitam (which means "Let's eat!" in the Delaware tongue) cafeteria at the breathtaking new National Museum of the American Indian. There are three...

Minnesota Indian chamber of commerce wins award (November 3, 2005)

The Minnesota American Indian Chamber of Commerce is being presented with an award from the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. The chamber is being honored for its work to get out the vote as part of the Native Vote 2002 initiative....

Former Hopi chair: Hopis force action on Peabody (November 3, 2005)

"On Dec. 31, our small Hopi grass-roots organization will have accomplished something quite extraordinary: We will have forced the world's largest coal company to end its plundering of our waters. When the pumps stop, a beautiful silence will descend upon...

BIA sued over Passamaquoddy natural gas deal (November 3, 2005)

Members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine sued the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Wednesday for approving a lease for a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal. The Passamaquoddy Tribe signed a deal with an Oklahoma company to host a $400...

Churches can only offer $29M for Native abuse (November 3, 2005)

A group of Catholic churches say they can only offer $29 million to Native victims of residential school abuse. The Catholic churches say they don't have any more money or a way to generate more money. They say they can...

Evacuated First Nation might return by winter (November 3, 2005)

More than 800 people who have been evacuated from the Kashechewan First Nation in Ontario might be able to return home by winter, a provincial official said. The Ontario government ordered an emergency airlift of the reserve in response to...

Ralph Reed fought tribes with Coushatta money (November 3, 2005)

Republican activist Ralph Reed fought tribes in Louisiana and Texas using funds that came from the Coushatta Tribe, according to Senate testimony on Wednesday. Reed was hired to fight the Tigua Tribe of Texas and the Jena Band of...

ANWR drilling measure up for vote in Senate (November 3, 2005)

The Senate is set to vote today on a budget measure that allows drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Republicans added drilling the budget in order to prevent a Democratic filibuster. The budget reconciliation only requires a...

Editorial: No rewrite for national park policies (November 3, 2005)

"We would like to note, with pleasure, some Congressional common sense - bipartisan common sense - on the misguided draft of a new management policy for the national parks. Last week, six Republican senators told Interior Secretary Gale Norton that...