Indianz.Com News Archive: June 30, 2006 Archives

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June 30, 2006
Monteau: Indians distrust the white man's policies
"Dear Assistant Secretary Cason: First of all, let me allay your fears that we all hate ''white men.'' We don't. What we do hate are the policies and restrictions foisted upon us and our homelands by the lawmakers of the...

Michigan tribe wins another ruling in state taxation battle
A Michigan tribe scored another court victory this week in its long-running tax battle with the state. Affirming a federal judge who sided with the tribe, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community...

Former Turtle Mountain chairwoman convicted
Twila Martin Kekahbah, the former chairwoman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, was convicted by a federal jury on Thursday. Kekahbah, 59, was indicted on charges of terrorizing and reckless endangerment. She threatened to shoot two men who...

Dentists drop opposition to Alaska Native program
The American Dental Association has dropped its opposition to the Alaska Native dental health aides program. The ADA says dentists are still the best trained to perform services for Alaska Natives. But the group has agreed to a compromise in...

Alcohol blamed for Alaska Native disappearances
The FBI says a string of disappearances and deaths of Alaska Natives can be traced to alcohol, not the work of a serial killer. The FBI looked at 24 missing persons and suspicious death cases, mostly of Native men but...

Schools seek to increase Native student enrollment
Colleges and universities across the nation are seeking ways to increase Native student enrollment. American Indians and Alaska Natives are woefully underrepresented at most schools. The Cal State system enrolled only 2,850 Native students out of 406,000. That's less than...

Man pleads not guilty to murder of Navy SEAL
A 22-year-old men pleaded not guilty in federal court to the murder of a Navy SEAL on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana. Gerald Lee Littlehead is charged with one count of felony second-degree murder and one count of felony...

Tribal languages help deliver anti-meth campaign
Native students in Montana are helping spread the word against methamphetamine use in their tribal languages. Blackfeet and Crow are among the four languages being used in the anti-meth campaign at Huntley Project Summer Migrant School. The students there...

Navajo Nation cracks down on methamphetamine
Tribal and federal agents made numerous arrests across the Navajo Nation as part of a crackdown on methamphetamine. In the first operation of its kind, the Navajo Nation and the FBI conducted early morning raids at the homes of meth...

Indian voting rights at stake in renewal legislation
Indian voting rights in South Dakota are at risk as Republicans in Congress hold up a bill to renew the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Provisions in the law have been used numerous times in South Dakota to help...

Former Crow official enters plea in federal case
Theodore J. Hogan, a former official for the Crow Tribe of Montana, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of making false statements. Hogan is accused of lying about his financial status. Federal prosecutors say he provided false information about...

Fire Thunder impeached after abortion controversy
Cecelia Fire Thunder, the first woman to serve as president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, was impeached by a vote of 9-5 on Thursday. The tribal council impeached Fire Thunder after she stirred controversy about the...

Professor: Lessons from the Ward Churchill inquiry
"Ward Churchill should be fired for academic misconduct — that’s the decision made by the interim chancellor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, after receiving a report from a faculty committee concluding that Churchill is guilty of falsification,...

Small tribes affected most by freeze of HUD funds
The Bush administration's decision to withhold $300 million in Indian housing funds affects small tribes and small housing authorities the most, tribal officials said. Each year, tribes and housing authorities submit Indian housing plans to the Department of Housing and...

Power lines being removed from Seminole land
The Florida Power & Light Co. has agreed to remove power lines from the Seminole Tribe's reservation in Hollywood. Two transmission lines were located on the reservation. Some local residents raised concerns about loss of property values and health and...

Oglala Sioux Tribe partners in kosher packing plant
The Oglala Sioux Tribe and an orthodox Jewish family from New York City have teamed up to open a kosher packing plant. The tribe and the Rubashkin family have been working together for about a year. They held a...

Rep. Ney losing staff as aide subpoenaed for probe
Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) is losing three top staff members as an aide is being subpoenaed to testify in the Jack Abramoff probe. Ney's chief of staff, communications director and legislative director are planning to resign or have already...

Mississippi Choctaws deny $13M spent in Alabama
The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians deny the tribe spent $13 million to help elect Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (R). A tribal leader told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin spent the money in order to...

Opinion: First Americans line up at the money trough
"While disgraced lobbyist and Republican insider Jack Abramoff and his ilk go down in flames — taking some prominent members of Congress with them — it’s important to keep in mind that their tactics also implicated a legitimate but sad...

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