Land-into-trust report points to tribe's impact (November 27, 2006)

An environmental impact statement released by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Friday highlights the wide reach of the Oneida Nation on the economy in New York. The tribe lost nearly all of its 250,000-acre reservation through illegal land transactions....

Lummi Nation court offers alternative to jail (November 27, 2006)

The Lummi Nation's court has a new program that offers an alternative to jail for people who have been convicted of low-level offenses. The court puts people to work on the reservation. They clean up trash or make repairs at...

A burden of truth: Probe into Tulalip woman's death (November 27, 2006)

The Everett Herald ran a two-part story on the death of Sophia Solomon, a member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington. Solomon, 23, was found hanging from a tree three days before Christmas 2004. The official cause of death was...

Ute Reservation the 'murder capital of Colorado' (November 27, 2006)

The homicide rate on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation in Colorado is 25 times higher than the rate for the state's biggest cities. This year alone, five people have been killed on the reservation, home to about 2,000 people. That...

Chukchansi Tribe latest to disenroll members (November 27, 2006)

The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians has removed an unspecified number of people from the tribal roll. The tribe started an audit three years ago to determine who is eligible for membership. Chairwoman Dixie Jackson said some "a lot of...

Elderly Navajo woman says BIA rangers assaulted her (November 27, 2006)

An elderly Navajo woman says three Bureau of Indian Affairs agents assaulted her in anticipation of evicting her from Hopi tribal land. Rena Babbitt Lane, 84, says she was dragged from her bed by the rangers, who searched her...

Cherokee court hears dispute over Freedmen vote (November 27, 2006)

The Cherokee Nation's top court heard arguments on Friday in a lawsuit that will determine whether tribal citizens can vote to oust the Freedmen, the descendants of African slaves. Vicki Baker, a Freedmen descendant, filed the lawsuit. She says an...

Tohono O'odham protest waste dump at sacred site (November 27, 2006)

Members of the Tohono O'odham Nation blocked traffic at the U.S.-Mexico border to protest development near a sacred site. Americans returning from Mexico were held up for hours during the peaceful protest on Sunday. About 1,000 people were involved, The...

Osage Nation, U.S. at odds over trust fund damages (November 27, 2006)

The Osage Nation of Oklahoma is headed back to court after efforts to settle a trust mismanagement case with the Bush administration failed. The tribe sued the federal government in 2000, alleging the mishandling of billions of dollars in oil...

Tim Giago: Mainstream media lacking in accuracy (November 27, 2006)

Accuracy in the media has almost become a simile for inaccuracy. What is one editor’s version of accuracy can easily be another’s version of inaccuracy. It usually comes down to whose ox is about to be gored. One would think...

Frazier defeated in Cheyenne River Sioux election (November 27, 2006)

Harold Frazier has been defeated as chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. The official canvas of the November 7 election showed Joseph Brings Plenty with 1,592 votes. Frazier only had 919. The results are a reversal...

Betty Reid: Accord brings new home to Navajo mom (November 27, 2006)

"My mother will get a water faucet. Dorothy Reid has lived her 79 years on the Navajo Reservation in hogans, under arbors or in canvas tents without running water, bathrooms or electricity. But that will change soon. After three...

Search for two Red Lake brothers called off (November 27, 2006)

Federal and tribal officials called of the air and ground search for two brothers who went missing on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota five days ago. But the Red Lake Nation and the FBI vowed to continue looking...

Editorial: Clean up uranium on Navajo Nation (November 27, 2006)

"During World War II, the federal government made a deal with Navajos: If the tribe allowed uranium mining on its 27,000-square-mile reservation, the land eventually would be returned "in as good condition as received." Instead, when the diggers left...

Canadian Native man dies while serving U.S. (November 27, 2006)

Michael T. Seeley was born in Canada and grew up there. But that didn't stop the Mi'kmaq man from New Brunswick from enlisting in the U.S. Army and going to Iraq. "It hearkens back to the warrior tradition that...

Fort Berthold soldier killed in Afghanistan (November 27, 2006)

Nathan Goodiron, a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of North Dakota, was killed in firefight in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving Day. Goodiron, 25, was a North Dakota National Guardsman. His cousin, C.J. O'Berry, was wounded during the...

North Dakota tribe's known debt tops $80M (November 27, 2006)

The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation of North Dakota is at least $80 million in debt, The New Town News reports. The tribe amassed the debt over a four-year period starting in 2002. In 2005, the tribe took out a...

Jodi Rave: Native students not always a priority (November 27, 2006)

"Native students are pushing a number of tribal community colleges, state universities and Ivy League schools to claim record enrollment numbers in 2006. But Native students' needs aren't always a priority. Last week, I provided a media lecture to...

Column: Sitting Bull gets respect he deserves (November 27, 2006)

"Sitting Bull deserves better. With the help of Bryan Defender and Rhett Albers, he might finally get the respect he's owed. Defender, who is from McLaughlin, grew up on the Standing Rock Reservation, only a few miles from the...

Yellow Bird: Culture clash over eagle shooting (November 27, 2006)

"As reported in a recent story by The Associated Press, a young Northern Arapaho man from Fort Washekie, Wyo., was charged for shooting a bald eagle. His reason for killing the eagle, he said, was cultural; it had to...