News Archive: February 28, 2007 Archives

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February 28, 2007
Column: Another troubling Interior report
"Communication. Trust. Leadership. A report by the Interior Department inspector general, released this month, provides a glimpse of how these issues can arise in agencies that have to manage a workforce spread across the country. The report, by Earl...

Transcript: Agriculture Secretary at NCAI
The Department of Agriculture has posted the transcript of Secretary Mike Johanns' remarks to the National Congress of American Indians winter session. Johanns addressed tribal delegates on Monday. He talked about the reauthorization of the farm bill, the fiscal...

Opinion: No freedom for Leonard Peltier
"The media have been quick to report the motive behind Hollywood mogul David Geffen’s dissing of Hillary Clinton, namely his pique at her husband’s failure to pardon jailed Indian activist Leonard Peltier. What they have not reported is why liberal...

Indian students improve attendance, test scores
Indian students in Aberdeen, South Dakota, have improved their attendance rates and test scores in just one year. Indian students at Central High School attended school 91.9 percent of the time. That's up from 86.8 percent last year. Districtwide, Indian...

Narragansett Tribe questions housing subdivision
The Narragansett Tribe is worried that a housing subdivision on the Connecticut-Rhode Island border might disturb artifacts and remains. The 75-acre site is located in Sterling, Connecticut. Two developers wants to build 21 homes there. Tribal members believe several stone...

Oneida Nation officially ends tax dispute with city
The Oneida Nation of New York has officially ended its property tax dispute with the city of Oneida. The tribe and the city reached a deal in March 2006. The tribe agreed to pay property taxes until its land goes...

Opinion: Return Black Hills to the Sioux Nation
"Today is a sad day in American-Indian -- and American -- history. On that day 130 years ago, the federal government broke its own laws and eventually used military force to seize illegally the once vast reservation homelands of Lakota...

Japan opposes Alaska Native subsistence hunting
At the upcoming International Whaling Commission meeting, Japan is planning oppose subsistence hunting by Alaska Natives. Japan wants the IWC to approve a minke whale hunt for some of its villages. But the United States and other nations say the...

South Dakota panel backs Indian education office
The South Dakota State Senate Education Committee unanimously approved a bill to create a permanent Office of Indian Education, The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. Gov. Mike Rounds (R) established the office and an Indian Education Advisory Council.. Citing the...

Indian arts organization needs a new leader again
The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts has once again lost its executive director. David Cloutier is the fifth person in 10 years to hold the position. He was on the job for about two years. SWAIA organizes the annual Santa...

Raytheon to expand operation on Navajo Nation
Raytheon Co. is expanding its munitions manufacturing facility on the Navajo Nation. Raytheon plans to add 100 jobs, doubling the size of the workforce at the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry facility in Upper Fruitland, New Mexico. The $6 million,...

NCAI 2007: Updates from winter session in Washington
Updates from the 2007 winter session of the National Congress of American Indians! Judicial Nominations Quechan Nation President Mike Jackson described his how tribe fought and won the battle against Bill Myers, one of President Bush's most controversial judicial nominees....

Navajo man sentenced for killing former girlfriend
An 18-year-old Navajo man was sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison for stabbing his former girlfriend to death in front of her home on the reservation. Philip Notah pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder. He...

Bill opens scholarships to tribal college students
The New Mexico House passed a bill that makes tribal college students eligible to receive state scholarship funds. House Bill 308, sponsored by Speaker Ben Lujan, a Democrat, allows tribal students to receive up to $1,000 in College Affordability scholarships...

Opinion: The misrecognition of 'Native' Hawaiians
"In the Valentine’s day edition of The Honolulu Advertiser this year, Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) took it upon itself to inform us with a slick advertisement on page A4 that we must define ourselves by race. Not content to...

O'odham man named to state board of education
Jacob Moore, a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation, has been appointed to the Arizona State Board of Education. Moore worked in congressional and legislative affairs for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. He currently serves as tribal relations...

Jodi Rave: Chippewa Cree artist honors heritage
"When the nation's premier woolen company asked artist Jesse Henderson to design a Pendleton blanket, he took it seriously. “I was trying to be sensitive to my people,” said Henderson, a Chippewa-Cree from the Rocky Boy's Reservation in northern...

Idaho governor seeks gas tax agreement with tribes
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R) hopes to negotiate a gas tax agreement with three tribes, prompting a rewrite of a bill that threatens to take away all tribal gas revenues. Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that puts a July 1...

House committee hearing on 'The Evolving West'
The House Committee on Natural Resources is holding a hearing this morning on "The Evolving West." Two tribal leaders are on the witness list. They are Clifford Lyle Marshall, the chairman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe of California, and Matthew...

Yellow Bird: Cell phone addiction affects driving
"Cell phone use while driving may see innocuous, but it, too, is multitasking and dangerous. It probably is the most common distraction, because you'll find few people who don't have a cell phone. Unfortunately, it has become so commonplace...

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