News Archive: May 3, 2007 Archives

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May 3, 2007
Indian mortality rates still high, according to CDC
The infant mortality rate among American Indian and Alaska Native women has not changed significantly in the past 10 years, according to data released on Wednesday. In 2004, there were 8.45 deaths per 1,000 live births among Native women, the...

Editorial: Better approach to crimes against women
"Government response to sexual violence against American Indian women has been described as a "maze of injustice” by Amnesty International. That response has been erratic at best. The problem persists: Nationwide, American Indian women are 2.5 times more likely to...

UTTC's small business program graduates 13 this year
The small business development program at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota, graduates 13 people this year. Graduates include Florine Burning Breast, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. She hopes to use her...

Utah tries to delay action on Goshute waste dump
The state of Utah is trying to delay action on a proposed nuclear waste dump on the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation. The state says the Interior Department put two hurdle for the Skull Valley Goshute Band to clear before the...

Indian student makes finals in poetry competition
Fantasia Lonjose, a 17-year-old member of the Zuni Tribe of New Mexico, made it to the finals of the national Poetry Out Loud competition in Washington, D.C., this week. Lonjose, a senior at Santa Fe Indian School, didn't place...

Yellow Bird: Tighten gun control laws in North Dakota
"Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine announced Monday that the state had closed a loophole that had allowed a mentally disturbed Virginia Tech student to buy the guns used in the recent shooting rampage. It seems that gun control nationwide has...

Five arrested for drugs and meth in South Dakota
Five men have been indicted for dealing cocaine and methamphetamine on and off the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Donroy Ghost Bear, Dale Ecoffey, Vince Lafferty, Jeremy Waters and Shane Tyon are accused of conspiracy to distribute a controlled...

Editorial: Lumbee Tribe takes step to recognition
"We don't have a principled objection to gambling, believing it to be just another form of entertainment that provides the chance - long as it may be - for a participant to leave with more money than he arrived with....

AIM leader criticizes tribal disenrollments
American Indian Movement activist Dennis Banks called on the Bureau of Indian Affairs to intervene in disenrollment disputes in California. Banks said tribes were kicking out members for financial reasons. He said the ones being disenrolled can prove their...

Hopi Tribe removes chief judge following assault
The Hopi Tribe of Arizona has removed its chief judge after he was arrested on disorderly conduct and assault and battery charges. The council voted 11-6, with 3 abstentions, to remove Judge Gary LaRance. He allegedly assaulted another man at...

8th Circuit orders stiff sentence for Red Lake man
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a federal judge to impose a stiffer sentence on a Red Lake Ojibwe man who admitted to dealing drugs on the reservation. The 8th Circuit said the judge was wrong to sentence Todd...

County handcuffed and jailed 11-year-old Ojibwe boy
The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is asking Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson to intervene after the Mille Lacs County sheriff's department handcuffed, arrested and jailed an 11-year-old boy. Swanson has responded that she has opened an investigation, The Minneapolis...

Column: BIA failed Suquamish Tribe on lease
"From the earliest days that the U.S. government began forcing tribes to surrender the bulk of their property and move to smaller plots of land — so-called reservations — it became clear that they would become abjectly poor. How...

Canada House apologizes for Native student abuse
Canada's House of Commons unanimously voted to apologize to survivors of Native residential schools. The motion passed 257-0. But Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice said it would not immediately lead to a formal apology from the Canadian government. The government...

FDA expands suicide warnings on antidepressants
The Food and Drug Administration has ordered drug makers to include warnings that antidepressant can lead to suicide and suicidal thoughts among young adults. Drug makers are already required to warn teenagers and children of the suicide risk. The FDA...

Explosions destroy home on Rocky Boy Reservation
A pair of explosions destroyed a home on the Rocky Boy Reservation in Montana while two people, including a 16-year-old girl, were inside. The explosions were caused by a mix of propane and methane gases. The home sits on...

Sen. Tester calls on U.S. Attorney to resign
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana) called on Bill Mercer, the third-ranking Justice Department official, to resign his post as U.S. Attorney for Montana. Tester said Mercer was "operating outside federal law" by serving as acting associate attorney general in Washington,...

Rep. Moran expects vote on Virginia recognition
Rep. James Moran (D-Virginia) said he expects the House to vote as early as this week on a bill to recognize six Virginia tribes. Moran has been pushing for recognition since meeting Thomasina E. Jordan 12 years ago. Although...

Senate hearing on Native Hawaiian recognition
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing this morning on S. 310, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2007. The bill would treat Native Hawaiians in the same manner as American Indians and Alaska Natives. It allows for...

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