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September 11, 2008
Program helps Blackfeet students stay in school
A public school program has reduced the drop out rate among youth of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. The Blackfeet Academy Wilderness Adventure/Mentoring Program incorporates Blackfeet culture. Students go on weekend outdoor adventures to learn leadership skills and become...

'A culture of ethical failure' seen at Interior
Three reports released by the Office of the Inspector General at the Interior Department describe "a culture of ethical failure" at the agency charged with collecting billions of dollars in federal and Indian royalties. Top officials and employees at the...

Police shootings of Soboba members investigated
The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the fatal shootings of three members of the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians of California. Deputies from the Riverside County sheriff's deputies shot and killed the three members during a one-week period...

Editorial: Jack Abramoff pays the piper for crimes
"Jack Abramoff feels sorry for himself. The once high-rolling Washington lobbyist has been sitting in a jail cell since January, 2006, after pleading guilty to fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy charges in two separate cases. Last week he was back...

BIA seeks to resolve Apache Tribe leadership dispute
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is trying to resolve a leadership dispute within the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma. Chairman Alonzo Chalepah and Vice Chair Mary Rivera forcibly took control of tribal headquarters on Tuesday. They said they were acting to...

Indian Affairs Committee hearing on three bills
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee is holding a hearing this morning on three bills. The hearing starts at 10:30am and will be broadcast online at http://indian.senate.gov/public/webcast.ram. It focuses on three bills: 1) S. 3128, White Mountain Apache Tribe Rural Water...

BIA officer shot on Standing Rock Reservation
A shooting incident on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation left a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer and another man injured. The officer wasn't seriously wounded in the early Wednesday incident. The officer was sent to the reservation as part...

Montana governor embellished reservation vote story
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) acknowledges he made up a story about intimidating Republican poll watchers on Indian reservations. Schweitzer discussed the 2006 U.S. Senate election in a speech to the American Association for Justice in July. He said he...

The Stranger: Sherman Alexie commands attention
Mature content ahead... "It's difficult to imagine Sherman Alexie as a tiny infant, fragile and vulnerable on the operating table in the shadow of a dire prognosis, although that's where his life story began. He was born with hydrocephalus—water...

Kevin Abourezk: Sarah Palin, we need to talk, OK?
"Sarah Palin, if you read this, e-mail me. It seems every time I turn around there's another e-mail in my inbox with more ugly things being said about you. Messages no doubt being disseminated to dozens, if not hundreds, of...

Catawba Nation backs school's 'Warrior' mascot
The Catawba Nation of South Carolina is endorsing the "Warriors" mascot of a local high school. The tribe will christen its relationship with Indian Land High School at a football game on Friday. The athletic field will be named...

Navajo Nation Council eyes override on tobacco
The Navajo Nation Council will meet today in a special session. Among the items on the agenda is a ban on tobacco use in public places. The council passed a bill to outlaw tobacco but President Joe Shirley Jr. vetoed...

Letter: Appropriation of Cherokee culture
"Recent letters to the editor have characterized Cherokee Nation’s Truth in Advertising for Native Art Act and other tribal activities as personal attacks on individuals. Tribal identity and citizenship are determined by the tribal government and citizenship. Outsiders do not...

Opinion: Gov. Palin's treatment of Alaska Natives
"I am writing this letter to raise awareness about the ongoing colonization and violation of human rights being carried out against Alaska Native peoples in the name of unsustainable progress, with a particular emphasis on the role of Sarah Palin...

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe defends lobbyist's work
A lobbyist who has been indicted in connection with the Jack Abramoff scandal worked for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts until this March of this year, The Cape Cod Times reports. Kevin Ring represented the tribe well, tribal leaders...

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes win EPA approval for water
The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Idaho won Environmental Protection Agency to develop its own water quality standards. The tribe will develop a program affecting all waters within the Fort Hall Reservation. The tribe won't have regulatory and enforcement powers, an EPA...

San Juan Southern Paiute leader indicted
The vice president of the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe of Arizona has been indicted on 65 counts of theft. Evelyn James, who also has served as president, is accused of stealing $300,000 in federal funds meant for the tribe....

Crow candidate plans to sue tribe to get on ballot
Burton Pretty On Top plans to sue the Crow Tribe of Montana to run for chairman. Pretty on Top currently lives off the reservation. He acknowledges a residency requirement in the tribal constitution but says he should be able...

Homeland Security out of money for border fence
The Department of Homeland Security will run out of money this year for a border fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, the House Homeland Security Committee was told on Wednesday. The Secure Border Initiative is a combination of physical barriers...

Judge reduces Abramoff sentence for bank fraud
A federal judge in Florida reduced convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's bank fraud sentence. Abramoff was originally sentenced to 70 months but Judge Paul Huck cut it to 45 months. That puts it in line with the 48 months he received...

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