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January 15, 2009
Lawsuit alleges abuse of Alaska Natives by priests
A group of Alaska Natives filed a lawsuit in state court that accuses the Jesuits of allowing them to be sexually abused. The plaintiffs include 35 men and eight women who said they were abused as teenagers. They described...

Red Lake family searching for missing woman
A woman from the Red Lake Nation of Minnesota has been missing since last Saturday. Barbara Crystal (King) Ortiz, 29, gave birth to a girl on December 28, 2008. Her mother described her as a "vulnerable adult" who needs...

English-only legislation resurfaces in Oklahoma
A group of lawmakers reintroduced a bill to make English the official language of Oklahoma. The bill affects the use of English by the state government. It contains exemptions for tribal governments but the Cherokee Nation and other tribes opposed...

Salazar goes before Senate for confirmation hearing
Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colorado) promised to clean up the Interior Department at his confirmation hearing today. In his opening remarks, Salazar cited ethical scandals and criminal activity that have tainted the department. He described the tenure of former Secretary Gale...

Fire kills five on First Nation in British Columbia
A house fire on the Chemainus First Nation in British Columbia killed five people and injured three others were who were able to escape. The fire broke out early Wednesday morning. Gilbert Frenchy, 22, said he lost his grandmother,...

Opinion: Great White Father returns to Washington
"Nearly 50 years ago, a Pima native took a Greyhound bus from this sun-roasted redoubt of Indian land to the winter chill of Washington, D.C.,to witness the first day of a young American president. “When he came home, my father...

Advocates lobby for Navajo Nation disabilities law
The Native American Disability Law Center is hoping the Navajo Nation Council will finally pass a law to protect tribal members who have disabilities. The center has been working for the past three years on the bill. But the...

Lumbee Tribe recognition bill introduced again
A bill to recognize the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has been introduced in the 111th Congress. Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-North Carolina) introduced H.R.31 on January 6. The bill has 63 co-sponsors. The tribe came close to recognition in the...

Kara Briggs: Answering Obama's call to hope
"Before Christmas, a 6-year-old friend came into our lives. He insists that I call him Skywalker. And I do, imagining how the futuristic name fits the America that he will inherit, a future likely so different from the one we...

Tribes ask Obama to nominate Indian federal judges
Tribal leaders want president-elect Barack Obama to nominate more American Indians to the federal judiciary. Richard Milanovich, the chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of California, and other tribal leaders met with the Obama transition team in...

Mashpee chair blamed for misleading tribe
The suspended leader of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts is being accused of misleading tribal members. Chairman Shawn Hendricks was suspended during an emergency tribal council meeting. In an e-mail to tribal members, he said the tribe's lawyers did...

Jodi Rave: Series on Indian lawmakers in Montana
"When Sen. Sharon Stewart Peregoy, D-Crow Agency, stood among fellow members of the Montana Senate during swearing-in ceremonies, she spoke in her Crow language, breaking the state's English-only law. Peregoy, a bilingual educator, said she invoked her “senatorial privileges” as...

San Manuel Band linked to murder-for-hire plot
The intended victim of a murder-for-hire plot wants to include the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in a $50 million lawsuit. Leonard Epps is suing two tribal members -- Stacy Cheyenne Barajas-Nunez, 26, and her brother, Erik Barajas, 36...

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