Appeals court upholds tribal jurisdiction after rehearing (January 11, 2006)

A federal appeals court reversed course on Tuesday and upheld tribal jurisdiction over an accident that occurred on the Flathead Reservation in Montana. By an 8 to 3 vote, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the case can be...

State study finds seat belt use low on reservations (January 11, 2006)

Drivers on Montana's seven reservations don't like to buckle up, according to a study from the state Transportation Department On the Fort Belknap Reservation, as many as 90 percent of drives don't wear seat belts. Nearly half of emergency...

Navajo Nation close to deal over gas pipeline (January 11, 2006)

The Navajo Nation is close to finalizing a deal to keep a natural gas pipeline on the reservation. The tribe has been in negotiations with the El Paso Natural Gas Company. A right-of-way agreement between the two parties expired last...

Texas tribe questions $50K donation to charity (January 11, 2006)

The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas gave $50,000 to a charity that it didn't know was run by Jack Abramoff, council members said. The tribe gave the money to the Capital Athletic Foundation after being asked by the Tigua Tribe of...

Tribal colleges happy to receive Abramoff donations (January 11, 2006)

Tribal colleges in Montana say they are more than happy to receive money connected to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Little Big Horn College on the Crow Reservation received $2,700 from Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana). "With the budgets that we...

Opinion: Greed too weak to describe Abramoff (January 11, 2006)

"I thought of the inadequacy of words last week when the man in the black fedora and trench coat made his perp walk to a Washington courthouse. The news talked breathlessly of influence-peddling, corruption, bribery, fraud, conspiracy, kickbacks. It all...

Wyoming governor criticizes budget cuts for tribes (January 11, 2006)

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) criticized the federal government for not living up to its obligations to the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and the Northern Arapaho Tribe. Freudenthal spoke to Arapaho leaders on the Wind River Reservation. 'At the federal level,...

Mille Lacs Band to make drug war a top priority (January 11, 2006)

The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe will make fighting drugs its top priority, tribal executive Melanie Benjamin said in her annual State of the Band address on Tuesday. Benjamin said drugs and violence associated with drugs are hurting the reservation....

Law firm takes $10M to fight tribe's land claim (January 11, 2006)

A law firm has collected more than $10 million in taxpayer fees to fight a land claim on behalf of a First Nation in British Columbia, The Vancouver Sun reports. The Woodward & Company's bills are being paid by the...

Alito pledges to keep an 'open mind' on abortion (January 11, 2006)

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. said he will keep an "open mind" on abortion despite writing legal memos that sought to overturn a woman's right to choose. On the second day of his confirmation hearing, Alito was...

Career officials negotiated Abramoff guilty plea (January 11, 2006)

Jack Abramoff's plea agreement was negotiated by career prosecutors at the Department of Justice who say politics didn't play a role in their aggressive case against the disgraced lobbyist. The Public Integrity section at DOJ took the lead in the...

Opinion: Indian lobbyists just as bad as the rest (January 11, 2006)

"Political anthropologists will have to excavate why Mr. Abramoff is a mega-scandal when peeps were barely raised about previous outrages in which the chief actors were public officials who presumably owed a higher standard of conduct. Say, several political appointees...

GOP leadership candidate connected to Abramoff (January 11, 2006)

Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), one of the candidates to replace Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) as House majority leader, has his own ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Blunt signed on to a controversial letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton that...

DeLay pressed officials after taking Abramoff money (January 11, 2006)

Embattled Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) urged the Bush administration to shut down a casino in Texas after receiving money from Jack Abramoff, the Associated Press reports. In December 2001, DeLay urged then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to shut down the...

Montana Supreme Court won't rule on Indian mascots (January 11, 2006)

The Montana Supreme Court last week dismissed a lawsuit that challenged a public school's use of Indian nicknames and imagery. In a unanimous decision, the court said Francine Dupuis, a member of the Indian Education Parent Committee in the Ronan...

Tribes scammed by Abramoff take cautious approach (January 11, 2006)

Two of Jack Abramoff's former tribal clients are taking a more cautious approach after being scammed by the confessed felon. The Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan passed a new lobbying and public relations ordinance to require more public scrutiny and...

Former Little River Band official sentenced to prison (January 11, 2006)

The former chief financial officer for the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians was sentenced to three years in prison for embezzling more than $500,000 from the Michigan tribe. Daniel Broton, 45, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud,...

Salish and Kootenai Tribes get new chairman (January 11, 2006)

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana have a new chairman. James Steele Jr., 38, was elected chairman by the 10-member tribal council last Friday. He has served on the council since 2003 and used to work for the...