Report cites impact, growth of tribal gaming in California (June 1, 2006)

California'a tribal casino industry has exploded in the past eight years, helping the state become a $13 billion gaming giant, attorney general Bill Lockyer announced on Wednesday. About half of the state's 100-plus tribes are engaged in gaming. Their facilities...

Oneida Nation jumps into discount retail business (June 1, 2006)

The Oneida Nation of New York will open a discount retail store in August. The tribe was approached by Chittenango about opportunities in the city. The tribe agreed to get into the retail business after discussions with the mayor. The...

Bush administration silences pro-tribal spokesperson (June 1, 2006)

The Bush administration has barred the longtime spokesperson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle from talking to the media about salmon. Brian Gorman has spoken favorably about tribal issues in the Pacific Northwest. He recently suggested a...

Wyoming governor addresses meth at Wind River (June 1, 2006)

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) spoke on the Wind River Reservation on Wednesday to address the state's methamphetamine crisis. Freudenthal said the state individual communities should develop anti-meth programs. He applauded the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and the Northern Arapaho Tribe...

Use of $1.3M Indian education money questioned (June 1, 2006)

The Montana Indian Education Association is questioning the use of $1.3 million in Indian education funds. The Billings School District 2 received the money as part of the state's Indian Education For All law. The funds are supposed to be...

Taos Pueblo latest to sign water rights settlement (June 1, 2006)

Taos Pueblo signed a $133 million water rights settlement with the state of New Mexico on Tuesday. The deal resolves the rights of the tribe and non-Indians. It ends a lawsuit filed in 1969. The tribe is the latest in...

Oglala Sioux president under scrutiny again (June 1, 2006)

It hasn't been easy for Cecelia Fire Thunder. She faced questions about her gender during her successful campaign as the first woman president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Within months of taking office, Fire Thunder was suspended. She was eventually...

Native gang leader appeals murder conviction (June 1, 2006)

A Native gang leader who was convicted of first-degree murder is taking his case to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal. Quinton Lloyd Bitternose was convicted for the November 2004 killing of Wayne Gerald Friday. The incident was gang-related, a...

First Nations reduce role at troubled university (June 1, 2006)

The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations have reduced their role at the troubled First Nations University of Canada. FSIN approved a resolution to reduce the university's board of governors to 19 voting members from 32. Morley Watson, the chair...

Gila River governor suspended for three weeks (June 1, 2006)

William Rhodes, the governor of the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, has been suspended by the tribal council for three weeks. No information was available about the suspension, The Arizona Republic reported. But Rhodes has faced controversy since he...

Native veteran recommended for Medal of Honor (June 1, 2006)

Army Secretary Francis Harvey is recommending that the late Woodrow Wilson Keeble, a Sisseton-Wahpeton veteran who served in two wars, receive the Medal of Honor. Keeble fought in World War II and the Korean War He received the Purple...

Editorial: Unconstitutional Native Hawaiian bill (June 1, 2006)

"Hawaiian Sen. Daniel Akaka's seven-year project, the "Native Hawaiian Governmental Reorganization Act" often called simply the Akaka bill, has been labeled many things -- from manifest destiny in reverse to unhinged multiculturalism -- but what it really is is an...

Native woman fights to regain rights after peyote flap (June 1, 2006)

A Native woman who was fired from her job as a police lieutenant in Salt Lake City is fighting to regain her employment rights. Terry Begay is Cherokee and a practicing member of the Native American Church. The police department...

Bush asked to find out truth about Geronimo (June 1, 2006)

The great-grandson of Geronimo is asking President Bush to find out whether a secretive Yale University society stole the remains of the revered Apache leader. Harlyn Geronimo, who lives on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico, said he...

Native student first in top Navy Junior ROTC post (June 1, 2006)

Elizabeth Tuttle, a member of the Fallon-Paiute Shoshone Tribe of Nevada, is the first Native American to serve as executive officer for the Junior ROTC at her high school. Tuttle joined ROTC as a freshman at Churchill County High School....

Upper Sioux Community adopts banishment policy (June 1, 2006)

The Upper Sioux Community in Minnesota has implemented a banishment policy to keep drug offenders off the reservation. The policy allows the tribe to immediately banish anyone who has committed a drug offense. The tribal court will decide now long...

Prosecution nears end of case against ex-official (June 1, 2006)

Federal prosecutors intend to call two more witnesses before resting their case against former Bush administration official David Safavian, Government Executive News reports. Safavian is on trial for allegedly lying about his ties to Jack Abramoff. General Services Administration officials...

Column: A lot of talk about golf at ex-official's trial (June 1, 2006)

"Fore! The way things are going at the David Safavian trial this week, don't be surprised if, in the coming days, a golf cart bursts into Courtroom 29A of the federal courthouse and a pair of Scotsmen ask if they...

Cobell, Abramoff and more await Kempthorne (June 1, 2006)

The Cobell trust fund lawsuit, the Jack Abramoff scandal and a myriad of environmental and other issues await new Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. On his first day on the job, Kempthorne met with the National Congress of American Indians,...