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In a dramatic reversal that leaves her operating without a safety net, Secretary of Interior Gale Norton has scrapped her department's guide to correcting more than a century of trust asset mismanagement....

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Against the wishes of the company developing a costly and controversial computer system that has been constantly criticized, the Department of Interior has halted work on a $40 million trust reform project and may get rid of the floundering software package altogether....

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Despite special attention by Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, the department's top trust official still believes the latest status update on trust reform is "inadequate." In his observations to the 8th quarterly report, which was submitted to U.S....

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Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm embroiled in a scandal over the largest bankruptcy in U.S....

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In The Hoop: The Scorecard Is it Friday already? That means it's time for the weekly list of the movers and shakers in Indian Country and beyond....


The following are remarks made by Attorney General John Ashcroft at the Native American Border Patrol Conference....


National Native News was born on January 5, 1987, in a tiny office with little funds, no support staff and a host, Gary Fife, who didn't expect the program to last....


Without mentioning the tribe by name, the Windsor Town Council in Windsor, California, voted to oppose a reservation for the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians....


Gov Howard Dean (D) of Vermont on Thursday told lawmakers to consider not supporting the federal recognition of the St....


A dog whose owner has been arrested on animal cruelty charges is doing well other than showing signs of being underfed, an animal control officer for the city of Norwich, Connecticut, said on Thursday....


A proposal to create a majority-Indian district encompassing three Montana reservations was questioned at a public hearing on Wednesday. Attendees favored a redistricting plan which includes one grouping the Rocky Boy’s, Fort Belknap and Fort Peck reservations....


The former chairman of the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa pleaded guilty on Thursday to the misapplication of tribal funds, the U.S....


A federal judge has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to prepare an environmental impact statement on an economic development of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington in response to a lawsuit filed by a tribal member....


Darren Melton has resigned as executive director of Helena Indian Alliance in Montana, citing strains on his personal life....


Is there a reverse migration of indigenous people in the Americas? Are Indian tribes retracing their steps back to the Bering Strait land bridge? Well, there's no proof they ever came across it, but the recent discovery in Alaska of pottery believed to be from the southwest or Central America has raised suspicions not just among archaeologists but the police....


The White House on Thursday again refused a Congressional request to turn over documents used in the formation of President Bush's national energy plan....


"The odds of Interior Secretary Gale A....


The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana is opening a 19,000-square-foot casino today, named after Charging Horse, the last suicide run against U.S....


Secretary of Interior Gale Norton has rejected two draft reports written during the Clinton administration that challenged whether drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would violate an international treaty protecting polar bears....


Bruce Williams: "[A]s critical as the [Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments'] work is and has been on emergency preparedness, it also must show leadership on tough, controversial issues....


An inquiry is being conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency and District of Columbia police over Thursday's discovery of equipment used to rid the Hart Senate Office Building of anthrax....


Another round of tribal consultation in San Diego, California, on Thursday elicited the same opposition to a new Indian trust assets agency....


The Denver Post today follows up on a development disclosed by Indianz.Com yesterday regarding a Congressional report that warned Secretary of Interior Gale Norton and top aides of the department's security problems....


In an editorial, The Arizona Republic calls on the creation of a new Indian trust agency -- one not in control of the Department of Interior....


Enron Corp on Thursday fired its accountant, Arthur Andersen, but the firm said the relationship had already ended when the energy company declared the largest bankruptcy in history....


In an editorial, The Bangor (Maine) Daily News criticizes the Department of Interior for its "culture of condescension" towards Indian people....


A Bureau of Indian Affairs officer in New Mexico will face a $46 traffic citation over an incident in which his police vehicle dragged a deaf student to death....


President Bush on Thursday teamed up with labor boss James P....


A sports broadcaster in Florida pleaded guilty on Thursday to bribing gaming officials of the Miccosukee Tribe....


The Capitol Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, has a new exhibit featuring the Navajo Code Talkers, whose unbreakable code helped win World War II....


Arctic Slope Regional, an Alaska Native corporation chartered under federal law, had revenues in excess of $1 billion in 2001, the company reports....


A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered the Tigua Tribe of Texas to shut down its Speaking Rock Casino near El Paso....

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As ordered by a federal judge, Secretary of Interior Gale Norton personally vouched for the accuracy of her department's latest update on trust reform and turned in the document yesterday....

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Secretary of Interior Gale Norton and her senior aides were aware last summer of computer security weaknesses similar to ones that led to a court-ordered shutdown that has crippled the department's daily business and suspended critical royalty payments to Indian landowners....

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The Department of Interior is delaying the release of the final version of a consultant's report on trust reform....

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Federal laws protecting bald and golden eagles do not violate the U.S. Constitution, an appeals court ruled on Wednesday....


Republican lawmakers in the state of Washington aren't satisfied with explanations federal and state biologists gave regarding a nationwide lynx study and are seeking an opinion on whether criminal charges are warranted....


Opponents of a compact between two tribes and the state of Oklahoma aren't buying the state's explanation that negotiations with the state of Texas are dead....


Animal rights activists don't want the Makah Nation of Washington to buy a $1.2 million boat because the groups say it will only help the tribe's controversial whale hunt....


The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has finalized its environmental impact study giving a favorable approval to a controversial plan to store up to 40,000 tons of nuclear waste on the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation in Utah....


Rep Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) is urging constituents to write President Bush and pressure him not to approve a controversial nuclear waste dump in Nevada....


A Sioux woman whose complaints about her landlords has been part of an ongoing dispute between city officials in Norwich, Connecticut, and an alleged tribe was arrested on animal cruelty charged on Wednesday, The New London Day reports....


The Environmental Protection Agency is refusing to cooperate with its independent watchdog because he has sued the agency....


The increasing Congressional interest in the failure of Enron has put the pressure on the White House to release documents and records used to develop its national energy policy....


First Nations leaders on Wednesday expressed hope with the appointment of new Fisheries and Oceans Minister Robert Thibault....


An internal Arthur Andersen e-mail being reported by the media questioned the accounting practices of failed energy giant Enron and top executives considered dropping the client....


The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday heard three cases regarding the possession of eagle feathers....


The Seminole Tribe of Florida gave $10,000 to the legal defense fund of Sen Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) who was under investigation for personal and political finances, according to the Associated Press....


Tribes whose lands straddle the U.S....


A proposal to put three reservations into one senate district in Montana gained support at a public hearing on Wednesday....


Alaska lawmakers are considering whether to support an amendment to the state's constitution to recognize Alaska Native and rural subsistence. A task force created by Gov....


Ruling that treaty rights can be limited in the name of public safety, Canada's Court of Appeal on Wednesday reinstated the conviction of a Mi'kmaq hunter....


The long-awaited opening of the Senate Hart Office Building has been delayed again....


The Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Tribe of California is disappointed about the announcement a power plant planned for the reservation is on hold, said Chairwoman Mary Belardo....



A sculpture of Spanish explorer and convicted criminal Don Juan de Oñate is drawing opposition from scholars and others who don't want the monument erected....


ABC has approved a $30 million Native "mythology" miniseries called "Dreamkeeper," entertainment trade magazine Variety is reporting....


Phone, fax and snail mail have replaced the Internet and e-mail as the methods tribes and others use to communicate with the Department of Interior....


The Department of Interior is trying to buy the mineral rights of a Florida family whose plan to drill for oil in the Big Cypress National Preserve has been approved, Secretary Gale Norton said on Wednesday....


At a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor on Wednesday, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels chided the Department of Interior for a budget request it made to beef up its homeland security....


The chairwoman of the Alaska Redistricting Board took the stand in a case disputing the political districts in the state and denied any pressure from Alaska Native corporations played a part in her decision to approve a particular map....

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Deputy Secretary of Interior Steven Griles says he is in charge of trust reform but his associate appears to be doing a whole lot of the grunt work....

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The Department of Interior remains "hopeful" that it can fix its Internet-related shutdown but resolving the debacle is taking longer than expected, a government attorney told a federal judge on Tuesday....

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The way the Enron-Arthur Anderson debacle is unfolding one would think the Department of Interior was in charge of the failed energy company's finances, auditing and performance....

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Tribal leaders have gathered in San Diego, California, today in advance of meeting with Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb over a proposed reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs....

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A federal judge on Tuesday warned Secretary of Interior Gale Norton that her attorneys face an uphill battle protecting her from contempt sanctions for the dismal state of Internet security at the department....


Native music has hit the big time....


President Bush on January 7 issued an executive order banning unions at four Department of Justice agencies and U.S....


A December 1 incident for which three white males were arrested for allegedly shouting racist threats as they fired a gun at Klamath tribal members is causing many to consider how racism has affected resource usage....


The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday said that a settlement has been reached with African-American males who claim they were prevented from promotions at the Social Security Administration....


Reversing an appeals court ruling, the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the right of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to file discrimination lawsuits against employers even when arbitration agreements have been struck....


"Arthur is rolling in his grave as we speak." The way auditing firm Arthur Andersen has been hit by the Enron debacle could spell the end of the company but many say the troubles began long ago....


The Department of Justice on Tuesday said it would continue to prosecute aging power plans who violated clean air provisions at the same time the Bush administration is considering easing the restrictions. The Clinton administration sued 51 older power plants for not complying with pollution standards when they expanded....


Connecticut's two tribal casinos saw an increase in their slot machine revenue last month, with the Mohegan Tribe edging closer to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation....


In 1899, industrialist Edward Harriman organized a crew of scientists, writers and artists to visit the Alaska coast....


NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw has donated $50,000 to start a scholarship fund for Native students to attend the University of Iowa....


The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council has asked the University of Minnesota not to get involved in a telescope project located at an Arizona site considered sacred to a number of tribes The council, made up of 11 tribal leaders, said the school should refuse a share in the Mount Graham telescope....


The Department of Interior still hasn't received permission to reconnect a computer system that processes payments to individual Indians, more than a month into a court-ordered shutdown....


The House Government Affairs Committee will hold a hearing next month on legislative efforts to reform the federal recognition process, Rep....


A group is Tucson, Arizona, has arranged "talking circles" to bring the Native community together and offer a forum to voice concerns....


A tire recycler wants to open a plant on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona, which has had tire problems in the past....


"The proposed sale of southeast Oklahoma water to Texas will not occur -- at least not soon....


The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is once again seeking to make changes to its constitution but has delayed a vote until March 23....


A senior Bureau of Indian Affairs official admits that the decision to take 49 acres of land into trust for a California landless tribe was premature....


A federal judge late last month refused to overturn a decision by the National Indian Gaming Commission to deny a gaming permit to the Alaska Native village of Barrow....


"If you have followed and have knowledge of all the implications behind this push for a sovereign Native Hawaiian nation, you will realize there is no place in our society for “sovereign nations” within our United States of America....


The Seminole Tribe of Florida on Tuesday broke ground on a project to improve the flow of water in and around the reservation....


Navajo Nation officials from throughout the three-state reservation met last Friday to discuss violence on their land, a situation the tribe has been in "denial" about, said one....

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When Department of Interior official Bob Lamb took the stand in defense of his new boss Gale Norton yesterday, he must have thought he stepped onto the set of Forgive or Forget....

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A witness testifying on behalf of Secretary of Interior Gale Norton said on Monday that her company's expensive and fledgling software system has not corrupted individual Indian trust data, contrary to published reports....

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A court monitor's highly critical report on the Department of Interior's failure to conduct an historical accounting of the assets of 300,000 American Indians is "too skewed" to be entirely credible, a senior government official said on Monday....

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A federal judge overseeing the Individual Indian Money (IIM) class action released a report on the status of the Department of Interior's information technology (IT) shutdown....


The Department of Interior on Monday released an environmental assessment approving an exploratory drilling project in the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida....


Two tribally-owned casinos in Connecticut reported an increase in slot machine revenue last month....


Neighbors of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in Kansas offered suggestion Monday night on what to do with the decommission site....


The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on Monday agreed to head back to the negotiating table with President Andres Pastrana, who told rebel leaders their control over territory in southwestern Colombia would expire on Sunday....


The fall of Enron is looking more and more like the Department of Interior's trust fund debacle with the disclosure of an internal memo which warned Chairman Ken Lay of an imploding situation....


An alternative to various gaming options being circulated in Nebraska has been offered by a state lawmaker who doesn't support gambling....


The tribal council of the Seneca Nation has approved a compact with the state of New York but made some changes....


Bald eagles are returning to the Klamath basin to rest this winter and are just one of many interests competing for resources in the troubled area....


A group of 55 former employees of the Crow Tribe have filed suit in federal court, seeking severance pay and damages for what they are calling wrongful termination....


A federal judge on Friday issued a permanent order barring the tribal court on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana from exerting authority over a school....


Oral arguments were heard on Monday in a case affecting the authority of the Navajo Nation over a county-owned health clinic in Utah....


Sen Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has accepted more money from lobbyist in the first half of 2001 than any other member of Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics....


The leaders of two north Idaho tribes on Monday criticized an anti-gaming group for trying to thwart their constitutional initiative....


"Interior Secretary Gale Norton is so often featured on the Web site "Indianz.com" and in tribal newspapers such as Indian Country Today, that people on the reservation probably recognize her face almost as easily as that of their chairman....


Secretary of Interior Gale Norton made an appearance on the radio on Monday, talking briefly about her department's Internet shutdown....


"The name of Washington's pro football team is a badge of honor for some, a slur to others, and never the twain shall meet. Most recently, a Manhattan Beach man who played for the Redskins in the 1950s was told by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to turn in his "1REDSKN" license plate, which was deemed offensive after a Native American activist complained....


An archaeologist who attributed his discovery of mummified children in the Andes to sacrifice said he believes a 5,300-year-old Iceman discovered in the Alps of Europe died the same way....


he Bush administration on Monday announced it would be easing restrictions on wetlands protections in an effort to streamline a permitting process that benefits the industry....

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It took two trips to a federal appeals court but San Juan Pueblo of New Mexico has again prevailed in its fight to enact its own labor laws....

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Contempt trial against Secretary Gale Norton resumes, Internet-related shutdown at Interior continues, consultation of Indian Country moves along, Native artists get nominated, and nuclear site chosen....

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Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's contempt trial resumes today in federal court with attorneys representing 300,000 American Indian beneficiaries beginning their cross-examination of a senior government official....

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In what environmentalists are calling a suppression of science in favor of industry interests, Secretary of Interior Gale Norton failed to submit highly critical comments one of her agencies drafted in response to a major environmental regulation plan, The Washington Post reports today....


The state of Oklahoma and two tribes announced on Friday that negotiations over the sale of water to Texas have been terminated....


Eileen Mattingly: "One doesn't have to be Native American to be offended -- I wince every time I hear [Redskins]." William G....


"After the big snowstorm in October, when most of us thought we were in for a long, cold and snowy winter, a Native friend of mine disagreed....


"I open the fridge and, invariably, something resembling an item formerly known as food, or a small mammal in a baggie, drops to the floor, scaring the holy crap outta me....


A man from the Salish First Nation of British Columbia, Canada, was sentenced to two years in prison for violating federal eagle protection laws....


In the latest battle over federal recognition and the riches it may bring, Samuel Dixon Jr....


A local statute which limited licenses for urban casinos in Michigan to two companies violated the Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday....


The recently created Legislature of the Crow Tribe of Montana is getting to work this week after members held organizational meetings....


The Seneca Nation tribal council on Saturday approved a gaming compact with the state of New York, moving it closer to final acceptance by tribal members....


With the Enron scandal going into full-gear, the debate over investigations into how the Bush administration was connected to failed company is turning out, as usual, a politically touchy issue....


Arthur Andersen, the auditing firm which performed an accounting of tribal assets for the Department of Interior in the 90s, has become a central part of the unfolding Enron scandal due to a strikingly similarity to the trust fund debacle: destroyed documents....


An amendment to allow casino-style gaming on Nebraska's reservations has little chance of clearing the state Legislature, according to an Associated Press pre-session poll of lawmakers....


"Redskins" honors Native people and isn't derogatory, The Washington Times writes in an editorial, responding to a resolution passed requesting that the football team drop its name....


A judge in Arizona has temporarily halted the bulldozing of 870-year-old Hohokam ruins in north Phoenix....


Is that rumble in your stomach caused by dairy products you ate? Or are your bowels just irritable? A DNA test might clear the answer up....



A 3-year-old boy is in good condition after surviving a night in Alberta, Canada, in zero-degree temperature....


Jim Shore, general counsel to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, remains in critical condition after being shot last week in his home....


Rep Joe Skeen (R-N.M.), the chairman of the House subcommittee which oversees funding for the Department of Interior, is retiring, he announced on Friday....


Native inmates in Montana make up 20 percent of the state prison population even though American Indians are just 6.2 percent of the general population....


A year after she was nominated to head the Department of Interior, people are still wondering just who exactly is Gale Norton....


Sen Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) plans to send a terse letter to Secretary of Interior Gale Norton regarding her failure to make millions of dollars in royalty payments to Indian Country, an aide told angry Navajo tribal members on Friday....


Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have agreed to withdraw from five towns inside a large territory of southwestern Colombia after three years of talks with President Andres Pastrana failed....


Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Language Technologies Institute are helping indigenous people in North and South America preserve their languages by developing computer translation programs....