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The Census Bureau this week released more detailed statistics on the geographical and tribal makeup of the 4.1 million Americans who claimed some form of American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry on the Census 2000....

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

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Just about a year ago, Secretary of Interior Gale Norton went before tribal leaders and Congress to tell them reforming Indian trust was one of her top priorities....


A Florida firm has agreed to pay $17 million to settle a lawsuit it overcharged various federal agencies, including the Indian Health Service, for health equipment and services....


Research to be published in an upcoming issue of Nature was made public on Thursday by the Wall Street Journal, announcing that researchers at Texas A&M University have cloned a calico cat....


Enron's version of Dom Nessi testified before a House subcommittee on Thursday, saying resigned chairman Ken Lay was duped by former executives whom she alleged no one was strong enough to confront....


Two Arizona companies are helping the Snoqualmie Tribe of Washington build a 170,000-square-foot casino....


Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) was scuttled on Thursday in his attempt to bring a campaign finance reform bill to the floor after it gained passage in the House....


Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham on Thursday officially transmitted his recommendation on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump to President Bush....


In a court filing last week, the auditing firm which performed a reconciliation for tribal assets and is undertaking accounting projects for individual Indians said it was having trouble locating all paper and electronic documents related to failed energy company Enron....


The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut is considering firing Arthur Andersen as its auditor due to the collapse of Enron....


The helmet law of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony goes into effect March 1....


February 14 was declared by the state of Utah as "Discover Navajo: People of the Fourth World Day" while Salt Lake City called it "Navajo Code Talkers Day." A ceremony was held to mark the occasion at the tribe's cultural pavilion at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics....


Joe Losik, a member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington, was one of five hoop dancers who performed at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics last week in Salt Lake City, Utah....


Tribes from the Pacific Northwest gave Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb a not so sweet Valentine's Day gift on Thursday, criticizing a proposal to strip the Bureau of Indian Affairs of its trust responsibilities....


Legislation introduced in the Senate on Thursday would prevent oil drilling off the coast of California, where it is greatly opposed....


Ten years ago today, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut opened its casino, the first in the state, and The New London Day marks the occasion in style....


Two employees fired by Pyramid Lake Paiute chairman Keith Alan Mandell have been offered their jobs back at the Nevada tribe's court....


The Supreme Court is set to decide whether to accept a case that could recognize the Miami Nation of Indiana....


Alaska Governor Tony Knowles on Thursday signed a bill to give an Arctic drilling lobbying group $1 million and the Inupiat village of Kaktovik $100,000....


President Bush on Thursday announced his plans to reduce the emissions of gases thought to contribute to global warming....


Governor Tony Knowles on Thursday officially unveiled his solution to a long-running debate over subsistence....


A federal grand jury in New Mexico on Wednesday indicted a Bureau of Indian Affairs employee on four second-degree murder charges for the deaths of two couples....


A pow-wow is being held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Saturday to raise money to send drum group YoungBird to the Grammy ceremony next week....


State lawmakers in Connecticut have introduced a bill that will terminate Indian ownership rights they say never existed....


Federal authorities are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved with desecrating a burial site in Washington....

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Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday! Well, next to my birthday....

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Secretary of Interior Gale Norton on Wednesday asked a skeptical federal judge for a "chance" to fix the Indian trust fund, a system she admitted was barely making the grade....

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Secretary of Interior Gale Norton on Wednesday championed a controversial report as providing an historical accounting for four American Indian beneficiaries, refusing to acknowledge she violated her trust duties by seeking to release it to Congress and the American public. Although she repeatedly testified that she was not an accountant and that she hasn't actually read the report, Norton said the $20 million effort verified the account balances of four of the five named plaintiffs in the Individual Indian Money (IIM) class action....


Beating back numerous amendments and rival measures, the House early this morning voted 240 to 189 to pass the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill....


Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb's decision to restore trust land to the United Auburn Indian Community in California hasn't even become legal but opponents are already promising a lawsuit....


Country music star Waylon Jennings died at his home in Chandler, Arizona, yesterday....


In another record offering, the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut sold $250 million worth of bonds on Wednesday for its casino expansion....


The New Mexico Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected without comment a challenge to the state's gaming compacts with 11 tribes....


"The reported remarks do not express my views and do not accurately reflect what I believe I said some 12-13 weeks ago." Attorney General John Ashcroft issued this one-sentence statement on Wednesday in response to outrage from Arab-American and Muslim groups to a report in which he allegedly stated: "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him....


The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday voided logging permits for the Tongass National Forest in Alaska because it said the Environmental Protection Agency created new regulations without allowing public input....


President Bush today will announce his long-awaited alternative to a global warming treaty he pulled out of last year....


California is dropping its taxation lawsuit against the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, a spokesperson for the state's taxation board said....


With respiratory diseases high on the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony in Nevada, the tribe is particularly concerned about a massive kitty litter project that appears near final approval....


With coalbed methane gas drilling one of the biggest issues facing the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming, the Environmental Protection Agency met with tribes, governments and landowners on Wednesday....


Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are ready to vote on a controversial nominee to the federal bench and the outlook doesn't look good....


A bill to ban the use of "squaw" in Wisconsin's place names was advanced by the state Legislature on Wednesday....


The Confederated Grand Ronde Tribes of Oregon and the American Museum of Natural History in New York settled an ownership dispute in June 2000 regarding a meteorite considered sacred in Clackama culture....


After numerous delays, the new Bureau of Indian Affairs building for the Navajo agency in Shiprock, New Mexico, is finally set to open March 4....


Native business leaders in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Minnesota are planning on forming a national American Indian Chamber of Commerce....


Some 20 employees at Yellowstone National Park are receiving gas masks because they can't stand the exhaust and fumes from snowmobilers in and around the park....


A celebration to honor Tlingit activist Elizabeth Peratrovich has been delayed so that President Bush can attend a Republican fundraiser in Anchorage, Alaska....


The Oneida Nation of New York is criticizing the comments of a man running for Congress because he said he wants to terminate the legal status of all tribes....


Elouise Cobell is on the "brink" of winning her five-year-old Individual Indian Money (IIM) lawsuit, USA Today declares in a report today....


Secretary of Interior Gale Norton said on Wednesday that 40 percent of her department is back online but to thousands of Indian landowners the web sites and e-mail missed by employees and the public is a far cry from the payments they have not received since November....


The media was out in full force at the Bush administration's contempt trial yesterday, hoping to decipher Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's latest ruminations....


Several top officials, including the president, have left the Northwest Indian College on the Lummi Reservation in Washington....

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Secretary of Interior Gale Norton today becomes the first Cabinet member of the Bush administration to be forced to testify in court....

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Secretary of Interior Gale Norton took the stand today in her own contempt trial, answering questions posed by attorneys representing 300,000 American Indian beneficiaries and a federal judge....

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After telling tribes and a federal judge it couldn't process millions of dollars in royalty checks without the use of the Internet and a critical computer system, the Department of Interior on Tuesday said it had changed its mind....

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Setting up a pattern of showdowns between Congress and the Bush administration, yet another Department of Interior official on Tuesday faced the fire over the trust fund debacle....

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Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles said yesterday he hoped his recent court testimony will help convince a federal judge not to sanction his boss for her handling of the assets of 300,000 American Indians....


There are 729,533 people in America who claim some form of Cherokee heritage, according to a Census Bureau report being released today....


Kenneth Lay, the former chairman of failed energy company Enron, went before Congress on Tuesday but didn't respond to questions posed by the Senate Commerce Committee....


It's do or die on the House floor today, when a much anticipated vote over the Shays - Meehan campaign finance reform bill will occur....


"I have a suggestion for the leadership of the Crow Creek and Miller communities help to heal wounds and build friendships....


Facing several class action lawsuits, a group of companies on Tuesday agreed to a two-year phaseout of arsenic in wood products....


A federal judge on Tuesday questioned whether the Bush administration took serious a lawsuit seeking to make public records of the president's energy task force....


The Department of Interior has appealed a federal judge's recent ruling giving the state of California more power over off-shore drilling....


The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans used to call New York their home before they were removed to Wisconsin....


A survey commission by the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts shows that 60 percent of registered voters would support one Indian casino in the state....


The Minnesota State Legislature's leading lawmaker has put his support behind an urban casino that would benefit the state and two impoverished tribes....


The chips are down but the show must go on at the casino owned by the Tigua Tribe of Texas....


Analysts are attributing a 7.3 percent drop in gambling in Reno, Nevada, to competition from tribal casinos in California....


Anchorage, Alaska, has the highest proportion of American Indians and Alaska Natives living in cities with a population greater than 100,000, according to a Census Bureau report being released today....


Three Connecticut towns trying to prevent the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation from seeking trust lands have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their lawsuit....


The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina and the National Park Service began the first of three scoping meetings on Tuesday to discuss a land swap....


Many Alaska Natives support federal management of subsistence resources but the Alaska Federation of natives is putting its weight behind Gov....


Tom Dostou, a Wabanaki elder from Massachusetts, is on a cross-country journey for peace....


Students at an elementary school in Anchorage, Alaska, were treated this week to a one-woman play portraying the life of Alaska Native rights activist Elizabeth Peratrovich....


A dispute over whether a parcel of land in New Mexico is considered Indian Country is being appealed....


Web sites for the National Park Service appear to be fully functional this week....


When the Department of Interior failed to find a workaround to thousands of stalled royalty checks, a number of tribes took action to use their own funds to pay tribal members....


A packed courtroom greeted Secretary of Interior Gale Norton today as she took the stand to defend herself in her contempt trial....


Sharon Clahchischilliage is seeking the Republican nomination to run for New Mexico's secretary of state....

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When Secretary of Interior Gale Norton last week defended Ross Swimmer from an attack by a concerned member of Congress, she brought back an era of Indian policy tribal leaders would rather forget....

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In a reversal of position, attorneys for Secretary of Interior Gale Norton on Monday agreed she should testify in her own contempt trial, albeit with some limitations....

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Oprah Winfrey, arguably one of the nation's most influential figures known for inspiring millions of Americans to read and attend therapy, tackled what she called the "powerful stories" of Native Americans on her television show yesterday....

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The new budget for the Indian Health Service (IHS) released last week proposes to cut funds for the construction of new facilities even as the agency acknowledges a $484.8 million backlog in maintenance and repairs....


A longtime proponent of allowing gaming on reservations in Nebraska is considering merging her constitutional amendment with another casino measure, but only if tribes agree....


Several Arab and Muslim groups are calling on President Bush to fire Attorney General John Ashcroft if he doesn't repudiate statements attributed to him on Islam....


America's borders remain poorly protected and are vulnerable to terrorists, Homeland security czar Tom Ridge said on Monday....


The House today starts debate on a measure to reform the way federal campaigns are financed....


The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut is seeking to hire about 500 employees to staff its new hotel....


Although the Narragansett Tribe faces a tough battle to open a casino in Rhode Island, its $500 million facility could draw visitors away from Connecticut's two tribal casinos....


The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans of Wisconsin on Monday asked the Department of Interior to take 333 acres of land into trust for gaming purposes....


In an editorial today, The Sioux Falls Argus Leader says the state of South Dakota needs a $1.5 billion railroad expansion that a coalition of Indians and non-Indians have opposed....


Defeated for now, the Tigua Tribe of Texas shut the doors to its casino last night after the Supreme Court refused to grant a stay while appeals are pursued to keep the facility open....


A former Ku Klux Klan organizer running for the Montana State Legislature is coming under fire by members of his own party, who said they won't support the Republican due to his racist and biased views....


Navajo Nation President Kelsey Begaye last week vetoed $2 million in funds to complete school dorms sorely in need of replacement....


A new jail on the Navajo Nation is apparently not so new, despite being reported yesterday by The Farmington Daily-Times....


Gangs are growing throughout rural America and even on reservations, according to federal and state experts....


When Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) told reporters the reason he missed so many votes in December was due to his frustration over the lack of action, he said he went back home to Alaska to mark the holidays and ring in the New Year....


The Bureau of Land Management on Monday gave approval to a controversial clay mine and kitty litter plant in Nevada....


Secretary of Interior Gale Norton was in Utah on Monday to meet with state officials to discuss environmental issues....


Naomi Lang, a member of the Karuk Tribe of California and Winter Olympian, has recently begun to re-establish a relationship with her father, who is also a tribal member....


She isn't the first and probably won't be the last but Secretary of Interior Gale Norton will take the stand in her contempt trial tomorrow....


Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in the Individual Indian Money (IIM) class action, appeared on the C-SPAN program "Washington Journal" this past Saturday to talk about the lawsuit....

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Secretary of Interior Gale Norton will testify on her fiscal year 2003 budget before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee tomorrow....

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Secretary of Interior Gale Norton defends trust overhaul before Congress, President Bush releases his new budget, contempt proceedings near end in federal court, and Internet shutdown continues....

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The Department of Interior has extended, for the third time, the written comment period on the creation of the Bureau of Indian Trust Assets Management (BITAM)....

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As the debate over Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's proposed reorganization of Indian trust continues, the seven-year-old federal law which was supposed to have fixed the entire mess is being eyed for major changes....

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A ceremony months in the making came off without a hitch on Friday night, as five tribes came together at the Winter 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, to showcase their cultures and traditions before a global audience of millions....


Pojoaque Pueblo in New Mexico is planning on opening its museum a year from now but there is already a flurry of activity to get the complex ready....


While Navajo Nation council member Erwin Keeswood follows the Department of Interior's consultation wagon around Indian Country, a group of families near his land in New Mexico go without electricity....


A man accused of raping five Alaska Native women was sentenced on Friday to a maximum of 30 years in prison by an Alaska state judge who accepted a plea deal....


An 18-year-old New Mexico man has pleaded guilty on to second-degree murder for the death of a gay, transgendered Navajo teen....


An appeals court judge of the Oneida Nation in New York has upheld the forced inspection of tribal members' homes....


The House on Wednesday will vote on a campaign finance reform bill to ban "soft" money and supporters hope will pass due to the ongoing Enron controversy....


The US Marines has confirmed David Tsosie is a Code Talker and the Navajo man will be awarded a Congressional silver medal....


Klamath tribal chairman Allen Foreman challenges the editorial board of USA Today in a debate over the Klamath Basin....


Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) wrote President Bush last week to ask for clemency to two Navajo man involved in the 1989 riot that contributed to the conviction and prison sentence of former tribal chairman Peter MacDonald....


A traditional potlatch was held Saturday to honor Orie Williams, the new president of Doyon Ltd., an Alaska Native corporation....


The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska is planning to open a 45,000-square-foot museum to house its sacred artifacts and serve as a repository for Omaha culture....


Lloyd Kiva New, founder of the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico, died Friday in Santa Fe....


"Seriously, people....


Ken Lay, the ex-chairman of the failed energy company Enron, will appear before two Congressional committees this week but won't testify before at least one of them, a spokesperson said on Sunday....


Latest: The Supreme Court today refused to grant a stay to allow the casino to remain open....


Republicans in the Alaska Legislature are being criticized for trying to politicize the debate over subsistence in the state....


After a modest bingo hall start, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut opened its Foxwoods Resort Casino 10 years ago this week....


A fire destroyed a building in the Yupi'k village of Stebbins on Saturday morning, but no one appears to have been injured....


The Navajo Reservation spans three states and has more than 200,000 residents but only one jail to house 102 offenders....


The FBI last night issued a public warning about a potential terrorist attack, this time citing more specific information than on previous occasions when nothing happened....


The Bureau of Indian Affairs is planning on reviewing its driving policies in the wake of criticism and dumbfoundedness over a employee who has a long history of drunk driving....


The Oprah Winfrey Show today will include a focus on Native Americans as part of her "Angel Network." The program description implores viewers to "find out how we're giving a voice to the millions of Native Americans whose stories often go unheard in America....


"In honor of Valentine's Day, I decided it was time to answer the question raised by comedian Vincent Craig....


At a contentious hearing on trust management and reform, lawmaker after lawmaker said the issue, which dates back more than a century, was "non-partisan." House Resources Committee chairman Jim Hansen (R-Utah) said there was "no room for political posturing." Ranking member Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) said Republican and Democrats have run the Department of Interior like the "Enron" of federal agencies when it comes to trust assets....


The Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island and partner Boyd Gaming are back at it again, announcing on Saturday they have teamed up to try and open a $500 million casino....


The statistics are still being finalized but violent crime rates on the Navajo Nation are growing, according to The Farmington Daily-Times....

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