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Raising questions about reorganization efforts, and in potential violation of federal law, Ross Swimmer has amassed control over almost every single aspect of trust reform, according to court documents and government reports....

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A leading House Republican on Thursday asked Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb to look into potential conflict of interest claims regarding Wayne Smith, the top deputy at the Bureau of Indian Affairs....

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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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The escalating feud between Secretary of Interior Gale Norton and her top trust reform official burst into public again on Thursday with the release of a highly critical court report calling for an inquiry into her behavior....


The Arizona Legislature will vote Monday on a bill to implement gaming compacts the state's tribes signed with Gov....


Violence and threats against human rights workers in Guatemala have their supporters worried....


Research published in today's issue of Science documents the discovery of a 125-million-year-old fossil in China....


Research published in today's issue of Science suggests the hole in the Ozone may be responsible for a cooling trend over the Antarctica....


The Bureau of Land Management in Montana is looking into a recent ruling which overturned coalbed methane drilling leases in Wyoming....


A student at Si Tanka - Huron University in South Dakota pleaded not guilty on Thursday to knowingly exposing a woman to the HIV virus....


Hard Rock Cafe International will open two casino resorts on Seminole land in Florida under a recently concluded multimillion dollar deal....


The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut has more than $1 billion in debt due to the expansion of its casino....


Although he publicly supports the project, South Dakota Gov....


The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma set fire to 30 acres of tribal land in order to test its emergency response system....


"There appears to be a culture clash happening around Indian Country here in Connecticut, and it's not between the Yankees and the Indians....


With much of the battle over the Klamath Basin focused on the Oregon side, the salmon and tribes in California have suffered....


Whether cannibalism occurred among Puebloan communities in the Southwest will be discussed at an archaeology summit this weekend in New Mexico....


Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico plans to take the Department of Interior to court if approval to a mine near a sacred lake is granted....


Navajo Nation President Kelsey Begaye has vetoed gaming for the Baca-Prewitt chapter of New Mexico....


Law enforcement authorities on Thursday raided a bingo hall purporting to operate on Apache-owned bingo hall in Oklahoma....


Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge gave an informal briefing to Congress on Thursday amid growing doubts about his job....


A jury in Alaska awarded $480,000 on Wednesday to a woman who blamed her son's death on an Alaska Native housing authority....


The Bureau of Land Management and the state of Montana issued a record of decision on Thursday for the cleanup of a mine next to the Fort Belknap Reservation....


The student government committee of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign voted 14-5 to retire the school's controversial Chief Illiniwek mascot....


Secretary of Interior Gale Norton challenged Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman about an internal memo regarding snowmobiles, The New York Times reports today....


US District Judge Royce Lamberth held the first emergency sessions of the ultra-secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court at 3 a.m....


After complaining that Democrats were trying to stack the deck against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Sen....


A New York appellate court on Thursday ruled the St....

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Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's "minions" are trying to discredit the only department official with a background in trust matters, according to a scathing court report released today....

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Native American homeowners pay higher loan rates than their white counterparts, according to a study released on Wednesday....

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A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Navy to halt military training exercises on an uninhabited Pacific island but the victory could be erased by Congress....

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Secretary of Interior Gale Norton has submitted her latest status update on trust reform....

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Now that all the alternatives to Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's BITitanicAM have been submitted, tribal leaders are tasked with finding out which ones might help solve more than a century of trust fund mismanagement....

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Court monitor Joseph Kieffer III released his seventh report today....


The Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is honoring its elders....


The Bush administration has dropped a proposal to change a college loan policy due to lack of Congressional support....


Research published in today's issue of Nature shows that rats can be controlled via remote control and made to perform otherwise unnatural actions....


A federal judge on Wednesday barred the Army Corps of Engineers from raising water levels in Lake Oahe in South Dakota....


State and federal officials met in Wyoming this week to discuss a criticized study of coalbed methane drilling....


A federal court overseeing the criminal racketeering case of Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, subpoenaed records from two tribal casinos in Connecticut....


The Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island is scaling down plans for a casino. The tribe and partner Boyd Gaming hope a smaller casino will be more attractive to state lawmakers concerned about impacts on existing gaming....


President Bush may soon declare his first national monument....


Senate Democrats are changing the membership on a joint Senate-House conference committee that will create a final version of the controversial energy bill....


The Naparyarmiut School in Hooper Bay, Alaska, is eyeing a Yup'ik language immersion program for kindergarten students this fall....


The state of New York on Monday filed a notice of appeal for the Cayuga Nation's land claim....


A religious group based in New Mexico is comparing itself to the Native American Church in seeking an exemption for use of a hallucinogenic tea. A federal judge earlier this year denied attempts by the O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal, which has roots in Brazil, to skirt the law. But the ruling left open consideration on other issues....


Four Navajo Code Talkers were given a special student-designed medal at a ceremony at Navajo Preparatory School in New Mexico last month....


The chief of the Western Mohegan Tribe of New York has been indicted on five counts of felony fraud for allegedly sing false Social Security numbers....


Federal, tribal and state law enforcement authorities have created a task force to find the person or persons responsible for more than 100 fires on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in southern New Mexico....


Shareholders of Cook Inlet Region Inc will attend the Alaska Native corporation's annual meeting next month to choose five members of the 15-seat board....


Animal-rights activists on Wednesday asked a federal judge in Washington to put a halt to the Makah whale hunt....


President Bush is being asked to help push a Montana water project through Congress....


Haskell Indian Nations University might be able to reopen its summer school if classes are open to the larger community....


Special Trustee Tom Slonaker has been told to report to Deputy Secretary J....


The New London Day is calling for an end to future tribal casinos in Connecticut....

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A United States grand jury indicted a Colombian rebel group on Tuesday for the murders of three Native American activists killed while protesting oil drilling on traditional Indian land....

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The California Valley Miwok Tribe has demanded Secretary of Interior Gale Norton intervene on its behalf to prevent continued "prejudice and retaliation" from the Bureau of Indian Affairs' second-in-command....


A bill under consideration in California outlaws the use of Indians as mascots at public schools and colleges....


The US Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday announced it was suspending about 150 water projects....


Secretary of Interior Gale Norton is considered unlikely to overrule a department ruling the gas industry is opposing....


Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is opposing changes to the management plan for the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico. A spokesperson for Bingaman said the monument already has a plan developed with the approval of Cochiti Pueblo, Sandoval County and the Department of Interior....


GOP lawmakers in Massachusetts are proposing to authorize three casinos as a means of resolving some of the state's budget woes....


Ron Volesky, the only Native American running for governor in South Dakota, said he supports a railroad project opposed by several tribes....


Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Chairman Kenneth Reels is asking Connecticut lawmakers to oppose a casino-related bill....


A document purporting to tie a 19th century massacre to Mormon Church leader Brigham Young contained telltale signs of forgery, a forensic expert said this week....


A bill under consideration by the Senate creates an office to help Native-owned small businesses....


Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico has been awarded a $250,000 five-year emergency preparedness contract....


A federal panel on Tuesday recommended changes in how federal contracts are awarded....


The Bureau of Indian Affairs appears to be hedging on a court-imposed deadline to resolve the federal recognition petitions of two Connecticut tribes....


San Ildefonso Pueblo is moving to settle an outstanding land claim....


The Wyandotte Nation has agreed to remove about 200 slot machines from downtown Kansas City, Kansas....


The Mescalero Apache Nation of New Mexico has received three letters threatening more fires on the reservation unless President Sara Misquez resigns....


Members, elders and officials of the Fort Peck Tribes of Montana held a naming ceremony and burial on Tuesday for an infant found at a local landfill....


The Seneca Nation held the first of two informational sessions on a proposed gaming compact on Tuesday....


Peabody Coal's use of water in northeastern Arizona is again coming under fire from an environmental group that supports the Hopi Tribe....


The Farmington Daily-Times criticizes the Bureau of Indian Affairs today for not adopting a policy against drunk driving earlier....


A Black Seminole from Oklahoma whose lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge last week plans to appeal the case....


Russell Means went to the State House in New Mexico on Tuesday to prove he is fit for public office....


The Stoney Nakoda First Nation of Alberta is threatening to cut all oil and gas leases on the reserve....

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Descendants of African slaves who were made members of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma were dealt a major setback last week....

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A little-noticed court ruling the Bush administration failed to appeal prevents the Department of Interior from recovering potential millions on behalf of tribal and Indian trust beneficiaries....

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A state-recognized tribe wanting to open a bingo hall in the Catskills region of New York is running into some trouble....


A federal judge last week refused to allow a rival group to intervene in a federal recognition lawsuit filed by the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe of Connecticut....


The Bush administration wants to end a college loan policy that allows students to save money by consolidating their debt....


President Bush on Monday supported legislation to require insurance companies to include coverage for mental illnesses....


The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut is distributing less money to 8,500 employees of its casino....


The Department of Defense wants certain exemptions from environmental laws, citing post-September 11 concerns....


The Department of Interior Board of Land Appeals ruled last Friday that three coalbed methane drilling leases in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming are illegal....


The Oklahoma House has approved a bill to fund the state Indian Affairs Commission....


A document which tied a massacre historically attributed to Indians to Mormon Church leader Brigham Young is being considered a fake....


The United States was voted back on the U.N....


Two Kansas tribes are teaming up on a casino proposal....


The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is considering extending administrative proceedings over a proposed nuclear waste storage facility on the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation in Utah....


The Boys and Girls Club national organization has created a web site dedicated to Indian Country....


A broad movement to reform the Navajo Nation government is underway....


"When I was about 8 years old, one of my playmates who lived near us in Minot had two older sisters....


Health authorities in South Dakota confirmed a fourth case of HIV infection they say is linked to a college student at Si Tanka-Huron University....


A federal judge in Idaho issued a temporary restraining order on Monday to prevent the state from collection a retroactive tax on tribes....


Employees of the Fort Peck Tribes of Montana are burying a baby found on the reservation today....


The Dallas Morning News asked the candidates for governor of Texas questions about Indian gaming....


An Alaska Native man with a history of mental illness was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for attempted murder....


The Bureau of Land Management wants to strengthen the security of its management information system in response to concerns raised by a federal court....


An internal Department of Interior memo criticizes efforts to piece together historic documents for the Indian trust....


The Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-4 that the American with Disabilities Act doesn't require special accommodations for senior workers....


Six Virginia tribes will be meeting for a pow-wow this week to draw support for their federal recognition....

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The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to tie cancer-causing chemicals to the consumption of everyday food products, according to a Congressional report released on Friday....

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The Supreme Court takes its first Indian law case of the term, Congress hears debate over a long-running Pueblo land claim and trust fund problems mount for the Bush administration....

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Tribal complaints have prompted the nation's Indian gaming regulators to reopen debate on a controversial rewrite of casino rules....


The Bureau of Indian Affair's Office of Indian Education Programs is hosting a National Special Arts Festival this week in Oklahoma....


The New Mexico Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the tribes are immune from damage lawsuits for incidents that allegedly occurred prior to 1997....


Board members of Cook Inlet Region Inc., an Alaska Native regional corporation, voted on Friday to keep Carl Marrs as CEO....


Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico temporarily closed a highway on its reservation to all traffic....


"I cannot BELIEVE the amount of letters I received after last week's dissertation (i.e., my rantings and ravings) about Christopher Columbus, and about our educational system's disenchanting perpetuation of the hero-myth surrounding the man's supposed "discovery" of America....


The Miami Nation of Oklahoma threatened a land claims lawsuit to the mayor of Gary, Indiana, The Chicago Tribune reports today....


The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut made more political donations during the 2000 presidential campaign than any other tribe in the country, according to The Norwich Bulletin....


On alert 24 hours a day, the fire department of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation responds to calls on and off the Connecticut reservation....


Federally recognized tribes can now register their own .gov Internet domain....


The Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma is moving the campus of its boarding school....


The sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has The Washington Post looking to Canada for insight....


Tribes will be helping decide where the Native American Bank will open additional branches....


Descendants of Choctaws who refused to be removed to Oklahoma, the Mississippi Band of Choctaws have grown to be one of the most financially successful tribes in the nation....


Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman didn't benefit from a Superfund cleanup deal because she wasn't a member of the Bush administration when the agreement was made, her spokesperson told the Denver Post....


The state of Kansas is still unable to substantiate claims that hundreds of Native children are buried in wetlands near Haskell Indian Nations University....


A central part of the Sand Creek Massacre site was deeded to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma on Sunday....


The 19th annual Gathering of Nations Pow-Wow was held this past weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico....


Homes on the Blackfeet Reservation are being studied by various federal agencies for environmental and health problems....


A Bureau of Indian Affairs employee who pleaded guilty the murders of four people told his supervisor of his alcohol-related driving record....