ending November 2
WEEK IN REVIEW: President Bush
still on the campaign trail.
Photo © AP.
Efforts to tell Indian beneficiaries how much money they are owed continue to vex the Department of Interior and the courts. In one case, a federal judge awarded $1.7 million to a group of Indian beneficiaries who had to wait 30 years for their funds. If the Bush administration follows up on its threat to appeal, the money could be delayed yet again. As for the monumental Cobell case, the department is no closer to providing most account holders with an accounting. Facing pressure from another judge, the department has agreed not to mail trust fund statements to members of an Arizona tribe. Get the Story:
Judge enters trust fund award (10/30)
Judge schedules trust fund hearing (10/30)
Swimmer amasses trust fund power (10/31)
DOI still mailing trust statements (10/31)
DOI questioned on e-mail destruction (10/31)
Norton to halt trust fund mailings (11/1) Lengthy battle set over Kennewick Man
A six-year battle over the remains of the Kennewick Man promises to drag out even longer now that the case has been appealed to the Ninth Circuit. Four Pacific Northwest tribes and the Bush administration have each challenged a federal judge's ruling to hand the 9,000-year-old remains to scientists. At issue is a landmark federal law that defines ownership and control of bones and artifacts. If, as expected, the dispute goes all the way to the Supreme Court, it would be the first repatriation case to do so. Get the Story:
Kennewick Man battle heats up (10/29)
DOJ files notice of Kennewick appeal (10/30) more stories
There's still more to read in the recap of the top stories.