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A court monitor assigned to watch over the Department of Interior issued his third report this week, criticizing the government for taking almost no action to improve the dismal state of records for an estimated 300,000 American Indians throughout the country. Attacking both the present and past administrations, Joseph S. Kieffer III said the status of data cleanup is so far behind that it would take some major work to put it back on track. Kieffer went further and said the lack of communication at all levels of the Interior gives American Indian beneficiaries little confidence in the officials assigned to look over their funds. Get the Story:
Infighting delaying trust fund fix (9/20)
Norton hit on trust fund progress (9/18) Canadian officers convicted in harassment case
An all-white jury in Saskatchewan, Canada, found two officers guilty of unlawful confinement for abandoning a Native man in the freezing cold last year. Although the men were acquitted of assault charges, the case brought to light years of unresolved claims of police harassment. Had Darrell Night not survived that night, he might have ended up like a number of Native men who have been found frozen to death on the outskirts of Saskatoon. The officers face a maximum sentence of ten years in jail. An appeal is expected. Get the Story:
Officers guilty for abandoning Native (9/21)
Officers admit abandoning Native man (9/19) more stories
There's still more to read in the recap of the top stories.