Program Assisting Unemployed Cherokees Gets More Funding

Last week, the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council voted unanimously to put an additional $300,000 into the recently developed day work program that provides immediate assistance to Cherokee citizens who are unemployed, the Nation announced in a press release.

The program, launched in September, allows tribal members to earn money by taking temporary jobs or performing tasks at Cherokee Nation facilities. Members can earn $25 for working four hours and $50 for working eight hours.

“We started the program to provide help to Cherokee people by allowing them the opportunity to work for assistance while they continue trying to secure full-time employment or assistance through other programs,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

More than 3,000 daily temp jobs have been provided to Cherokees so far, with up to 200 individuals coming in each day to be given their assignment with a Cherokee Nation program. The program has already paid out nearly $170,000, the release said.

Federal District Court in Delaware Rules on Discrimination Case

On November 6, 2009, a federal judge ruled that Chugach Government Services, an Alaska Native Corporation (ANC), could be sued for alleged violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The court ruled that the corporation was exempt from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, but not other laws unless specifically exempted. The ruling affects all tribal businesses, as they were mentioned in the case, and the same laws apply to them as Alaska Native Corporations.

It is noteworthy that in the opinion, the judge clearly indicates that he does not see that the laws which protest internal tribal sovereignty should extend to business activities run by tribes. The opinion mentions the number of non-native people working for these enterprises and that it was not the intent of Congress that they should lose protections because they work for a tribe.

Taking this case, along with others decided over the past decade, there appears to be a trend that courts are seeking ways to infringe on tribal sovereignty when it comes to employment disputes that stem from tribal or ANC business activities.

Click here for a copy of the full opinion.

NASA Workshop to Study Climate Change in Native Communities

From Nov. 18-21, NASA will hold its second national strategies workshop to examine the impacts of climate change and extreme weather variability on Native peoples and their homelands.

The workshop, which will take place at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minn., is being held in collaboration with the nation's 36 tribally-controlled colleges and universities, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and other partners.

The goal is to examine the impacts of climate change from an indigenous cultural, spiritual and scientific perspective to help ensure the survival of Native communities.

"This workshop will bring Native indigenous knowledge together with science, education and technologies to address the challenges of climate and environmental change," said Nancy Maynard of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

For more information about the workshop, visit: www.nativepeoplesnativehomelands.org.

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal in Redskins Trademark Challenge

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected without comment an appeal by a group of Native American activists that claims that the Washington Redskins' team name is "offensive, disparaging, and demeaning and perpetrates a centuries-old stereotype," USA Today reported this morning.

The team started using the Redskins name in 1933; and the trademark was first issued in 1967. The Native American group filed its lawsuit in 1992.

The Supreme Court’s decision lets stand a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the activists waited too long to challenge the trademark.

St. Maries, Idaho, Superfund Site to Be Cleaned Up

In a settlement agreement filed in federal court in Boise, Idaho on Nov. 9, two companies and the city of St. Maries, Idaho, agreed to clean up a superfund site in St. Maries at a cost estimated at more than $12 million, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The site, a former wooden utility pole treatment plant, is located on the banks of the St. Joe River on the Coeur d' Alene Tribe’s reservation. The tribe joined with the federal government in signing the settlement.

B.J. Carney & Co. owned the now-defunct plant from 1960 through the early 1980s, demolishing site structures and re-grading contaminated soil from 1960 through 1965. Although the creosote operation ended and B.J. Carney & Co. sold its interests to Carney Products, Ltd., from 1982 until 2003 Carney Products peeled, sorted and stored poles at the facility.

The creosote operation and demolition process polluted the land, river bank and river sediments, the release stated. EPA's cleanup plan calls for excavation and thermal treatment of more than 70,000 cubic yards of creosote-contaminated soil and river sediment.

White House Tribal Nations Conference Videos

President Barack Obama's Opening Remarks

Economic Development, Natural Resources, Energy, Environment and Agriculture Panel

Education, Health Care and Labor Panel

Public Safety and Housing Panel

President Obama's Closing Remarks

Native American War Veterans Sought for Online Survey

Calling all Native American war veterans. The Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Boston needs you to participate in an online survey that will attempt to gauge the words of war used by American soldiers.

The goal of the study, called Terms of Engagement: Understanding the Words of War, is to better understand the experiences of American soldiers who fight for their country and how they have talked or continue to talk about those experiences.

This survey, which should take no more than 40 minutes to complete, seeks information about certain phrases that refer to battle conditions and/or enemy combatants. Specifically, it wants to learn more about when, where, why and if some American soldiers refer to "the Wild West," “Indian Country” or “cowboys and Indians.” It also wants to know participants’ opinions on such phrases and their usefulness or appropriateness.

To learn more about the survey or to participate, click here.