Falmouth Institute - American Indian Report Blog

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2010-11-01T11:08:00.002-04:00

AIR Blog is now located at http://www.americanindianreport.com.

We have combined AIR Blog and the American Indian Report homepage! Now you can find all your news regarding Indian Country in one place! We will be posting breaking stories and news at this location, so please update your bookmarks and favorites.

Click here to be taken to our brand new website!

*Please note: In 30 days from the date of this post, this address will automatically redirect to the new location.

DOJ Publication Offers Strategies for Offender Reentry in Indian Country

2010-10-29T12:14:00.005-04:00

The Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs (OJP) last week announced the availability of a new publication that offers promising practices and strategies for adults and juveniles who are transitioning from prison back into tribal communities.

The 55-page publication, titled Strategies for Creating Offender Reentry Programs in Indian Country, provides a historical overview, including a look at the challenges that tribes, states and the federal government face, like the growing population of incarcerated Native Americans; sub-standard conditions and a lack of programming and transitional services at Indian Country jails; a lack of formal relations between tribal and state criminal justice authorities; a lack of culturally relevant care or services and tribal involvement in planning the reentry of Native American offenders at federal prisons; and issues specific to incarcerated juveniles.

Strategies for Creating Offender Reentry Programs in Indian Country explores best practices for tribes and correctional facilities and practical steps for designing and developing reentry programs in tribal communities, such as community policing, which includes listening to community members about their needs and concerns on returning ex-offenders, and developing stand-alone reentry courts to monitor offenders’ progress.

The publication also lays out seven policy recommendations. Among them: conducting needs assessments to identify reentry programs and initiatives; researching incarceration facilities to gather information on the conditions of confinement and reintegration practices in each facility; developing model reintegration policies; developing culturally competent programming and training curricula; and conducting tribal planning sessions involving tribal, state and federal practitioners to design and implement reentry plans.

At the end of the publication, there are several case descriptions, highlights of successful reentry programs in Indian Country, including the Leech Lake-Cass Wellness Court: Joint Tribal-State Jurisdiction Initiative and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reintegration Program. There is also a section that provides information on federal funding that is available for Indian Country reentry programs and for training and technical assistance.

Strategies for Creating Offender Reentry Programs in Indian Country is available online at: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ccdo/programs/reentry-indiancounty/.

Fort Peck Tribes Get Guidance from Federal Government on Youth Suicides

2010-10-28T10:33:00.000-04:00

The federal government is providing guidance to the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes to help the community deal with a rash of youth suicides, according to an article published by GreatFallsTribune.com on Oct. 26.

The guidance is in the form of a 200-page report put together by commissioned officers with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The report examines social problems on the Fort Peck Reservation, located in Montana, and provides recommendations to the community.

Last month, the tribal council declared a state of emergency after four teenagers and preteens committed suicide. This summer, two more killed themselves. In the last school year, another 20 attempted to commit suicide.

The report, drawn from visits to the reservation by HHS team members, focuses on suicides committed between January and July, with information gathered from families, the Indian Health Service and local hospitals, according to the article.

The report says that socio-economic factors, like alcohol and drug abuse, may have played a major role in the suicide cluster, but a “lack of effective parenting skills, lack of appropriate role models, or just the imitating of the examples set by others” may have had a part too. There are also issues related to access to appropriate care.

Among the recommendations made in the report: establishing a safe house; building upon local resources already in place; hiring a behavioral health program director for IHS; continuing to improve access to care; overhauling the tribes' treatment center; hiring a suicide prevention coordinator; appointing a leadership board; saturating the community with prevention skills and training; and improving access to parenting skill classes.

Avoiding the Racist Halloween Costume: Fashion Tips from Gawker

2010-10-27T14:11:00.001-04:00

We're not sure what you were planning for Halloween, but here are some costume tips from Gawker on how to avoid the most racist costumes. First on their list of fashion don'ts for Halloween: Do not wear this Seductive Squaw costume. Now granted, dressing up as an Indian might not be offensive if you are an Indian. But this particular costume crosses the line on so many levels, you will still want to steer clear.

IHS Launches Influenza Web Site

2010-10-25T11:16:00.000-04:00

The Indian Health Service has launched an influenza surveillance and information-sharing Web site, according to a press release issued by the agency last week.

The site (www.ihs.gov/flu) features information for health professionals on influenza activity in the United States along with information on IHS influenza surveillance activities, reports and educational resources specific to American Indian/Alaska Native people. It also contains links to influenza information for patients and the general public.

Flu season has already begun, although peak season typically runs from November through March. While not certain, as nothing ever is with flu seasons, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention says it is likely that the 2009 H1N1 viruses will continue to spread along with seasonal viruses in the United States during the 2010-2011 season.

American Indians/Alaska Natives have long experienced an influenza/pneumonia mortality rate that is nearly twice that of the general U.S. population.

The new site, aimed at decreasing the disparity, provides useful information on influenza prevention and treatment, including weekly influenza surveillance updates; vaccination resources, contacts and supplies; prevention guidance from the CDC; and the latest information on resources specific to Native people and the IHS.

There are downloadable brochures, fact sheets, articles and posters available for personal and educational use as well as links to podcasts, videos and public service announcements on seasonal influenza information.

Rebound On the Way for Indian Country Tourism?

2010-10-22T11:17:00.000-04:00

The bad economy has definitely taken a toll on Indian Country tourism, but could a rebound be finally underway?

For an idea of how the recession has impacted Native American tourism, we contacted the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA). Based in Albuquerque, N.M., AIANTA measures the ups and downs of visitor flows with statistics from the annual Survey of International Air Travelers, conducted by the U.S. International Trade Administration’s Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

AIANTA considers the survey the most reliable source of Indian Country tourism data. Completed in-flight by travelers from overseas, excluding those from Canada and

Mexico

, it includes a box that can be marked if a traveler plans on visiting a tribal community.

Based on this survey, Indian Country has consistently captured 3 percent to 4 percent of overseas visitors each year for the last two decades, according to Staci Eagle Elk, a public affairs specialist for AIANTA.

In 2006, the Commerce Department reported that 25.3 million overseas travelers visited the United States; in 2007, the volume increased to 27.4 million. But then the recession took hold, spreading around the world. In 2008, the number fell to 25.3 million; and in 2009, it dropped to 20.4 million, the lowest count since 2004.

“When the world economy suffers and tourism to the U.S. declines, so does Indian Country’s market capture,” Eagle Elk said.

But new data from the U.S. Department of Commerce suggests the downward trend is reversing. For the first six months of 2010, 27.5 million international visitors traveled to the United States, an 11 percent increase over the same period in 2009.

While international tourists are important to Indian Country, the volume of domestic tourists is usually higher. Unfortunately, the industry does not yet have a reliable way to measure the flow to Indian reservations, so AIANTA must look at national data to gauge trends.

“The trips/visits dipped dramatically in 2009 during the recession, but in 2010, domestic travel has bounced back and the trends overall for the U.S. look good, which is also good for Indian Country,” Eagle Elk said.

AIANTA is currently working on a pilot project to collect data from a dozen tribes on visitation. It also has several upcoming projects to promote Indian Country tourism. One is a partnership with the National Park Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs to ensure full, uncensored tribal participation in NPS centennial anniversary in 2016 interpretation, education, tourism as well as other programming efforts. In 2009, AIANTA collaborated with Small World Publications and Discover

America

to produce an insert and stand alone piece featuring Indian Country titled “Discover Native America.” AIANTA and SWP will collaborate on a second issue for 2011.

Native American Farmers Awarded $760 Million in USDA Class Action Settlement

2010-10-20T12:21:00.000-04:00

Native American farmers that alleged discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a class action lawsuit will receive close to a billion dollars from a settlement agreement announced yesterday by the agency.

The lawsuit, Marilyn Keepseagle et al., v. Vilsack (Civil Action No. 99-3119 (D.D.C.)), was first filed on November 24th, 1999, but the discrimination complaints from thousands of Native American farmers span a decade (1981-1999). The complaints, in general, alleged that Native American farmers and ranchers did not have the same opportunity to obtain USDA farm loans as white farmers and ranchers.

Under the settlement agreement, known as the “Keepseagle Settlement,” $680 million will be made available to eligible class members to compensate them for their discrimination claims, according to a press release issued yesterday by the USDA.

In addition, the agreement provides up to $80 million in debt forgiveness to successful claimants with outstanding USDA Farm Loan program debt. Also, a moratorium on foreclosures of most claimants’ farms and a moratorium on accelerations and administrative offsets of class members’ farm loan accounts will be put into place until after claimants have gone through the claims process or the Secretary of Agriculture has been notified that a claim has been denied.

The settlement also provides a broad range of programmatic relief, including the creation of a new Federal Advisory Council for Native American farmers and ranchers and a new ombudsman position to address farm program issues related to Native American farmers and ranchers as well as all other socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.

The settlement will not be final until it is formally approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release announcing the settlement, “Today’s settlement can never undo wrongs that Native Americans may have experienced in past decades, but combined with the actions we at USDA are taking to address such wrongs, the settlement will provide some measure of relief to those alleging discrimination.”

In a press release issued yesterday, the National Congress of American Indians praised the settlement.

"This settlement provides long awaited justice for American Indian farmers and ranchers who have only sought an equal opportunity to work hard and succeed,” said Jefferson Keel, President of NCAI. “We are pleased that the court and the Obama Administration have taken tangible steps today to right a wrong reinforce the trust relationship between the United States and American Indian tribal nations.”

Montana Has a New Logo for Native American Made Products

2010-10-19T12:49:00.000-04:00

Montana has a new Native American Made in Montana (NAMiM) logo for products made by the state’s Native American people, as reported by Char-Koosta News on Oct 14.

In order to use the logo, an individual must be an enrolled member of a tribe in Montana, including Little Shell, and the finished product/service must be created, made or produced in the state.

The Made in Montana Program, part of the International Trade and Relations Bureau in the Business Resources Division of the Montana Department of Commerce, helps Montana businesses develop and market their products statewide, nationwide and globally. The program, which has more than 1,500 participants, was recently expanded to include the Native American Made in Montana logo, the article said.

To learn more about the Made in Montana Program, go to www.madeinmontanausa.com.

Three Affiliated Tribes to Vote on Enrollment Amendment

2010-10-18T12:34:00.002-04:00

On Election Day next month, members of the Three Affiliated Tribes will vote on whether to change the requirement for tribal enrollment, as reported by The Minot Daily News on Oct. 10.

Specifically, the amendment that will be voted on would prohibit lineal descendency. Only those with at least one-eighth Hidatsa, Mandan and/or Arikara blood would be allowed enrollment.

The Three Affiliated Tribes, based in North Dakota, have around 12,000 enrolled members, but many of them live off the reservation.

Native People Take Part in Hoover Dam Bridge Dedication

2010-10-15T13:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday’s dedication ceremony of the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, the centerpiece of the Hoover Dam Bypass, not only included federal and state officials, but Native Americans also took part in the celebration.

Leroy Spotted Eagle, a spiritual leader from the Southern Paiute Tribe, offered a blessing, according to several media reports, and members of other tribes in Nevada and Arizona participated in traditional dancing on the new bridge.

The bridge spans 1,900 feet across the Colorado River, with the bridge deck and sidewalk rising about 900 feet above the river. It is located approximately 1,500 feet south of the dam itself.

The $240 million, four-lane bypass will reroute traffic for 3.5 miles from the two-lane bottleneck on U.S. 93 across the Hoover Dam.

Iowa Commission to Introduce Bill Providing Process to Restore Parental Rights

2010-10-14T13:37:00.000-04:00

The Iowa Commission on Native American Affairs will be introducing a bill during next year’s state legislative session that would provide a process to restore parental rights to Native American parents who have lost children through Iowa's child welfare system, as reported today by DesMoinesRegister.com.

The proposed bill comes about a month after a two-day hearing during which the commission heard testimony from Native American families and advocates who are dissatisfied with the state's high rate of removal of Indian children.

The bill, which will be like one that passed in Illinois, would allow parents to appeal to have their rights restored if their children have not already been adopted and if the parents have “cleaned up their act.”

HHS Establishes Tribal Advisory Committee, Representatives Sought

2010-10-13T10:54:00.000-04:00

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced last week the establishment of a new Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee (STAC), according to a press release issued by HHS on Oct. 7.

The release stated that STAC signals a new level of attention to government-to-government relationship between HHS and tribal governments. Its primary purpose: to seek consensus, exchange views, share information, provide advice and recommendations or facilitate any other interaction related to intergovernmental responsibilities or administration of HHS programs, including those that arise explicitly or implicitly under statute, regulation or executive order. The first STAC meeting is scheduled for Dec. 2010.

HHS is currently seeking nominations for one primary representative from each of the 12 areas of the Indian Health Service as well as five at-large national representatives. All representatives must either be elected or appointed tribal officials, acting in their official capacity as the elected officials of their tribe or be designated by an elected tribal official with authority to act on behalf of the tribal official.

Nominations should be submitted no later than Oct. 29, 2010, to:

Paul Dioguardi, Director

Office of Intergovernmental Affairs

US Department of Health and Human Services

200 Independence Ave SW Room 630-F

Washington, DC 20201

Fax: (202) 205-2727

Email: HHSIGA@hhs.gov

Former Soboba Chairman Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes from Vendors

2010-10-11T10:42:00.000-04:00

Robert Salgado Sr., former chairman of the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians, pleaded guilty last week to federal charges related to his acceptance of approximately $875,000 in bribes from tribal vendors and concealing that income from the IRS, according to a press release issued on Oct. 5 by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California.

Salgado, 68, pleaded guilty to two felony charges — bribery and subscribing to a false tax return — before U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson.

In a plea agreement, Salgado admitted that he accepted a total of $874,995 in bribe payments from five vendors who did business with the Soboba Band. The payments to Salgado, which were made by vendors hoping to obtain or being allowed to keep contracts with the tribe, were given to Salgado in the form of cash, payments made to his creditors and checks payable to an entity controlled by Salgado.

Salgado is expected to be sentenced early next year, and he faces a statutory maximum sentence of 13 years in federal prison. The plea agreement contemplates a sentence of 87 months to 108 months in prison, but the actual sentence will be determined by Judge Pregerson, the release said.

Oneida Indian Nation Partners with HELP USA to Provide Holiday Meal to the Homeless

2010-10-08T12:01:00.001-04:00

Ray Halbritter, Oneida Indian Nation Representative and CEO of Oneida Nation Enterprises, has initiated an effort between HELP USA and the New York tribe to help feed the homeless next month.

With the current economic conditions causing a surge in homelessness across the country and with next month National Homeless Awareness Month, which is tied with the symbolic significance surrounding Thanksgiving, a holiday that originated from Native Americans providing food and shelter to the pilgrims, Halbritter knew there was no better time for the Oneida to give back in a meaningful way.

Joining forces with HELP USA, a non-profit group dedicated to providing housing and support services to the homeless, the Oneida will serve a Thanksgiving meal to hundreds of homeless people on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010. The feast will be streamed live online.

Halbritter has recruited a bunch of celebrities to join him in a PSA campaign to raise awareness on homelessness and HELP USA and to help serve the holiday meal. Among them are Mario Cantone, Jill Flint, Thomas Jones, Evan Lysacek, Gilles Marini, Amy Carlson, Jesse Metcalfe, Leven Rambin and Justin Tuck.

To learn more about this effort or to donate, visit: www.HELPUSA.org, Facebook.com/HELPUSA, twitter HELPUSA and www.crowdrise.com (Holiday HELP Feed the Homeless).

NASA Awards $3.3 Million to Support STEM at Tribal Colleges

2010-10-06T11:05:00.000-04:00

NASA is awarding $3.3 million to support academic excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education at tribal colleges and universities, the agency announced in a press release dated Oct. 1.

The awards, which have a three-year period and range in value from $215,000 to $592,000, are part of a Cooperative Agreement Notice released by the NASA Office of Education's Minority University Research and Education Program for the Tribal Colleges and Universities Project (TCUP).

The institutions selected through a merit-based, peer-reviewed competition are: Kiksapa Consulting, LLC of Mandan, N.D.; Salish Kootenai College of Pablo, Mo.; and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium in Alexandria, Va.

TCUP is a STEM education grant and mentoring program with the goal of expanding opportunities to academic institutions that prepare Native Americans to enter the nation's STEM workforce through internships, fellowships, research experiences, outreach, information exchange, capacity building and infrastructure development.

Three Alaska Native Firms Want SBA 8(a) Program Reformed

2010-10-04T14:15:00.001-04:00

Three prominent Alaska Native corporations say the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program needs to be changed, as reported on Oct. 3 by the Anchorage Daily News.

Native contracting has grown exponentially since the 8(a) program was created. Although developed to help increase the number of small, disadvantage companies participating in federal contracts, the program has over recent years been seriously criticized, and there have been allegations of abuse. Alaska Native firms have become major players in the program, but they have also attracted a lot of the scrutiny due to a small number of them violating the rules.

The Alaska Native firms that want the program changed — Cook Inlet Region, Inc., Doyon and Arctic Slope — have come up with a nine-point reform package, which, as the article says, mirrors revisions already proposed by the SBA and to be finalized later this year. Among the firms’ proposed changes are: requiring Native 8(a) contractors to annually disclose how they have benefited shareholders and tribal members and capping the size of contracts at $100 million.

"To reform it is to save it," Margie Brown, chief executive of Cook Inlet Region, told Anchorage Daily News.

Attend the National Indian Board Members Conference!

2010-10-04T12:32:00.002-04:00

Join Falmouth for the 2010 National Indian Board Members Conference at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. Three general sessions and six unique and exciting workshops will provide you with important legal updates, new skills and valuable networking opportunities.

Our conference presenters this year are Richard Phelps, Tal Moore, and Rick McGee, experts with years of experience in Indian Country. With these presenters, you’ll explore strategies for managing conflict, meetings best practices, shielding yourself from potential board liability, the latest technologies available to boards and councils to increase visibility and levels of interactivity, using performance measures, and how to read and understand an audit report.

Three general session presentations will cover timely issues facing boards/councils today, including finance, human resources, the Health Care Reform Act and more.

This dynamic conference is for both experienced and new board and council members. Don't miss this important annual Indian Country event. Register today!

Click here for more information!

Utah Supreme Court Dismisses Navajo Nation Appeal to Undo Adoption

2010-09-30T11:01:00.000-04:00

The Utah Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the Navajo Nation to undo the adoption of two Navajo siblings by a non-Native American couple due to the tribe's failure to file the appeal with the tribe’s signature on time, according to a piece published by the Salt Lake Tribune on Sept. 28.

The ruling, issued this week, marks the first time that the justices have held that neither the Indian Child Welfare Act nor the quasi-sovereign status of tribes trump state filing requirements, the article said.

Attorneys for the adoptive parents, Ricardo and Suzi Ramos, first argued the case on May 1, 2009.

“We think this is a very fair and just result, especially when taking into consideration the best interests of these two children,” Wes Hutchins, a Ramos’ attorney, told the Tribune.

The children, Ella and Anthony, both enrolled members of the Navajo Nation, were adopted by the couple in 2008, two years after they were brought into the family as foster children. The couple has said that they have kept the kids connected to their heritage.

Picture of Tacoma's Native American Monument

2010-09-29T14:05:00.001-04:00

In response to your requests, the City of Tacoma's Community and Economic Development Department has provided an image of the city's first Native American monument. Our post from last week described the monument as "a cedar statue of a Native American woman. Located in Tollefson Plaza, a place that was once an important village site to the Puyallup people (the first people to occupy Tacoma), she stands 22 feet tall and wears a traditional woven cedar hat and white dress with a Thunderbird design. Her hands are outstretched in a welcoming gesture."

Photo provided by City of Tacoma Community and Economic Development Department, taken by Steven Miller.

Saginaw Chippewa Tribe to Erect First Wind Turbine

2010-09-29T11:26:00.001-04:00

This fall, the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe in Michigan will erect its first wind turbine, according to an article published by Central Michigan Life on Sept. 27.

The 148-foot, commercial grade, three-bladed turbine will be hooked up to existing power lines and the grid to power greenhouses and cool and heat homes.

The project is the result of a wind feasibility study that the tribe conducted in 2004 with the U.S. Department of Energy. Originally, the turbine, to be located on Tomah Road (near the Elijah Elk Cultural Center), was to only power greenhouses, but the tribe expanded the project to include tribal housing.

The project is being coordinated through the tribe’s Housing and Planning Departments, Seventh Generation Cultural Center, the United States Department of Energy and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Tribal Housing Manager April Borton told Central Michigan Life, “We are happy to make this a reality and lower tenants’ costs.”

The tribe is approaching this project as a first phase. If it is successful, more will be built at other locations in the future.

Recession Not Over for Tribal Casinos

2010-09-27T10:07:00.001-04:00

The recession ended in June 2009. That’s what economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research announced last week. But for the many tribal casinos that are still experiencing revenue decreases, it’s far from over.

At the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, owned/operated by the Mohegan Tribe, revenues dropped so much that it had to do something it had tried so desperately not to do since the economy started going downhill: It had to layoff workers. As reported by the AP on Sept. 14, 355 employees will be let go, and another 120 will be reassigned.

Mohegan Sun blames the job cuts on a drop in slot revenues. During the fiscal year ending in Sept. 2009, the casino reported gross slot revenues of around $780 million, almost a 9 percent decrease from the same month last year.

With more than 8,500 workers, Mohegan Sun is one of Connecticut’s largest employers. This is the first time it has ever had to layoff workers since opening its doors in 1996.

In addition to shedding jobs, the casino plans to shut down one of its buffet restaurants and use more third-party operators for its eateries, according to the AP article.

Nearby Foxwoods and the MGM Grand at Foxwoods, owned by the Mashantucket Pequot, are also reporting declines. On Sept. 15, Foxwoods issued a press release stating that slot revenue in Aug. was $59.2 million, a decrease of 6.3 percent in slot win and a decrease of 3.2 percent in total slot handle as compared to Aug. 2009.

“Our August results are a reflection of prolonged economic conditions and the challenges they present to our, and just about every other, business,” said Mashantucket Pequot Gaming Enterprises President William Sherlock in the release.

Foxwoods was forced to layoff workers in 2008, reducing its workforce by approximately 6 percent.

In California, Cache Creek Casino Resort, owned by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, recently decided to suspend a big expansion project, one that included a 2,200-seat event center, 900-car parking garage and other amenities.

"The outlook for the economy, both locally and across the U.S., just made this decision necessary," tribal spokesman Greg Larsen was quoted as saying in an article published by Sacbee.com on Sept. 16.

The project is not the first one to be put on hold by the casino. Last fall, it put the brakes on a bigger project, which included a 10-story hotel tower, also due to the bad economy.

In June, the National Indian Gaming Commission released data showing that revenues generated by the Indian gaming industry (233 tribes in the United States engaged in gaming) in 2009 totaled $26.5 billion, a dip from the $26.7 billion reported in 2008.

In 2009, 58 percent of tribal gaming operations reported a decrease in revenue, with about half of those showing decreases of less than 10 percent from 2008. Nearly 40 percent, however, reported an increase, with about 15 percent showing a 50 percent jump. NIGC credits those increases for the most part to casinos opening in 2008 and recognizing the first full-year revenue impact in 2009 and to casino expansions.

Casinos across the country, from Los Vegas to Atlantic City, are seeing revenue drops. Nationwide, revenues fell to $30.74 billion in 2009, a 5.5 percent decrease from 2008, according to a report released by the American Gaming Association in May.

And it does not look like 2010 will be much better. In addition to what the Connecticut casinos are experiencing, tribal operations in Arizona, Wisconsin and other states are still reporting fewer dollars coming in.

New Yorker Cartoon Draws Charges of Racism

2010-09-24T10:47:00.001-04:00

Who ever thought The New Yorker would stoop so low? Check out this week's cartoon caption contest winne r. The link here is to the Gawker blog, which was quick to question the wisdom of the cartoon editors who chose the cartoon and caption and of the New Yorker readers who voted for it. The comments on the Gawker post are worth reading too. The cartoon is printed on the last page of the September 27 issue of The New Yorker.

Tacoma’s First Native American Monument Stands 22 Feet Tall

2010-09-23T12:50:00.000-04:00

It took about a decade, but the City of Tacoma has its first Native American monument.

The monument is a cedar statue of a Native American woman. Located in Tollefson Plaza, a place that was once an important village site to the Puyallup people (the first people to occupy Tacoma), she stands 22 feet tall and wears a traditional woven cedar hat and white dress with a Thunderbird design. Her hands are outstretched in a welcoming gesture.

The statue was carved by Puyallup artist Shaun Peterson (Qwalsius). According to an article published by The Olympian on Aug. 15, when Peterson set out on this project in 2000, the piece was to be only eight feet tall. But thanks to his dream, financial support from the community and some luck in finding a log tall enough, he was able to more than double the size.

The piece was unveiled at a celebratory event, hosted by the City of Tacoma, Puyallup Tribe of Indians and Tacoma Art Museum, on Sept. 18.

Native Hawaiians More Likely to Suffer Early Death

2010-09-22T11:39:00.000-04:00

A University of Michigan study has found that Native Hawaiians are more at risk of suffering an early death than white Americans, as reported by Medical News Today on Sept. 20.

The study shows that Native Hawaiian infants (less than one year old) and young people between the ages of 15 and 34 are especially vulnerable to early death compared to white Americans in the same age groups.

The research also shows that older Native Hawaiians have higher expected death rates than both blacks and whites age 65 and over.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there were 874,000 Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders in the United States, with Native Hawaiians making up about 46 percent of the race group.

The research, published in the November 2010 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, is the first known study to assess mortality patterns among Native Hawaiians at the national level, including those living outside the state of Hawaii. It was funded by the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Montana Governor Releases 2010 Tribal Relations Report

2010-09-20T13:17:00.000-04:00

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer last week released the 2010 Tribal Relations Report, which highlights efforts of the state and the eight tribal nations in the state to work together during FY 2010.

The 72-page report, a result of a 2003 state law, highlights more than 650 cooperative agreements, trainings, projects and collaborative efforts in effect between the state and the tribes during the fiscal year, covering every aspect of governmental operations, including economic development, the delivery of human services, environmental stewardship, cooperation on finance and justice issues and education.

“This report demonstrates the State of Montana’s commitment to sincere and meaningful state-tribal relationships,” Governor Schweitzer said in a press release announcing the report. “We look forward to continuing these historic efforts and strengthening the government-to-government relationship."

The full report is available online at http://tribalnations.mt.gov/.

Mississippi Band of Choctaw to Start Healing to Wellness Court for Youth

2010-09-17T11:55:00.000-04:00

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians will next month start a Healing to Wellness Court for youth.

The Youth HTWC is being adapted from the tribe’s successful Adult HTWC, established five years ago with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Wilma J. Simpson, who is with the tribe’s Office of Public Information, said 13 have graduated from the Adult HTWC and 16 are currently in the program.

A Tribal Juvenile Accountability grant, awarded in 2009 by the USDOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, is funding the Choctaw’s Youth HTWC for three years, with the first year a planning year. The tribe is hoping to start it on Oct. 1, 2010, Simpson said.

Also called “drug courts” or just “wellness courts,” healing to wellness courts are now part of many tribal judicial systems. While most that have been started are dedicated to adults, there are a few out there for youth. The Cherokee Nation, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians are just a few examples of tribes that have one for juveniles.

The overall goal of these courts is to rehabilitate the offender, rather than send him/her to prison. They generally include a referral to treatment services, monitoring alcohol and/or drug usage, random drug testing and supervising the progress of the participant’s treatment through frequent appearances in the wellness court. As a rehabbed offender is unlikely to offend again, these courts help reduce crime.

The Choctaw already has an advisory board for its Youth HTWC in place. It is comprised of representatives from the tribe’s Court Services, the Attorney General’s Office, Legal Defense, Police Department and Behavioral Health department. Board members will meet weekly with the judge to review the progress of each participant.

Simpson said it also has an eight-bedroom, dorm-style building, where participants will reside during their transition period.

For participants, progress (or compliance) will be monitored through periodic and random drug tests. Successful completion of the program will result in the dismissal of the charges against them.

Alzheimer's Association Opening Office on North Carolina Indian Reservation

2010-09-16T12:11:00.000-04:00

The Alzheimer’s Association has partnered with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina to open an office and counseling center, as reported by Smoky Mountain News on Sept. 15. This will be the first time the association has had a permanent presence on tribal lands.

The new office and counseling center will officially open on Sept. 20. It will be located in the tribe’s Health and Medical Division Building in Cherokee. There will be festivities to mark the grand opening, and on Sept. 21, which is World Alzheimer’s Day, there will be an awareness walk.

While located on tribal lands, the office and center will serve all residents in counties west of Asheville.

Plans Announced for Cleanup of Two Uranium-Contaminated Sites on Navajo and Hopi Reservations

2010-09-14T13:00:00.002-04:00

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has entered into two enforcement actions, both of which will result in the cleaning up of uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation and Hopi reservations, according to a press release issued by the EPA on Sept. 13.

In one settlement, Rio Algom Mining LLC, a subsidiary of Canadian corporation BHP Billiton, has agreed to control releases of radium (a decay product of uranium) from the Quivira Mine Site, near Gallup, N.M. The company will also conduct a comprehensive investigation of the levels of contamination at the site.

Under the second settlement, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs will begin a comprehensive investigation of the levels of uranium and other contaminants in the waste, soils and groundwater at a landfill in Tuba City. It will also evaluate the feasibility of a range of cleanup actions.

From 1944 to 1986, millions of tons of uranium ore were mined from these lands. While the mines are now closed, the contamination from some 500 of them remains, as do homes built with contaminated mine waste and contaminated water wells. Potential health effects from this contamination include lung cancer, bone cancer and impaired kidney function.

In January 2008, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform directed five federal agencies (Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Energy, Indian Health Services and Nuclear Regulatory Commission) to work together to address this problem. They developed a five-year plan to address contaminated homes, wells, mine sites, mills and dumps. The recently announced cleanup efforts are part of this plan.

The coordinated plan has already resulted in the replacement of 14 homes, the assessment of more than 200 mines and funding for water systems that will serve over 3,000 people with clean water, Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator for EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region, said in the release.

Crow Tribal Leaders Call for Removal of IHS Hospital’s Clinical Director

2010-09-13T10:29:00.000-04:00

Leaders of the Crow Tribe in Montana are calling for the removal of Dr. A. Scott Devous, clinical director at the Indian Health Service hospital on the reservation, after learning that he had been convicted of drug distribution charges 27 years ago in Wyoming, as reported by ABCMontana.com on Sept. 10.

Devous received his license to practice in Montana in 1989, but his Wyoming license was relinquished in 1983, just before he was indicted on federal drug charges, ABCMontana.com said. He had been found guilty of abusing Demerol and passing the drug to a girlfriend.

Collaborative to Develop Best Practices for Green, Culturally Appropriate Tribal Housing

2010-09-10T09:47:00.006-04:00

An alliance of green designers, architects, affordable housing specialists and sustainability advocates is partnering with Native American communities in the Southwest to develop green and culturally appropriate housing best practices.

The alliance, started up with a $55,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Art, is called the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative. It was founded by Jamie Blosser, AIA, LEED AP, associate and director of the Santa Fe, N.M., office of Atkin Olshin Schade Architects. The main partners are Enterprise Community Partners, a provider of capital and expertise for affordable housing and community development, and Architecture for Humanity, a global non-profit design services firm.

"With this collaborative, we are working to explore sustainable new ways to incorporate green design principles into tribal life that will support healthy, sustainable communities," Ed Rosenthal, vice president and director of the National Rural and Native American Program, Enterprise Community Partners, said in a press release.

The collaborative is not setting out to create new green housing standards. Blosser said that was already achieved with the Green Communities Criteria, developed by Enterprise Green Communities.

“We are really looking at combining cultural and environmental sustainability together,” she said.

The best practices will be developed from six housing project case studies, which will be selected over the next six to eight months. To be selected, projects must be in the planning or design phase, incorporate culturally appropriate design and/or green building practices and have the full support of tribal leadership. They must also be in tribal communities in the Southwest.

“The idea is to listen to the tribal leaders' sustainability goals, provide technical assistance to try to meet those goals and compile best practices guidelines based on the initial case studies,” Blosser said.

Tribes interested in submitting their projects for consideration can contact Blosser at info@sustainablenativecommunities.org or 505-216-0925, ext. 4.

Oneida Files Lawsuit over New York’s Cigarette Tax

2010-09-08T13:36:00.000-04:00

The Oneida Indian Nation filed a lawsuit against New York Gov. David Paterson and the state’s Department of Taxation and Finance yesterday with the Northern District of New York, The Oneida Daily Dispatch reported today. The lawsuit questions the legality of the state’s action to collect tax on tobacco products sold to the tribe and its ability to provide tax-free cigarettes to its members.

Under the state’s current tax law, wholesalers and suppliers would be responsible for paying the state for sales and excise tax on its products, The Oneida Daily Dispatch piece said. The tribe would pay for that tax in the price of cigarettes from the supplier.

In late July, just weeks after New York passed a law that raised the tax on cigarettes to $4.35/pack and made cigarettes sold to non-Indians on reservations taxable, the Oneida announced that it is relocating its western New York cigarette manufacturing plant to a facility in its territory. And just a few days ago, the tribe said it will not buy any cigarettes from suppliers that imbed the state tax.

Last week, a federal judge issued an order barring the state from collecting taxes on cigarettes sold on the Seneca and Cayuga reservations, and the order was extended yesterday.

IMLS Awards More Than $2 Million to Tribes for Library Services Enhancements

2010-09-07T11:40:00.000-04:00

Seventeen tribal communities were selected by the Institute of Museum and Library Services to receive $2,030,562 in Native American Library Services Enhancement grants, according to a press release issued by the IMLS today.

The grants will help fund a wide range of projects, including:

The Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma will establish the Virtual Library of Cherokee Knowledge, designed to provide Cherokee citizens and the general public access to a comprehensive digital repository of authentic Cherokee knowledge related to the Nation's history, language, traditions, culture and leaders.
The Jemez Pueblo Community Library in New Mexico is undertaking a project focusing on the preservation of the Towa language and Jemez Pueblo culture, traditions and knowledge. The new “Towa Cultural Resource Center” in the library will serve as a central place to collect, house and make resources available to tribal members.
The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin is working in partnership with the College of Menominee Nation Library Special Collections Department and Wisconsin Heritage Online to house, preserve, catalog and digitize a large collection of rare and historically significant archival materials, many related directly to the personal, legal and national story of the tribe’s struggle for sovereignty during the Termination and Restoration period (1954 to 1973).
The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma will develop the “Starting Points” program, which will establish a Literacy, Educational and Employment Resource Office within the library to assist community members in need of literacy and employment training. The tribe will facilitate and maintain tools necessary for participants to readily create resumes and easily access job skills training and job search opportunities.
The Hopi Tribe of Arizona will add the Kuwanomp’tap Sikisve (Computer Technology on Wheels) to its already very successful Hopi Tutuqayki Sikisve (Library on Wheels) from an earlier enhancement grant. The mobile computer lab will operate in tandem with the current bookmobile's schedule, in order to bring public computer and Internet access to the remote villages throughout the Hopi service area.

The next deadline for Native American Library Services Enhancement Grant applications is May 2, 2011.

For additional information, go to the IMLS Web site (http://www.imls.gov/) or contact Senior Program Officer Alison Freese at 202-653-4665 or afreese@imls.gov.

Yocha Dehe Fire Dept. Becomes First in Indian Country to Earn CFAI Accreditation

2010-09-02T15:35:00.000-04:00

Last month, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation’s fire department accomplished what few fire departments have accomplished: it earned its accreditation from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI).

The CFAI program is a comprehensive self-assessment and evaluation model. As a benchmark, it allows fire departments to look at past, current and future service levels and performance and compare them to industry best practices.

It helps fire departments determine community risk and safety needs; evaluate the department’s performance; and establish a method for achieving continuous organizational improvement.

No other fire department in Indian Country has earned accreditation yet, and only 147 fire departments in the United States and Canada have been accredited.

Getting accredited was no easy feat for the Yocha Dehe Fire Department, which has 35 uniformed, full-time employees, three engines and other state-of-the-art fire and rescue equipment. It took six years of rigorous development, self-assessment and peer evaluation of its fire department’s administration, training, operational skills, documentation, equipment and facilities.

The accreditation is good for five years. During that period, the department must submit four Annual Compliance Reports that show that it is in compliance with the main performance indicators as well as report on progress made in carrying out its plan for improvement.

The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is based in California’s Capa Valley. Its fire department, formed in 2003, provides fire protection, technical rescue and paramedic emergency services to the tribal community, the tribe’s Cache Creek Casino Resort and in surrounding areas. The department is guided by a 10-member fire commission.

"When we set out to build the Fire Department, we set the highest standards," Paula Lorenzo Tackett, tribal chairperson when the fire department was created, said in a press release.

"We were determined to build our fire department to complement services provided by the other departments in our region with whom we proudly work," said James Kinter, a member of the tribal council and Yocha Dehe Fire Commission Chairman.

The Chantilly, Va.-based Center for Public Safety Excellence, which the commission is part of, told AIR that no other tribe has pursued CFAI accreditation and none are in the process. It said via e-mail, “We hope that Yocha Dehe will set the example to others.”

Treasury Department Seeks Comments on Tribal Economic Development Bond Provision

2010-08-31T14:32:00.001-04:00

The Department of the Treasury is seeking comments from tribal governments on the Tribal Economic Development Bond provision in Section 7871(f) of the Internal Revenue Code, according to a notice published in the Federal Register on July 12.

The comments will assist the Treasury Department in developing recommendations regarding this bond provision for a Congressionally-directed study under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the notice said.

There are several questions the agency is seeking comments on, including whether the state or local governmental standard for tax-exempt governmental bond status should replace the essential governmental function standard and the types of projects and activities eligible for financing with private activity bonds.

The deadline for sending comments is Sept. 10, 2010. They can be sent via e-mail to Tribal.Consult@do.treas.gov. If sent via mail, they should be addressed to: Tribal Economic Development Bond Comments, Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Room 3454, Washington, D.C. 20220.

To read the full notice in the Federal Register, click here.

Begay Foundation Opens Soccer Field and Community Park in San Felipe Pueblo

2010-08-30T12:13:00.000-04:00

The San Felipe Pueblo in New Mexico has a new community park and soccer field, thanks in large part to a $535,000 grant from the Notah Begay III Foundation, an organization founded by Notah Begay III, the only full-blooded Native American on the PGA Tour.

The $785,000 park and soccer field are a first for the pueblo. With its walking paths, the park provides an outlet for community members to become more physically fit. The centerpiece, though, is the synthetic turf soccer field, which will be home to the San Felipe Soccer Club, an after-school program that the Notah Begay III Foundation has operated since 2005. The club plans to host tournaments, camps and events to promote soccer and good health to neighboring pueblos as well as to help foster relationships with the larger soccer community in the Albuquerque and Bernalillo area.

“The Pueblo has waited nearly a decade for this facility, a park that will allow adults, youth and participants in the San Felipe Soccer Club to increase their physical activity,” said Begay in a press release issued on Aug. 24. “Tribal communities around the entire country are often lacking even the most basic amenities needed to keep their young people active and healthy. This incredible facility is an example of what’s possible when communities unite and work together in the interest of the health and wellness of Native people.”

Oneida Nation Moving Cigarette Manufacturing Operations

2010-08-26T12:37:00.000-04:00

The Oneida Indian Nation is moving its cigarette manufacturing plant from Buffalo to Oneida, N.Y., according to a press release issued by the tribe on Aug. 25.

In addition to creating 15 jobs in central New York, the relocation will ensure that customers of the tribe’s enterprises can still buy Oneida Indian Nation-manufactured cigarettes free of New York State taxes, the release said.

“By moving the plant to the Oneida homelands, the Nation is availing itself of a long-settled law that recognizes the right of Indian tribes to sell products they manufacture on their own reservations without interference from state tax laws. When an Indian nation manufactures its own products on its reservation, and sells those products on its reservation, federal law preempts state efforts to tax those products,” the tribe stated in the release.

The tribe purchased Sovereign Tobacco, its tobacco company, about two years ago. The cigarettes manufactured in the Oneida plant are the Niagara and Bishop brands, which are sold at the tribe's chain of SavOn stores in Oneida and Madison counties and at select retail shops at its Turning Stone Resort and Casino state tax-free.

DOJ Needs a Medicine Man

2010-08-25T11:36:00.000-04:00

If you’re Native American medicine man, one with experience conducting Native American ceremonies and familiar with medicine wheels, sweat lodges, sacred pipes and eagle feathers, the U.S. Department of Justice may require your services.

According to a piece published by The Smoking Gun on Aug. 19, the DOJ posted an announcement on FedBizOpps.gov web site with that title, though it was later changed to “Native American Services/Spiritual Guide” (after Drudge Report published a link to the announcement).

However the agency words it, the services are needed for Native American inmates at the federal prison in Duluth, Minn.

San Manuel Tribe Signs Agreement with City of San Bernardino for Police Services

2010-08-24T10:43:00.000-04:00

Under a new three-year intergovernmental agreement, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians will pay $3.1 million to the City of San Bernardino to provide law enforcement services in city neighborhoods that surround the tribe’s reservation.

The agreement, signed last week, is an outgrowth of the tribal-state gaming compact entered into by the San Manuel Band, a press release issued by the tribe said. It provides a framework for the tribe and city to support a consistent level of law enforcement services in neighborhoods served by the San Bernardino Police Department through funding and ongoing cooperation between city police and the tribe.

The funds provided in the agreement will cover the cost of six San Bernardino police officers, one sergeant, a part-time detective along with crossing guards and support vehicles and equipment for the three-year period.

The San Manuel’s 800-acre reservation is located near Highland, Calif. The tribe owns/operates San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino, which employs about 3,000 people.

The area covered in the agreement has always been within the jurisdiction of the City of San Bernardino, said Jerry Paresa, the tribe’s chief administrative officer; thus, the SBPD patrols and responds to this area.

Under the tribal-state compact, the tribe had paid into a Special Distribution Fund, Paresa said, and some of these funds went to the County of San Bernardino and were put into a special account to pay for any impacts to the community from gaming.

Under S.B. 621, signed into law in 2003, a committee was formed to distribute funds for services in the form of grants sponsored by the San Manuel. Since the 2003/04 fiscal year, Paresa said, some funds have been appropriated to offset the cost of policing in this area by the SBPD. There has never been a written agreement between the tribe and city for these services.

With a 2006 amendment to the compact, however, the tribe no longer has to pay into the Special Distribution Fund.

“The tribe, in turn, decided to assist the city with the on-going costs of policing in the neighborhood and did so at a level that eclipsed previous funding through the grant,” Paresa said.

Jemez Pueblo Creating Education Endowment

2010-08-20T10:53:00.000-04:00

In partnership with the New Mexico Community Foundation, the Pueblo of Jemez is creating an education endowment to ensure that any pueblo member who wants to go to college can.

The endowment, named the Jemez Pueblo Foundation Fund, will be a permanent pool of money that will be managed by the NMCF, a press release issued yesterday by the pueblo stated.

The goal is for the pueblo to raise $50,000 in one year. The NMCF, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, will match half of what the pueblo raises at $25,000 if the pueblo reaches its goal by Aug. 20, 2011.

The endowment is being kicked off today with a fundraising drive at the Walatowa Visitors Center. The pueblo plans to create a tribal employee giving program as well as solicit area businesses to raise money. The Jemez Health Board and Health Department will kick off the drive with a $25,000 initial investment toward the fund.

“Every year approximately six college-bound students are denied funding because we do not have enough money for all of them,” Pueblo of Jemez Governor Joshua Madalena said in the release. “However, education is a priority, and this endowment will open new doors and provide some great opportunities for our people. It will also help support some of our innovative educational programs.”

The Jemez Pueblo, a non-gaming tribe, will become the second tribe in New Mexico and the 16th in the nation to establish an endowment, according to a report on Native American philanthropy by the First Nations Development Institute.

For information about the Jemez Pueblo Foundation Fund or to make a donation, go to www.nmcf.org/POJEF.

FCC Establishes Office of Native Affairs and Policy

2010-08-18T12:11:00.000-04:00

The Federal Communications Commission has established an Office of Native Affairs and Policy, according to a press release issued by the commission on Aug.12.

With its main agenda aimed at bringing the benefits of a modern communications infrastructure to all Native communities, the new office will work to promote the deployment and adoption of communications services and technologies throughout Indian Country by, among other things, ensuring robust government-to-government consultation with tribal governments and increased coordination with Native organizations.

“The Office of Native Affairs and Policy is a historic milestone and the culmination of many years of effort by leaders in Indian Country and at the FCC,” said Geoffrey Blackwell, who heads the office. “There is a lot of good hard work that remains on the path ahead. As tribal nations and Native communities exercise their sovereignty and self-determination to ensure a bright future for their generations, the entire agency now has a new capability to engage with them. Many people throughout the FCC have worked diligently on behalf of tribes for a number of years. …”

The office, which will be part of the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, will handle ongoing consultation and coordination with American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, Native Hawaiian organizations and other Native and tribal entities and will be the official commission contact point for these activities.

Sacred Objects Returned to Yurok Tribe

2010-08-16T12:29:00.001-04:00

More than 200 sacred objects that were in the possession of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian were returned last week to the Yurok Tribe in northern California, as reported in an Associated Press piece published by the Times Leader on Aug. 15.

The collection of items, which includes white deerskins, condor feathers and head dresses of woodpecker scalps, is one of the largest to be repatriated by the museum. Ranging from hundreds to maybe even thousands of years old, the objects were once part of the collection of George Gustav Heye, though the tribe does not know how he obtained them.

“It’s part of the fabric of who we are and why we are,” Javier Kinney, who helped transport the items from the Smithsonian’s facility in Suitland-Silver Hill, Md., told the AP.

The tribe, which has about 5,500 members, plans to use some of the objects in ceremonies, but some will be displayed in its cultural center.

To learn more about the law that requires museums and government agencies to repatriate Native American objects and remains, read Key Federal Agencies Not Fully Complying with NAGPRA, published on AIR on Aug. 6, 2010.

Sen. Ted Stevens a Champion to Alaska Natives

2010-08-12T11:18:00.000-04:00

Former Sen. Ted Stevens, who died in a plane crash in Alaska this week at age 86, will be remembered by many as the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate's history, a man who helped modernize Alaska and, yes, the guy behind that infamous “Bridge to Nowhere,” but he will also be remembered as a big supporter of Alaska Native people.

Stevens helped write and push through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971. The legislation provided nearly $1 billion and 44 million of acres of land to Alaska Natives, which would be managed by 13 regional corporations and more than 200 village corporations. ANCSA ultimately paved the way for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

In a statement sent to AIR yesterday, Don Kashevaroff, CEO of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, said Stevens’ contributions to the Alaska Native community are significant.

"He worked with Alaska tribal leadership to pass legislation that created the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium [ANTHC], to take over health care ownership and management back to the tribes,” he said.

ANTHC, a non-profit health organization owned and managed by Alaska Native tribal governments and their regional health organizations, was created in 1997 to provide statewide Native health services. It jointly owns and manages the Alaska Native Medical Center, a 150-bed facility in Anchorage that provides specialty, tertiary and primary care to Alaska Natives and American Indians in Alaska..

Kashevaroff said the former senator brought telemedicine to the state’s rural communities and championed other initiatives that modernized the Alaska Native health system.

“We will dearly miss our friend, our champion and our partner in tribal health," he said.

Andy Teuber, chairman and president of the ANTHC Board of Directors, said in a statement that Stevens was instrumental in creating “world-class health care delivery in a frontier environment.”

"One of his favorite programs was the Community Health Aide program, which he showcased in other countries, like China and Vietnam, as a model of the great things that can happen when local people take over their own health care,” Teuber said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and with his staff, whom he treated as extended family."

Stevens became a U.S. senator for Alaska in 1968, though his political career started before that. In 2008, he lost his bid for reelection to Democrat Mark Begich. Stevens' was convicted in a corruption trial during the Senate race, but the charges were dropped in April 2009 due to “prosecutorial misconduct.”

City to Sue Pechanga over Costs Associated with Additional Slots

2010-08-11T12:33:00.001-04:00

The city of Temecula plans to file a lawsuit against the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in effort to get the tribe to pay millions of dollars to cover the costs associated the 2,000+ slot machines the tribe has added to its casino over the last few years, namely the costs of increased traffic and calls for police officers, Californian.com reported yesterday. The suit, approved unanimously at a city council meeting held yesterday, will be filed in around 45 days.

Under a new agreement with the city, signed earlier this year, the tribe agreed to pay $2 million annually for the next 21 years to offset the effects of the additional slot machines. The tribe did not make the first payment, which was due on June 30, as it says that there is a clause in the agreement that states the payment does not go into effect until a separate agreement is made with the county.

Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro had this to say in a statement issued after the meeting: "At a time when real leaders work together to solve problems, the Temecula City Council chooses a path of conflict, litigation and uncertainty. The absurdity of their action is beyond comprehension and jeopardizes millions for services that benefit the entire community. We will consider our options and proceed accordingly."

Chickasaw Nation Opens Cultural Center

2010-08-10T12:32:00.000-04:00

After six years of construction, the Chickasaw Cultural Center is finished and welcoming visitors, an Associated Press article reported today.

The facility, located in Sulphur, Okla., cost the Chickasaw Nation $40 million, and it was paid for with tribal gaming revenues. The grand opening was held on July 24.

The center, the AP reported, “traces the tribe's life from its ancestral homelands in what is now the southeastern United States, then along the Trail of Tears, then to its emergence in recent years as one of Oklahoma's most prominent American Indian tribes.”

Occupying a 109-acre site, it features a 350-seat theater with a 2,400-square-foot screen, an exhibit center and a replica of a traditional Chickasaw village. There is also a cafe serving traditional Chickasaw cuisine; a garden, where the tribe's hall of fame is honored; and a research center.

Key Federal Agencies Not Fully Complying with NAGPRA

2010-08-06T11:37:00.000-04:00

Despite having about 20 years to comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, key federal agencies still have not completely complied, a report published last month by the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded.

The 106-page report focuses on eight federal agencies: the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NPS; the Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

These agencies have significant collections of historical objects that were acquired before NAGPRA’s enactment in 1990 through various means, such as construction projects and archaeological excavations. The number of items in each agency’s possession is in the millions.

The law requires federal agencies and museums to “return certain Native American cultural items — human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects or objects of cultural patrimony — to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.”

It established a process to return the remains and objects. Agencies and museums were to identify cultural items in their collections that are subject to NAGPRA and prepare inventories and summaries of the items; consult with lineal descendants, tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations on the identification and cultural affiliation of the cultural items in their inventories and summaries; send notices to lineal descendants, tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations describing cultural items and lineal descendancy or cultural affiliation and stating that the cultural items may be repatriated (the Secretary of the Interior is required to publish these notices in the Federal Register). The inventories were to be done by Nov. 16 1995, and the summaries were due two years before that.

As the report reveals, there may have been too much work and not enough time to do it.

“Many federal agencies faced a monumental task in trying to identify all of their NAGPRA items and culturally affiliating them, to the extent possible, within the statutory deadlines. The difficulty of the task was compounded at some agencies by overall poor management and oversight of their museum collections over the years,” the report said.

Among the issues, there have been delays in publishing notices of inventory completion, and some agencies have not published all required notices, which have complicated efforts of Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations to make repatriation requests.

The report said that as of Sept. 30, 2009, only 55 percent of Native American human remains inventoried by agencies had been published in notices of inventory completion.

“While agencies compiled hundreds of summaries and inventories, generally by the statutory deadlines, the amount of work conducted and the quality of the documents prepared varied widely and in some cases did not provide reasonable assurance of compliance with the act,” the report said.

Overall, the report found, the Corps, Forest Service and NPS did the most work to identify their NAGPRA items; BLM, BOR and FWS did some; and BIA and TVA have done the least amount.

The report said that policy makers will have a tough time determining how much work agencies have left to be in compliance because the agencies themselves don’t really know, nor do they know what they need in terms of staffing and resources to complete the required work.

Jack F. Trope, executive director of the Association on American Indian Affairs, which had a part in the drafting of NAGPRA, said of the report: “I knew that not all agencies had fully complied with NAGPRA, but was surprised by the extent of the lack of compliance by some of the agencies, such as the BIA and TVA.”

Trope also said that one issue the report did not address is how well the process is or is not working for new discoveries on federal lands, particularly inadvertent discoveries.

The report is on the agenda for the 12th annual meeting of the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, which will be hosted by the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin Aug. 9-13 in Green Bay, Wis.

Representatives from the GAO, including lead auditor Jeff Malcom, assistant director of the GAO Natural Resources and Environment Team, will be there on Aug. 11 to discuss their findings, conclusions and recommendations.

Center for American Indian Community Health to be Created at KU Medical Center

2010-08-05T13:27:00.000-04:00

Researchers from the University of Kansas Medical Center and the American Indian Health Research and Education Alliance have joined forces to create the Center for American Indian Community Health, according to a press release issued by KU on July 30.

The initiative, which is being funded by a $7.5 million grant from the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities, will set up a pipeline to attract American Indian high school and college students to the KU School of Medicine’s master’s of public health degree program and other graduate programs to increase the number of Native people entering the health professions and conducting health research. Medical center faculty are already working with Haskell Indian Nations University to identify potential students for the master's of public health program.

Five years ago, there were no American Indian students in the program, the release said. Three Native students have already earned degrees; five more are now enrolled and several more have applied for the fall semester.

The new Center for American Indian Community Health will enhance work that began in 2005, when KU Medical Center joined with seven other academic and community organizations to form AIHREA. AIHREA, whose mission is to improve the health of American Indians through quality participatory research and education, has partnerships with government agencies and institutions involved in Native American health and health research.

“Our goal is to train and educate the next generation of Native health researchers and health care professionals, hoping that they will return to their communities and help to address health disparities,” said Christine M. Daley, associate professor of preventive medicine and public health at the School of Medicine, the director of AIHREA and one of the principal investigators on the project.

Pascua Yaqui Start Issuing Enhanced Tribal Cards to Members

2010-08-04T13:10:00.000-04:00

Late last month, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe began issuing its new Enhanced Tribal Card (ETC) to its members, according to a press release jointly issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the tribe.

The ETC, which includes security features and radio frequency identification technology, was designed to be a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI)-compliant document. It formally recognizes tribal membership and U.S. citizenship for the purpose of entering the United States through a land or sea port of entry.

WHTI is a joint initiative between DHS and the Department of State. It implements a key 9/11 Commission recommendation and Congressional mandate to establish document requirements for travelers entering the United States who were previously exempt, including citizens of the United States and Canada. WHTI requires all U.S. and Canadian citizens ages 16 and older to present a valid, acceptable travel document that denotes both identity and citizenship when entering the United States by land or sea.

The tribe, located approximately 60 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, has more than 17,000 members, many of whom have relatives residing on both sides of the border. Both the tribe and its Yaqui cousins in Mexico regularly visit each other for religious, cultural and tribal purposes.

The Pascua Yaqui became the first tribe in Arizona to sign a Memorandum of Agreement with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for the development of an ETC in May 2009. Since then, CBP has signed similar agreements with the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, the Seneca of New York, the Tohono O'odham of Arizona and the Coquille of Oregon to develop WHTI-compliant ETCs. CBP is also currently working with about 15 other tribes across the country on the ETC initiative.

Navajo Voters to Narrow Down List of Presidential Hopefuls

2010-08-03T11:12:00.000-04:00

Today, Navajo Nation voters will decide which two out of a dozen hopefuls will contend for the presidency next year, according to an Associated Press story published on Aug. 2.

In the running are: Deputy Attorney General Harrison Tsosie; former state Rep. Daniel Peaches; Council Delegate Rex Lee Jim; Vice President Ben Shelly; Lynda Lovejoy, a New Mexico senator; Sharon Clahchischilliage, former director of the Navajo Nation Washington Office; Arbin Mitchell, who has worked for three separate Navajo presidents and now serves as the tribe's director of community development; Shiprock Chapter Vice President Donald Benally; mechanic Jerry Todacheene of Shiprock, N.M.; Salt River Project employee Dale Tsosie; George Herrera of Ojo Encino, N.M., who is running as a write-in candidate; and Anthony Begay, the youngest of the candidates at 37.

Current Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. had sought re-election to a third consecutive term, the AP article reported, however, the Navajo Nation elections office disqualified him, basing its decision on Navajo law that limits tribal presidents to two consecutive terms. The decision was upheld by the Navajo Supreme Court.

More than one-third of the Navajo Nation’s 300,000 members are registered to vote in the primary, and around 65 percent are expected to turnout today, the AP article said.

Obama Signs Tribal Law and Order Act

2010-07-30T10:37:00.000-04:00

On July 29, President Obama signed into law the Tribal Law and Order Act, legislation that takes a comprehensive approach to addressing the shortfalls in fighting crime in Indian Country.

The House passed the legislation last week (see AIR post published last week); and the Senate approved it on June 24, 2010.

Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, was among the many — tribal leaders, federal lawmakers, advocates, tribal law enforcement personnel and others — that attended the signing ceremony.

Keel said in NCAI press release issued yesterday: “Today, by enacting the Tribal Law and Order Act, President Obama and the United States government reaffirmed its federal trust responsibility to work with tribal nations to strengthen our governments, our people and our communities. We will use the tools in the Tribal Law and Order Act to crack down on crime and make our communities safer.”

As highlighted in the NCAI press release, the law’s major provisions include:

o Evidence Sharing and Declination Data: Requires federal prosecutors to maintain data on criminal declinations in Indian country, and to share evidence to support prosecutions in tribal court.

o Tribal Court Sentencing: Increases tribal court sentencing authority from 1 to 3 years imprisonment where certain constitutional protections are met.

o Federal Testimony: Requires Federal officials who work in Indian country to testify about information gained in the scope of their duties to support a prosecution in tribal court.

o Tribal Police Access to Criminal History Records: Many tribal police have no access to criminal history records. The bill will provide tribal police greater access to criminal history databases that provide them with essential information when detaining or arresting a suspect.

o Improves transparency in Public Safety spending by the BIA, and requires greater consultation on the part of the BIA to tribal communities on matters affecting public safety and justice.

o Increased sexual assault training and standardized protocols for handling sex crimes, interviewing witnesses, and handling evidence of domestic and sexual violence crimes in Indian country.

o Increases recruitment and retention efforts for BIA and Tribal Police.

o Expands training opportunities for BIA and tribal police to receive training at State police academies, and tribal, state, and local colleges – where Federal law enforcement training standards are met.

o Increases Deputizations of Tribal and State Police to Enforce Federal Law: Enhances Special Law Enforcement Commission program to deputize officers to enforce federal laws on Indian lands.

o Authorizes deputization of Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys to prosecute reservation crimes in Federal courts, and encourages Federal Courts to hold cases in Indian country.

o Authorizes the Drug Enforcement Agency to deputize tribal police to assist on reservation drug raids.

o Programmatic Reauthorizations: The bill will reauthorize and improve existing programs designed to strengthen tribal courts, police departments, and corrections centers – as well as programs to prevent and treat alcohol and substance abuse, and improve opportunities for at-risk Indian youth.

On-The-Job Training Grants to Put Native Americans Back to Work

2010-07-29T10:22:00.001-04:00

Late last month, the Department of Labor awarded $75 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds for On-the-Job Training, National Emergency Grants, and three federally recognized tribes were among more than 40 states that received awards.

The Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma received $850,357; the Orutsararmiut Native Council in Alaska received $286,387; and the Seminole Nation in Oklahoma received $236,668.

The funding is to be used for getting people back to work, particularly in areas disproportionately impacted by the recession. Specifically, they will fund on-the-job training projects, ones that offer participants the chance to develop new occupational skills while earning a paycheck and provide participating employers partial reimbursement to offset the cost of training workers.

In a press release announcing the awards, the DOL said the projects will help workers become proficient in needed skills more quickly, which will encourage employers to hire workers sooner than planned. They will spur private sector hiring of well-qualified individuals and, ultimately, economic recovery.

Kim Carroll, Cherokee Nation Career Services’ director of Grants & Compliance, could not say to what degree exactly Cherokee Nation citizens have been impacted by the recession, but she knows that counties with larger Indian populations usually have higher unemployment rates.

Cherokee Nation jurisdiction spans 14 counties in rural northeastern Oklahoma. “We do know that these counties have seen as much as a five point increase in their unemployment rates since 2008, compared to the state of Oklahoma, which has had a 2.5 point increase,” she said.

The Cherokee Nation’s on-the-job training project will allow more Cherokee citizens to go back to work. Carroll said it will reimburse employers of an on-the-job trainee during the worker’s training period, that period when the employee learns the company’s policies and procedures and specific duties.

“During this time, productivity is low, mistakes are made, and it’s a gamble on the employer’s part,” Carroll said.

By reimbursing employees for a percentage of the trainee’s wages during the training period, Carroll believes employers will be more willing to take a chance.

“We will be working with both employers and employees to match individuals with these opportunities. It will allow employers to expand their businesses and allow potential workers to learn new job skills,” she said.

Dorgan Introduces Bill Seeking Resolution of Impacts from Pick-Sloan Dams

2010-07-28T12:10:00.000-04:00

Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) has introduced a bill that would seek a comprehensive approach to resolving problems imposed on seven tribes whose lands were flooded by the Pick-Sloan Program dams, a press release issued by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs announced on July 27.

The 1944 Flood Control Act authorized the Pick-Sloan Program to stop flooding along the Missouri River, yet it had other purposes, like navigation and hydroelectric power. It resulted in five dams being constructed on the river, which ended up flooding tribal lands, including community infrastructure and agricultural and hunting areas.

While the tribes received some compensation, each was compensated differently. For several decades, Dorgan said, the federal government has fielded claims from tribes that were impacted, but it has never had a comprehensive approach to resolving them.

The legislation, named the “Pick-Sloan Tribal Commission Bill,” would establish a commission that would hold hearings and study the outstanding issues in order to make final recommendations to Congress and the Administration for a comprehensive resolution of the tribal claims.

Oklahoma Universities Take Top Three Spots in Indian Bachelor Degree Ranking

2010-07-27T10:26:00.000-04:00

American Indian bachelor degree-producing universities have been ranked by Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and the top three are in Oklahoma, as reported by Tulsa World on July 26.

Oklahoma institutions, in fact, hold six of the top 12 spots and 12 of the top 100.

The three universities at the very top are Northeastern State University, where 370 American Indians earned four-year degrees in 2008-2009; Oklahoma State University, which also reported 370 Native degree earners; and the University of Oklahoma, where 258 earned degrees.

Two Plead Guilty to Stealing from Fort Peck Credit Program

2010-07-23T12:42:00.000-04:00

Two former Fort Peck tribal employees pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to their roles in the theft of $1 million from a credit program, according to an AP article published yesterday in GreatFallsTribune.com.

Evadna Running Bear and Angelita Headdress, both who served as accounting technicians for the Fort Peck Credit Program, are accused of embezzling money from the program and attempting to hide it by altering computer information and using different names on loans. The activity occurred from Aug. 1999 to May 2009.

The two are among six people to plead guilty in this case. They will be sentenced in October.

House Passes Tribal Law and Order Act

2010-07-22T09:52:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, the U.S. House approved the Tribal Law and Order Act, legislation aimed at improving all aspects of the justice system on Indian reservations and clearing up jurisdictional confusion among tribal, state and local law enforcement officials.

The legislation was included as part of H.R. 725, the Indian Arts and Crafts bill, which received a 326-92 vote. It passed the Senate last month. It is now on its way to President Obama, who is expected to sign it.

The bill was authored by U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, who describes the legislation as a response to a “crisis” in Indian Country law enforcement.

On many reservations, violent crime rates are far higher than the national average. On the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, for instance, the rate was 8.6 times higher in 2008.

Violence against Native American women has reached epidemic levels, with more than one in three being a victim of rape and two in five that will suffer domestic or partner violence in their lifetimes, as reported by the Department of Justice and Centers for Disease Control.

Getting the bill enacted has been one of Dorgan’s top priorities as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

“Every American has a right to live in a safe community. That certainly includes the First Americans,” he said in a press release issued yesterday by the committee.

“The legislation takes several steps toward creating better federal accountability over Indian Country crime,” Stacy Leeds, professor and Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and director of the Tribal Law and Government Center at the University of Kansas School of Law, told AIR.

For example, federal officials have declined to prosecute more than 50 percent of violent crimes in Indian Country. The bill requires the DOJ to maintain data on criminal declinations and share evidence with tribal justice officials when a case is declined.

It also requires Indian Health Service facilities to implement consistent sexual assault protocols and requires federal officials to provide documents and testimony gained in the course of their federal duties to aid in prosecutions before tribal courts.

“The portion of the new legislation which will be most newsworthy to tribal communities is that the legislation amended the Indian Civil Rights Act's previous sentencing limitations on tribal court,” Leeds said.

Under the Civil Rights Act, tribal courts have the authority to sentence an offender to no more than one year in prison. The new legislation increases the maximum to three years.

The legislation includes other provisions. Click here to view the entire bill.

National Museum of the American Indian to Host “Living Earth Festival”

2010-07-21T12:04:00.001-04:00

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., will host a three-day Living Earth Festival to acknowledge Native contributions to managing the environment and sustaining lifeways and foodways.

The festival, running Aug. 6-8, will include a symposium, with discussions focusing on water, wind and salmon; hands-on activities for kids and families; an outdoor fresh-produce market; a fine art market; a cooking competition; and a concert.

“The museum is uniquely positioned to be a point of convergence on this important global issue,” Kevin Gover, director of the museum, said in a press release. “Building on the success of past Mother Earth events, which since 2007 have brought together scientists, Native elders and musicians, the museum will combine the festival celebration with a ‘call to consciousness’ of contemporary environmental issues that affect all peoples as well as showcase contemporary Native environmental efforts.”

Native American Youth Gather in Santa Fe for DOJ Summit

2010-07-20T09:56:00.001-04:00

More than 110 American Indian and Alaska Native youth representing 21 tribal communities from across the nation have gathered in Santa Fe, N.M., for the Department of Justice-hosted Tribal Youth Summit. The event, beginning yesterday and ending on Friday, is being held at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

The youth attending the summit were nominated by their tribal community and selected by representatives of the department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Office on Violence Against Women.

On opening night, attendees heard from speakers such as Larry Echo Hawk, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, and Native American actor Wes Studi.

The summit also features sessions on the prevention of substance abuse, teen dating violence and gang involvement as well as strategies for promoting academic success during the middle- and high-school years and career opportunities for youth. Presenters include representatives from OVW, the Office for Victims of Crime, the Bureau of Indian Education, the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Criminal Justice Division and youth advocate George Galvis.

On July 21, DOJ will convene its first Listening to the Voices of Tribal Youth Circle, in which a youth representative from each tribal community will share a high-priority youth issue with top-ranking officials from the department and BIA. The goal is to create a venue for communication between tribal youth and federal government staff as a tool in shaping policy and programs that will affect tribal youth.

Cherokee Tribal Council Approves Redistricting Plan

2010-07-16T09:48:00.000-04:00

The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council voted to pass a plan that will establish five voting districts within its jurisdictional boundary beginning with the 2011 tribal elections, according to a press release issued by the tribe on July 14.

The plan would establish three council seats for each of the five districts, and candidates would file for one of the three seats in that district.

“The five districts are similar to U.S. Senators, where there is more than one representative in an area. The value of the five districts is that by default it promotes greater cooperation among community members living in that district,” said Chad Smith, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, located in Oklahoma.

The tribe is currently working under a nine-district model.

The plan also calls for the tribe to prepare a plan and budget for 2010/2011 to assist counties within its boundaries to complete the 911 enhanced address location and to determine the last known address for every tribal citizen registered with the Nation. The tribal council would then determine districting for the 2013 tribal elections based on that data.

Click here to view a map of the new districts.

Number of Minority-Owned Businesses Soars

2010-07-15T12:24:00.001-04:00

The number of minority-owned businesses increased by 45.6 percent to 5.8 million between 2002 and 2007, more than twice the national rate of all U.S. businesses, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The number of American Indian/Alaska Native-owned businesses increased by 17.9 percent, totaling 237,386, while the number jumped by 60.5 percent for black-owned businesses and by 43.6 percent for Hispanic-owned businesses. The total number of U.S. businesses increased by 18.0 percent to 27.1 million.

In 2007, 30.5 percent of AI/AN-owned businesses were in construction, repair and maintenance and personal and laundry services.

AI/AN-owned businesses accounted for 10.0 percent of businesses in Alaska, 6.3 percent in Oklahoma and 5.3 percent in New Mexico.

Receipts of minority-owned businesses rose 55.6 percent to $1.0 trillion between 2002 and 2007, ranging from a high of 62.9 percent for Native Hawaiian- and Other Pacific Islander-owned businesses to 28.3 percent for AI/AN-owned businesses, which totaled $34.5 billion.

The data comes from the Preliminary Estimates of Business Ownership by Gender, Ethnicity, Race and Veteran Status: 2007, from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 Survey of Business Owners. The report is the first of 10 on the characteristics of minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses and their owners to be released over the next year.

Mashantucket Pequot Eliminates Per Cap Payments to Members

2010-07-14T11:21:00.001-04:00

Burdened with more than $2 billion in debt, the Mashantucket Pequot tribe in Connecticut, owner/operator of Foxwoods Resort Casino, has decided to eliminate per cap payments to its members, according to a piece published on July 13 by The Day of New London, Conn. Payments are scheduled to stop at the end of 2010.

The article said it was not clear if it was a totally voluntary move by the tribe as it strives to restructure its debt or if it was pressured to do so by its senior lenders: Kien Huat, a Malaysian group that financed construction of Foxwoods, and a syndicate that provided a $700 million credit line, which matured on July 13.

A year ago, the monthly per cap payments, received by about 450 adult members, ranged from $7,500 and $10,000.

Native American Domestic Violence Program Showed Dramatic Success

2010-07-13T12:33:00.000-04:00

A domestic violence program funded by the Administration for Children and Families and the Indian Health Service has showed dramatic success at improving the health system’s response at IHS facilities across the United States, according to Building Domestic Violence Health Care Responses: A Promising Practices Report, published this week by the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

The program, called the IHS/ACF Domestic Violence Project, began in 2002. It included routinely screening women for domestic violence when they sought services at more than 100 participating IHS facilities in 18 states as well as training staff members at these facilities and domestic violence advocacy programs across the country on domestic violence health system change, the development of community-wide domestic violence response teams, creating patient education materials and other components.

When the program began, only 4 percent of women at IHS facilities were screened by doctors and nurses for domestic violence. By 2009, when the program ended, 48 percent were being screened.

“In Indian country, health care providers are often the first responders to domestic violence, and the health care setting offers a critical opportunity for early identification and primary prevention of abuse,” said Anna Marjavi, FVPF program manager and co-author of the Promising Practices report, said in a press release.

Federal Disaster Funds Now Available to Rocky Boy’s Reservation

2010-07-12T12:02:00.000-04:00

On July 10, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that federal disaster aid has been made available to the state of Montana to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in the areas struck by severe storms and flooding last month.

Federal funds are available to state, tribal and eligible local governments and some private non-profit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the storms and flooding in Hill County and the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, a press release issued by FEMA said.

Flooding damaged hundreds of homes on Rocky Boy’s reservation, home to the Chippewa Cree Tribe; the tribe’s water distribution infrastructure, leaving thousands without water temporarily; and the clinic.

NLRB Orders Union Election to Be Held at Foxwoods

2010-07-09T11:40:00.001-04:00

The National Labor Relations Board’s Regional Office in Connecticut has ordered that a union election be held at Foxwoods Resort and Casino, operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, according to a press release issued by the NLRB on July 8.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 371, had filed a petition for the election that covers about 375 bartenders, beverage servers, lounge hosts and bar porters; however, the tribe argued that the NLRB did not have jurisdiction on tribal land and it wanted the election conducted through its own labor relations agency, created three years ago in response to an earlier union petition.

In issuing his decision, Regional Director Jonathan B. Kreisberg relied on previous decisions by the NLRB: The Board would take jurisdiction on tribal lands except in matters of “self-government in purely intramural matters,” in cases where it would abrogate treaty rights or where there is “proof” in statutory language that Congress did not intend for the law to apply to tribes. He found that none of those conditions applied.

He also found that the tribe’s labor relations law is not comparable to the National Labor Relations Act in that it bans strikes, exempts employee safety and other subjects from collective bargaining and requires tribal licensing of any union business agent.

The NLRB has ordered two previous elections at Foxwoods, one involving the United Auto Workers.

Three union elections have been held at Foxwoods, all for different unions and sets of employees and all under the tribe’s labor relations law.

Navajo Scholar Makes Effects of Uranium Mining Life’s Work

2010-07-08T11:45:00.003-04:00

There are many reasons to choose a career, but for Navajo Monica Yellowhair it’s all about doing something positive for her tribe.

Yellowhair, 29 and a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Arizona, has pledged to make researching the causes and prevention of cancer among the Navajo people that were allegedly caused by depleted uranium her life’s work.

Beginning in the mid-20th century, uranium was mined for decades on the Navajo Reservation; it was mainly used by the federal government to make weapons.

“Many of the Navajo men had been willing to work in the mines, but people were exposed to radiation and not told about the hazards. As a result, many miners got sick, and several have died of lung cancer,” Yellowhair said.

While the mines have been abandoned, hundreds of them were not cleaned and sealed. Thus environmental and health risks remain.

Growing up on the Navajo Reservation, which spans four states (Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico), Yellowhair has always been interested in science. Yet her motivation for pursuing a career in pharmacology and toxicology is very personal.

“In the past, I had heard stories from some of the older people in our community about the uranium mining and about a lot of the hardships that their families had to deal with because of the mining,” she said.

Yellowhair completed her undergraduate work at Northern Arizona University, earning a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and a master’s degree in chemistry. While her Ph.D. major is in pharmacology and toxicology, she is working toward a minor in cancer biology. For her research, she is studying depleted uranium to determine how exposure to it might cause the DNA damage that can increase vulnerability to cancer. Now in her last year of her Ph.D. program, she plans to become a professor at a university that is close to the reservation so that she can continue her research.

Although the S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields are challenging, Yellowhair said she would love to see more Native Americans pursuing these kinds of careers.

“There is funding available, no matter where you go,” she said.

Her undergraduate studies were paid for through tribal and private scholarships. As a Scholar of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Indigenous Graduate Partnership Program, which is administered and supported by the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (NACME), she has the support needed to complete her Ph.D. program.

NACME, in fact, has played a role in getting more Native Americans into S.T.E.M. fields. Since 1974, it has supported more than 22,000 underrepresented minority students, American Indians/Alaska Natives among them, and has awarded more than $114 million in scholarships through a national network of leading corporate and university partners. It also offers several middle school and high school programs, including innovation grants for teachers and mentorship programs.

National Indian Education Association Selects New Executive Director

2010-07-07T12:18:00.001-04:00

On July 6, the National Indian Education Association, the nation's largest Indian education organization, announced that its board of directors has selected Colin Kippen to serve as its new executive director.

Kippen currently serves as executive director of the Native Hawaiian Education Council, which assesses and coordinates innovative education programs for Native Hawaiians and makes policy recommendations to governmental entities to improve the education and well being of Native Hawaiians.

Kippen has also served as senior counsel to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; deputy administrator for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in charge of protecting and expanding Native Rights; chief judge of the Suquamish Indian Tribe in Washington and appellate judge for several other tribes in Washington and Oregon; and trial attorney and prosecutor in King County, Wash. He is also a former member of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation and Act (NAGPRA) Review Committee, including serving as its chairman.

“Colin Kippen has been a long time friend of the Association, and we welcome his passion and enthusiasm for providing a long time voice for Native education,” NIEA President Patricia L. Whitefoot said in a press release.

Turning 10, National Conservation Lands Threatened

2010-07-06T11:30:00.000-04:00

The National Conservation Lands turn 10 years old this month, and the anniversary is being used to raise awareness of the issues that threaten them, including vandalism, looting and irresponsible recreation.

The 28 million acres of nationally significant landscapes were set aside by Congress in 2000 for current and future generations because of their outstanding cultural, ecological and scientific importance. The 800 units within the National Conservation Lands system are home to Native American sites, rare plants and animals, dinosaur fossils and prehistoric track ways.

In a press release issued on July 1 announcing the anniversary, the Conservation Lands Foundation told of Native American rock art being used for target practice or scratched out; boulders containing petroglyphs vanishing; signs warning of the presence of endangered plants and wildlife being repainted or removed; rock shelters and habitation sites having been burrowed into, sifted through and dug out by people looking for artifacts; and looters disturbing human remains.

Your input is needed!

2010-07-02T14:00:00.004-04:00

Cherokee Nation Files Suit against Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs

2010-07-02T12:29:00.001-04:00

The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has filed a lawsuit in the Davidson County Chancery Court against the Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs, arguing that it violated the state's Open Meetings Act when its members voted to grant trial recognition to six Native American groups on June 19, according to an article published by the Chattanooga Times Free Press on July 1. The lawsuit asks the court to declare the commission's action "void and without effect."

The groups recognized include: Chikamaka Band, Cherokee Wolf Clan, United Eastern Lenape Nation, Tanasi Council, Central Band of Cherokee and Remnant Yuchi Nation.

The groups contend that they are “remnant" tribes of Indians who successfully eluded the removal of Cherokees and others from the southeastern United States in the 19th century.

The suit argues that the groups are bogus, that they base their claims on "unreliable information." It also alleges that commissioners secretly discussed and deliberated on the action before their June 19 meeting, which, the article says, constitutes legal grounds to void the formal grants of recognition under the state's "Sunshine Law."

The complaint was filed on June 30, the commission's last day of existence.

More Broadband on the Horizon for Indian Country

2010-06-30T13:24:00.000-04:00

Tribal communities have some of the lowest broadband penetration rates in the country — some, in fact, don’t have it at all. But that will likely change as the federal government executes its plan to double the amount of commercial wireless spectrum that is currently available.

In a Presidential Memorandum issued on June 28, President Obama outlined how federal agencies will work together to free up 500 MHz of federal and non-federal spectrum over the next 10 years.

The memorandum directs the FCC, in collaboration with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, to develop a specific plan and timetable for identifying and making the spectrum available by Oct. 1, 2010.

The memorandum is one part of a four-point plan developed by the Obama Administration to increase spectrum, which is part of the broader National Broadband Plan. Other steps include enacting legislation to facilitate the transition; taking inventory of the spectrum now in use; and developing tools that allow spectrum to be used more efficiently (tapping into underutilized spectrum and spectrum-sharing technologies).

Once the spectrum is freed up — and some may be available within the next five years — most will be auctioned off for licensed mobile broadband. Some, though, will be available for free for unlicensed use.

The need for additional spectrum is undeniable. In recent years, according to the White House, the amount of information flowing over some wireless networks has grown at more than 250 percent per year. Over the next five years, the amount could be 20 to 45 times what it was in 2009.

The need for broadband in tribal communities is undeniable too. Here the penetration rate is estimated at less than 10 percent.

Loris Ann Taylor, executive director of Native Public Media, said, “Freeing up spectrum for tribal-centric deployment in Indian Country can provide great opportunities for information systems, technology start ups, mobile use and connectivity for residential and anchor institutions. This, in turn, could spur critically needed jobs and other economic and social benefits for Native Americans.”

As tribes are included in the National Broadband Plan, it’s important that they are part of its implementation. In early June, the FCC established a Native Nations Broadband Task Force to assist the agency in increasing broadband deployment and adoption in Indian Country. Then on June 22, the FCC appointed Geoffrey Blackwell, a tribal economic infrastructure expert, to work with tribes in carrying out the plan’s recommendations for bringing broadband to all tribal communities. He will also oversee the new task force and establish an Office of Tribal Affairs.

On the spectrum-freeing initiative, Taylor said, “Tribal consultation will be critical to the White House effort; and, as a result, it is critically important that the new Office of Tribal Affairs at the FCC is fully staffed and budgeted to help guide tribes’ inter-governmental involvement as wireless spectrum is freed up.”

IRS Investigates Miccosukee and Tribe’s Former Chairman

2010-06-29T11:01:00.000-04:00

The IRS is investigating allegations that the Miccosukee Tribe in Florida distributed millions of dollars in cash from its gaming operation to its tribal members, who never reported it as taxable income, according to a Miami Herald story published yesterday.

The Miami Herald reported that every quarter the tribe used armored vehicles to deliver the cash, totaling up to $10 million, to around 650 members, each receiving approximately $61,000 per delivery. The paper did not say how long the tribe had been doing this.

The tribe has never submitted a plan for distributing casino profits to members to the federal government, which is required under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the paper said.

In a related probe, the IRS is investigating the Miccosukee’s former chairman, Billy Cypress, who allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars from tribal coffers for personal use and never reported it as income.

Senate Confirms Tracie Stevens as NIGC Chair

2010-06-28T12:45:00.000-04:00

On June 23, the Senate confirmed Tracie Stevens as chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

In a press statement issued upon Stevens’ confirmation, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said that she “brings to the commission a wealth of expertise and experience from a distinguished career working on both tribal government and gaming issues.”

Stevens, nominated by President Obama on April 28, 2010, is an enrolled member of the Tulalip Tribes in Washington. She most recently served as senior advisor to Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk, but she also served as senior policy analyst with the Tulalip Tribes’ government affairs office and on various state, regional and national Indian gaming-related boards and committees.

Participants Needed for Online Indian Country Child Abuse Survey

2010-06-25T11:27:00.000-04:00

A survey was launched earlier this week by the National Indian Child Welfare Association, the Calumet campus of Purdue University and Prevent Child Abuse America to examine the nature of child abuse and other types of victimization in Indian Country.

The confidential, online survey, called “A Hand to Hold Onto,” is open to American Indian/Alaska Native young adults (18 to 25 years-old) and takes about 30 minutes to complete. Researchers want to survey a total of 1,000 youths before Aug. 1, 2010. All participants will receive a $10 online gift certificate for Amazon.com.

To participate in the survey, go to: http://www.ahandtoholdonto.org/.

NY Cigarette Tax Legislation Approved — Will Tribes Negotiate, Sue or Protest?

2010-06-24T11:45:00.002-04:00

If the state of New York thinks collecting $150 million in revenue from the new tax imposed on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations is a sure thing, it could be in for a surprise.

The new law, approved on Monday, makes cigarettes sold on reservations to non-Indians taxable. It also increased the per/pack tax by $1.60, bringing the total per/pack tax statewide to over $5.00, and upped the tax on all other tobacco products to 75 percent of the retail price. The law goes into effect on Sept. 1.

The governor's office has the power to negotiate tax-collection plans directly with the tribal leaders, according to a story published by WGRZ-TV in Buffalo on June 23, and at least one tribe, the Oneida, appears willing to negotiate.

Although tribal leaders don’t want to take the state to court, failure to negotiate an agreement that works for both sides may leave them no choice.

There is always the chance too that tribal people could react as they did when the state tried to enforce such a tax in 1997: with protests.

"The big unknown is how the people on the reservations will react," Robert Batson, a lawyer-in-residence at Albany Law School's Government Law Center, told WGRZ. "It's a matter of whether they'll react like they did 13 years ago or if they'll accept it or if they make another legal challenge."

Prairie Band Potawatomi Brings Higher Ed to Its Reservation

2010-06-22T11:24:00.001-04:00

Through an agreement with Friends University, members and employees of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation can now obtain a college degree without leaving the reservation.

Beginning this fall, tribal members can enroll in a Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Management degree completion program; and in spring 2011, they will be able to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management and Leadership (OML) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA).

Classes for these on-site programs will be taught at the PBPN’s Government Center in Mayetta, Kan., meeting once per week. Depending on the program, degree-completion and graduate coursework can be completed within 13 months to 24 months.

Other degree programs are offered online and at the university’s Topeka Education Center.

Founded in 1898, Friends University is an independent, Christian-based liberal arts institution with an enrollment of about 3,000. Its main campus is in Wichita but it has offered programs for adult students in Topeka since 1993.

The tribe has around 5,000 members, though not all live on the reservation. Over the last three years, it has funded the college education of, on average, 120 members per semester.

Kristen Aitkens, the tribe’s director of education, believes the partnership with Friends will mean more members who live on the reservation will pursue a higher education.

“We are trying to provide another outlet for those students who choose to live and work on the reservation,” she said.

The tribe is the first in Kansas to partner with a university to provide an on-reservation classroom.

Tribes interested in a similar arrangement with one of their local colleges, be prepared to invest resources in selecting the right school. Aitkens said her department considered proposals from more than one university. She also underscored the importance of communications and looking at things that can’t be seen on paper, like how a university representative treats tribal members.

“We were fortunate that Friends University took a great interest in our community and are very open with the education department and utilize our input to best meet the needs of the people. Friends University is truly invested in this partnership and is taking their part very seriously,” Aitkens said.

Tax on Cigarettes Sold on New York Reservations to be Voted on Today

2010-06-21T12:22:00.001-04:00

Today, state lawmakers in New York will be voting on legislation that would make cigarettes sold on Indian reservations to non-Indians taxable.

The proposed law, which is expected to pass, is included in New York Gov. David Paterson's latest in a series of emergency spending bills aimed at decreasing the state’s $9.2 billion deficit.

The bill also would increase the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1.60, making the total per/pack tax $4.35 (the highest in the nation), and would raise taxes on other tobacco products.

Tobacco sales is major source of income for tribes and tribal members in the state. To say the least, they are outraged by this proposed law.

J.C. Seneca, owner of Native Pride, which sells cigarettes and other tobacco products on the Seneca reservation, was quoted as saying in an article published by YNN Rochester on June 19, “We have treaties that have guaranteed us tax immunity, and, certainly, they need to uphold those treaties; they need to recognize and honor our sovereignty and leave us alone.”

Seneca also told YNN that the actions of the governor in the last week alone have set tribal relations with the state back two decades.

San Manuel and PBS Station Partner to Roll Out Native American TV Channel

2010-06-18T11:00:00.001-04:00

San Bernardino, Calif.-based KVCR TV, a PBS affiliate, in partnership with the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, will roll out a television channel that broadcasts Native American programs 24 hours a day.

This first-of-its-kind channel, scheduled to launch next spring, will focus on Native American and Alaska Native history, culture and current events.

While programming still needs to be developed by the channel’s operations board, which has not been put together yet, Kenneth Shoji, a spokesperson for the tribe, told AIR, “It is envisioned that shows will run the gamut, from documentaries, films, news programs, entertainment, sports and special programs in multiple genres.”

The channel will not be commercial-free. Shoji said it will be consistent with FCC rules and PBS underwriting guidelines, which allow sponsor statements to precede or follow programs.

The channel is being funded by a $6 million donation from the San Manuel. It will be paid to the station in annual installments during the first three years of operation.

KVCR, which serves the Los Angeles market, is owned by the San Bernardino Community College District. The San Manuel’s 800-acre reservation is located just north of Highland. The owner/operator of San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino, the tribe is one of the largest employers in the Inland Empire.

This is not the first time the tribe and station have worked together. The tribe recently contributed $1.5 million to KVCR so that it could purchase new digital master control equipment and convert from analogue to digital broadcast and expand from one to six channels. They have also partnered in the development of radio and television programs, including a three-part, 12-episode documentary called People of the Pines.

James Ramos, the tribe’s chairman, said in a press release announcing the channel that partnering with KVCR supports the tribe’s mission of eradicating stereotypes that often stem from inaccurate depictions of American Indians in commercial television.

“Supporting this endeavor will help achieve that objective by allowing us to tell the story of Native Americans through themes and images that speak the truth and educate our audiences,” he said.

The channel will also establish another outlet for Native American-produced films and television programs.

“We fully anticipate this unique channel to become a model for public-television programming across the country,” said Larry R. Ciecalone, president of KVCR.

Falmouth Institute at NCAI, June 20-23, 2010

2010-06-17T14:36:00.001-04:00

Visit Falmouth Institute at NCAI's Mid-Year Conference, June 20-23 at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, SD. Visit us at Booth #103 to learn more about our Tribal Certificate Programs and exciting new training sessions we've created for Indian Country.

For details on NCAI's Mid-Year Conference, please click here. For information on Falmouth, please click here.

Menominee Delegation Goes to Kurdistan

2010-06-17T11:32:00.000-04:00

A delegation of three Menominee leaders and three tribal members have embarked on a cultural exchange trip to Kurdistan, located in war-torn northern Iraq, according to an article published by the Shawano Leader on June 16.

This is the Menominee’s first foray into international relations, the Leader reported, and it was prompted by an invitation from a Kurd representative who traveled to the tribe’s Wisconsin reservation last fall.

As a cultural exchange visit, delegation members will meet with regional governmental leaders, tour archeological sites, visit Kurdish colleges, where they will perform traditional Menominee songs and dances. They will also discuss potential joint business ventures.

The delegation left on Wednesday and will return on June 23.

Shinnecock Finally Receive Federal Recognition

2010-06-16T11:57:00.000-04:00

It took more than 30 years, but the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Long Island, N.Y., has finally received its federal recognition, according to a piece published by the New York Times on June 15.

The 1,292-member Shinnecock, which has an 800-acre reservation in posh Southampton, plans to build a casino. With the federal recognition, it can build a Class II (video slot machines) facility.

However, the tribe and state and local officials would rather have the casino located off-reservation, maybe in the Big Apple or its suburbs, and the tribe also wants a Class III facility (Vegas-style), which requires a deal with the state. According to the Times story, negotiations between the state and Shinnecock have already begun.

Gulf Oil Spill a “Slow Death” for Houma Tribe

2010-06-15T10:23:00.000-04:00

Spread out across several parishes in coastal southeastern Louisiana, the 17,000-member United Houma Nation, a state-recognized tribe, has prepared for and survived some of the most devastating hurricanes. But the oil leak that has pumped millions of gallons of toxic crude into the Gulf of Mexico is nothing like a hurricane. It’s far worse.

Houma citizens have been living, hunting, fishing, shrimping, crabbing, trapping and harvesting oysters in the Louisiana’s coastal marshes and wetlands for hundreds of years. Yet as Principal Chief Brenda Dardar Robichaux last week said in her testimony before members of the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs Wildlife and Oceans, which is investigating the impacts of the BP spill, “This lifestyle is now in jeopardy.”

AIR talked to Dardar Robichaux about the spill — its impact on the tribe’s communities, the tribe's fears and what its citizens need to survive. Here is what she had to say:

AIR: Has the tribe ever contemplated a disaster like this?

Dardar Robichaux: No, we have not. We have learned to handle hurricanes over the years. We were actually impacted by four major storms over the last five years — Katrina, Rita and, three years later, Gustav and Ike. We know how to prepare, how to evacuate. We come home, we gut out our homes, we repair our fishing vessels and we move on. This is totally different than any hurricane. It’s very new to us and quite frightening.

AIR: How do you even prepare for something like this?

Dardar Robichaux: I don’t know that you can. The unknown is agonizing. It’s almost like a slow death because we know just with our history we have had with the four hurricanes in the last five years that another one is going to hit our area. We are just praying that the oil spill will be cleaned up before that happens. … If we are impacted by a hurricane prior to this oil spill being cleaned up, you know, that’s more or less the death of our communities.

Sometimes it is hard to come up with the words. I’m usually not at a loss for words, but when you think of the impacts, short- and long-term, that this can have on our communities, you almost can’t go there because it’s too painful.

We are a strong, resilient people. You know, we have survived a lot of challenges throughout our history. To think that this is our greatest challenge and we have no control over it. …

AIR: It might mean relocating for many?

Dardar Robichaux: It might mean relocating for many. With our communities along the coastline of southeastern Louisiana, we are the first to feel the effects of coastal land loss. We are often left out of any type of levee protection system. There are no water control structures to speak of that protect us. There is no barrier island. So, we have learned to adapt.

AIR: Has the oil, in any shape or form, hit your homeland yet?

Dardar Robichaux: Oh, definitely. It’s right up against a lot of our marshes and right up in our communities.

AIR: Does the tribe have an emergency response team that is responding to it?

Dardar Robichaux: We have done the best that we can through other organizations and try to provide services. I made two trips to Washington trying to find a contact person to work with BP, to see what we can do to protect our own land because we know the marshes; we know what needs to be protected better than anyone else. …

AIR: What are your priority needs?

Dardar Robichaux: Making sure we have enough resources to be able to provide for our families — just basic needs of food and clothing and whatever that looks like — just basic needs of a family. …

We need manpower. We need some type of vehicle that we can provide services, such as mental health services because we have great concern for everyone, from the children to our elders, and the impact it’s having that way.

A lot of our tribal citizens who are fishermen did not have opportunities for education. That did not come until the Civil Rights Act in the mid 60s. We have great concerns of them navigating their way through the [BP] claims process, great concern that they will be taken advantage of. So, we need case management to help them through that process as well as outreach. There is a lot of accurate, current information being disseminated. Because we are spread out through such a large area, we have concerns that information is not reaching our tribal citizens in an accurate and credible manner. …

AIR: In your testimony [Subcommittee on Insular Affairs Wildlife and Oceans], you said you need monitoring equipment for air, water and land.

Dardar Robichaux: Because people who are actually doing some of the cleanup work we feel are not really being educated on the long-term impacts of what this is going to do to their health. Normally, the training that is done lasts 40 hours … if you are going to work with this hazardous material. The training that they are being given is actually a four-hour training. …

To listen to Dardar Robichaux’s testimony, which was delivered on June 10, click here.

Obama Proclaims Today King Kamehameha Day

2010-06-11T12:46:00.000-04:00

President Obama has proclaimed today, June 11, 2010, King Kamehameha Day.

The proclamation comes about two centuries after the Native Hawaiian king brought the Hawaiian Islands together under a unified government. In the proclamation, Obama said King Kamehameha’s courage and leadership earned him the legacy as the “Napoleon of the Pacific.”

Obama also paid tribute to the history and heritage of the Aloha State. He said: “The Hawaiian narrative is one of both profound triumph and, sadly, deep injustice. It is the story of Native Hawaiians oppressed by crippling disease, aborted treaties, and the eventual conquest of their sovereign kingdom. These grim milestones remind us of an unjust time in our history, as well as the many pitfalls in our Nation's long and difficult journey to perfect itself. Yet, through the peaks and valleys of our American story, Hawaii's steadfast sense of community and mutual support shows the progress that results when we are united in a spirit of limitless possibility. In the decades since their persecution, Native Hawaiians have remained resilient.”

Click here to read the full proclamation.

Cherokee Student Wins Top Award at Intel Science Fair

2010-06-10T12:12:00.001-04:00

While most high school students (and adults) have no idea how algae can be turned into bio-fuel, Charlotte Kirk, an 18-year-old member of the Cherokee Nation, does. She apparently knows quite a bit about it as it was the subject of her project that placed third in the category of engineering at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2010, held last month in San Jose, Calif.

For her project, more specifically, she designed a method to differentiate among the various algae species using genetic sequencing. The method expedites the process of converting algae into bio-fuel by allowing scientists to predict fuel yield and detect those algae that are toxic to microorganisms used in the fermentation process.

Winning an award at Intel ISEF is a huge deal. It is the largest science, engineering and technology competition in the world, with 1,300 to 1,500 contestants from around 50 countries. Several million others strive to be finalists every year but never make it that far. The top awards not only come with exposure and prestige, but there is college money as well. Kirk’s award came with a $1,000 scholarship.

The award at Intel ISEF was not Kirk’s first for this project. It won her first-place at the 2010 Cherokee Nation Science and Engineering Fair and a Grand Award at the 2010 National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque. She also won the Muskogee Regional Science Fair and placed second in the Regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.

Kirk, who graduated from Westville High School this spring, could not be reached for an interview, but Sammye Rusco, a spokesperson for the Cherokee Nation, told AIR that the young scientist will be going to college at MIT. In addition to her Intel ISEF scholarship, she has received a $38,000 scholarship from MIT and $1,500 from the Regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. Kirk plans to pursue an education in biochemical engineering with an emphasis on alternative energy.

CEO of Ute Tribal Enterprises Suspended

2010-06-09T12:31:00.000-04:00

Roderick "Rod" K. Ariwite Sr., CEO of Ute Tribal Enterprises, has been suspended from his post, as reported in an article published by Deseret News today.

The Ute Tribe Business Committee, which issued the suspension, did not provide Deseret News with details on what prompted its actions, but the tribe’s attorney said there is an ongoing investigation. Anonymous sources, however, said that the allegations are related to the misuse of tribal funds.

An FBI spokesperson confirmed to Deseret News that the agency was contacted by the tribe to investigate the allegations.

Ute Tribal Enterprises oversees the tribe’s businesses, which include two convenience stores and a grocery store. Ariwite was hired as CEO in 2009.

Southern Calif. Tribes Join Forces to Fight Proposed Landfill

2010-06-08T11:40:00.000-04:00

Southern California tribes are banding together to fight a proposed 308-acre landfill that would be located near the Pala Indian Reservation, according to an article published by KPBS on June 4.

The tribes contend the landfill, to be called the Gregory Canyon Landfill and Recycling Center, will destroy the land and contaminate groundwater and the San Luis Rey River. The Pala Band says the land is also a sacred pilgrimage site.

Gregory Canyon Ltd. says the tribe’s “sacred land” claim is false, that tribal members have never had access to the site or used it for tribal gatherings.

San Diego County voters approved the landfill in 1994 and again in 2004.

Simple Interventions Slow Trends in Native American Childhood Obesity

2010-06-07T10:29:00.002-04:00

Childhood obesity is an epidemic in Indian Country, with almost 50 percent of its kids overweight, but tribal communities are not powerless in the fight against it. In fact, as a recent feasibility study concludes, there are simple ways that they can intervene and help stop the trend.

The study, conducted by Kaiser Permanente and the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) from 2001 to 2006, is the first to target obesity prevention among Native American children starting at birth. It included 205 families from three tribes in Oregon and Washington.

The research focused on interventions, community-wide and in-home, all designed by tribal community health workers. The goals were to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration, limit the introduction of sugar-sweetened beverages to infants and toddlers and promote the consumption of water for thirst among toddlers.

The community-wide interventions, designed in six-month cycles, had five strategies: raising awareness, providing health education, facilitating individual behavior change, augmenting public health practices and modifying environments and/or policies related to breastfeeding, sugar-sweetened beverages and water consumption.

Most community-wide interventions were media-based, like brochures, videos, newspaper articles and flyers. Yet the tribes also made environmental, public health practice and policy changes. One created a breast-feeding room at its clinic; another passed a resolution to stop buying sugar-sweetened beverages for tribally sponsored events; and one negotiated with the hospital to which it contracted out pregnancy care to not give out formula packs to new mothers.

The in-home interventions were customized to the needs of the family, such as a new mother having difficulty breastfeeding, and were tested with just two of the three tribes.

The results were positive. Although Body Mass Index (BMI), a measure of weight in relation to height, increased for all of the children in the study, the rise was far less in the tribes that received the community intervention and in-home visits. BMI scores increased by 30 percent in the tribe that received community intervention alone, but they rose by only 8 percent in the tribes that received both interventions.

Just as positive were the signs that Native American people are ready to make behavior changes. In a survey given at the end of the intervention, the families were asked about their confidence level in drinking more water and fewer sugar-sweetened beverages: 90 percent said they were confident they could help their family drink more water and 82 percent said they would limit sugar-sweetened beverages.

Njeri Karanja, lead author and investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, also sees the participant retention numbers as indication that they are ready. “Eighty-percent of the parents came back and brought their children to be measured,” she said.

While the three tribes that participated seemed ready to take the leap, what about the nation’s other 561 tribes? Are they ready to create and commit to similar intervention plans, ones that may include changes in practices and policies?

“I think a lot of tribes, given the recent increase in diabetes and seeing it occurring at younger and younger ages, are ready for that. They want to see their children have a good quality of life. They know their health system, [which is] critically under-funded, is going to be affected by increasing numbers of people with diabetes,” said Tam Lutz, study co-author and junior investigator with the NPAIHB.

The study, funded by the Indian Health Service and National Institutes of Health through the Native American Research Center for Health, has been published online in the Journal of Community Health.

Construction of Okla. City Indian Cultural Center Could Be Delayed

2010-06-04T10:46:00.000-04:00

Construction of the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum in downtown Oklahoma City could be delayed because lawmakers failed to approve a key funding measure — a $43 million bond package — before the legislative session ended, according to a piece published on NewsOn6.com on June 2.

State Sen. Harry Coates said that there is enough funding to continue construction for a few months, but, after that, work could come to a halt.

The $170 million center, which will occupy more than 250 acres near the Oklahoma River and Interstate 35, was scheduled to be finished in 2014.

Tonto Apache Reservation Quadruples in Size

2010-06-03T14:06:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week, the Tonto Apache Tribe in Arizona signed a deal that added 293 acres to its 85-acre land base, The Payson Roundup reported on June 1.

The new acreage, located at the southern edge of Payson, was obtained by purchasing about 405 acres of privately owned land, which contains one of two peat bogs in the state, and then swapping it for the 293 acres adjacent to the reservation, where the tribe’s Mazatzal Hotel and Casino and housing for many tribal members are located.

The deal was in the works for more than 15 years. “This has been a long process. This will allow for us to bring other tribal members who are living off-reservation home,” Tribal Council member Vivian Burdette told The Payson Roundup.

COPS Grant Funds Demonstration Tribal Community Policing Project

2010-06-02T14:35:00.000-04:00

The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) has awarded $500,000 to the Mendocino County (Calif.) Sheriff's Office to fund a community policing demonstration project in collaboration with the Round Valley Indian Tribes, the Round Valley Unified School District and the U.S. Forest Service, according to a press release issued by DOJ on June 1.

The award will fund the hiring of two Mendocino County deputies who will reside on the Round Valley Reservation for 18 months and work with the tribes' leadership and community members on projects that address drugs, crime and school violence.

The award will also fund a technical assistance provider who will offer on-site training, conduct evaluations of the project and document promising practices.

Tribes Must Be Consulted with in Missouri River Study

2010-06-01T11:51:00.002-04:00

Representatives from several South Dakota tribes have told the federal government that they must be consulted with during a five-year federal study of the Missouri River and its reservoirs, according to an Associated Press report published by 1011Now.com.

At a recent meeting in Fort Pierre, tribal officials told the Army Corps of Engineers about erosion, sedimentation and water supply problems along the river.

More than 40 meetings will be conducted this summer in states along the river to get feedback for conducting the study, which was authorized by Congress.

Kaibab Paiutes and Pipe Spring National Monument Jointly Open Repository

2010-05-28T11:47:00.000-04:00

The Kaibab Band of Paiutes and Pipe Spring National Monument have jointly opened a museum repository containing artifacts and archival material of early Mormon settlers and of the tribe, as reported by the Associated Press on May 25. The $2 million facility, 11 years in the planning, is located near Fredonia in northwestern Arizona.

The tribe and monument have shared museum space at the park's visitor center, but now they have a separate repository to preserve materials. Under their 25-year partnership, the monument agreed to provide the building and the tribe the land.

The project is the first time the National Park Service has joined in this kind of collaboration with a tribe.

Shoshone-Bannock Ask University to Prohibit Sunrise Ceremony

2010-05-26T12:40:00.000-04:00

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have asked Idaho State University to forbid non-tribal members from performing Native American sunrise ceremonies on campus, according to an Associated Press piece published by Idaho Statesman.com on May 23.

A sunrise ceremony, organized by students, was held there on Earth Day (April 22), and objects considered sacred by the tribes were used.

University officials told the AP that the students who organized the ceremony had trouble finding tribal members to perform it.

BIE and Nike Enter MOU to Promote Healthy Lifestyles

2010-05-24T13:44:00.000-04:00

Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced last week a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and Nike, Inc.

Under the MOU, signed on May 12, the two have agreed to collaborate on promoting healthy lifestyles and choices for all American Indians/Alaska Natives through program activities, like co-sponsored educational/information events, marathons and sports demonstrations.

They have also agreed to collaborate to improve communications with tribes and tribal organizations in the exchange of information relevant to healthy lifestyles to combat diseases such as diabetes, which affects nearly 13 percent of the AI/AN population.

Nike has been working with tribal communities for about 10 years, which includes providing grants for sports and physical fitness programs.

Arizona Immigration Law Won’t Help Tohono O'odham

2010-05-21T11:00:00.000-04:00

Even though the Tohono O'odham Nation has 75 miles of U.S.-Mexico border, which an estimated 800 illegal immigrants cross every day, the tribe says Arizona’s new immigration law (SB-1070) will do nothing to help its situation.

Because the tribe is a sovereign nation, the law does not extend into its territory. There will be an impact, however, a negative one that will be felt by its members.

As Chairman Ned Norris Jr. recently told KVOA in Tucson, "Its going to specifically put members of the O'odham Nation at risk because of their inability to document their citizenship because they were born in some remote village some 60-70 years ago, or under a tree and don't have [a] record of their birth."

Free Diabetes Screening Puts Native People at Risk

2010-05-19T11:37:00.000-04:00

Anyone who went to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque on April 24 for a free diabetes screening conducted by students from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine Physician Assistant program may have been exposed to diseases like Hepatitis B and C and/or HIV.

The exposure, according to a news report published by The New Mexico Independent on May 14, is the result of the students reusing “finger pricking” blood sugar testing devices meant for one patient, which exposed patients to another person’s blood. Making matters worse, the students had not been properly trained to use the device and did not keep records of the people it used them on.

Though the university says the risk of exposure is slight, it still wants to get in contact with the 51 to 55 people who were tested that day.

To learn more about the incident or to find out who to contact, go to: http://contact.health.unm.edu/

Human Rights Commission Holds First in Series of Indigenous Hearings

2010-05-17T13:16:00.000-04:00

Indigenous leaders from around Latin America warned of economic development practices that sabotage their communities and the environment at a hearing held in Washington, D.C., last week. The hearing was the first in a series to be held by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in Congress.

Ellen Lutz, executive director of Cultural Survival, which worked with the commission to set up the hearings, stated after the session: "The hearings provided Latin American indigenous peoples with their first opportunity to tell the U.S. Congress what happens when governments determine that the resources on indigenous lands actually belong to the state. Invariably the state claims that the lands are not indigenous or that what is underneath them belongs to the public and thus can be exploited by state or corporate interests."

Indigenous representatives from Peru, Panama and Colombia all testified to other consistent patterns of dispossession that have plagued first peoples and placed their environments at risk for decades.

Karuk Tribe Takes National Forest to Court

2010-05-14T12:50:00.000-04:00

The Karuk Tribe in California and two environmental groups have filed a lawsuit in federal court against Six Rivers National Forest for allegedly failing to protect spiritual areas as part of a wildfire fuel reduction plan around Orleans, the Times-Standard of Eureka reported today.

The plaintiffs are suing over a portion of the plan for what is known as the Orleans Community Fuels Reduction program. Launched in 2006, the goal of the 2,698-acre project is to remove fire-prone forest material, reduce the density of some forest stands to promote wildlife diversity and enhance the Panamniik World Renewal Ceremonial District.

They claim that Six Rivers has breached several guidelines related to sacred sites and wildlife, including using heavy equipment on a spiritual trail, removing fire-resistant hardwoods and placing log decks along the spiritual trail.

They plaintiffs allege violations of the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act.

Federal Voter Guide Translated in Four Native Languages

2010-05-12T13:34:00.000-04:00

The federal election voter guide is now available in the four most commonly spoken Native American/Alaska Native languages, Cherokee, Dakota, Navajo and Yup'ik, languages spoken by about 220,500 Americans.

The guide was translated by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Language Assistance Program to improve voting accessibility for people who speak these languages and have limited English proficiency.

The guide explains the basics of ballot casting as well as special voting procedures, such as early voting, absentee voting and military and overseas voting.

“Part of EAC’s mandate under the Help America Vote Act is to assist states in making voting more accessible to all citizens. These translations are important in carrying out this work,” said EAC Chair Donetta Davidson in a press release issued on May 7.

BIE Schools Unprepared for Violence, Report Says

2010-05-11T12:45:00.001-04:00

School violence is on the rise nationwide, and campuses in Indian Country are not immune to this trend. In fact, they could be more of a breeding ground for violent activity than mainstream public schools.

A new evaluation report published by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General found that the nation’s Bureau of Indian Education schools have many indicators of potential violence, deficiencies in school policies to prevent violence and substantial deficiencies in preventative and emergency safety procedures.

Indian Country in general, as the report stresses, has a violent crime rate that is two to three times higher than the national average. This statistic alone should keep the red flag raised, but there is more.

The report states that 37 percent of BIE students have reported carrying a weapon on campus, compared to 6 percent of public school students. And 75 percent of gang members in Indian Country are school age.

Making BIE schools more prone to violence is the lack of security measures. Around 80 percent lack adequate fencing, and only just about half have a security guard. While most have video surveillance systems, the report says the equipment is often flawed.

Further, the report says, many BIE school staff members have not received even basic training in violence prevention, like anger management, bullying prevention and gang awareness.

In the 2007-2008 school year, the year the report is based on, there were 184 BIE schools in 23 states, with about 48,000 students enrolled.

To read the full report, click here.

Study Shows Greater Reproductive Health Risks for Urban AI/AN Women

2010-05-10T13:24:00.002-04:00

American Indian and Alaska Native women living in urban areas are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to report non-voluntary first sexual intercourse, unintended and teen pregnancies, unprotected first sex and first sex with older partners, according to a study released last week by the Urban Indian Health Institute, a division of the Seattle Indian Health Board.

Here are some highlights from the report:

About 17 percent of urban AI/AN women have experienced non-voluntary sex their first time, compared to 8 percent of white women.
Nearly 14 percent of urban AI/AN women said their first sex partner was seven or more years older, compared to 9 percent of white women.
Urban AI/AN who had unprotected sex in the past year, had sex before age 15 and who had more than two sex partners in the past three months are 77 percent more likely to have had an unintended pregnancy than whites with the same sexual risk status.
Urban AI/AN reports of two or more abortions are twice that of NH-whites (10 percent vs. 5 percent).

To view the full report, click here.

DOJ Allocates 33 New Prosecutors to Indian Country

2010-05-07T11:08:00.000-04:00

Indian Country justice just got tougher with the allocation of 33 new Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) positions to 21 judicial districts that contain tribal lands.

The new AUSA allocation is the result of $6 million provided in the U.S. Department of Justice FY 2010 budget for hiring prosecutors in Indian Country.

In a press release issued on May 4, DOJ said that these new prosecutors will enable the agency to work with tribal and state law enforcement to improve public safety in tribal communities.

"Violent crimes, and particularly crimes against women and girls, continue to devastate tribal communities across the country, and the U.S. Attorney community is crucial to the Department of Justice's response," Attorney General Eric Holder said in the release.

DOJ has also launched three Indian Country Community Prosecution Teams. The pilot projects will be initiated with three tribes: the District of New Mexico will launch a pilot with Navajo Nation; the District of South Dakota will launch a pilot with the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation; and the District of Eastern Wisconsin will launch a pilot with the Menominee Indian Tribe.

To learn more about this initiative, go to: http://www.tribaljusticeandsafety.gov.

Alaska Native Groups Demand a Halt to Oil Exploration in the Arctic

2010-05-05T11:58:00.000-04:00

As the oil leak at the floor of the Gulf of Mexico continues to gush, at the rate of about 210,000 gallons a day, Alaska Native groups are demanding the halt of oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea and Camden Bay in the Beaufort Sea, which is supposed to begin this summer, until the federal government knows what caused the spill in the Gulf and can guarantee that kind of accident does not occur in the waters off Alaska.

In a call to action sent out this week, the Native Village of Point Hope, located on the coast of the Chukchi Sea, has created a sample letter asking Ken Salazar, Secretary of Interior, to stop Shell Oil’s exploratory drilling in the Arctic.

The letter states: “The impacts of a major spill in the Arctic would be widespread, long-lasting and disastrous. At risk are endangered whales, polar bears, seals, walruses, birds, fish and the Inupiat people’s subsistence culture.”

To view the letter, go to www.aitc.org/node/355.