News Archive: January 23, 2007 Archives

January 23, 2007
Editorial: Tribal colleges deserve state funds
"North Dakota’s tribal colleges and universities are the stepchildren of education. Often ignored, they have been left to fend for themselves. Through federal funding and donations they have been able to grow, filling an important role in the education of...

Editorial: Tax tobacco sales on reservations
"Gov. Eliot Spitzer should waste no more time and begin collecting the tax on the sale of tobacco to non-Indians by Native American enterprises. Enforcement of the law is long overdue. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1994 that New...

Ethnic Fraud: Box-checkers in higher education
"For American Indian scholars, securing a job in higher education can sometimes be as simple as checking a box. Most of the country's colleges and universities do not require proof of tribal enrollment from faculty or staff who identify themselves...

Muscogee Nation creates $500K diabetes care fund
The Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma has created a $500,000 fund to help tribal members pay for the costs of treating diabetes. About 2,000 tribal members have diabetes and receive treatment at Oklahoma State University-Okmulgee's orthotic and prosthetic clinic. The fund...

Blackfeet remember massacre of Heavy Runner band
The Blackfeet Community College is honoring the victims of the January 23, 1870, massacre of Chief Heavy Runner and his band. The U.S. Calvary killed Heavy Runner and more than 170 people even though he was considered peaceful. The soldiers...

Supreme Court rejects subsistence challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to the subsistence rights of Alaska Natives. Rural hunters and fishermen claimed the Interior Department's preferences for Native rights violated the U.S. Constitution. A federal judge and the 9th Circuit Court...

Bills in Congress address meth crisis in Indian Country
A yearlong effort by tribes to raise awareness of the methamphetamine crisis in Indian Country has resulted in at least four bills aimed at the growing problem. Since the start of the 110th Congress earlier this month, lawmakers have introduced...

Navajo man resigns from New Mexico Legislature
Leonard Tsosie is resigning from his seat in the New Mexico Legislature so that he can serve in the Navajo Nation Council. Tsosie was elected to the New Mexico Senate in 1993. In November, he won election to the...

Column: Smokeshop raid still burns years later
"More than three years have passed, but the 2003 state police raid of the shop the Narragansett Indians opened on their Charlestown land to sell tax-free cigarettes still stirs tough talk. Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas and six other tribal members...

Native youth arrested more often in South Dakota
Native American youth in South Dakota are more than twice as likely to be arrested than whites, according to 2004 data from the Council of Juvenile Services. Arrest rates for Native youth were 2.39 times higher than those for whites....

Navajo Nation Council opens winter session
The Navajo Nation Council opened its winter session on Monday, with delegates electing Lawrence Morgan for a third term as Speaker. Morgan beat four other delegates for the position. He has served as Speaker since 2003. On the opening day,...

Longtime Brothertown chairwoman dies at 84
June Ezold, the longtime former chairwoman of the Brothertown Indian Nation of Wisconsin, died of pneumonia on January 14. She was 84. Ezold ran the tribe for 22 years, the longest of any of its leaders. She started the...

Five-year-old Native boy killed in dog attack on reserve
Five-year-old Dawson Carriere was buried on Monday after being killed by a pack of dogs on the Cumberland House First Nation in northern Saskatchewan. Dawson was attacked last Thursday morning. His great-grandfather said he was probably on his way...

Two men on trial for murder of 13-year-old Native girl
Two men are on trial for the murder of a 13-year-old Native girl in Edmonton, Alberta. Michael Briscoe, 36, and Joseph Laboucan, 21, are accused of kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault in connection with the death of Nina Courtepatte. She...

Poarch Creek Band launches media campaign
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians has launched a public relations campaign to promote awareness of Alabama's only federally recognized tribe. The "Alabama Natives, Alabama Neighbors" campaign features television commercials. Tribal members talk about their values and way of life....

Choctaw Chief Pyle to attend State of Union in DC
Choctaw Nation Chief Greg Pyle will attend President Bush's State of the Union address tonight. Pyle was invited by Rep. Dan Boren (D-Oklahoma). "It is a huge milestone for our tribe to be included in this historic event," said Pyle,...

Shakopee Tribe donates $1M to Santee Sioux Tribe
The Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community of Minnesota is donating $1 million the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska. The grant will be used for various purposes. The Santee Sioux Tribe plans to buy land, make business improvements, upgrade its medical clinic,...

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