Latest Stories
Native woman US Attorney nears end of service (06/26)
Diane Humetewa is near the end of her service as the first Native woman to serve as U.S. Attorney in Arizona and colleagues are sad to see her go. “Diane has been an amazing representative,” former U.S. Attorney Tom...
Pueblo leader pleads not guilty for fatal accident (06/26)
A leader of Pojoaque Pueblo in New Mexico pleaded not guilty in connection with a fatal hit and run on the reservation. Lt. Governor Linda Diaz was indicted with a felony charge of leaving the scene of a fatal...
Nebraska court backs Ponca Tribe in ICWA case (06/26)
The Ponca Tribe can intervene in child welfare proceedings without a state-recognized attorney, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled today. The tribe asked its child welfare specialist to file a motion to intervene in a case involving two Ponca children. A...
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe loses police officers (06/26)
Despite promises from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is down to just 13 police officers. As part of Operation Dakota Peacekeeper, the BIA increased its law enforcement presence last year to combat high rates of...
BIA holds off on Keetoowah Band land-into-trust (06/26)
Citing the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is delaying a decision on a land-into-trust application for the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (UKB) of Oklahoma. The tribe is a successor in...
New cutoff in land-into-trust litigation is 1983 (06/25)
The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar brought about a cutoff date for land-into-trust applications: 1934, the year the Indian Reorganization Act passed. Tribes that weren't "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934 can't follow the land-into-trust process, according to...
Defendants in artifact theft linked to scheme (06/25)
Federal prosecutors say two of the defendants in the Indian artifact theft case may have been involved in a Ponzi scheme. The Salt Lake Tribune reports on a request to expand the search of items seized from the home of...
Senate Indian Affairs hearing on Law and Order (06/25)
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee holds a hearing this afternoon on S.797, the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2009. The hearing starts at 2:15pm and will be webcast, according to the committee. The witness list follows: THE HONORABLE TOM...
Mayor was charged with 1948 rape of Native girl (06/25)
The mayor of a city near the Navajo Nation was charged with the rape of a 16-year-old Native girl in 1948 but the case was never prosecuted, The Gallup Independent reports. Gallup Mayor Harry Mendoza said he never knew he...
Judge asked to mediate Navajo trust fund case (06/25)
William C. Canby Jr., a senior judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, has been appointed as a mediator in the long-running Utah Navajo Trust Fund case. Canby will meet with attorneys for the Navajo Nation plaintiffs and the...
Pueblo man in court to face murder charge (06/24)
A 36-year-old man from Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico appeared at a preliminary hearing in federal court for allegedly killing his 93-year-old grandmother. Brian Joseph Chavez faces a life sentence in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. He reportedly confessed...
Appeal weighed in Indian sex offender case (06/24)
The state of New Mexico is weighing an appeal in a case affecting sex offenders who live in Indian Country. On June 4, the New Mexico Court of Appeals said three Navajo Nation men who live and work within reservation...
Cherokee Nation hails decision in ICWA case (06/24)
In a recent decision, the Kansas Supreme Court abandoned a doctrine that prevented cases from being handled under the Indian Child Welfare Act. The court adopted the "existing Indian family" doctrine in 1982. The rule allowed courts to bypass ICWA...
Witness list for hearing on Law and Order Act (06/24)
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee holds a hearing tomorrow on S.797, the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2009. The hearing starts at 2:15pm and will be webcast, according to the committee. The witness list follows: THE HONORABLE TOM PERRELLI...
Witness: Turtle Mountain men killed over debt (06/23)
A father and son from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota were murdered over a debt, a witness in a double homicide trial said. Robert Belgarde, 40, and his 19-year-old son, Damien Belgarde, were found dead...
Rosebud council member pleads not guilty (06/23)
A suspended council member for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges involving a minor. Michael J. Valandra, 49, is charged with three counts of solicitation of a minor and one count of sexual...
Pueblo man charged with killing grandmother (06/23)
A man from Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico has been charged with murder for the death of his 93-year-old grandmother and he faces other charged in connection with another death. Brian Joseph Chavez is accused of shooting his 93-year-old grandmother,...
Ute Tribe security guard charged with assault (06/23)
A security guard for the Ute Tribe of Utah has been charged with two counts of aggravated sexual abuse. Roger Uinta Reed, 31, works for the tribe's housing department. He allegedly assaulted a woman on two occasions, after he met...
Supreme Court rules in Voting Rights Act case (06/23)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled in the final Voting Rights Act case of the term. The justices sidestepped a major issue in the case. They declined to rule on the constitutionality of Section 5 of the law, which...
Deaths in Rapid City unsolved after a decade (06/22)
The deaths of eight homeless men -- six of them Native -- remain unsolved after a decade in Rapid City, South Dakota. All of the men died along Rapid Creek. The first two bodies were discovered in May 1998 and...
Another defendant in artifact theft found dead (06/22)
A second defendant in the Indian artifact theft case was found dead last week. Steven L. Shrader lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was one of 24 people charged in connection with the theft and sale of Indian artifacts....
Men charged for Wampanoag vandalism, theft (06/22)
Two men were arrested and charged with vandalism and theft for an incident on the Wampanoag Reservation in Massachusetts. An unidentified Wampanoag man was camping at the Freetown-Fall River State Forest in preparation for a summer ceremony. He was awakened...
Senate Indian Affairs hearing on Law and Order (06/22)
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee will hold a hearing this Thursday on S.797, the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2009. The bill encourages more prosecution of crime in Indian Country, increases penalties for reservation offenders, reauthorizes key programs and...
Dorgan won't investigate artifact theft case (06/19)
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee won't investigate a controversial Indian artifact theft case from Utah, a spokesperson for Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota). But Dorgan has asked the Government Accountability Office to study the enforcement of the Native American Graves...
Ojibwe woman found guilty of music sharing (06/19)
Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe of Minnesota, was ordered to pay $1.9 million for illegally sharing music on the Internet. Thomas-Rasset, a mother of two who works for her tribe, was found guilty...
Pueblo officer fired after assault charge (06/19)
Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico fired a police officer who was indicted on sexual assault charges. Mark Zuni, 40, is charged with two counts of criminal sexual penetration during the commission of a felony, kidnapping and two counts of criminal...
Trial open for murders of Turtle Mountain men (06/18)
Two men are on trial for the double murders of two members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota. Robert Belgarde, 40, and his 19-year-old son, Damien Belgarde, were found dead on September 7, 2001. Their...
Attorney General defends Indian artifact case (06/18)
Attorney General Eric Holder defended the Obama administration's handling of a major Indian artifact theft case at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. Holder said federal agents took all the necessary precautions when dealing with people charged with crimes....
Art dealer denies wrongdoing after artifact raid (06/18)
The attorney for a New Mexico art dealer says federal agents spent eight hours searching the home of his client and only left with three items. Forrest Fenn's home was raided on June 10, the same day Secretary Ken Salazar...
Senate confirms Hilary Tompkins for Interior (06/18)
The Senate confirmed Hilary Tompkins to be Solicitor of the Interior Department on Wednesday. Tompkins, a member of the Navajo Nation, is the first Native American and the first Native woman to hold the post. She will oversee all legal...
Judge allows bridge opposed by Miccosukee Tribe (06/18)
A federal judge has cleared the way for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a bridge in the Florida Everglades. Judge Ursula Ungaro had issued an injunction that prevented construction of the bridge. The Miccosukee Tribe said the...
Indian Affairs hearing on Law and Order Act (06/18)
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee will hold a hearing next Thursday, June 25, on S.797, the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2009. S.797 was introduced on April 2. The bill encourages more prosecution of crime in Indian Country, increases...
Muscogee chief files lawsuit to force election (06/18)
Muscogee (Creek) Nation Chief A.D. Ellis has filed a lawsuit in hopes of forcing the tribe to hold a special election. Ellis said tribal members should vote on 14 amendments to the constitution. An election was to be held...
Blog: Coburn blasts Cherokee woman's nomination (06/17)
"The Department of Justice is defending President Barack Obama's contentious nominee to head its Tax Division, arguing that her litigation experience outweighs her lack of specialization in tax law. In a statement to The National Law Journal, the department...
Alaska attorney general nominee has Native ties (06/17)
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) announced a new attorney general pick on Tuesday, one with connections to the Alaska Native community. But unlike Palin's prior choice, Daniel S. Sullivan seems to have a more favorable relationship with Alaska Natives. His...
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