The Southwest Intertribal Voice is holding a walk in Cortez, Colorado, on Saturday to protest racial intolerance, according to the Farmington Daily Times newspaper. The event follows a race-related beating in the town last November. The group hopes to raise awareness about racism in border towns.  Cortez is near the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, the [...]

In an editorial in News From Indian Country, Professor Robert Warrior says that “Cherokee Chief Chad Smith is wrong and Representative Melvin Watt (D-North Carolina) is right.”  Click the link to read his entire editorial. According to Warrior, ”the House Financial Services Committee decided to give the Cherokees a month to clear up the Freedmen issue [...]

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs announced today a series of meeting with tribes across the country to address its Indian Affairs Modernization Initiative.  The meetings will be an opportunity for BIA officials and tribal leaders to discuss how the BIA should prepare for projected personnel retirements, rising operations costs, and how to better utilize future technology.  [...]

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council took a stand against the new power plant called Desert Rock to be built on the Navajo Nation’s reservation.  The Ute tribe unanimously passing a resolution opposing construction of the proposed power plant. The Ute Mountain Utes may be the first tribe to register opposition to Desert Rock Energy Project, joining a roster [...]

The Canadian government says its Native citizens should not have to produce a passport to cross into the United States.  The U.S. wants every person who enters the country to have a passport. But Canada says Native citizens with certificates of Indian status should be exempt.

Cimi-Assessoria de Imprensa, imprensa@cimi.org.br, announced today that the Brazilian government signed on August 28 demarcation decrees for the ownership of Tupinikim/Guarani lands This historical decision was published in the Federal State Gazette by means of two ministeral decrees, no. 1463 and 1464, signed by the Minister of Justice Tarso Genro, declaring 18,070 hectares of lands in the [...]

Indianz.com reports that the Interior Department is moving to fire an attorney who is accused of disclosing Indian trust data to the media. Robert McCarthy, a field solicitor in southern California, admits that he gave information to a reporter for Gannett News Service. He was cited as a source in an April 10, 2007, story titled [...]

An Indian Country Today editorial raises interesting point about the Freedmen issue and Rep. Watson.  “The controversy enveloping the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and Cherokee freedmen recently has taken some interesting and unexpected turns. Americans, through the prism of this situation, are growing comfortable discussing Indian issues in dangerous terms of race and exclusion. The [...]

The Washington Post reports today that Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) pleaded guilty to a “lewd conduct” incident at a Minnesota airport in June.  Craig pleaded guilty earlier this month, paid a fine and was placed on probation.  But he now says he regrets doing so without the advice of a lawyer.

The nickname of the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks is the “Fighting Sioux.”  Many tribal people and some tribes have vehemently demanded the university to change that name. But it is reported today that the veterans group on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation is backing the University of North Dakota’s controversial “Fighting Sioux” nickname [...]