A citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians is questioning a tribal council resolution that seeks to ban abortions on the North Dakota reservation. Andy Laverdure said the resolution was passed without public notice and discussion. “It goes directly against Roe v. Wade and impacts the Violence Against Women Act.” Only four council [...]

Just in time for the election, Alaska is halting assistance to Natives in their own language. Alaska is halting part of its Native voter language assistance program because it has not been approved by the federal government. The Division of Elections says it will still help Native voters at the polls but that some other [...]

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was found guilty on all seven counts in his corruption trial. “Stevens said his conviction on seven charges of making false statements was the result of “prosecutorial misconduct” by the Department of Justice He will remain in the Senate — and on the ballot in Alaska on November 4 — while [...]

Indianz.com reports today: “In May 2007, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals . . . ruled that the Yakama Treaty of 1855 bars tribal members from being charged under the federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act. The unanimous decision said the treaty preserves the right for Yakamas to bring goods to the public market without being [...]

The Indian Health Care Improvement Act failed to be reauthorized again this year. Some “Native leaders [are] saying that fault partially lies with the political decision-making of the National Congress of American Indians. . . . As Indian Country Today previously reported, the reauthorization, which passed the Senate in February, largely failed to make headway [...]

Yahoo news reports that: “The Anchorage Daily News, Alaska’s largest newspaper, endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Sunday after declaring Gov. Sarah Palin “too risky” to be one step away from the Oval Office.”

Officials in New York passed over two tribal partnerships in awarding a license for a racetrack casino in New York City. The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut and the Seminole Tribe of Florida were among three finalists for the Aqueduct Racetrack project in Queens. The winning bidder was Delaware North of Buffalo. Mohegan Sun Fails To [...]

The Havasupai Tribe of Arizona will rebuild its economy will help from a $1 million grant from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians of California. A flood in mid-August destroyed the Havasupai’s main source of income: tourism. The tribe was forced to close Supai village, a popular spot for visitors to the Grand Canyon. [...]

“Native people have a rich tradition of storytelling, but those stories historically have been written or published by people outside the tribes – until lately. “Now you can do all that on a desktop computer,” said Bob Bigart, director of the Salish Kootenai College Press in Pablo. “The economics have changed. You don’t need four [...]

The Office of the Inspector General at the Department of the Interior plans to release investigations into violence at BIA schools and Indian royalty collections issues. The violence investigation focuses on schools managed by tribes under self-determination contracts. Inspector General Earl E. Devaney reviewed schools managed by the Bureau of Indian Education and found they [...]