Joe Medicine Crow, a historian and author from the Crow Tribe of Montana, is to be named as one of the recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom. Medicine Crow, 96, met then-Sen. Barack Obama during a campaign stop on the reservation last May. He will now head to Washington, D.C., for an August [...]

Larry EchoHawk, the new head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, announced three additions to his staff in Washington, D.C. Wizipan Garriott, a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, is serving as policy adviser. Garriott worked for the Obama-Biden campaign and on the presidential transition. Tracie Stevens, a citizen of the Tulalip [...]

I am becoming more concerned about tribes and Indians using the term “members” to describe themselves. I believe that using that term instead of the words “citizen” and “citizenship” when talking about tribal governments and tribal enrollment denigrates the existence and political significance of American Indian tribal governments. An acquaintance convinced me on this point [...]

The subject of my book, Native America, Discovered & Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, & Manifest Destiny, is a hot topic in the Episcopal Church. Indian Country Today reports that at its 76th General Convention on July 8-17, 2009 the U.S. Episcopal Church “passed a landmark resolution repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery and urging [...]

In yet another example of how tribes help local non-Indian communities, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon recently reached an agreement to secure fire and emergency services at its Spirit Mountain Casino. The tribe will build a new fire station for the West Valley Fire District, pay for new firefighting positions and [...]

The results of studies on the remains of Kennewick Man have not been made public despite the high-profile battle over the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Only the scientists who were part of a lawsuit have been allowed to handle the 9,000-year-old remains. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has denied access to [...]

Tex Hall, ex-chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes and ex-president of the National Congress of American Indians writes in response to congressional hearing into Alaska Native corporations benefitting from the Small Business Administration section 8(a) program. “Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is chairing a hearing on the provisions of the Small Business Administration 8(a) Business Development [...]

According to a report from the SBA’s inspector general, Alaska Native corporations are receiving an unfair advantage at the Small Business Administration. ANCs received 26 percent of the total 8(a) small business contracts in 2008. That’s double the percentage in 2004, the report said. As a result, other small businesses are at a “disadvantage” for [...]

The Connecticut Division of Special Revenue released the results of the first study of legalized gaming in 12 years. The report looked at Indian gaming, charitable gaming, the state lottery and racetrack betting. It found that the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and the Mohegan Tribe created 12% of all new jobs in the state since [...]

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe of Idaho operates the Benewah Medical Center in Plummer, Idaho, and provides care to non-Indians under a cooperative agreement it signed with the city. The Center’s manager says that “In 1987, the clinic was this building, it was a condemned building . . . and a doctor came once a week [...]