There’s an excellent editorial in the September 18, 2009 newspaper Indian Country Today about tribal citizenship. I have often spoken about the issues tribal governments and communities are facing today and in the very near future regarding how they define tribal citizenship and how they manage the changing makeup of their communities and families. According [...]

Indian Tribes across the nation are planning major economic development projects with the help of new bonding authority from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, for example, will use about $16 million in tax-exempt bonds to refinance the purchase of a hotel and a golf course and to [...]

The Klamath Tribes of Oregon are negotiating the purchase of 385 acres near Portland that could be placed in trust which would preclude state and county taxation and perhaps regulation and zoning authority. Details are still being worked out but the prospect of a land-into-trust application is generating controversy. “This is a prime example of [...]

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the release of more than $236 million to help tribes with public safety and law enforcement programs. The money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. More than $224 million will be used to construct and renovate prisons and jails in Indian Country and another $12 [...]

(I am a citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe) The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled on September 17 that the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma can pursue its trust mismanagement case. The tribe filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. to compel a historical accounting of its trust funds. [...]

Ned Blackhawk, a citizen of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone, is the second American Indian professor at Yale University. Blackhawk is a history professor in the History and American Studies Department. He most recently taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “I grew up away from these communities, and yet I chose to be a [...]

The U.S. Department of Justice today announced the first two jurisdictions to implement the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act and one of them is the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon. The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, which is part of the Adam Walsh Act, requires tribal and state governments [...]

The city of North Bend, Oregon, filed a lawsuit against the Coquille Tribe in state court for an alleged breach of contract. The city says the tribe missed a quarterly payment of $115,000 for municipal services. The city says the tribe will not make a second quarterly payment of $115,000 either and won’t be making [...]

American Indians have new opportunities to learn the skills needed for long-term careers in the construction industry with a new training partnership announced by labor and American Indian leaders. The AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) and a coalition of American Indian Tribal Councils have created the Native Construction Careers Institute (NCCI). Mark Ayers, [...]

I am bothered by the fact that federal courts are not imposing jail sentences on people convicted of looting Indian graves and sacred and historic sites. The recent Utah prosecution of dozens of people and this case did not result in a single day of jail time. A Spokane newspaper reported that more than 1,400 [...]