The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe in Massachusetts has enjoyed a remarkable gaming fueled economic boom in the past two decades due to its Foxwoods Resort Casino.  Tribal citizens were reportedly receiving over $100,000 annually in casino revenue stipends.  New From Indian Country, April 2012, at 6.  But last month Foxwoods and the Tribe stopped making payments [...]

News From Indian Country, April 2012, at 2, reports that the Chippewa Cree Tribe located in Montana has signed a banking agreement with the state that should help spur economic development on the reservation. The Tribe will use the state Uniform Commerical Code filing system which will help lenders to record and give better notice [...]

The media reports that Nevada teachers converged on Reno this week to develop curricula for teaching local American Indian culture in state schools. “Nevada history is incomplete without the Native American experience,” said Stacey Montooth, a member of the team established by the Nevada Department of Education to create the curriculum. While some teachers take the initiative [...]

A divided federal court of appeals yesterday vacated a trial court ruling that barred a Long Island-based American Indian tribe from building a casino in Southampton, New York. In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the dispute between the Shinnecock Indian Nation and New York and the Town of Southampton belonged in state court and [...]

On Monday June 18, the United States Supreme Court issued two new Indian law decisions. In MATCH-E-BE-NASH-SHE-WISH BAND OF POTTAWATOMI INDIANS v. PATCHAK et al, the United States Supreme Court held in an 8-1 decision that plaintiff David Patchak could sue the United States under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and challenge a decision by the Secretary of Interior to [...]

An article in Indian Country Today highlights the progress that is being made at the poorest Indian reservation, in the poorest county in the United States, the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The author claims that new economic development is occuring on the reservation because of an expanding infrastructure, public transit that is now available throughout the [...]

The Navajo Nation has sued the clothing retailer Urban Outfitters for trademark infringement. Months before, the Nation sent a cease-and-desist letter to Urban Outfitters demanding it stop using the “Navajo” name. The suit filed last Tuesday in federal court in New Mexico alleges trademark violations and violations of the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act. This Act makes it illegal to sell [...]

Survival International reports the earth’s ‘most threatened tribe has made a desperate appeal for the Brazilian government to halt the illegal logging that is ravaging its territory. Survival reports that the Awá tribe suffers the fastest rate of deforestation in the Amazon, and that the start of the dry season has brought a huge upsurge in illegal [...]

This youtube clip from the TV show "The West Wing" raises interesting questions about how even the methods used to draw maps can demonstrate or help create political and/or ethnocentric world views. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8zBC2dvERM

A blog reports on "underreported struggles."  http://intercontinentalcry.org/underreported-struggles-62-may-2012/   The May 2012 edition reports (among other items): 1. the Wixarika (Huichol) people located in Mexico, slammed that government for recently announcing measures to protect thousands of acres of Wixarika sacred land.  The government, media, and the general public are calling this a victory but the Wixarika leaders say that it's [...]