The Associated Press reported on Friday that the South Carolina Supreme Court has upheld lower court decisions to return an American Indian girl adopted by a South Carolina family to her father in Oklahoma. Apparently, this is the first time the court has had to weigh state adoption law against the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. In a 3-2 decision, the [...]

A mini-United Nations gathering of forestry experts took place at the Flathead Reservation on Thursday. The visitors were from as far away as Nepal and Brazil. “For a long time, white people have been telling indigenous people how to manage their lands. Indigenous people have to have their voices heard.”   The spine of the Mission Mountains divides [...]

I just received this e-mail that the New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), in meeting at Silver Bay, NY, passed the minute (resolution) below on 7-26-2012.   We seek to live in a just peace with our fellow human beings, both as individuals, and as peoples. The United States has formally declared [...]

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/national/president-obama-signs-hearth-law-giving-indian-tribes-more-land-independence   President Barack Obama signed a new law today amending a previous act that gives Indian tribes more control of their lands and development. The Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership (HEARTH) Act of 2011 amends the Indian Long-Term Leasing Act of 1955. HEARTH allows tribes to sign certain surface land leases without getting [...]

The leaders and citizens of the Oneida Indian Nation of New York want Americans to realize the strong historical contributions of the Indian nations to the modern-day United States. They also think it is important to pay homage to their role in the American Revolutionary War. Thus, tribal leaders announced a major gift on July 11 [...]

I have noted many times how federal judges have been extremely reluctant to send antiquity thieves and persons who deface ancient Indian pictographs and petroglyphs to prison. Thus, to be fair I need to blog that U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge sentenced two Idaho men to prison for defacing ancient Native American pictographs near Hell's [...]

Check out this Nov. 23, 2010 Globe and Mail article about Chief Clarence Louis of the Osoyoos Indian Band in British Columbia Canada. He is quoted as saying "The economy should always be the number one issue . . . for native people." Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/clarence-louie-lifted-his-community-out-of-poverty/article544152/ I have made the same point in my new book [...]

The New Zealand press reports that Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band (located in Canada) told a global meeting on housing that there's only so much help Indigenous people can expect from governments. In a talk to the World Indigenous Housing Conference in Vancouver last month, he stated that tribes need to make money so they can re-invest that [...]

In a fairly common occurrence, another oil company has had to pay fines for "stealing" oil from Indian lands.  In the past many other oil companies have paid fines/penalties of $33 and $45 million for underreporting production of oil produced off tribal and individual Indian lands. The Associated Press reports that "BP America Inc. has paid a [...]

The Iroquois Nationals beat Team USA 15-13 at the field lacrosse World Championships in Turki, Finland on Tuesday afternoon. This was the first time that Nationals have beaten Team USA in international on-field competition (they have beaten Team USA in indoor matches. As the Indian Country Today article stated, this is a great accomplishment considering that [...]