Tribally Owned AMERIND Risk Celebrates 17th Anniversary of Support for National American Indian Housing Council Initiatives with a $150,000 Contribution

AMERIND Risk- the only 100% Tribally owned and operated insurance provider in Indian Country supports NAIHC mission to promote the housing interests of Native people who reside in Indian Communities.

Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M., -- AMERIND Risk today announced its 2014 commitment of $150,000, to the National American Indian Housing Council. This continues AMERIND Risk’s past 17 years of contributions in support of Indian Country infrastructure with quality and affordable construction and housing for Native Americans.

The contribution will be presented to NAIHC at their 40th Annual Convention and Trade Show scheduled June 3-5, 2014, at the Kansas City Marriott in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

“On behalf of our board, chairman and members, AMERIND Risk is proud to support the advocacy efforts of NAIHC, in fulfilling the United States’ trust obligations to tribes and our people. The home is the heart of Indian Country. Our purpose to create affordable and sustainable insurance products and services protecting Indian Country for almost 30 years, goes hand in hand, with NAIHC’s mission to provide quality affordable housing for Native people for the last 40 years. By partnering with NAIHC, AMERIND Risk looks forward to the journey of fulfilling our higher mission of empowerment, self-determination and sustainability of the Tribal Nations, and Natives we serve, for our common cause of - Tribes Protecting Tribes”, said Derek Valdo, AMERIND Risk CEO.

AMERIND Risk was founded over 30 years ago, by more than 400 Tribes. They pooled their resources to create affordable and sustainable insurance products and services for Indian Country - to keep money in Indian Country.  AMERIND Risk provides property, liability and workers’ compensation, insurance for tribes, tribal governments, businesses and individual property coverage.

Our mission statement declares, “The Cherokee Nation is committed to protecting our inherent sovereignty, preserving and promoting Cherokee culture, language, and values, and improving the quality of life for the next seven generations of Cherokee citizens.” Standing on the shoulders of generations of great Cherokee leaders who have come before him, Keith Harper is an inspiration to the next seven generations of Cherokee citizens and all of Indian Country.

Early next week, the United States Senate will vote on his nomination to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nation Human Rights Council, and I call on the Senate to overwhelmingly confirm him to this important position. Without doubt, Keith Harper will serve in this role with integrity, fairness and compassion. I know his values, experience and tribal heritage give him a unique perspective, and he has proven to be a champion for justice throughout his impressive career.

With more than 305,000 tribal citizens, the Cherokee Nation is the largest tribe in the United States. We take great pride in the accomplishments of our people and the impact they have made in and beyond the Cherokee Nation. Among that long list of accomplished Cherokees are  humorist Will Rogers, former Congressman and U.S. Army Under Secretary Brad Carson, Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, Medal of Honor recipient Jack Montgomery, business leader Bud Adams, Rear Admiral Joseph J. Clark and former Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller. The list could go on.

Cherokee citizens have achieved great things in service to their tribal nation and their country. Our commitment to the protection of this nation means we have served in every war the United States has ever entered and our people have served in every branch of the armed services. However, no Cherokee citizen has held the honor of serving his or her country abroad as an ambassador. Keith Harper is highly qualified for this position, and there will be many future leaders from across Indian Country who will look to him as an example of success at the highest level and stand on his shoulders.

The United Nations Human Rights Council is preparing to take up several issues of great importance to the United States and Indian Country at its upcoming sessions. Gender equality issues and ensuring the protection of women and girls from violence and trafficking will soon be addressed, as will the ongoing human rights crises in Africa and the Middle East. Also, in September of this year, the United Nations will convene the first ever World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.

Keith Harper’s lengthy experience as an outstanding lawyer, a tribal court judge and an experienced advocate for the civil and human rights of indigenous people here and around the world make him the ideal nominee for this important position. This is why he has such a wide base of support for his confirmation, with over 120 tribal nations joining more than 20 civil rights, human rights, and Jewish and women’s organizations in voicing their strong support for Harper’s swift confirmation.

President Obama has demonstrated that Indian Country is important to his agenda, and I am deeply thankful. He vowed to place more tribal citizens within his administration in staff roles, and he has fulfilled that promise. Now, he has nominated a Cherokee Nation citizen to this crucial position. As the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, I call on the United States Senate to confirm our son as Ambassador Keith Harper.

RED ROCK, Okla. – Class counsel in the Cobell v. Jewell (formerly Cobell v. Salazar) lawsuit will be offering assistance to answer questions regarding the settlement at the following location:

 
June 2, 2014 from 10 am - 5 pm
Wichita Tribe Housing Authority
Iscani Community Center
1 Coronado Circle
Anadarko, OK 73005

 
June 3, 2014 from 9 am - 4 pm
Choctaw Casino & Resort – Conference Center
4418 South Highway 69/75
Durant, OK 74701

 
June 4, 2014 from 9 am – 4 pm
Otoe-Missouria Community Building
8151 Hwy 177
Red Rock, Oklahoma 74651

 
Class counsel and representatives of the Garden City Group, the Claims Administrator for the settlement,  will be available to assist individuals in determining eligibility for the settlement and the status of any claim.

There are thousands of individuals entitled to participate in the Cobell Settlement who are members of Oklahoma tribes but the Department of Interior has no addresses for them and are considered “whereabouts unknown.”

There are also Class Members who have passed away and Interior has been unable to identify the heirs of those individuals.
 
We encourage anyone who believes they may be entitled to participate in the settlement to attend one of these meetings. They should bring with them:

· Personal documentation including tribal ID.

· Documents showing any IIM account number.

· Probate orders, if any, for family members who may be class members but have passed away.

 
The Cobell case was filed in 1996, settled in December 2009, was approved by Congress in December 2010, and received final court approval in November 2012. The total settlement, $3.5 billion, is currently the largest class action settlement against the federal government.

The case resolves certain claims relating to mismanagement of individual Indian money (“IIM”) accounts and individual trust assets by the federal government. There are approximately 500,000 individuals who are eligible to participate in this settlement. This includes principally individuals who had IIM accounts between approximately 1985 and September 30, 2009 and individuals who owned trust or restricted land as of September 30, 2009.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Members of the Seneca Indian Nation now have another document option for cross-border travel.

The western New York tribe says it’s becoming the third in the country to issue Enhanced Tribal Identification Cards that comply with federal travel requirements.

The cards can be shown instead of a passport or enhanced driver’s license at land or sea borders. Tribal leaders say the cards have been approved by the Department of Homeland Security.

Seneca members must apply for them in person. The tribe began accepting applications earlier this month.

WINNEBAGO, Neb. (AP) – The Winnebago Indian Health Services Hospital in northeast Nebraska has been put on notice that it is set to lose Medicare funding within the next week, after an investigation found problems with the care of a patient who died there in April.

A public notice from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says the hospital’s Medicare agreement will be terminated June 4, the Sioux City Journal reported Wednesday. That means the hospital would no longer be reimbursed for treating patients enrolled in the health care program for the elderly and disabled.

The hospital is “not in substantial compliance” with Medicare regulations, the notice says.

But John Blackhawk, chairman of the Winnebago Tribe, said the hospital is working with the federal agency to avert the funding cutoff.

Experts with the Indian Health Service have been brought in to assist with the plan, which includes demonstrating additional training the hospital staff has been completed, Blackhawk said.

Losing access to Medicare funding would be devastating for the rural hospital, he said, noting the hospital receives around $2 million annually from the program.

Earlier this month, the federal agency warned that the Winnebago hospital was in jeopardy of losing its Medicare funding after a patient admitted for respiratory problems died on April 17.

An investigation by the agency concluded the hospital’s nursing staff failed to meet the needs of the patient and that conditions within the hospital “posed an immediate and serious threat to the health and safety of patients.”

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Information from: Sioux City Journal, http://www.siouxcityjournal.com

 

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A retired superintendent of Effigy Mounds National Monument is facing a federal investigation three years after making a startling disclosure: He had a box of long-missing ancient Native American remains in his garage.

The investigation is separate from a recent scandal involving another former superintendent who oversaw $3 million in illegal construction projects at the 2,526-acre site in northeastern Iowa’s wooded hills along the Mississippi River. But it has become another headache for the National Park Service, which operates the property that features 200 Native American burial and ceremonial mounds, some of which are shaped like animals.

The case started in 2011 when former superintendent Tom Munson acknowledged that he had a box filled with prehistoric bones in the garage of his Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, home and returned them to the monument. Those artifacts, including fragments of jaws and leg bones between 1,000 and 2,000 years old, had been housed in the museum’s collection after they were found at the site in the 1950s. The revelation of their whereabouts outraged some representatives of the 12 tribes who are affiliated with the monument and consider the site sacred.

“It was kind of a stomach-turning anger and disappointment,” said Johnathan Buffalo, historic preservation director for the Sac & Fox tribe.

After the discovery, current Superintendent Jim Nepstad formed a review committee that included archaeologists and tribal officials to examine what happened. Buffalo, a committee member, said all the missing artifacts have since been recovered and are in the process of being returned to tribes for proper reburial.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is now considering whether to pursue any charges following an investigation by a special agent with the National Park Service. The Archaeological Resources Protection Act carries potential civil or criminal sanctions for damaging archaeological resources.

The 74-year-old Munson, who was park superintendent from 1971 until his retirement in 1994, has hired prominent Iowa City defense lawyer Leon Spies, who confirmed an inquiry is underway by federal prosecutors based in Sioux City and Cedar Rapids.

“It’s sufficient to say that he’s cooperating with the investigation and trying to provide as much information as he can to help out,” Spies said. He called Munson “a valued and dedicated employee” whose work as superintendent won wide praise.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Iowa declined comment. Nepstad said he didn’t want to jeopardize the investigation by discussing the case, saying it is “at a very sensitive stage.”

Another former monument employee, Sharon Greener, said Munson directed her to pack up the bones in two large cardboard boxes when she was a temporary employee in 1990 and they put them in Munson’s personal vehicle, Greener’s attorney Bill Roemerman said. Greener was told the artifacts were being taken out of the museum collection under a process known as deaccession, but later learned the proper steps hadn’t been followed and the removal was inappropriate, Roemerman said.

The motivation for the removal isn’t clear, and Spies said it wasn’t an appropriate time to detail Munson’s actions. But in 1990, a federal law called the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was about to take effect, which required museums to return many ancient remains and burial objects to tribes. Archaeologists worried the law would harm their research abilities.

Buffalo said he believed that Munson, like some other officials across the country, simply didn’t want to return those objects to tribes.

“He thought he was protecting something. He didn’t see us as human beings,” he said. “He just saw a science project.”

Greener kept an inventory of the artifacts that were placed in the boxes and told future superintendents about what happened, Roemerman said. Munson denied having them over the years when asked but acknowledged he had the bones in April 2011 after Greener brought the issue to the attention of Nepstad, who had recently taken over as superintendent, Roemerman said.

Nepstad replaced Phyllis Ewing, who was blamed for violating laws meant to protect the site in building boardwalks and a maintenance shed during her tenure as superintendent. Ewing was reassigned in 2010 and fired in February, weeks before the National Park Service released its 700-page report on that case.

Greener, who worked as administrative assistant under Ewing, has left the agency under the terms of a confidential separation agreement, Roemerman said.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – Misdiagnosed illnesses, denied payments and a shortage of trained medical personnel in government-run clinics are wrecking the federal health care system for Native Americans, tribal leaders said Tuesday as they pressed officials to overhaul a system beset with problems.

With the head of the Indian Health Service listening on, representatives of seven Montana and Wyoming reservations delivered a litany of health care woes suffered by their members during a U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee field hearing in Billings.

They described an agency compromised by a bloated bureaucracy and unable to fulfill its core duty to provide health care for more than 2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.

“All too often, tribal members complain of ailments but get sent home from the Indian Health Service with cough medicine or pain killers. Later we learn the situation is much more serious, like cancer,” said A.T. “Rusty” Stafne, chairman of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of northeast Montana’s Fort Peck Indian Reservation.

“We have lost fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers and future leaders because they were unable to get the health care they need,” he said.

Indian Health Service acting director Yvette Roubideaux said in response that changes are underway, including reforms meant to streamline the bureaucratic hurdles faced by patients. But she acknowledged greater efforts were needed at the local level, and that more money will be required than the $4.4 billion the federal agency receives annually.

“I’ve never thought you could fix the Indian Health Service in a day or overnight,” Roubideaux said.

The U.S. government provides health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives as part of its trust responsibility to tribes that gave up their land when the United States was being formed. Yet Roubideaux said federal health care spending on American Indians lags far behind spending on other groups such as federal employees, who receive almost twice as much on a per-capita basis.

Meanwhile, American Indians suffer from higher rates of substance abuse, assault, diabetes and a slew of other ailments compared to other races.

In Montana, the life expectancy for Native American women is 62 years, compared to 82 years for white women. Native men have a life expectancy of 56 years, versus 75 years for white men, according to the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.

While Tuesday’s hearing focused on Montana and Wyoming – the two states served by the Indian Health Service regional office in Billings – Committee Chairman Sen. Jon Tester said the concerns he heard are shared by tribes across the West.

The Montana Democrat promised additional hearings, and he said he wants more emphasis on patients and less on administrative oversight. The reforms undertaken by the government so far, he added, fall short.

“I don’t think the realization of these reforms is doing what we need to do, which is better health care on the ground,” said Tester, whose committee has jurisdiction over federal-government dealings with 566 American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.

Tuesday’s hearing followed complaints from the Crow Tribe and others about poor and delayed health care on reservations.

Tester and U.S. Sen. John Walsh earlier this month asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to examine problems at the agency’s area office in Billings.

Former Indian Affairs Chairman Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota conducted a similar investigation in 2010. Dorgan found that a “chronic state of crisis” plagued health care services for American Indians. Problems included a lack of providers, hospitals at risk of losing their accreditation, improperly licensed staff and missing or stolen narcotics.

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – There were few role models in medicine that aspiring doctor Tamsen O’Berry could look to for support on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, so she carved out her own track.

The 33-year-old graduated from the Sanford College of Nursing with top honors two weeks ago and has a job lined up at Sanford Health in Bismarck. But O’Berry is in the minority among the 13,500 nurses in North Dakota: Only about 170, or 1 percent, are American Indian.

O’Berry joined other nurses, students and higher education officials for the third annual American Indians in Nursing conference, held Tuesday in Bismarck, to discuss recent increases in the number of nurses as well as what needs to be done to encourage more to join the profession.

American Indians make up almost 6 percent of North Dakota’s population, making them largest minority group in the state. But the group is more likely to have higher rates of disease and deaths compared to other Americans, according to the federal Indian Health Service. Patients on reservations, such as Fort Berthold, are more likely to seek health care if they know they’ll be treated by someone from their community, nurses at the conference said.

“I think we talk a lot about health disparities and one of the main things to overcome that is to actually have that representation in the health professions,” O’Berry said.

Most at the conference said there’s more trust when American Indian patients have nurses who understand their customs, or even speak their language.

“Not just native language, there’s a different language when it comes to the reservations and dealing with patients,” said Marilyn Yellow Bird, who works as a Public Health Nurse at Elbowoods Memorial Health Center in New Town, which serves the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. “Patients are more comfortable.”

North Dakota has had programs to help Americans Indians get into nursing since the early 1990s, but a lack of funding prevents those programs providing more financial aid to students and hiring more staff, according to Deb Wilson, RAIN program coordinator at the University of North Dakota.

RAIN, or the Recruitment/Retention of American Indians into Nursing, has accounted for an estimated 80 percent of American Indian nurses working in the state since 1990, Wilson said. But she wants that number to increase.

“We’ve been funded for 24 years through Indian Health Service,” Wilson said. “We haven’t seen an increase in our funding.”

Four University of North Dakota nursing students, all from the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, spoke Tuesday about why they wanted to become nurses.

Andrea Langan said working with American Indian patients in Grand Forks has shown her how patients can open up when they’re comfortable.

“If I walk in to a patient’s room and they’re Native American, I can stay in there all day and talk with them and they can tell me all their problems, and they’re usually not too open,” she said.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – The chairman of the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee says he wants the Obama administration to address the “dysfunction” that is hobbling Native American health care and causing rising dissatisfaction over poor and delayed care on reservations.

Chairman Jon Tester has invited tribal leaders from Montana and Wyoming to a Tuesday field hearing in Billings to air grievances about the U.S. Indian Health Service – a $4.4 billion agency that provides health care for 2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.

The agency’s director for Montana and Wyoming, Anna Whiting-Sorrell, resigned this month after just over a year on the job, saying her efforts to help Indians were frustrated by the agency’s failure to connect with tribes that suffer from high rates of diabetes, substance abuse, heart disease and other illnesses.

“As an Indian woman I will die 20 years younger than a white woman. How can we let that go on?” asked Whiting-Sorrell, who is now in charge of health policy planning for her tribes, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai.

IHS acting Director Yvette Roubideaux is scheduled to testify Tuesday.

“Dr. Roubideaux’s going to be there, so there won’t be anything lost in translation,” Tester told The Associated Press. “I want to make sure we as a committee and the administration hears what those concerns are so they can be addressed. Everybody says, `We don’t have enough money.’ But the bottom line is they’ve got to use the money they’ve got more effectively.”

The Montana Democrat added that Congress has caused further disruption to the agency with last fall’s government shutdown and the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration. The cuts took $220 million out of the health service’s 2013 budget. That resulted in a reduction of 3,000 inpatient hospital admissions and more than 800,000 outpatient visits, according to prior testimony from Roubideaux.

Under treaties with tribes, health care is guaranteed to Native Americans in perpetuity in exchange for the lands they gave up as the United States was formed.

Tester and fellow Montana Democrat, U.S. Sen. John Walsh, on May 2 requested an investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office into the Indian Health Service’s area office in Billings. That came after the Crow tribe asked the state’s congressional delegation to look into longstanding complaints about the office that oversees health care for more than 70,000 people in Montana and Wyoming.

An IHS spokeswoman said the agency would have no comment ahead of Tuesday’s hearing.

Former Indian Affairs Chairman Byron Dorgan of North Dakota conducted a similar investigation in 2010. Dorgan found that a “chronic state of crisis” plagued health care services for American Indians. Problems included a lack of providers, hospitals at risk of losing their accreditation, improperly licensed staff and missing or stolen narcotics.

The life expectancy for Native American women in Montana is 62 years, compared to 82 years for white women. Native men have a life expectancy of 56 years, versus 75 years for white men, according to the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.

Whiting-Sorrell said that given the Indian Health Services’ problem-plagued past, the best chance for improvement is to increase tribal involvement in Indian health care.

“Blaming the Indian Health Service, saying there’s not enough money, that’s been done for 50 years. It’s a whole system that has to change,” she said.

 

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Land along the York River that archaeologists believe was the center of a vast Indian empire before the first Europeans settled in Virginia is gaining White House attention as a possible addition to the National Park System.

President Barack Obama has set aside $6 million to acquire more than 250 acres of the former Indian village in Gloucester to achieve that goal. Congress must approve the funding in the 2015 funding proposal.

Called Werowocomoco (pronounced Wehr-oh-woh-KAHM-uh-koh), the land is believed to have been the seat of power for Powhatan.

Powhatan oversaw an empire that included 30 political divisions and 15,000 to 20,000 Indians at the time Capt. John Smith and his fellow settlers established the first permanent English settlement in North America in 1607. Some Virginia Indians have called the site “our Washington, D.C.”

It is also believed to be where Pocahontas appealed to Powhatan, her father, to spare the life of Smith. That story has its share of skeptics, however. Some historians believe Smith may have misinterpreted Indian intentions or inflated his adventures in the New World.

Archaeological digs have revealed a longhouse befitting the stature of Powhatan and the outlines of ditches that experts believe delineated sacred and secular portions of Werowocomoco, also indicative of Powhatan’s stature.

Archaeologists worked with descendants of Indian tribes to understand the site. Some 58 acres have already been preserved to ensure they’ll never be developed.

Archaeologist Martin Gallivan helped lead a dig at the site and is working on a book on the Algonquian chiefdoms, including Powhatan. Making the site a unit of the federal park system would elevate it to the status of other important American historic destinations, such as Jamestown and Yorktown.

“I think it deserves that status given the events that occurred there in the early Colonial period and the deeper history of the Powhatans,” said Gallivan, a professor of archaeology at the College of William and Mary. “If it was included in the national park system that would give the American public the chance to learn that history.”

Gallivan said it’s also essential that Virginia Indians be consulted, should Congress approve the funding.

The National Park Service would work closely with tribes and others on how to best interpret the site, a spokeswoman said.

“That planning would have to consider the best approach for visitor experiences while at the same time protecting the archaeological and spiritual significance of the place,” spokeswoman Cindy Chance wrote in an email.

If approved, the funding would be used to purchase the land from the existing owners and for interpretive materials, such as brochures and signs.

Werowocomoco would become a stop along the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. The trail charts the exploration of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries by Smith after Europeans arrived at Jamestown in 1607.

Chance said the site has been on the park service’s radar.

“Because of Werowocomo’s importance to Virginia, to tribes and the NPS, the NPS has identified it as a priority for years,” she wrote.

The state worked with the current landowners to ensure the 58 acres are preserved forever. Owners Bob and Lynn Ripley were paid $600,000 for the development rights.

The land, which includes the Ripley home, has been the focus of extensive archaeological digs, with the steady involvement of native representatives. Burial grounds, for instance, were left undisturbed in keeping with Indian wishes.

Gallivan said no digs are underway now, “although there’s a lot more to be done at Werowocomoco.”

The archaeological work that has been going on for nearly a decade is being analyzed and destined to be published, he said.

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Steve Szkotak can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sszkotakap .

 

Statement from USET        

 
There was never a need for a Supreme Court fix for Tribal sovereign immunity. Today’s decision in Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community by the U.S. Supreme Court is quite simply an action by the Supreme Court to uphold existing law as already understood by Indian Country.  This decision is an important affirmation of Tribal inherent sovereignty in general, and of Tribal sovereign immunity in particular, both on and off reservation lands and as applied to a variety of activities.  The decision is also an affirmation that Tribes, through compacts and other means, have already addressed issues regarding Tribal sovereign immunity in a responsible manner with the States and with other parties.  
 
However, it is important to understand the need for all of Indian Country to remain steadfast and vigilant in the promotion and protection of our inherent sovereignty rights. It was a 5-4 decision, with the dissenters having a strikingly different and far narrower view of the scope of Tribal sovereign immunity.   Additionally, the majority decision identified certain forms of State authority over Tribal officials which will need to be examined closely, and may be of concern down the road.  Overall, however, Indian Country’s great fear that the Supreme Court would once again shake the very foundations of Indian law by undermining Tribal sovereignty have not been realized.
 
The USET Board of Directors and Tribal leadership from the region will explore and discuss the implications and meaning of this decision during its upcoming 2014 USET Semi-Annual meeting, which will be held in Bar Harbor, Maine June 2 through June 4.
 
MICHIGAN V. BAY MILLS INDIAN COMMUNITY (NO. 12-505) BACKGROUND – In 2010, the state of Michigan filed suit against Bay Mills Indian Community for allegedly opening an off-reservation casino without permission from the U.S. government and in violation of a state compact. A federal district court issued an injunction, ordering the closure of the casino. Bay Mills appealed the decision arguing that the federal district court lacked jurisdiction and that the Tribe had sovereign immunity. The lower court's injunction was dismissed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. The state sought certiorari, which was granted by the U.S. Supreme Court. On December 2, 2013, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments involving the petition filed by the State of Michigan seeking review of the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The Sixth Circuit held that federal courts lack jurisdiction to adjudicate the State’s claims against the Bay Mills Indian Community under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to the extent those claims are based on an allegation that the Tribe’s casino is not on “Indian lands,” and that the claims are also barred by the doctrine of Tribal sovereign immunity.

About USET:
USET is an inter-tribal organization dedicated to promoting Indian leadership, improving the quality of life for American Indians, and protecting Indian rights and resources on Tribal lands. Although its guiding principal is unity, USET plays a major role in the self-determination of all member Tribes by working to improve the capabilities of Tribal governments. Established in 1969, United South and Eastern Tribes Inc., is a non-profit, intertribal organization, with 26 member Tribes (federally recognized), that collectively makes representation at the regional and national level.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Michigan can't block the opening of an off-reservation American Indian casino because the state's legal challenge is barred by tribal sovereign immunity.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court said the state could not shutter the Bay Mills Indian Community's casino about 90 miles south of its Upper Peninsula reservation.

The ruling was a win for Indian tribes, which have increasingly looked to casinos as a source of revenue and have relied on immunity to shield them from government interference. But it's a disappointment for Michigan and more than a dozen others states that say the decision will interfere with their ability to crack down on unauthorized tribal casinos.

Michigan argued that the Bay Mills tribe opened the casino in 2010 without permission from the U.S. government and in violation of a state compact. The tribe had purchased land for the casino with earnings from a settlement with the federal government over allegations that it had not been adequately compensated for land ceded in 1800s treaties.

Writing for the majority, Justice Elena Kagan said that the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act only allows a state to bring lawsuits challenging casinos operating on Indian lands. But the Bay Mills casino was opened outside the tribe's reservation, Kagan said, placing it outside the law's coverage.

Since the casino does not fall under federal gaming laws, Kagan said it is subject to the ordinary tribal immunity that extends to off-reservation commercial activities. Kagan said it doesn't matter that the casino was authorized, licensed and operated from the tribe's reservation.

Kagan noted that Michigan officials have other options for dealing with the casino, such as bringing a lawsuit against individual tribal officials or even prosecuting tribal members under criminal laws. She was joined in her opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.

The casino has been closed since 2011, when a federal judge sided with Michigan and issued an injunction barring it from operating. The 6th Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw the injunction out after ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction over some claims and that the tribe also has sovereign immunity.

In a statement, the Bay Mills tribe said the decision "affords proper deference to Congress' judgment and it will ensure that tribes likeBay Mills can continue to fund tribal education and perform other sovereign functions."

Sixteen other states had submitted a brief in the case urging the court to side with Michigan. They argued that criminal prosecutions are less effective and more burdensome on the state in policing unauthorized casinos.

In dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas said he disagreed with the court's 1998 case extending tribal sovereign immunity to bar lawsuits arising from an Indian tribe's commercial activities outside its territory. In the 16 years since that decision, "tribal commerce has proliferated and the inequities engendered by unwarranted tribal immunity have multiplied," Thomas wrote.

Thomas was joined in dissent by Justices Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Samuel Alito.

Scalia also wrote a separate dissent to say that he had agreed with the court's 1998 decision, but is now convinced that is was wrongly decided. Scalia said he would overrule that case "rather than insist that Congress clean up a mess that I helped make."

The case is Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community, 12-515.

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — The Cherokee language will now be shared in even more homes across the country.

This week fluent speakers in the tribe’s translation department read 10 early literacy books in the Cherokee language that were recorded for Unite for Literacy’s online e-book library.

Unite for Literacy, based in Fort Collins, Colo., currently has more than 100 e-books that parents can access for free at http://www.uniteforliteracy.com

The books, targeting ages 0-8, are narrated in 17 different languages, including Navajo, Spanish, Arabic and German, with Cherokee now being the 18th language offered.

“The Unite for Literacy group has a pretty far reach, and their goal is to create literacy among children,” said Roy Boney, manager of the Cherokee Language Program. “Having the option to hear Cherokee in these books is really great for the preservation of the language. We’re very happy to partner with Unite for Literacy to make this happen.”

Michael McGuffee, CEO of Unite for Literacy, says about 25,000 e-books are opened on the website per week. The Cherokee narrations are expected to be online in July.

“We want to support all children in celebrating their cultures and languages, and get culturally and linguistically relevant books in their homes,” McGuffee said. “It’s important to work with the tribes that can narrate these books so they can be listened to in English and in native languages, like Cherokee.”

Some of the books narrated in Cherokee include, “Loud and Clear” by Zaiga Cress and “Saddle Up” by Racheal Martinez.

McGuffee said the books segue into deeper conversations between children and their parents about second-language acquisition. The narrated e-books also serve as a platform for language revitalization.

For more information on the Cherokee Language Program, call 918-453-5487.

 

L to R: Cherokee Language Program Manager Roy Boney watches as Cherokee speaker and translator David Crawler is prepped by Unite for Literacy CEO Michael McGuffee on narrating a book.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – An administrative law judge has ruled that tribal treaties don’t give the Chippewa Indians the right to decide where a crude oil pipeline should be located in northern Minnesota.

An environmental group says the Chippewa should have a say in the location of Enbridge Energy’s proposed pipeline that would carry crude oil from North Dakota to Superior, Wisconsin. Honor the Earth says the pipeline could harm the tribe’s right to fish, hunt and gather wild rice in ceded, off-reservation territory.

The Star Tribune says Judge Eric Lipman has ruled an 1855 treaty ceding Chippewa land in Minnesota to the U.S. government doesn’t forbid creating a new right of way on the land that was sold. Enbridge attorney Christine Brusven argued there is no precedent for the plaintiffs’ request.

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Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – The Alabama Supreme Court has denied the Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ request to dismiss a lawsuit involving a former patron at one of the tribe’s casinos.

At issue is a lawsuit filed by Adrianne Kelly and Edward Gilbert last year. They maintain in the lawsuit that they were injured by a man who they say was intoxicated when he left the Creek Casino Montgomery in the summer of 2011.

Al.com reports that the tribe claims sovereign immunity from such lawsuits.

The state’s highest court disagreed.

Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore wrote that Poarch Creek waived its immunity from lawsuits filed in state court when it bought insurance as a condition to get its alcohol license with Alabama’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) – A federal jury has convicted a consultant for the Blackfeet Indian tribe on more than two dozen charges in a scheme to defraud a $9.3 million mental health program.

U.S. District Judge Brian Morris set a Sept. 4 sentencing for Gary Conti.

Conti was found guilty Thursday of 21 counts of wire fraud along with false claims, theft of federal property, theft from a tribe, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the government.

Conti was convicted of bankruptcy fraud during his first trial in March, but jurors couldn’t reach a verdict on the other fraud charges.

Prosecutors said the retired Oklahoma State University professor kicked back more than $230,000 from a federally funded project to accounts controlled by the program’s leaders. Conti’s attorney has said tribal leaders perpetuated the fraud.

 

HELENA, Mont. (AP) – Montana’s attorney general said Thursday he is asking the U.S. District Court in Missoula for permission to intervene in a water-rights lawsuit filed by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

Attorney General Tim Fox filed a request to enter the case Thursday. He wants the court to dismiss the tribes’ lawsuit.

The tribes in February sued in federal court to prevent the Montana Water Court and the state’s Twentieth Judicial District Court from deciding several water-rights claims on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

The lawsuit also seeks a declaration that water rights for the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project belong to the United States – not to local irrigation districts or irrigators.

Fox argues in his proposed brief that under Montana law, the state Water Court has jurisdiction to determine water-rights claims.

“Montana Water Court is the appropriate court for these matters to be heard and decided upon, but only after all parties have exhausted every effort to agree on a negotiated water compact,” Fox said in a statement. “Bringing these claims to federal court is counterproductive and could derail efforts to reach a negotiated compact.”

After a least a decade of negotiations, a water-rights compact presented to the 2013 Legislature was rejected, prompting the lawsuits.

Who controls water flowing on or through the reservation and how much goes to farmers, ranchers and others through the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project is at the core of the dispute.

Fox said he hopes the overarching water issues can be resolved by a mutually agreed-upon compact between Montana and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes rather than litigation.

“We are all Montanans, and we must work to settle this issue by coming together and discussing our shared interests and responsibilities as Montanans,” Fox said. “Ultimately, we need a compact that can pass the state legislature and Congress. I urge all of the stakeholders to spend the coming months focused on constructive, civil dialogue that is informed by facts and not inflamed by rhetoric or expensive litigation.”

The 2015 session is the final chance for lawmakers to approve the compact.

A call to the tribes’ communications director, Robert McDonald, was not immediately returned.

 

NEW YORK (AP) – As Memorial Day approaches several theme parks have raised their ticket prices. But don’t let that put a damper on your plans. Here are several ways to control the cost of a theme park visit.

TICKETS

It’s usually cheaper to buy tickets online than at the gate. Printing tickets out at home also means less time wasted at the park waiting to buy tickets.

You’ll pay premium prices for one-day tickets, making multi-day tickets a better deal. Universal Orlando’s one-day ticket for both of its parks runs $136, but a four-day park-to-park pass is $195.99 – just $49 a day.

At some parks, a season pass will pay for itself in two visits. At Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles, you can trade in a single-day general admission ticket for a pass good for the rest of the year at no additional charge.

Sign up for park email newsletters, which often include exclusive deals; look for savings on sites like Groupon.com. Check park websites like Disneyworld.com for special offers and planning guides.

Christopher Elliott, a National Geographic travel expert and author of “How to Be the World’s Smartest Traveler,” says “a lot of travel agents – particularly AAA agents – have some really great deals not available online.”

Some parks reduce prices during off-peak hours, like weekdays or late afternoons and evenings. Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, offers cheaper “Starlight Tickets” between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., a great option for teenagers. Lines are shorter too.

Check with your employer, union, university and other groups to see if they have access to park deals. Many parks also offer discounts to members of the military, and many Florida parks offer deals to in-state residents. For Costco’s theme park discounts, visit http://www.costco.com/theme-parks.html . For AAA offers, click on “Entertainment and Attractions” at http://AAA.com/searchfordiscounts .

Some parks partner with stores or products. Look for Six Flags coupons on Coke cans, or enter the promo code “coke” if you’re buying Six Flags tickets on Sixflags.com. Fans of Pennsylvania’s Hersheypark can get coupons this month at participating Burger King, CVS and Subway locations; Giant Food stores in four states sell discount Hersheypark tickets too.

FOOD AND DRINK

Some parks let you bring food and drinks in; others don’t. You can always bring a collapsible water bottle and fill it from a fountain.

If you’re not parked too far away, plan a tailgate picnic at mealtime.

At Walt Disney World in Florida, guests can bring a small cooler – no bigger than 24 inches long by 15 inches wide by 18 inches high – as long as it’s not on wheels and doesn’t contain any glass bottles or alcohol. Rent a locker if you don’t want to carry it all day.

If you don’t mind sharing, the supersized drink is always a better deal than small cups. Some parks offer large souvenir cups with free refills.

PARKING

If you’re flying to Orlando or California and plan a multi-day visit to Disney or Universal, consider the cost of car rentals, gas and parking when pricing hotels. Even if rooms are cheaper away from the park, you might save money (and time) staying at a park-run hotel with free shuttles to and from the park. Packages at park-run properties may include other incentives, like meal discounts and extra hours at the park.

Elliott notes that “time is money” at a theme park. The longer it takes to get into the park from your car, the less time you have for rides.

EXTRAS

Before you go, make a budget for extras. Give the kids $10 or $20 each to blow as they please, but once you set the limit, don’t budge.

Alternatively, declare all extras off-limits. Stay out of gift shops, ignore pricey souvenir photos of screaming kids on roller coasters, say no to activities with additional fees like carnival games, bungee-jumping and ziplining.

PACK WELL

Avoid rip-off prices in the park. Bring sunscreen, camera supplies and rain ponchos from home.

 

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – The U.S. Interior Department on Thursday announced proposed changes to the rules for granting federal recognition to American Indian tribes, revisions that could make it easier for some groups to achieve status that brings increased benefits as well as opportunities for commercial development.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs says it overhauled the rules to make tribal acknowledgment more transparent and efficient.

The changes include a new requirement that tribes demonstrate political authority since 1934, where they previously had to show continuity from “historical times.” That change was first proposed in a draft last June and stirred criticism that the standards for recognition were being watered down.

Kevin Washburn, an assistant secretary with Indian Affairs, said the rules are no less rigorous. He said 1934 was chosen as a dividing line because that was the year Congress accepted the existence of tribes as political entities.

“The proposed rule would slightly modify criteria to make it more consistent with the way we’ve been applying the criteria in the past,” Washburn said in an interview.

Gerald Gray, chairman of Montana’s Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, said the changes offer the path to recognition that his people have sought for decades.

The landless tribe of about 4,500 members has been recognized by the state of Montana since 2000, but its bid for federal recognition was rejected in 2009 partly because the tribe could not document continuity through the early part of the 20th century. Gray said that denial illustrated how the process is broken.

“For a lot of the Plains tribes, and Indians in the country as a whole, there’s oral history but not a lot of written history,” Gray said. “But we can prove our existence as a tribal entity and having a tribal government back to (1934).”

The newly published rules represent the first overhaul in two decades for a recognition process that has been criticized as slow, inconsistent and overly susceptible to political influence. The Interior Department held consultations on the draft proposal around the country last summer and will accept comment for at least 60 days before the rules are finalized.

Federal recognition, which has been granted to 566 American tribes, is coveted because it brings increased health and education benefits to tribal members in addition to land protections and opportunities for casinos and other development projects.

Some of the strongest criticism has come from Connecticut, where elected officials have argued that the proposed changes could benefit three groups that have fallen short of recognition in the past and open the door to new casinos. Officials including Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the state’s congressional delegation said in a joint statement Thursday that changes and clarifications are necessary “to ensure that Connecticut’s interests are protected.”

Supporters of the rule change say it helps to remove unfair burdens. Advocates say that some tribes have been denied recognition because records were lost or burned over hundreds of years, and any tribe that was still together by 1934 had overcome histories of mistreatment.

Other changes in the new rule include:

– Eighty percent of a group’s membership would have to descend from a tribe that existed in historical times. The rule currently says that membership descend from a historical tribe.

– Thirty percent of a group’s membership would have to comprise a community. The rule now says a “predominant portion” of membership must comprise a community.

– Groups that have been denied recognition in the past would be allowed to submit new petitions under some circumstances. That is currently prohibited.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed to this report.

 

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – The death of Crazy Horse Memorial leader Ruth Ziolkowski triggers a succession plan that transfers leadership to three people focused on advancing three main components: the monumental mountain carving, an American Indian museum and an Indian university, its president said.

Ziolkowski, who died Wednesday of cancer at age 87, had taken over leadership of the Black Hills tourist attraction that honors Native Americans upon the 1982 death of her husband, sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski.

“There’s no one successor or two successors in this story,” said Laurie Becvar, president and chief operating officer of the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation. “The succession is the executive management team and there’s three of us. We’re all equal players.”

Two of Ziolkowski’s daughters, Jadwiga and Monique, are the others.

The memorial is envisioned to show the legendary Oglala Lakota warrior astride a horse and pointing east in a carving that will be 641 feet long and 563 feet high – higher than the Washington Monument.

Although the carving remains slow going more than six decades in, the 1,000-acre complex now includes a welcome center, the museum, educational and training area, restaurant, gift shop and the Indian University of North America, which started in 2010 and will host 32 students this summer who take college courses and work at the complex.

“I think the foundation is in the same position without the icon. It’s not going to be business as usual because Ruth won’t be here,” foundation board chairman John Rozell said.

“There was a thought by the general public after Korczak died that the mountain would fail. And I’m sure there are naysayers today that will say the same thing. But it will not. It will continue.”

The memorial draws more than a million visitors and brings in millions of dollars every year, mainly through admission fees, as it does not accept government help. Family members won’t estimate when the carving will be complete, saying much depends on donations and how much work the sometimes-harsh weather permits.

Rozell said a study to be released this fall “will put a little more detail and emphasis on the particulars on how the mountain might progress – how much money it will take to reveal this particular feature or that.”

Becvar said the plan will map out the next steps to finishing Crazy Horse’s hand and the horse’s head, how much it will cost and when it can be done.

The memorial has hired a new curator for the museum, she said, and work is also underway to determine how the university can become an institution that grants four-year degrees.

“We’re creating the next chapter of the Crazy horse Memorial Foundation story,” she said.

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Contact Carson Walker at https://twitter.com/carsonjw