Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation sued Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in federal court, claiming he cut funding for the nation’s Judicial Branch from $17 million each calendar year from 2014 to 2018 to less than $1.5 million this year.
Read moreNative Americans
Barr Announces Plan to Address Crisis of Murdered & Missing Native Americans
U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced a Department of Justice program Friday that will help investigate cases of missing and murdered indigenous people in America.
Read moreHazardous Waste
The Ninth Circuit upheld the enforcement of a judgment of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Court of Appeals, which ruled that FMC Corporation – a chemical manufacturer – must pay an annual use permit fee for storing “radioactive, carcinogenic, and poisonous” waste within the Fort Hall Reservation.
Read moreNative American Shield Returned to New Mexico From France
When a ceremonial Native American shield was returned last week to New Mexico, tribal leaders were there to greet the sacred piece that held a place in their cycle of ceremonies until it vanished from their centuries-old, mesa-top village in the 1970s.
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After 20 Years, Washington Tribe Hopes to Hunt Whales Again
For decades, the only American Indians with a treaty right to hunt whales have been awaiting government permission to hunt again as their people historically did. The next step is a weeklong administrative hearing that began Thursday in Seattle.
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Plan Mulls Killing More Sea Lions to Save Salmon
Decades of efforts, including billions of dollars spent, to prevent the extinction of 13 species of Columbia River salmon and steelhead were stymied by the resurgence of gregarious mammals who themselves returned from the brink. Now, a new plan backed by Native American tribes and three states would attempt to protect the fish by killing more sea lions.
Read moreTop NY Court Won’t Weigh in on Tribe Leadership Fight
New York’s highest court ruled Tuesday that it lacks jurisdiction to resolve the Cayuga Nation’s long-running internal tribal leadership dispute.
Read moreThieves Steal Amazon Fertility Statues as Synod Nears End
Pope Francis’ controversial meeting on the Amazon took a criminal twist Monday after thieves stole indigenous fertility statues from a Vatican-area church and tossed them into the Tiber River.
Read moreAlaska Natives Kick Off Annual Convention With Protest
The largest representative annual gathering in the United States of any native peoples, the Alaska Federation of Natives convention, began Thursday with the theme of its 53rd year “Good Government, Alaska Driven.”
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Pacific Northwest Tribes Want Columbia River Dams Razed
Two Pacific Northwest tribes on Monday demanded the removal of three major hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River to save migrating salmon and starving orcas and restore fishing sites that were guaranteed to the tribes in a treaty more than 150 years ago.
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Research Shows Maya’s Significant Impact on Ecosystem
According to new geographical findings announced Monday, the ancient Maya had a much larger environmental impact on the tropical ecosystem they inhabited than previously understood, countering environmental pressures by creating large agricultural fields in the surrounding wetlands.
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Finland Agrees to Return Native American Remains to Tribes
The ancestral remains of Native American tribes that once called the cliffs of Mesa Verde National Park home will be repatriated as part of an agreement between Finland and the United States.
Read moreCalifornia Wildfire
Members of the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria sued Tetra Tech in a federal class action, claiming they were shorted on wages for serving as “Indian Monitors” during the burn and cleanup of this year’s Camp Fire in Butte County, Calif.
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Tribal Council Says Alamo Management Violated Religious Freedom
An indigenous nation, a member of its tribal council and the San Antonio Missions Cemetery Association filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday morning against the Alamo’s management and related government agencies, claiming these entities violated the nation’s constitutional right to freely exercise their religion.
Read moreEighth Circuit Rules South Dakota Can Tax Casino Work
South Dakota is allowed to tax the renovation of a Native American casino by a nontribal contractor, a divided Eighth Circuit panel ruled Friday.
Read more10th Circuit Sides With Tribe in Land Fight With Cherokee Nation
The formerly landless United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee in Oklahoma may finally have a plot to call home, after a 10th Circuit panel lifted an injunction Thursday to allow the Bureau of Indian Affairs to divvy up a piece of Cherokee Nation land.
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Cherokee Nation Moves to Get Delegate in Congress
A tribal council is set to confirm Thursday a woman’s nomination to become the Cherokee Nation’s first congressional delegate, but it will be up to Congress to decide whether to honor an 1835 treaty and give her a seat in the U.S. House.
Read moreTribe Can’t Sue for Members Who Claim Racial Profiling in Traffic Tickets
Individual members of a Southern California tribe – not the tribe itself – can sue San Bernardino County over traffic tickets handed on the reservation, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled Monday.
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