tribal issues
Ninth Circuit Nails Tribe for $58 Million in Cigarette Taxes
The federal government can collect $58 million in delinquent taxes from a Native American tribal member’s tobacco business, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled Monday, upholding a trial court’s decision.
Read moreFeds Accuse Native American of Polluting Wetlands
The United States brought a federal complaint Monday against a Native American who it says has ignored a demand to clean up years of construction waste dumped into Long Island wetlands.
Read moreMinnesota Officials Advance Contentious Pipeline Project
Enbridge Energy’s proposal to replace its rundown Line 3 oil pipeline was approved by Minnesota regulators on Thursday, upsetting opponents of the project who say the decision will be seen as a sign of disrespect to area tribes.
Read moreFeds Say Tribe Can’t Account for $14.5M in Grants
The federal government will not pay for a $14.5 million highway contract on Montana’s Crow Indian Tribe reservation because it says the tribe cannot find the receipts for the project.
Read moreHigh Court Takes Up Native American Tax Case
The state of Washington will head to the U.S. Supreme Court next term for the right to tax a fuel distributor owned by a Native American tribe.
Read moreInterior Dept. Must Allow Review of Tribal Casino Land Docs
After losing a challenge in February to the Interior Department’s decision to set aside land for a tribal casino, a nonprofit will be allowed to assess whether the government wrongly withheld documents from the court record.
Read moreEndangered Fish
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s mismanagement of the Klamath Irrigation Project threatens two endangered fish in the Klamath River: C’waam, or Lost River suckers, and Koptu, or shortnose suckers, the Klamath Tribes claims in a federal complaint.
Read moreNinth Circuit Berates Federal Judge, Reassigns His Case
The Ninth Circuit berated a district court judge as it overturned a series of lower court decisions on Tuesday, bringing clarity to a complex water rights issue in northern Nevada.
Read moreWisconsin High Court Deadlock Shields Burial Sites
An equally divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday automatically affirmed the denial of a concrete company’s bid to remove Native American burial mounds from its property to expand its quarry operations.
Read moreJustices Punt Decision on Land Dispute With Tribe
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday perpetuated a years-long fight between an Anglo couple and a Native American tribe over a single acre of land in Washington state, finding the Evergreen State’s high court must decide whether common law bars sovereign immunity for the tribe when real estate is involved.
Read moreJustices Take Up Murder Case Involving Tribal Land
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether Oklahoma lacked jurisdiction to try a tribe member for murder based on 1866 territorial boundaries establishing a reservation in the eastern part of the state.
Read moreTribal Pastor Fights US on Eagle Feather Restrictions
A Native American feather dancer asked the U.S. government Thursday to end its restrictions on tribes using eagle feathers in religious ceremonies.
Read moreHopi Tribe and Coal Interests Sue Over Power Plant
In an attempt to save more than 800 jobs in the region, the Hopi Tribe and groups of coal miners have filed a lawsuit in federal court arguing that a water conservation district should continue buying power from a massive coal-fired plant that is slated to close next year.
Read moreDNA Shows Tribe’s Decline Long Before Europeans Came
The ancient genomes of the Tsimshian indigenous people reveal their population was on a gradual decline at least 6,000 years ago, according to a new study that is the first population-level nuclear DNA analysis of a Native American group – ancient or modern.
Read moreSupreme Court Tackles Tribal Salmon Rights in Culverts Case
The Supreme Court struggled on Wednesday to decipher exactly how much fish a group of Native American tribes in the Pacific northwest are entitled to under a series of century old treaties with the federal government.
Read moreWisconsin High Court Hears Tribal Burial Site Dispute
The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in two related cases surrounding a concrete company’s effort to remove Native American burial grounds from its property to expand its quarry.
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