Indian Country Today National Midwest

Katy Brinegar, 22, has traveled a long, often pain-filled road.

IGNACIO, Colo. – A lengthy battle by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe ended with a win Oct. 1 as the tribe prepared to take over operation of the Southern Ute Health Center, a former IHS facility that provides health care to Southern Ute tribal members and other local American Indians.

DENVER – Summer ends and sunburned tourists return home with souvenirs, among them T-shirts depicting scenic Colorado.

DENVER – From a Native perspective, archaeology has often been seen as the central villain in America’s quest to uncover and claim – and sometimes illegally market – the remnants of an ancient past.

DENVER – For the first time a city agency has taken an open, if cautious, position against the existing celebration of Columbus Day, which traditionally triggers street protests near the state capitol.

BOULDER, Colo. – Identity and tradition are “slippery words” but both have to do with customary activities carried out in familiar surroundings, a Zuni philosopher told an audience of mostly non-Natives at the University of Colorado Sept. l7.

SALT LAKE CITY – Once the legal dust settles from the biggest bust of Southwestern Native American artifact looting, U.S. officials face another daunting task: deciding what to do with the ancient sandals, pipes, pendants and thousands of other items associated with the investigation.

DENVER—Six trout were caught – one over the legal limit of five – and some license plate numbers were recorded by law enforcement during a recent fish-in at a lake in South Dakota, according to a long-time Native activist.

SALT LAKE CITY – It’s the start of a new school year at the University of Utah, but at least one American Indian student will not be attending.

RIVERTON, Wyo. (AP) – A new multistory hotel is expected to help attract more gamblers to the Wind River Casino.

RIVERTON, Wyo. (AP) – The Northern Arapaho Tribe is undertaking its first major expansion of its Wind River Casino at Riverton.

IGNACIO, Colo. – Tribal energy can meet changing national needs in effective ways, said James Roan Gray, principal chief of the Osage Nation, Oklahoma. He was elected chairman of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes July 1.

WORLEY, Idaho – Thirteen years ago the Coeur d’Alene Tribe pledged to give five percent of its casino earnings to education and schools on and off the reservation, even though this was not required in the compact with the state.

RIVERTON, Wyo. (AP) – A new multi-story hotel is expected to help attract more gamblers to the Wind River Casino.

On the wood walls of a church camp meeting room, lists scrawled on butcher paper defined reasons American Indians drop out of school.

DENVER – The Denver Indian Family Resource Center was dealt a serious blow in early July when its founding director, Phyllis Bigpond, known nationally for 40 years of community service work, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

BELCOURT, N.D. (AP) – The leadership of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa is in dispute, with the chairman and the Tribal Council trying to remove each other.

DENVER – A Native’s light skin color may play a role in offensive workplace remarks, but the questionable interchange doesn’t violate the law, an appellate court has ruled.

SALT LAKE CITY – Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Land Management agents, joined by the U.S. Marshals and local and state law enforcement partners, were simultaneously arresting defendants and executing search warrants in Utah June 10 following a more than two-year undercover operation targeting a network of individuals allegedly involved in the sale, purchase and exchange of artifacts illegally taken from public or Indian lands in the Four Corners region. The investigation represents the nation’s largest investigation of archaeological and cultural artifact thefts.

DENVER – Nissan North America, Inc. is renewing its commitment to American Indian education by donating $85,000 to the American Indian College Fund through its Corporate Scholars Program. The grant will fund 10 tribal college scholarships and five mainstream scholarships for American Indian scholars. It also provided $20,000 for the fund’s 20th anniversary gala fundraising event to be held in Denver at the Seawall Ballroom, Denver Center for the Performing Arts Oct. 28 to bring in further scholarship donations.