Indian Country Today National Northeast

WASHINGTON – The National Indian Gaming Commission has announced a one-year extension for tribal gaming authorities on implementing new Class II gaming regulations.

PORTLAND, Maine – Leaders of a new group that’s launching a new effort to win approval for a casino in western Maine is ready to begin collecting signatures to force a referendum next year.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Appeals court judges hearing arguments Oct. 14 on the legality of North Carolina’s video poker ban sounded wary of negating the will of the General Assembly when it granted an exception to machines on the Cherokee Indian reservation.

WASHINGTON – “This is a repatriated item I’m wearing today. I wore it on purpose. You have no idea how important this is for me to wear. You have no idea how important it is for some little old lady in Kake, Alaska to know that I’m wearing this today.”

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina’s senators have introduced a bill to provide federal recognition to the state’s Lumbee Indian tribe.

WASHINGTON – Rep. Herseth Sandlin recently announced that the Rosebud Sioux Tribe is the recipient of a $25 million grant to construct an adult correctional facility with enhanced capacity that supports the cultural traditions of rehabilitating the incarcerated. The funding was authorized as part of the Recovery Act Correctional Facilities on Tribal Lands Program.

DAYTON, Ohio – “The meaning of this project goes way beyond the goods that are given out. It’s about making connections between people,” said Guy W. Jones, Hunkpapa Lakota, who recently completed an annual 2,200-mile, nine-day pilgrimage to deliver more than 50,000 pounds of donated clothes and school supplies to the Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., recently announced that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has released $476,000 to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe for the Wiconi Wakan Health and Healing Center. The funds will be used to provide suicide prevention services and counseling for children and youth aged 10 to 24.

When’s a good time to start talking to children about going to college? The Wabanaki Bates-Bowdoin-Colby Collaborative thinks it’s never too early; the innovative educational partnership begins its effort with fourth graders.

WASHINGTON – The federal government will soon start handing out the first $4 billion from a pot of stimulus funds intended to spread high-speed Internet connections to more rural communities, poor neighborhoods and other pockets of the country clamoring for better access. The challenge is that the government has received $28 billion in requests.

WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to protect the rights of Native Americans in her quest to reform health care.

MARGARETSVILLE, N.Y. – The Blue Deer Center, a nonprofit retreat, was founded in 2005 by Eliot Cowan, a Huichol Indian shaman, teacher and master of acupuncture.

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) – An Indian tribe says plans to build a commercial wind farm in western Ohio pose a threat to an ancient burial mound and the state should put a barrier around it to keep it from being disturbed.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Penn. – Penn State University’s American Indian Leadership Program has kicked off events to celebrate 40 continuous years of honing leadership qualities in Native graduate and doctoral students pursuing careers in education.

WASHINGTON – Educators from across the country committed to improving educational opportunities for American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students will gather to trade information and learn from one another at the 40th annual convention of the National Indian Education Association.

WASHINGTON – White House officials chose Columbus Day to announce a first-of-its-kind conference to be held with leaders from all federally recognized tribes. President Barack Obama will host a White House Tribal Nations Conference Nov. 5 from 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – She is the first woman elected to chair the Mohegan Tribal Council, but Lynn Malerba says she is just the latest in the nation’s long line of women leaders.

WASHINGTON – A group of senators has requested that President Barack Obama strengthen tribal self-governance and support self-sufficiency by funding longstanding shortfalls in the federal contract support system.

HANOVER, N.H. – A group of Indian country’s highest achieving high school seniors spent a week during the summer immersed in a special program aimed at encouraging them to pursue careers in finance and provide the financial leadership to help their nations’ economies move forward.

WASHINGTON – Voter rights advocates are calling on the Obama administration’s Justice Department to improve the system for Native Americans.