Indian Country Today Business

LANSING, Mich. – Another showdown is brewing over whether Michigan horse racetracks should be allowed to open casinos in an effort to revive their struggling businesses.

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – Duluth architectural firm is betting on the future of its business with American Indian tribes.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – It started with the arrows. The iconic namesakes of Twin Arrows, once reduced to battered telephone poles leaning into the wind that sweeps across Interstate 40, now glisten red and gold, new heads and fletchings – tail feathers – in place after a recent volunteer restoration effort.

BETHESDA, Md. – In a move to cut the high costs of health insurance, Native-owned and operated Master Key Consulting launched the Master Key for Life wellness program for employees wanting to lose weight and better their health.

WASHINGTON – The federal Community Development Financial Institutions Fund has awarded $4.4 million to 10 Native CDFIs, bringing its funding for the year to more than $16 million, and has embarked on a five-year strategic plan to overcome barriers to lending in Indian country.

If one good thing comes out of these challenging economic times I hope every tribe would take some time to conduct a thorough assessment of its financial standing. Imagine if your tribe had conducted that assessment several years ago and then based its financial decisions not on what everyone else was doing, but instead asked themselves: What is in the best financial interest of my tribe? What can we afford? What if these good times don’t last? Are we getting a reasonable return on our investment in this project?

OKLAHOMA CITY – Brian Busey is hoping one of his recent accolades will inspire others.

VALLEY CENTER, Calif. – Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort has diverted more than 400 tons of recyclables, reduced Styrofoam use by 25 percent and cleaned up more than eight miles of San Diego County beaches. These conservation efforts are the result of the employee driven Green Committee, which meets bi-weekly in support of the company’s CODEGreen Commitment.

Reading “Soil not Oil” is hard work. In seeking justice in today’s desperate world of peak oil, global warming and food riots, Vandana Shiva rages at globalization and mega corporations and champions the poor. But this book does not flow gently along and draw you in with beautiful prose or clear, compelling logic. Instead the message is delivered largely as a rant, a diatribe relying on repetition and emotional generalities. Many will push this book aside long before it’s finished. Pity, for her message is one that touches the heart.

Creating an environment where tribes and First Nations can be proactive in energy investments on their land is what the private equity development fund, known as Native American Resource Partners, does best.

KYLE, S.D. – Nearly two years after launching its Tanka Bar buffalo and cranberry snack, Native American Natural Foods is fast approaching a big milestone in its short history – coast- to-coast distribution.

SEATTLE – Tulalip Data Services and Cascadeo, a Seattle‐based network and IT engineering consulting firm, are bringing the first Internet data exchange point to a Native American reservation in North America. This exchange point, the Northwest Washington Internet Exchange (IX‐NWWA), is an extension of the Seattle Internet Exchange (SIX). The IX‐NWWA is located in the Tulalip Datacenter and is also the first exchange in a North American rural area. The IX‐NWWA has significantly reduced Internet costs in Snohomish County. It has also brought a variety of new service capabilities.

FORT HALL, Idaho (AP) – A $3.5 million federal grant will help the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes finish construction of a 66,200-square-foot justice center in eastern Idaho.

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. (AP) – The new Snoqualmie Casino hasn’t turned out to be the jackpot the tribe expected.

SAN FRANCISCO – “Power Paths” follows the efforts of American Indian tribes as they explore ways to bring renewable energy projects into their communities. From the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains in the Midwest to the Navajo and Hopi of the Southwest, tribes are fighting to protect their land, air and water from the harmful impacts of mining and coal burning and lead the nation in transitioning to renewable energy sources like wind and solar power.

SAN DIEGO – Pacific American Securities, LLC, an institutional brokerage firm based in San Diego, recently announced that VaRene Martin has joined the firm as a senior vice president of marketing. VaRene brings an abundance of experience and knowledge to PAS.

A report recently released by the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a national nonprofit that looks at the wealth, poverty and financial security of families in the United States, gives an in-depth look at how American families are faring across the country in the current economic environment and what states are doing – if anything – to improve citizens’ financial security.

In these tough economic times it’s important to consider ways we can cut back on expenses. Businesses and tribal organizations are feeling the economic crunch. Using creative ways to be resourceful will not only improve the bottom line, but could mean the difference in your business or organization’s survival.

Talking Stick isn’t a stick and doesn’t talk. It is the newest of several enterprises owned and operated by Arizona’s Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Talking Stick Resort, opening early 2010, is the latest piece of an active puzzle for the nearly 9,000 tribal members sandwiched on 50,000 acres surrounded by several rapidly-growing Southwestern communities like Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa and Fountain Hills.

WASHINGTON – The National Indian Gaming Commission recently announced new technology available to tribes to obtain background information on prospective license applicants. Through a new system called Tribal Access Portal, tribal gaming regulators engaged in issuing gaming licenses will be able to check whether a license applicant has a history with any other gaming tribe. Along with information provided by the NIGC/FBI fingerprint submission service, the TAP results will help tribes complete a comprehensive background investigation of prospective license applicants.