Indian Country Today National Northwest

According to the Department of Justice, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation is the first tribe in the nation to comply with, and implement, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act passed by Congress in 2006.

WARM SPRINGS, Ore. (AP) – At first Merle Kirk and Adeline Miller were inseparable. For eight hours a day, the two went over language drills. Miller, a tribal elder, would say a word in her native Ishichkin, and Kirk would repeat it. They traveled and taught together. Kirk listened without interrupting.

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) – Concerns about the spread of flu has the Puyallup Tribe reconsidering an unpopular worker attendance rule at its casinos.

PORT ANGELES, Wash. – When the dams come down on the Elwha River in 2012, the lake waters will recede, revealing the origins of the Klallam people.

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) – Ferry service to Lummi Island could see big changes if the Lummi Nation moves forward with ambitious plans to redevelop land for habitat and moorage.

The Lummi Nation is surveying every species living in more than 7,000 acres of tidelands on the tribe’s reservation.

LAPWAI, Idaho (AP) – The Nez Perce tribe will benefit from a federal cash infusion of $430,000 to help clean up a pair of underground storage tanks on its northcentral Idaho reservation.

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Dune Lankard is an Athabaskan Eyak of the Eagle Clan who resides in Cordova when he isn’t traveling around the world to share the remarkable story of his work to preserve and protect the natural resources of his homeland.

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.

WORLEY, Idaho – Rows of tables laden with food filled the Rose Creek Longhouse and approximately 300 people gathered to wish Coeur d’Alene tribal elder Felix Aripa a happy 86th birthday. Aripa is well-known, referred to often as “uncle,” and well-respected throughout the Coeur d’Alene Reservation.

SPOKANE, Wash. – Artifacts belonging to the Spokane, Colville, Nez Perce and Coeur d’Alene tribes were recently returned following a several-year investigation by federal authorities. Tribal representatives gathered at the federal courthouse in Spokane to receive more than 1,400 artifacts. Unfortunately, that is only a small percentage of the items stolen over the years by Kenneth L. Milette of Newport, Wash.

The Skagit River System Cooperative recently celebrated the success of two major estuary restoration projects.

3 of 3 in a series

Kodiak Cama’i. Asirtuq tailuten: “Hello. It is good you came.” Alutiiq history has historically been oral, and today, voices from the past speak in different ways on Kodiak Island.

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. (AP) – An operation to clear Puget Sound and the North Olympic Peninsula’s waters of derelict commercial fish nets has cleared more than 10,000 pounds of nets that trapped and killed thousands of salmon, bottom fish, crab, sea mammals and diving birds.

NEWPORT, Ore. – A Newport school district has ended a long-standing eagle feather graduation ceremony it once held for Native high school seniors after learning that federal law prohibits it.

TULALIP, Wash. – Tulalip Resort Casino, in the Pacific Northwest, has been honored with the AAA Four Diamond Award. Nationally recognized as one of the most coveted symbols of excellence in the hospitality industry, the AAA Diamond Rating System describes a property’s level of service, comfort, cleanliness and safety.

WASHINGTON – A group of Native Americans is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case calling for an end to the controversial trademark of the National Football League’s Redskins team name and logo.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) – A Boise woman has achieved her goal of having protected a sacred American Indian site in Boise and erecting a stone tribute marking the area.