Joe Nelson, Staff Writer

SAN MANUEL INDIAN RESERVATION - In an unprecedented move, San Manuel Chairman James Ramos has announced his tribe’s decision to fine two convicted tribal members linked to a murder conspiracy and ban them from the reservation.

Decisions made by the tribal council, composed of all tribal members over age 21, typically remain private matters within the tribe and are never made public. Read more…

Posted on January 10th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: Law and Order, Reservations | No Comments »

BY DARIN FENGER, SUN STAFF WRITER

The Cocopah Indian Tribe is making its third plea to Congress for permission to extend the reservation’s traditional boundaries to include lands purchased by the tribe.

Congressman Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., recently introduced the Cocopah Lands Act to the 110th Congress.

The act would allow the Cocopah Indian Tribe to expand its boundaries to include 423 acres, according Liz Pratt, director of communications for the tribe. That land was purchased by the tribe since the Cocopah Reservation was created in 1917 through an executive order by President Woodrow Wilson. Read more…

Posted on January 9th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: Federal Government, Land | No Comments »

By Victor Morales, Today correspondent

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - At least 450 Indian casino jobs have been terminated in California. Elaborate plans to expand gaming operations at one casino have been scrapped, nullifying a heavily fought for compact amendment. And more slot machines are sitting idle in California’s Indian casinos.

But the national recession and credit crisis that set off those developments is not letting some of the participants and organizers of this year’s California Nations Indian Gaming Association conference damper the mood. Read more…

Posted on January 9th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: Gaming | No Comments »

Follow in the footsteps of Southern California’s first leading lady to discover the story behind the story of Helen Hunt Jackson’s enduring heroine.

By Christopher Reynolds, Reporting from Ventura, Riverside, and San Diego Counties

Why, you may ask, are we rushing north on Interstate 5 and veering east on California 126 into the Santa Clara Valley? Why are we pulling off the road by a fruit stand and slipping into the backyard? Are we going to tip a cow? Steal oranges? Read more…

Posted on January 9th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: History | No Comments »

Now is the time to rethink Indian policy. While most Indian people have come to accept Indian policies, U.S. government policies toward Indian people continue to have mixed results. Perhaps the most effective changes in Indian economic development and welfare have come through initiatives pressed by the Indian people themselves.

The struggles to establish Indian gaming is probably the best example of self-help. Gaming, however, is often a mixed blessing. The benefits of gaming are distributed unevenly throughout Indian country. At the same time, many tribes have gained considerable access to capital and ability to invest in their communities, cultures and futures. Many Indian reservation communities are not so lucky, and find themselves significantly dependent on federal funds. Read more…

Posted on January 9th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: Federal Government, History, sovereignty | No Comments »

By Onell Soto, Union-Tribune Staff Writer

The Pala Band of Mission Indians is bidding to buy back its ancestral homeland, now the site of the Warner Springs Ranch resort.

If it wins - it’s competing with another bidder who has also made an all-cash offer - the tribe plans to continue to operate the sprawling resort where golfers, horse lovers and people seeking a remote haven from the city go. Read more…

Posted on January 8th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: Land, Reservations | No Comments »

First Americans arrived as 2 separate migrations, according to new genetic evidence

The first people to arrive in America traveled as at least two separate groups to arrive in their new home at about the same time, according to new genetic evidence published online on January 8th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. After the Last Glacial Maximum some 15,000 to 17,000 years ago, one group entered North America from Beringia following the ice-free Pacific coastline, while another traversed an open land corridor between two ice sheets to arrive directly into the region east of the Rocky Mountains. (Beringia is the landmass that connected northeast Siberia to Alaska during the last ice age.) Those first Americans later gave rise to almost all modern Native American groups of North, Central, and South America, with the important exceptions of the Na-Dene and the Eskimos-Aleuts of northern North America, the researchers said. Read more…

Posted on January 8th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: Opinion | No Comments »

BY JAMES GILBERT, SUN STAFF WRITER

The Imperial County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to treat the death of a tribal singer whose body was found in November next to railroad tracks near Yuma as “suspicious,” Sheriff Raymond Loera said.

The sheriff said his agency routinely labels deaths it investigates as suspicious until it ascertains the cause of death. Read more…

Posted on January 7th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: News | No Comments »

Warner Springs Ranch Ousts Board, Possibly Opening Way for Pala Band to Buy Back Ancestral Homeland

By Don Bauder

Members of North County’s financially-troubled Warner Springs Ranch have successfully ousted the board by a vote ratio of more than 4 to 3. A new board has been elected. For some time, there has been a feud among the 1,000 owners. Read more…

Posted on January 6th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: Land, Reservations | No Comments »

With recession, financial market freeze, tribe walks away from casino deal

By Victor Morales, Today correspondent

EL CAJON, Calif. - Recession and the credit freeze has convinced a California tribe to halt an expansion to their casino operations, informing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that it will forgo on a negotiated compact that would have more than doubled the number of its current slot machines.

The Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians is the latest southern California tribe stung by the recently acknowledged national recession. Over the past six months more than 450 Indian gaming jobs were lost at two of the region’s biggest Indian gaming venues - the Morongo and Pechanga casinos. Read more…

Posted on January 5th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: Gaming, Reservations, State Government | No Comments »