News from Native American Netroots

Welcome to the first edition of News from Native American Netroots, a weekly series focused on indigenous tribes primarily in the United States and Canada, but inclusive of international peoples also.

Our format will be evolving and our focus of coverage will broaden as the series develops.

News from Native American Netroots is unique as a news digest in the fact that this it is based on community contributions.  Articles can be submitted in the commment thread or posted at Native American Netroots each week.

Attorney General Announces Significant Reforms to Improve Public Safety in Indian Country

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced sweeping reforms intended to improve public safety on tribal land. The new directive is part of a larger Justice Department initiative to create better communication and coordination to fight crime and promote justice in Indian Country.

“The public safety challenges we face in Indian Country will not be solved by a single grant or a single piece of legislation,” Holder said. “There is no quick fix. While today’s directive is significant progress, we need to continue our efforts with federal, state and tribal partners to identify solutions to the challenges we face, and work to implement them.”

Taxpayers’ money involved in financing controversial tar sands companies

Indigenous Environmental Network

New report exposes RBS involvement in Canada’s “blood oil

Bank executives meet in Toronto and discuss concerns about public backlash over involvement in tar sands

Environmental and development groups announce a week of protest around the RBS AGM in April over the bank’s tar sands investments.

Sacred Wind donates $35,000

Sacred Wind Communications Inc. is donating $10,000 to the American Indian Graduate Center and $15,000 to the Navajo Technical College.

The Albuquerque firm was voted the most inspiring small business in America in the American Express/NBC Shine a Light contest last October. It received $50,000 in cash, half of which Sacred Wind immediately donated to Native scholarship programs.

Utah Senate OKs more money to oversee Navajo fund

A bill that would double the state’s administrative budget in overseeing the Navajo Revitalization Fund cleared the Senate 24-0 on Tuesday.

According to Utah Housing & Community Development, the goal of this fund is to make the most of the state’s oil and natural gas severance taxes to reduce the impacts of those industries on the Navajo Nation in San Juan County.

“It’s our fund, and we elect to give it back to the Navajo tribe,” said SB169’s sponsor, Sen. David Hinkins, R-Orangeville, in explaining the state’s authority to expand the administrative portion.

LEGISLATION INTRODUCED TO STRENGTHEN PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF DIABETES AMONG AMERICAN INDIANS, NATIVE ALASKANS

WASHINGTON DC – U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, introduced legislation this week that would ramp up federal efforts to prevent and treat diabetes among American Indians and Native Alaskans. Joining Dorgan as lead co-sponsor are Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

The legislation, S. 3058, targets one of the leading health problems among American Indians and Native Alaskans. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, 17 percent of all American Indians and Native Alaskans have diabetes – nearly one in five – the highest rate of any racial or ethnic group in America.

The bill reauthorizes the Special Diabetes Program, which funds both prevention and treatment research for Type I diabetes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a special prevention and treatment program for American Indians and Native Alaskans through the Indian Health Service (IHS). Each of those two programs is currently funded at $150 million annually. The new legislation would increase funding for each program by one third — to $200 million annually — for each of the next five years.

Report: Prospects good for 2010 spring runoff

New Mexico’s spring runoff forecast for March through July is looking good, according to a water-supply report released Friday.

The New Mexico portion of the Rio Grande Basin sports the fifth-best snowpack in 16 years, said Wayne Sleep, snow surveyor for the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Native America Calling

Native America Calling is a live call-in program linking public radio stations, the Internet and listeners together in a thought-provoking national conversation about issues specific to Native communities. Each program engages noted guests and experts with callers throughout the United States and is designed to improve the quality of life for Native Americans. Native America Calling is heard on 52 stations in the United States and in Canada by approximately 500,000 listeners each week.

Utah Senate OKs more money to oversee Navajo fund

A bill that would double the state’s administrative budget in overseeing the Navajo Revitalization Fund cleared the Senate 24-0 on Tuesday.

According to Utah Housing & Community Development, the goal of this fund is to make the most of the state’s oil and natural gas severance taxes to reduce the impacts of those industries on the Navajo Nation in San Juan County.

“It’s our fund, and we elect to give it back to the Navajo tribe,” said SB169’s sponsor, Sen. David Hinkins, R-Orangeville, in explaining the state’s authority to expand the administrative portion.

Citgo will once again donate heating fuel to tribal residents

Applications Currently Available

AKWESASNE TERRITORY – The long-awaited fuel assistance program in

partnership with the CITGO Petroleum Corporation will once again be a

reality for the Mohawk Tribe. CITGO’s partnership with Citizens

Programs Corporation recently confirmed that they will be providing

$1,081,000 of financial support for the Akwesasne Community for home

heating.

www.srmt-nsn.gov/…/CITGOToProvideFuelAssistanceToTribe_040709.pdf

“It’s for tribes in the north for whom heating becomes a survival

issue,” said David T. Staddon, director of public information for the

tribe. “We are the northernmost tribe in the state.

Native protesters block road between Crofton and Chemainus

Members of the Halalt First Nation have erected a blockade in front of their Chemainus Road band office as part of an ongoing dispute with the District of North Cowichan.

North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP Cpl. Kevin Day said the Halalt blocked the road between Crofton and Chemainus Thursday afternoon by parking several vehicles across it. A provincial negotiator has been called in, Day said.

The Halalt are peacefully protesting the Chemainus Wells project, said Tyler George, a Halalt Tribe councillor.

South Dakota not a ‘Race to the Top’ finalist

SIOUX FALLS – South Dakota is not one of the 16 finalists for a federal grant that would have helped the state build a residential school designed to improve academic achievement among Native American students.

The U.S. Department of Education named the finalists Thursday in the first round of its “Race to the Top” competition, delivering $4.35 billion in grants aimed at encouraging and rewarding states that help improve student success.

Under South Dakota’s proposal, partners would have established a year-round, residential school — likely in the Black Hills — for ninth through 12th grades and two years of postsecondary education. Curriculum would have focused on science, technology, engineering and math to address the need for scientists and engineers, while infusing Native American family culture.

Special thanks to our new group of researchers, advisors and diarists who make up NATIVE AMERICAN NETROOTS:

4Freedom, Aji, bablhous, Bill in MD, Chris Rodda, Deep Harm, exmearden, KentuckyKat, Kimberley, Kitsap River, Land of Enchantment, No Way Lack of Brain, Oke, ParkRanger, Richard Cranium, Soothsayer99, swampus, TiaRachel, tlemon, translatorpro, Diogenes2008, birdbrain64, lexalou, marthature, meralda.

Advisors:

Rosebud Reservation

cacamp

SarahLee

lpggirl

Pine Ridge Reservation

Autumn Two Bulls

Kevin Killer, State Rep. Pine Ridge SD Dist. 27

     

Cross Posted at Native American Netroots

 An ongoing series sponsored by the Native American Netroots team focusing on the current issues faced by American Indian Tribes and current solutions to those issues.