Reznet

President Barack Obama could determine the future of the Seneca Nation of Indians’ economy. Late Thursday night the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Prevention of All Cigarette Trafficking Act. Through the legislation the U.S. Postal Service will no longer ship cigarettes in the mail.

After 30 years of language lessons, educators are wondering what key ingredient is missing as students fail to reach fluency in their native language. "What are we doing wrong?" asked Ethel Gardner of Lakehead University as she opened a two-day Ojibway language conference at the Best Western Lakeside Inn.

About 40 grandmothers have occupied the Hollow Water First Nation's band office to protest what they say are corrupt financial practices. Some of the kookums -- Ojibway for 'grandmother' -- say they are meeting Saturday with auditors from Indian Affairs who may consider looking into the band's finances.

Utah lawmakers have approved a $33 million settlement in a dispute alleging Utah failed to properly manage an oil-and-gas royalty trust set up by Congress to benefit Utah's Navajo Indians.

A federal appeals court this week moved to allow uranium mining operations in Churchrock, a Navajo community just east of Gallup, New Mexico. The decision by the Federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals comes at a time of increased financial incentives for uranium mining—but also intense opposition from many communities, including the Navajo Nation, which outlawed uranium mining in 2005.

The Little Shell Chippewa Alliance's election went on without incident Saturday, despite all the controversy leading up to it. Tribal President John Sinclair — the man at the center of the tribe's political rift — attempted to thwart the election by threatening legal action against facilities allowing the election to take place on their property. Alliance poll sites were placed across the state and in Spokane.

All the modern technologies and amenities are available at the new Navajo Regional Behavioral Health Center in Shiprock, but still the emphasis lies on traditional healing. The 56,000-square-foot facility opened to its first eight patients last month, a far cry from its 72-patient capacity.

Amik Smallwood, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, was one of four Ojibwe and Lakota storytellers at the event organized by groups from the University of Minnesota Duluth, UWS, the College of St. Scholastica and Lake Superior College.

The Seneca Indians, who control a gambling and cigarette empire that brings in more than $1 billion a year, appear to have shut down tlegislation and kept the tribe in the cigarette business, a case study in the power of a well-financed special interest to thwart what had seemed to be a national consensus.

Emergency operations related to Operation 2010 Snowfall have been downscaled to a skeleton crew. Snow operations are standing down, however work to start addressing the impending mud and flooding issues will begin.

Alejandro Yazzie, a member of the Navajo Nation, was killed in action by a Taliban sniper Feb. 16. He was supporting combat operations in Helmand province, the site of a major military offensive of U.S. and Afghan forces against the Taliban.

The Two Rivers Tribune, a weekly newspaper serving the Hoopa Valley Tribe, recently received an ad campaign from the U.S. Census Bureau, but they weren’t happy about it. The ads featured images of tepees and urban cityscapes, neither of which reflected the culture or concerns of the Hupa people, whose community is situated in the redwoods of remote northern California.

As the Winter Games come to a close, what legacy will the Olympics leave British Columbia's aboriginal people. While some say the Games have benefited some native communities -- namely those groups whose lands are being used to host the Games -- others fear that little is being said or done to highlight the problems many of Vancouver's indigenous population still face.

UND’s Fighting Sioux nickname has survived another month after the State Board of Higher Education decided not to retire it on Thursday when it met here at Lake Region State College.

Native American high school students planning to attend college and curious about media careers will learn firsthand about higher education opportunities and journalism during a week-long workshop April 19-23 at Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota’s Black Hills. Inquire by Feb. 26.

Susan P. Abrams for years led a determined group of Senecas that almost derailed casino gambling by the tribe, arguing at local and national forums that casinos were a bad roll of the dice for her people.

A Navajo Nation Council committee is scheduled to consider a bill next week that proposes borrowing up to $4 million from the tribe’s insurance commission to supplement the emergency management budget.

Book review: Louise Erdrich's new novel seems both fiction – art, not writing, unites these fictional creatures – and also a true commentary on love gone viciously wrong. As the subject of her painter-husband's work, Irene functions as her husband's very profitable muse.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is fighting an electric substation that Duke Energy plans to build near Kituwah, the site of a sacred mound near the Tuckasegee River in western North Carolina.

Friends and fans of WWE Hall of Famer Jack Brisco were saddened to learn that the legendary grappler died in Tampa earlier Monday from heart complications. He was 68.