News article here. An excerpt:
Anticipating the end of monthly distributions of gaming profits to tribal members, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council late last year enacted a law to protect the tribe’s older, needy members.
The law provides for up to $50,000 a year in financial assistance for “elders,” who are defined for the purposes of the law as those 60 and older as well as those who were at least 55 as of Dec. 31, 2010. The assistance was to begin Jan. 1, the law states.
It’s estimated that about 80 members of the 850-member tribe are at least 55 years old.
Under the new law, elders are eligible to receive annual assistance equal to a “standard of need,” with the amount of the assistance reduced by “offset income” the elder receives in excess of $25,000.
Turtle Talk 