Interlochen Public Radio coverage here.
Detroit Free Press coverage here (including a quote of sorts from me).
News
Canada endorses UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
NM Pueblo Bans Newspaper
From the Seattle Times:
Exercising its rights as a sovereign nation, a small Indian community has banned the local newspaper from its reservation for publishing details about the horrific killing of a member of the tribe.
Elsewhere, such a move would have prompted a debate on freedom of speech.
But in the remote town nestled in northern New Mexico’s mesas and red rocks, the ban is an example of press freedoms long accepted throughout the U.S. running up against tribal sovereignty.
The leaders of the Jemez Pueblo were horrified by the seven-paragraph story in the Jemez Thunder newspaper that recounted the killing.
Tribes exploring trade partnerships with Turkey
Here’s the Seattle Times article and an excerpt:
Native American businessmen are increasingly seeking global business partnerships to create jobs and new businesses in their territories. They have held talks with Chinese, Spanish and Australian companies, but their tribal leaders’ trip to Turkey was the first large-scale overseas exploration of new trade ties, they said.Lincoln McCurdy, president of the Turkish Coalition of America, which organized the trip, said Thursday that the Native American tribes belong to sovereign nations that can strike their own trade deals and offer special tax incentives.
“Native Americans are becoming global minded,” said McCurdy, adding that they already have held talks with foreign companies to do business in telecommunications and mining industry, including copper.
The delegation, representing 17 tribes from at least 10 U.S. states, has been welcomed by the Turkish government, which wants to bolster trade ties with the United States, a key ally and Turkey’s seventh largest trading partner.
Ute to Petition Obama for Return of Lands
News article here.
The Uintah & Ouray Indian Reservation is shown, with the Uncompahgre Reservation identified as the southeastern block bordered in blue. The reservation’s current lands are colored in gold, surrounded by state, federal and private lands in yellow.
GTB Celebrates Past and Present Leaders
From the Traverse City Record Eagle:
Five arrows, five leaders — one history.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians has a new permanent exhibit at its Eyaawing Museum & Cultural Center off M-22 in Peshawbestown.
The exhibit features a bundle of five tribal chairperson “leadership arrows.” Each handcrafted arrow is marked with the names and years of service of all the tribal chairpersons who served since the tribe was federally recognized in 1980. They are:
• Ardith “Dodie” Harris Chambers, 1980
• Joseph “Buddy” Raphael, 1980-1996
• George E. Bennett, 1996-2000
• Robert Kewaygoshkum, 2000-2008
• Derek J. Bailey, 2008-present
Isabella County Board of Commissioners Approves Saginaw Chippewa Reservation Boundaries Settlement
From the Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun (an excerpt):
Isabella County commissioners on Tuesday agreed to a settlement in the lawsuit filed by the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.
Following in the footsteps of the federal government, the state, the Tribal Council and the city of Mt. Pleasant, commissioners agreed to the the settlement in a 6-1 vote, with Commissioner John Haupt dissenting.
Citing the Tribe’s planned water park on east Pickard Road, Haupt said he is concerned that the county will have to foot the bill for the infrastructure for the project,
which he said will also contain restaurants that could put existing eateries out of business.
Essentially identical to the settlement approved by the Mt. Pleasant City Commission on Monday, the agreement provides for cross-deputization of city and state police officers, and Isabella County Sheriff’s officers.
Tribal Police officers have historically been deputized but state, county and city officers have not been cross-deputized to enforce Tribal and federal law.
The agreement calls for thos officers to begin enforcing those laws and gives the Tribe jurisdiction over Tribal members and other Native Americans within the boundaries of the Isabella Reservation, which includes Deerfield, Denver, Isabella, Nottawa and Wise townships, and the northern halves of Chippewa and Union townships.
SCIT Release on Boundaries Settlement
From the SCIT page:
SETTLEMENT RECOGNIZES TREATY BOUNDARIES
November 8, 2010
The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribal Council today approved settlement of a suit it filed in federal court seeking recognition of the Isabella Indian Reservation. The settlement will ask the federal court to recognize the boundaries of the Isabella Indian Reservation established by the treaties of 1855 and 1864 and comprised of five full and two half townships in Isabella County.
According to Tribal Chief, Dennis V. Kequom Sr., the Tribe is pleased to reach this negotiated settlement with the City and State.
“We are hopeful that the county will join the city and state, and that the court will approve this settlement so that the governments can put this dispute behind them,” said Chief Kequom. “The federal government has also approved the settlement. General counsel for the Tribe, Sean Reed, said that “this settlement clearly recognizes the Tribe’s Reservation boundaries as ‘Indian Country’ and provides certainty with respect to the proper exercise of jurisdiction over Tribal members.”
The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe filed suit against the governor of Michigan, the Michigan attorney general, and the treasurer of the State of Michigan in November of 2005 . The federal government joined with the Tribe in 2006. The city of Mt. Pleasant and Isabella County joined the state of Michigan in the lawsuit in 2007.
The settlement includes several intergovernmental agreements regarding issues of law enforcement, Indian child welfare, taxation, zoning and land use. It is the result of over 20 months of Court facilitated mediation.
Saginaw Chippewa and State Reach Settlement on Boundaries Case
Reported on Indianz.
Judge Ludington won’t approve the settlement until the public comments, according to the news. Strange there’s no settlement document available on which to comment….
LTBB Suspends Economic Incentive Payments
Article here, from Uplivenorth.
TV coverage here, from channels 9 & 10.
Turtle Talk 
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