Here. Highlights are that there has been no decision on cert. in the Culverts case and that the Wampanoag’s First Circuit gaming win will remain in place.
Massachusetts
Mashpee Casino Land Deal in E. Taunton, MA Finalized
The Mashpee Tribe is planning to locate its casino in Taunton, a struggling city in Southeastern Massachusetts, the city where my grandparents lived in fact. The land deal was just finalized. It sounds like the economic development will be a win-win for the Tribe and the Taunton. Here’s the Taunton Daily Gazette story. Previous coverage here.
Statewide Listening Sessions with Native Peoples in Massachusetts
Press release here:
(Boston, July 9, 2015) – UMass Boston’s Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS) and Suffolk University Law School’s Indigenous Peoples Rights Clinic are pleased to announce a year-long, statewide project, Massachusetts Native Peoples and the Social Contract: A Reassessment for Our Times.
Supported by a grant from Mass Humanities, the two organizations will host four roundtable discussions and listening sessions in areas of the state with substantial Native American populations.
The goal is to bring Native peoples’ voices to the forefront, engaging Natives in Massachusetts in looking at the past, the present, and the future through the lens of the social contract between the state and Native peoples whose homelands are within the borders of the state, and discussing issues affecting tribal members and the communities.
In conjunction with tribal leaders from tribal communities, INENAS Director Cedric Woods and Nicole Friederichs, director of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Clinic, will lead the roundtable discussions and moderate the listening sessions in Worcester, Boston, Mashpee, and Amherst. The first session will be held in Worcester Public Library on August 29, hosted by the Nipmuc Tribe.
All are welcome to attend these important events; there will be an opportunity for those present to share their thoughts.
The four roundtable discussions will he held:
- Worcester Public Library- August 29, 2-4 p.m.
- Mashpee Wampanoag government building, Mashpee- October 3, 4-6 p.m.
- UMass Amherst, Commonwealth Honors College Events Hall, Rm. 160 (Next to RootsCafé) – November 5, 6-8 p.m.
- North American Indian Center of Boston, 105 South Huntington Ave. Jamaica Plain- March11, 2016, noon to 2 p.m.
New Studies Show Pequot and Mohegan Casinos are Good*
From the Connecticut Economy, a journal published by the University of Connecticut.
The first article, “Spill-Free Gaming,” demonstrated that the operation of the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos had no adverse effect on local crime rates. A second article, “The State of Play in New England Casino Gaming,” argues that the enormous revenues generated by gaming Connecticut means that legalized gambling in Rhode Island and Massachusetts is inevitable. Another article, “Got Game?” demonstrated that these two casinos contribute $430 million a year to the Conn. general fund.
Turtle Talk 