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WASHINGTON­­--The U.S. House of Representatives concluded two days of debate and passed the Commerce-Justice-Science 2008 appropriations bill that contained $430 million in funding for the Department of Justice Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Programs. While this amount is an increase of $47.5 million over the FY 2006 budget, it was not enough to fully fund all of the existing and new programs authorized under VAWA 2005.

Several champions of the day emerged to offer amendments to increase funding for new programs that were authorized but not funded under VAWA 2005.

BISMARCK, N.D.--“Advancing Tribal Sovereignty: Strengthening Tribal Cultures” is the theme for the eleventh annual Intertribal Council Summit meeting set for September 4 – 6 in Bismarck. The event will be held at the Bismarck Civic Center Exhibit Hall with the opening ceremony beginning at 1 p.m. Tuesday, September 4.

Keynote speakers include Carl Artman, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, U. S. Department of Interior; Winona LaDuke, White Earth Band of Chippewa, former vice presidential candidate; and Wayne Stenehjem, North Dakota Attorney General.

By Bill McAllister

WASHINGTON—Lawyers in a major class action lawsuit are opposing an Interior Department plan that they say will deprive the "vast majority" of an estimated 500,000 Native Americans whose families have had government-managed trust accounts from receiving a court-ordered accounting of what happened to their funds.

Attorney Keith Harper, representing Indian plaintiffs in an 11-year-old class action lawsuit, said the U.S. Interior Department's proposed accounting would strip most members of the class of the right to secure a long-promised accounting.

Harper made his comments to U.S. District Judge James Robertson after the judge expressed concern that both sides in the lawsuit may have sharply different views about what constitutes a proper accounting.

By Tim Giago

"Reading, riting and rithmatic, taught to the tune of a hickory stick" probably says more about early America than most of us dare to remember.

It was not uncommon for teachers to have a hickory stick or a ping-pong paddle within easy reach and to use these tools to punish unruly children. As a matter of fact, parents expected that their children be paddled or spanked if they acted up in school.

In fact, spanking at home by both parents was perfectly acceptable in the society when I was young. Although I don't recall either of my parents using this form of discipline on me I observed it in other families, especially when I moved from the Indian reservation to the city.

This is what marriage is really all about:

An old Indian man ordered one hamburger, one order of French fries and one drink. Then he unwrapped the plain hamburger and carefully cut it in half. He placed one half in front of his wife. He then carefully counted out the French fries, dividing them into two piles, and neatly placed one pile in front of his wife.

He took a sip of the drink. His wife took a sip and then set the cup down between them. As he began to eat his few bites of hamburger, the people around them kept looking over and whispering. You could tell they were thinking, "That poor old Indian couple. All they can afford is one meal for the two of them."

By Bill McAllister

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In his first major order in the long-running Indian trust lawsuit, U.S. District Judge James Robertson has ordered a trial into the adequacy of the government's multi-million dollar effort to render the long-delayed historical accounting.

The order, issued April 23, rejected the government's request that the judge do nothing to resolve the case and allow the government to continue its slow pace of examining trust records.

Robertson was named in 2006 to succeed U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth as the presiding judge over the case of Cobell v. Kempthorne in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.