06 Dec 2009: Native News from PECHANGA.net

With 63% unemployment, Oregon tribe clings to hope (OREGON) -- Siding flaps from the salvaged house trailer, and the door catches on the way out. But Celena Gilbert, an unemployed mother of three, smiles as she carries an orange-frosted cake toward her pickup.

Tribal violence continues to capture Senate attention (WASHINGTON, DC) -- For the third time in just a few months, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has focused attention on combating tribal gang violence and drug trafficking.

Navajo politics turn sour over move to cut council (ARIZONA) -- An ongoing political battle pitting the president of the vast Navajo Nation against the majority of the tribal council has left ordinary Navajos concerned that the politicians have become too engrossed in petty fights to do the work they were elected to do.

Copenhagen climate summit: A time for ingenuity and political leadership (UK) -- The road to Copenhagen has proved to be a rocky one. This past fortnight, ahead of the climate-change summit that starts in the Danish capital on Monday, the air has been thick with pejorative cries of "warmist" and "denier".

Climate change, drought transforming Navajo’s dunescape to a dust bowl (ARIZONA) -- Instead of spending his time in ceremony one warm night last July, Navajo rancher Robert Diller spent it in his tractor, digging other attendees and their cars out of the sand. He lost count after 10.

Tohono O'odham protest proposed toxic dump / La Choya Hazardous Waste Facility would be on sacred grounds (ARIZONA) -- Nobody asked Ofelia Rivas, a 50-year-old grandmother with long black hair and hands twisted from rheumatoid arthritis, if she wants a toxic dump on her people's ancestral lands.

Blackfeet Tribe approves law enforcement plan (MONTANA) -- The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council has approved a resolution to take over its own law enforcement responsibilities. The council on Thursday approved the plan to replace the police department run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs with its own tribal Department of Public Safety.

Blackfeet vote to take back control of reservation law enforcement (MONTANA) -- The Blackfeet Tribe is asking to take over its own law enforcement responsibilities again. A resolution approved by the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council on Thursday put the Bureau of Indian Affairs on notice that the tribe intends to phase out the BIA police department, replacing it with its own tribal Department of Public Safety.

Return to ‘First Americans’ reason for pause (WASHINGTON, DC) -- At the Tribal Nations Conference in early November, President Obama used the expression “First Americans” to address the American Indian leaders gathered at a Department of Interior building in Washington, D.C.

Temecula celebrates 20th with reception, recollections (CALIFORNIA) -- Temecula has grown quickly, but achieved much in the 20 years since voters made it the first town in the area to become a city as a way to speed police responses, open more parks, ease traffic flows and keep tax revenues from being siphoned off to other regions.

12-year-old helps document migrants' plight (CALIFORNIA) -- Stephanie Maldonado doesn't look like your typical community activist. For one thing, she's just 12 years old. But this spring and in the summer of 2008, the seventh-grader at Hill Middle School spent time with destitute migrant farming families in the Coachella Valley.

Construction to begin on major Everglades project (FLORIDA) -- A contentious Everglades restoration project that a judge once called an "environmental bridge to nowhere" kicked off Friday with a visit from the interior secretary, two decades after Congress authorized it.

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