Tribe sues beer companies for alcohol problems !!

Tribe sues beer companies for alcohol problems

 

An American Indian tribe sued some of the world's largest beer makers Thursday, claiming they knowingly contributed to devastating alcohol-related problems on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota said it is demanding $500 million in damages for the cost of health care, social services and child rehabilitation caused by chronic alcoholism on the reservation, where alcohol is banned. The lawsuit names Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, SAB Miller, Molson Coors Brewing Company, MIllerCoors LLC and Pabst Brewing Company as defendants.

NPR: Mixed Reactions To First Native American Saint

 

The Vatican recently announced that the 17th-century Mohawk woman, Kateri Tekakwitha, will be canonized as a Catholic saint. Many Native Americans say this is an honor, but others feel it legitimizes the abuses of colonialism. Host Michel Martin speaks with WCPN reporter Brian Bull, who has been covering this issue.

 

 

CS Monitor: All Aztecs went to school? A lesson for Mexico

 

When the Spanish cultural center in downtown Mexico City wanted to expand, excavations uncovered a Smith & Wesson revolver, a partial figurine of Jesus – and the ruins of an ancient Aztec school. The school, called the Calmecac or "house of the lineage" in the Aztec language of Nahuatl, was unearthed in what was once the heart of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan, now a dizzying slice of the megalopolis of Mexico's capital. The ruins went on display for the first time in a recently opened exhibit in the cultural center's new wing.

 

New York Post: ‘Loving’ legacy

 

Richard and Mildred Loving didn’t plan to alter the course of civil rights history. But they did just that to keep their family together. The interracial couple — he was white, she was Native American and African-American — were the plaintiffs in the landmark 1967 Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, which ended laws prohibiting mixed-race marriage in 16 states. On Tuesday, HBO will air a 2011 documentary, “The Loving Story,” which traces their transition from outcasts to a fully-recognized family that would pave the way for future generations.

 

USA Today: Federal board to settle dispute on naming island

 

A naming controversy between town officials and a state Native American group is going to a federal arbiter for a decision. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names is considering dueling requests to christen a 45-mile stretch of barrier island along Florida's Space Coast for Juan Ponce de Leon, who discovered Florida in 1513, or the Ais Indians, the region's earliest-known inhabitants. Melbourne Beach Town Manager Bill Hoskovec says the name Ponce de Leon Island will attract tourism dollars to his sleepy community of about 3,000 residents. The American Indian Association of Florida prefers "Ais Island." It is petitioning the board to approve that name and wrote in an e-mail to local officials that Ponce de Leon and his men "had no qualms about pillaging, mutilating, raping and murdering the Ais people."

Organizers turn in petitions, say they have signatures to restore UND Fighting Sioux nickname

 

Is it the return of the Fighting Sioux? Supporters of the University of North Dakota’s nickname turned in more than 17,000 signatures Tuesday night to cap a petition drive to force a statewide vote on a moniker the NCAA says is insulting to American Indians. Campaign organizers said they had gathered far more than the 13,452 signatures needed to put a question before voters in June.

 

Oklahoma Attorney General Sues Tribe Over Casino

 

Oklahoma's attorney general filed paperwork Tuesday to stop an American Indian tribe from building a controversial casino in a Tulsa suburb. The lawsuit, submitted by Attorney General Scott Pruitt in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, seeks a preliminary injunction to keep the Kialegee Tribal Town and developers from continuing work on the proposed Red Clay Casino in Broken Arrow. The Wetumka-based tribal town hasn't secured federal approval of a lease for the property and has no jurisdiction over the land, which Pruitt argues violate state compact requirements for Indian gaming.

 

In Bolivia, Many Indigenous Communities Turn to Vigilantism to Fight Crime

 

If a man kills another man in the harsh high plains of Jesús de Machaca or the lush lowlands of Beni, the people who catch him might not call the police. Instead they might call a meeting. Far from courthouses and police stations that may not know their languages, and despite having no jails to lock up criminals, remote villagers in Bolivia have quietly kept justice in their own hands for centuries, handling everything from malicious gossip to murder. They have demanded fines, doled out whippings, even banished people from the pueblo. These community courts have sometimes been criticized for trampling on human rights, especially when it comes to the rights of women, but indigenous leaders say they work better for them than the regular system.

 

A Native American Public Housing Project Returns to its Roots

 

The Ohkay Owingeh Tribe and Pueblo in New Mexico has returned to its roots with an award-winning, mixed-income housing project based on traditional Native forms. It's an exciting and inspiring project. Built by the Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority explicitly as an alternative to sprawl-type housing, Tsigo Bugeh Village is a $5.3 million residential community that reflects traditional pueblo living with attached units divided around two plazas, one oriented to the solstice and the other to the equinox, as the tribe’s original pueblo was built.

 

Ariz. tribe votes to take over Skywalk management

 

A northwestern Arizona tribe has voted to take over management of the Grand Canyon Skywalk from the Las Vegas developer who built it. David Jin partnered with the Hualapai Tribe to build the horseshoe-shaped glass bridge that juts out from the Grand Canyon on the reservation. But the two sides have been locked in a contract dispute for the past year over revenue shares and an incomplete visitor center. The Tribal Council voted Tuesday to declare eminent domain over the management contract and provide $11 million in compensation to Jin. The amount is about one-tenth of what Jin has said is fair market value for the $30 million investment.