TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) – Nine-year-old Lauren Hummingbird wants a cell phone for Christmas – and not just any old phone, but an iPhone. Such a request normally would be met with skepticism by her father, Cherokee Nation employee Jamie Hummingbird.
CATOOSA, Okla. – The Cherokee Nation recently held its third annual Tribal Employment Rights Office awards ceremony to honor the success and accomplishments of Native American-owned businesses. The event was held at the tribe’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Catoosa.
SAN FRANCISCO – Recently, the Tribal Gaming Agency of the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians delivered 3,456 decks of used playing cards from the Black Oak Casino to the United Service Organization at the San Francisco International Airport. The playing cards will be given to military service members and their family members using the USO service center at SFO.
PORT ANGELES, Wash. – You can almost hear the splash of paddles hitting the water, an eagle call overhead and the crash of whales breaching as Jamie Valadez tells her high school students about paddling through the inland waters of the Puget Sound, reliving the tribal journeys of ages past.
AKWESASNE, N.Y – On Nov. 16, 2010 St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Chief Monica Jacobs, Sub-Chief Pamela Brown and Tribal Economic Development Director Steven B. Cook were on hand at the Malone Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Dinner to receive recognition from the Chamber for their achievements.
New Mexico Business Weekly, an Albuquerque-based newspaper dedicated to covering business and industry, recently announced the best places to work in New Mexico. Three pueblo business partners of the Pueblo of Santa Ana have been named best places to work in the medium and large business categories.
PHOENIX – Gila River Casinos recently announced the appointment of Joel Rovics as corporate director of marketing. In his role, Rovics is responsible for the successful marketing strategies of Gila River Casinos three properties, brand management, and marketing communications throughout the country.
CRANDON, Wis. – The Forest County Potawatomi Community is installing a broadband Internet system on its Forest County, Wisconsin reservation lands that will allow tribal members living on the reservation and local residents living near the reservation access to broadband Internet.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – An accolade from Oklahoma’s Gov. Brad Henry was presented to Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith at December’s Tribal Council meeting in honor of the workforce programs sponsored by the Cherokee Nation.
ONAMIA, Minn. – Marge Anderson, chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, was recently recognized for her longtime commitment to economic development. The Minnesota American Indian Chamber of Commerce presented Anderson with its Bear Award, honoring her achievements in using gaming revenues to diversify the band’s economy, provide jobs, and expand services to members and the community.
AKWESASNE, N.Y. – As many American Indian tribes struggle to close the generational gap between traditions, culture and language, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe is embracing technology as a way of teaching the Mohawk language to their Native youth.
I was in Miss Ruby Dial’s library one day in 1956, standing by the window, when I heard a low noise coming from the west. It grew louder and louder, and finally overwhelming. By this time the kids were yelling, “That’s Tom Boy! That’s Tom Boy!”
BISMARCK, N.D. – United Tribes Technical College honored 16 mid-year graduates during a ceremony Dec. 17 at the college in Bismarck.
WHATCOM, Wash. – As part of a growing effort to deliver higher education and community outreach services to Pacific Northwest tribes, the Nisqually Indian Tribe recently approved and presented Northwest Indian College a $75,500 grant to support and bolster training and education services for the promotion and maintenance of the cultural integrity of Native tribes.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – More than one-third of Sequoyah Schools’ total student body has qualified for nomination for a national math award for their outstanding performance in high school mathematics. To be eligible for nomination for the official United States Achievement Academy Scholarship Foundation National Mathematics Awards, students must have a 3.0 grade point average in math, show mathematics skills and aptitude, demonstrate an attitude of cooperation, leadership, dependability, enthusiasm, responsibility, and have a desire to learn and improve. A whopping 149 students met this qualification, the highest number in the school’s history.
VANDERBILT, Mich. – When the Bay Mills Indian Community opened a new casino on off reservation land without state or federal approvals in early November, five Indian nations in Michigan issued a statement condemning the action. Now one of the five tribes – the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians – has filed a federal lawsuit, asking the court to shut down the Bay Mills casino immediately.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – A Cherokee Nation citizen, Jackie Eagle, of Gore, Okla., has been named Indian Student of the Year by the Oklahoma Council for Indian Education. This is the second year in a row the honor has gone to a Cherokee student.
SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah recently announced that Matthew Van Alstine Makomenaw, Ph.D., has joined the Office for Equity and Diversity as the director of the American Indian Resource Center.
EUGENE, Ore. – Port Madison Enterprises scholarship intern Cassandra George has earned top honors at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore. George, a 19-year-old college sophomore and graduate of North Kitsap High School, has been identified as one of the top 15 percent of her University of Oregon class, based on her academic achievements.
Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced Oct. 7 the second competition for students attending high schools and tribal colleges funded by the Bureau of Indian Education that will promote careers in the fields of green and renewable energy. The competition will be looking for designs of a conversion process that will change biomass into diesel fuel.
