Judge approves nearly $1B settlement between US and tribes

[space otter]

somewhere on here are some threads on this..sorry I'm too lazy to look right now


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-approves-nearly-dollar1b-settlement-between-us-and-tribes/ar-BBpWIwv?li=BBnb7Kz
Associated Press
By MARY HUDETZ, Associated Press
3 hrs ago

Judge approves nearly $1B settlement between US and tribes

© AP Photo/Mary Hudetz, File FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2015 file photo Oglala Sioux President John Yellow Bird Steele speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque, N.M. A judge on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, has approved a




ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A judge has approved a nearly $1 billion settlement between the Obama administration and Native American tribes over claims the government shorted tribes for decades on contract costs to manage education, law enforcement and other federal services.

Attorneys for the tribes learned Wednesday that a federal judge in Albuquerque approved the agreement, about five months after the Interior Department and tribal leaders announced they had reached a proposed $940 million settlement in the class-action lawsuit.

The judge's approval filed late Tuesday starts a process to release payment to the tribes that an attorney said could take several months. The ruling also authorized a $1.2 million reimbursement for lead plaintiff's costs, and an agreement for attorneys to receive 8.5 percent of the final settlement amount.

"The end result was there were no objections to the settlement and no objections to the fee request," said Michael Gross, an attorney for the tribes. "This showed a unity among Indian tribes that is absolutely astounding."

Nearly 700 tribes or tribal agencies are expected to claim compensation, with amounts ranging from an estimated $8,000 for some Alaska Native villages and communities elsewhere to $58 million for the Navajo Nation.

Some underfunded federal contracts in the case reportedly dated back to the 1970s, when a policy change allowed tribes to gain more oversight of federal programs meant to fulfill obligations established through treaties and other agreements.

Val Panteah, governor of Zuni Pueblo, described "a financial death spiral" that came as his government tried to offset losses from the contracts in New Mexico. Other tribal leaders described trying to stem losses from the underfunded contracts with painful budget cuts as they tried to meet critical needs in their communities.

The case was first filed in 1990 by the Ramah Navajo Chapter, a community of about 4,000 that became the case's lead plaintiff, along with the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and Zuni Pueblo.

In 2012, the case went before the U.S. Supreme Court, which sided with the tribes and sent the case back to the lower courts before the Interior Department announced a proposed settlement in September.

Since the Supreme Court ruling, Congress has appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars to fully fund contract support costs for tribes.

The settlement is the latest in a recent string of major agreements between the Interior Department and tribes to resolve legal disputes that languished for years. In the largest agreement, the government agreed to pay out $3.4 billion to resolve claims over royalties owed to generations of individual landowners.

"It just shows the Obama administration has been working throughout two terms to stop litigating with tribes," said Kevin Washburn, who recently resigned from his post as Interior Department Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. "Now, even in the last year of the administration, they're getting this lengthy case settled."

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This story corrects the amount approved in court for attorneys' fees.

[zorgon]

700 Acres of Sonoma County to Be Returned to Native American Tribe
By Joe Rosato Jr.

Sonoma County leaders have agreed to return 700 acres of land to a Native American tribe. Joe Rosato Jr. reports. (Published Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015)

The crashing waves along the jagged Sonoma coastline near Stewart's Point reverberated through the soul of Walter Antone. He heard the deep layers of years in each slap of wave against rock — the childhood he spent fishing along the cliffs with his father — and even father back when his ancestors would fish and gather abalone and mussels along the same cliffs.

"We're from the coast," Antone said, gazing out at the point where cliff gave way to water. "We're coast Indians and we live off the ocean."

Antone grew up not far away from the spot, on the 40 acre Kashia band of Pomo Indians reservation. By the time Antone was born, the Kashia had long been cut-off from their native coastal lands — a coastal tribe without access to the coast. As a boy, Antone's father had to ask permission of the land owners to access the same cliffs which once fed his ancestors. These days, tribal members sometimes snuck through the fences in order to conduct traditional coming-of-age ceremonies.

"Made me feel shutout," Antone said. "It's land where we used to go before but now you can't — we're fenced off."

But in a groundbreaking land sale, 700 acres of coastal lands will return soon to Kashia control for the first time in 200 years. Sonoma County leaders voted last week to pledge more than $2 million to a coalition of groups which have raised $6 million to purchase the one mile strip of coastal land from a private family, ensuring its future as open space.

"They're a coastal people, but for generations they haven't had access to the coast," said Brendan Moriarty of the Trust For Public Land, which spearheaded the deal. "This property's going to give them their coast back."

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/700-Acres-of-Sonoma-County-to-Be-Returned-to-Native-American-Tribe-334834751.html