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A new report says a housing lending program aimed at helping Native American veterans falls short and is severely underused.
The Government Accountability Office issued the report this week. It says only a tiny fraction of people get help under the Native American Direct Loan program operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The program is supposed to assist veterans who are Native American in buying, building or fixing up housing. But it helped fewer than one percent of those eligible. Over nearly the last decade, the report says, the program originated 89 loans in the contiguous United States. 91 loans in Hawaii. And zero in Alaska. That represents fewer than 1% of nearly 70,000 eligible veterans.
The program was founded by the US Congress 20 years ago.
Revenue from a new cannabis enterprise planned for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians reservation in North Carolina could rival the tribe’s gaming operations. That’s the assessment of Jeremy Wilson, the government affairs liaison for the tribe’s principal chief. Wilson also chairs the tribe’s economic development arm. Wilson says the dispensary on the Qualla Boundary land could be one of the largest in the country.
“We have to look for avenues and economic diversification. For cannabis and the excitement around it, this will definitely present an opportunity that could be well worth a billion dollars.”
Wilson says lack of competition would currently work in the tribe’s favor. The tribe intends to start selling cannabis by the start of the new year. Marijuana remains illegal in North Carolina and the surrounding states. The Eastern Band of Cherokee only recently allowed medical marijuana sales on the reservation.
The former chairperson of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe is now on trial. He is facing charges of bribery and extortion in connection with the tribe’s planned casino project.
Cedric Cromwell is on trial at U.S. District Court in Boston. Prosecutors say he used his position as chair of the Wampanoag tribe to get 60-thousand dollars in bribes. In exchange, prosecutors say, he gave a $5 million contract to a Rhode Island architecture firm. The owner of that firm is also on trial.
Cromwell’s lawyer says he denies the charges. He calls Cromwell a “transformational leader” who helped the tribe improve it’s future. The casino plans for the tribe based in Cape Cod have been delayed for years because of various legal issues.
Officials in Nebraska have found the body of a Native American teenager who had gone missing last month.
19 year-old Ashleigh Wabasha was a member of the Santee Sioux Nation. Tribal leaders say her body was found on the reservation. They offered no further information.
Her family had put out missing persons posters in the effort to find her.
Now the FBI is investigating her death.
After a lengthy debate this week, the West Hartford Board of Education, in a divided vote, decided to invite leaders of five recognized Native American tribes to come and speak about the issue of team names as mascots at a public meeting in May.
The school board there already committed to replacing the high school teams names Warriors and Chieftains.
They plan on approving new names for the schools’ teams by June.
But a handful of residents are speaking out at meetings and petitioning the community to keep those names. They say they talked to tribal leaders. The residents claim tribal leaders told them the names are a source of pride and should remain.
School board members who voted against the effort say it is redundant. They say the school board has already gone over all of this and already received feedback in writing from tribal leaders.
Most cities and towns in Connecticut receive funding from the Mashantucket Pequot Fund which comes from tribal casino revenue. They risk losing that funding under a state law that requires approval from tribes to use Native American mascots or team names.
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