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Both sides presented oral arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday to address jurisdictional concerns by the state of Oklahoma since the landmark 2020 McGirt v. Oklahoma decision.
That 5 to 4 ruling went in favor of the tribes who maintained the state never properly dissolved reservations and so major crimes involving Native defendants belong in the purview of the federal government, not the state.
The current case asks whether the state has authority to prosecute non-Native defendants who commit crimes on Indian land. A ruling in the state’s favor would narrow the scope of the McGirt decision.
During the arguments, outgoing Justice Steven Breyer noted a ruling in favor of Oklahoma in this case could overturn what has been a longstanding practice in all 50 states.
Some doors to higher education are opening up and some barriers are coming down for Native Americans in California.
The University of California is offering full scholarships to Native Americans to any campus in the U.C. system.
U.C. President Michael V. Drake announced plans to offer free tuition to all Native Americans from more than a hundred federally recognized tribes in California.
The effort is part of a new program called the UC Native American Opportunity Plan.
Right now, about 1% of the 280,000 U.C. students is Native American.
Across California, U.S. census shows 1.6% of residents identify as American Indian and Alaska Native.
Another group trying to boost the percentage of Native Americans in colleges is launching a special summer camp with that goal in mind. The aim is to offer resources, support and assistance to high school students wanting to attend college.
The American Indian/Alaska Native College Prep Camp is happening June 6-10 in South Lake Tahoe. The camp will help prepare them for the application process, obtain financial aid and be successful at college life.
It will also feature activities to help the youth build self-esteem and see that attending college is an attainable goal. It will expose the teens to Nevada tribal careers. The camp is being offered by the University of Nevada Reno Extension.
Daniel Coen, American Indian student coordinator for Extension says, “The camp will help address some of the stresses that are causing American Indian students to not apply to college or complete degrees.”
A tribal college in northwest Montana is taking applications for a resource management graduate program that is the first of its kind in the country. Aaron Bolton reports.
The Salish Kootenai College launched the program this fall that aims to train the next generation of fire, wildlife, and forest managers in the Columbia River Basin in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
This is the first master’s program at the Pablo-based four-year school on the Flathead Indian Reservation. It’s also the first resource management graduate program housed at a tribal college in the U.S., according to the American Indian College Fund.
The Salish Kootenai College worked with the University of Idaho to develop the curriculum. In a press release, the school says it’s working to provide opportunities for faculty exchanges with the University of Idaho and the opportunity for Salish Kootenai students to do lab work at the university.
Applications for next fall’s program will be accepted through May 13.
A California Congressman has introduced legislation to return more than a thousand acres of historically Native American land back to the Yurok tribe.
Currently, the Tribe owns less than a quarter of its approximately half a million-acre ancestral land base. Timber companies, national and state parks, and other owners occupy that land now.
During the last decade, the Yurok Tribe has recovered approximately 70,000 acres of former timber lands on and near the Yurok Reservation, which straddles the lower 44 miles of the Klamath River in Northern California.
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