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A federal appeals court reversed a lower court ruling and kept alive a lawsuit brought by Native Americans against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The lawsuit accuses Blue Cross of mismanaging tribe-affiliated health plans and overcharging them for health care.
The Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan brought the suit to the federal appeals court saying Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan charged hidden fees and overstated costs.
Dozens of tribes around the country are backing the suit because they depend on Medicare-like rates in their insurance programs as well. The appeals court ruled the lower court acted in error. The district court threw out the tribe’s lawsuit and made a summary judgement in favor of Blue Cross.
Thacker Pass (Photo: Famartin)
After losing in court, a Nevada tribe is going directly to a California archaeological company and urging it to stop digging at a site considered sacred. The excavation at Thacker Pass is a step in the process to begin construction of a lithium mine, as The Nevada Current reports.
The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony sent a letter to the Far Western Anthropological Research Group. It calls on the company to in the tribal leaders’ words stop “the desecrating of Thacker Pass for corporate greed”.
The letter compares the action to excavating Pearl Harbor or Arlington National Cemetery. Tribal history documents the site now on federal BLM land as the location of a massacre of Paiute men, women and children by U-S soldiers in 1865. Tribal leaders also say BLM neglected to adequately consult with all the tribes connected to what is now called Thacker Pass.
Staff at radio station KEYA in Belcourt, ND say they may be able to return to the air at lower power in the next couple of days after their broadcast tower collapsed. The station is owned and operated by the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe.
Station officials say ice build-up during a blizzard, combined with high winds, caused the 300+ foot tower to buckle.
Support wires kept the upper portion of the tower upright. But emergency workers were forced to cut power to the 19,000 watt transmitter and antenna that broadcasts the station’s signal. No one was injured.
KEYA started broadcasting in 1976, making it one of the oldest Native-owned stations.
Click Here to Support the KEYA Tower Fund
State Rep. James Ramos (D-CA)
Legislators in California held a hearing this week to discuss the bill to rename the University of California Hastings Law School, as Christina Aanestad reports.
Supporters of AB 1936, including its sponsor Native State Rep. James Ramos (D-CA), want to remove the name of Serranus Clinton Hastings from the public law school for his role in the attempted genocide of California Native tribes.
Hastings went on to become California’s first Supreme Court chief justice and attorney general.
James Russ, president of the Round Valley Tribal Council, spoke in favor of the legislation to rename the school.
The bill also includes restorative justice provisions for the Yuki and Round Valley people.
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