Indian Issues and New Faces

Hudson Casino Plan Scuttled

The long discussed plan by Wisconsin bands to build a new casino at a dog track in Hudson, Wisconsin, has finally come to a conclusion. In early August, the failing dog track closed.

For most of the 1990s the Miami owner of the Hudson track and three Wisconsin bands petitioned the federal government to approve locating the casino on trust land at the dog track. The Department of the Interior initially rejected the proposal, then was sued by the bands, and then approved the request.

However, under federal law the approval of a state's governor is required before such a facility can be built. Governor Scott McCallum vetoed the Hudson casino proposal which, according to a recent letter from a top Department of the Interior official, kills the plan.

New Executive Director for NCAI

Jacqueline L. Johnson, a Tlingit from Alaska who previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Native American Programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is the new executive director of the National Congress of American Indians.

The NCAI is the oldest and largest national organization of Indian nations building cooperation among the tribes for the advancement of treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, and the welfare of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Toward Tribal Energy Sufficiency

US Representative Betty McCollum of Minnesota's Fourth Congressional District is among the sponsors of the Tribal Energy Self-Sufficiency Act recently introduced in Congress.

Sponsors of the bill say Indians have the highest percentage of homes without electricity. The bill is aimed at providing tribal governments with the tools needed to achieve energy self-sufficiency by promoting energy production on tribal lands, tribal access to transmission facilities, and development of renewable energy sources.