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Cherokee Nation

Indian Child Welfare Act Upheld By Fifth Circuit

By • Aug 12, 2019
Bobak Ha'Eri

Native children are far more likely to end up in state custody, and the Indian Child Welfare Act aims to keep them within tribal communities. Last fall, a federal district judge in Texas ruled ICWA was unconstitutional, calling it a “race-based law.” But on Friday the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision.

Cherokee Citizens React To Warren’s Presidential Bid

By • Jan 11, 2019
AP Photo/Matthew Putney

This time last week Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren campaigned in Iowa after announcing her presidential bid. Her announcement came a few months after the Oklahoma-native released DNA test results to back up claims of Native American ancestry. The test was taken as an affront to many Native Americans, especially Cherokee citizens, one of the tribes Warren claims ties to.

Congress Strips Stigler Act Of Blood Quantum Requirement

By • Dec 21, 2018
Library of Congress

Congress is updating the Stigler Act, the federal law governing the transfer of lands allotted to Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muskogee (Creek), and Seminole Nation citizens-- also known as the Five Civilized Tribes -- before statehood. Amendments sponsored by Rep. Tom Cole passed the House and Senate, and are expected to be signed into law by the President.

Cherokee Nation To Appeal Texas Judge's ICWA Decision

By • Oct 10, 2018
Caroline Halter/KGOU

Speaking at an event in Oklahoma City on Oct 8, Stephanie Hudson held a piece of paper that read “#DefendICWA.” ICWA is the Indian Child Welfare Act, and Hudson, who runs Oklahoma Indian Legal Services, said the law's future was jeopardized by a recent Texas court decision.

 

Capitol Insider EXTRA: Chuck Hoskin Jr. Says Cherokee Nation Is ‘Leading By Example’

By • Sep 28, 2018
Cherokee Nation

In this episode of Capitol Insider, KGOU’s Dick Pryor and eCapitol’s Shawn Ashley speak with Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. of the Cherokee Nation. Hoskin discusses Cherokee Nation’s investments in health and education, the tribe’s perspective on renegotiating gaming compacts, and more.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Oklahoma Cherokee Veterans Visit DC

By Megan Ross • Sep 20, 2018
The group of veterans on the 2018 Warrior Flight stop to take a group photo in front of The Three Servicemen statue at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Megan Ross / Gaylord News

Placing a hand against the smooth, black granite for balance, 92-year-old John Cockrum stood on his toes and reached with his folded umbrella to point at a name high on the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Tribes Work To Diversify Their Economic Impact On Oklahoma

By & Molly Fleming • Feb 7, 2018
The new Muscogee (Creek) Nation Community Hospital in Okemah.
Brent Fuchs / Journal Record

Though gaming operations continue to be a large economic focus for Oklahoma’s tribes, they are continuing to reach out into other endeavors. These projects include healthcare, retail, manufacturing, agriculture and more.

Judge Rules That Cherokee Freedmen Have Right To Tribal Citizenship

By • Sep 1, 2017

A judge ruled Wednesday that the descendants of enslaved people who were owned by members of the Cherokee Nation — known as Cherokee Freedmen — have citizenship rights.

"The Cherokee Nation can continue to define itself as it sees fit," U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan wrote in his ruling, "but must do so equally and evenhandedly with respect to native Cherokees and the descendants of Cherokee Freedmen."

As Cities Remove Confederate Monuments, Cherokees Grapple With Civil War Past

By • Aug 31, 2017
Cherokee Nation historian Catherine Gray discusses the Stand Watie monument at the Cherokee Nation Courthouse in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
Jacob McCleland / KGOU

Catherine Gray walks up to a big, grey stone monument, standing tall under a lush magnolia tree on the grounds of the Cherokee Nation Courthouse in Tahlequah.

It’s monument to General Stand Watie, the last Confederate general to surrender at the end of the Civil War.

Cherokee Nation Takes Drug Distributors To Tribal Court

By editor • May 15, 2017

As the nation’s opioid addiction and overdose crisis grows, the Cherokee Nation is launching the first-ever lawsuit against drug distributors that will be litigated in a tribal court.

The suit takes on companies including pharmacies CVS Health, Walgreens and Wal-Mart, and drug distributors Cardinal Health, Inc. and McKesson Corporation, alleging that they didn’t properly monitor prescription painkillers, which eventually “flooded” every Cherokee county.

Cherokee Nation Sues Opioid Providers In Tribal Court

By Nomin Ujiyediin • Apr 21, 2017
RambergMediaImages / Flickr Creative Commons

The Cherokee Nation is seeking restitution for a drug abuse epidemic that has disproportionately affected members of its tribe.

The nation filed a lawsuit against major pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy retailers in tribal court on Thursday, alleging that these companies have unjustly profited off of selling medically unnecessary amounts of prescription opioids.

Oklahoma Tribes Seek Talented Doctors, Chefs For Rural Communities

By & • Jan 27, 2017

 

Moving to a rural Oklahoma town can be hard selling point for the state’s tribes, especially for high-demand, skilled professions like doctors and chefs.

The Journal Record newspaper released a special issue this week, Building Bridges, that looks at the tribal impact on Oklahoma’s economy. As part of the issue, reporter Catherine Sweeny noted that tribal healthcare facilities have to compete with metropolitan areas to attract doctors.

Encore: Cherokee Nation Preserves Food Culture By Freezing History

By Logan Layden • Jan 26, 2017
Biologist and Cherokee Nation Administrative Liaison Pat Gwin removes white eagle corn seeds from the seed bank freezer at Cherokee Nation headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
Logan Layden / StateImpact Oklahoma

Before the Cherokee people were forced from their lands in the eastern U.S. along the Trail of Tears, the tribe grew varieties of crops now nearly lost. But at the Cherokee Nation Seed Bank in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, a vital part of the tribe’s history is kept frozen.

Deep underground on a Norwegian island in the remote arctic, the Global Seed Vault shelters seeds from around the globe, protecting them from natural disaster, nuclear catastrophe or any apocalypse that might bring humans to the brink.

Cherokee Nation Recognizes Same-Sex Marriage After Tribal Attorney General Ruling

By • Dec 12, 2016
Dawn McKinley, left, and Kathy Reynolds talk to reporters outside the Cherokee Tribal courthouse in Tahlequah, Aug. 2, 2005, where justices heard arguments in a case involving the couple's effort to have the tribe recognize their union.
AP

The Cherokee Nation now recognizes same-sex marriages under an opinion issued Friday by the tribe's attorney general.

As a sovereign nation, the Cherokees and other tribes weren’t bound by a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision that made same sex marriage legal in all 50 states.

Federal Recordkeeping The Subject Of A New Lawsuit By Cherokees

By • Dec 1, 2016
Sara Hill, Cherokee Nation secretary of the environment and natural resources, stands outside the Cherokee Nation Courthouse in Tahlequah.
Kirby Lee Davis / The Journal Record

The Cherokee Nation has sued the federal government, and wants to know details about how it has managed its property throughout history.

Washington has historically overseen certain assets of recognized tribes, like property or money earned off leasing or selling that land.

Groups Opposing State Question On Agriculture Form Unusual Alliance Over Water

By Logan Layden • Oct 6, 2016
Trout Unlimited's Scott Hood prepares to release this small trout he caught during the group's fishing trip to the Lower Illinois River near the Lake Tenkiller dam in eastern Oklahoma.
Logan Layden / StateImpact Oklahoma

State Question 777 — also known as ‘right-to-farm’ — would give agricultural producers in Oklahoma the constitutional right to raise livestock and grow crops without interference from future regulations by the state Legislature, without a compelling state interest.

Opposition to the state question comes from multiple sources, but a diverse coalition urging a ‘no’ vote is united by a shared concern: water.

 

Cherokee Nation To Add Additional Bison To Herd At Kenwood Ranch

By • Sep 23, 2015
Bison grazing
Sequoia Hughes / Flickr.com

The Cherokee Nation is set to receive a tractor-trailer load of bison to add to the tribe's herd on its 1,000-acre ranch in the unincorporated Kenwood community in northeastern Oklahoma.

The tribe is to receive about 50 bison from a national park in South Dakota on Thursday after acquiring the animals from the InterTribal Buffalo Council. The Cherokee Nation had gone 40 years without raising bison until last year and now has 68 head of bison on its ranch.

Cherokee Chief Highlights Healthcare Accomplishments In 'State Of The Nation' Address

By • Sep 8, 2015
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker delivers the annual State of the Nation address Sept. 5, 2015 in Tahlequah.
Cherokee Nation / Facebook

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker delivered the annual State of the Nation address to the tribe Saturday as thousands turned out in Tahlequah for the three-day Cherokee National Holiday.

Baker touted his administration's success during the past four years, and said he promised to make healthcare a priority when he took office in 2011.

Cherokee Nation Chief, Deputy, 8 Councilors Inaugurated

By • Aug 14, 2015
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker
Cherokee Nation

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker has been sworn in for his second, four-year term.

More than 1,000 people attended Friday's inauguration at Sequoyah High School in the tribal capital of Tahlequah to watch Baker and Deputy Chief S. Joe Crittenden sworn in.

Tribal councilors Rex Jordan, David Walkingstick, Shawn Crittenden, Dick Lay, Buel Anglen, Bryan Warner, Keith Austin and Wanda Hatfield also took office.

Cherokee Nation Councilor Candidates Face Runoff Election

By • Jul 3, 2015
The seal of the Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation

A recount supervised by the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court has finalized the candidates in a runoff election.

The Cherokee Nation Election Commission on Friday announced the results of the Thursday recount, with Wanda Hatfield and Betsy Swimmer advancing to a July 25 runoff for an at-large tribal councilor position. The final results show Hatfield with 1,057 votes and Swimmer with 763.

Shane Jett, who came in third, finished 50 votes behind Swimmer. The general election results were certified Monday and Jett requested the recount on Wednesday.

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