From the Associated Press out of New York:

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. — The St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council has stopped sharing revenue from the casino along New York’s northern border with the state, claiming the exclusivity provision of its gambling compact has been violated.
Tribal Chief Mark Garrow said the second-quarter check for about $4.9 million has not been sent. He declined to specify what state officials did against the Mohawks’ seven-county exclusive rights to install and operate slot machines.
Garrow said the move isn’t related to Gov. David Paterson’s administration attempts to tax lucrative tribal cigarette sales to non-Indians and isn’t coordinated with the Seneca tribe’s withholding more than $200 million from its three casinos in western New York. The Mohawks’ letter to the administration was sent last week, he said.
“While the state has yet to comprehensively review the reasoning behind the suggestion that we have violated the gaming compact, one thing is very clear: The St. Regis Mohawks failure to pay the state is an egregious material breach of the gaming compact,” said Morgan Hook, spokesman for Paterson. “The state will now seek all remedies available under the compact including expedited arbitration in order to protect the state and local municipalities from losing this critical funding.”
The administration two weeks ago threatened to end the compact that allows the Seneca Indian Nation to operate three casinos in western New York because of withheld revenue sharing payments. Counsel Peter Kiernan said in a letter that the Senecas owed the state and local governments about $105.5 million from 2009 and $109 million for 2010.
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Tags: casinos, gambling, Mohawk, Mohawk Nation, New York, new york go, New York Gov. David A. Paterson, seneca indian nation, St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council, St. Regis Mohawks, Tribal Chief Mark Garrow

New York tribes to rally tomorrow in protest of Bloomberg’s “cowboy” remark

It’s a shame it takes a subscription to read all of this Newsday story, but the two-paragraph tease is pretty clear: “Native American outrage over New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s broadcast advice to Gov. David A. Paterson to ‘get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun’ [read full remarks in the New York Post] to collect Indian cigarette taxes will extend into next week with a rally at City Hall. Harry Wallace, chief of the Unkechaug Indian Nation of Mastic, a frequent target of the mayor, said Friday he was organizing the rally Monday.” Rest assured, we’ll keep you posted. The tax is supposed to go into effect Sept. 1.

Group seeks justice for missing, murdered aboriginal women
Cherry Smiley of the Aboriginal Women’s Action Network in Vancouver deals daily with the worst society dishes out to women – abuse, sexual exploitation, violence. And she has a pertinent question, especially on the issue of young girls finding themselves in these situations: “Why is society not horrified by what is happening here? This is not child labor, it’s child rape, yet the authorities have done little to deal with the pimps and perpetrators.” Valerie Talliman writes about it in Indian Country Today.

Assembly of First Nations seeks probe into police handling of serial killer case
And speaking of missing and murdered women – The Assembly of First Nations has joined other groups seeking a public probe into the way police in Vancouver, British Columbia, handled the caes of serial killer Robert Pickton. Many of Pickton’s victims were First Nations women from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, said National Chief Shawn Atleo, who is a hereditary chief from Ahousaht. “A full and comprehensive public inquiry, with the participation of aboriginal people, is the only way to address the need for respect, justice and a better understanding of how we can prevent these tragedies in the future,” Atleo tells the Montreal Gazette here.

Las Vegas union makes contentious move to organize Navajo casino staff
Accusations and counter-accusations are flying as Culinary Workers Union Local 226, based in Las Vegas, attempts to unionize staff at the Fire Rock Navajo Casino. The union says casino management has been intimidating workers and trying to discourage them from signing up; management says it’s following the letter of the law. Bill Donovan, special to the Navajo Times, lays it all out.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to visit Inuit territories this week
Prime Minister Stephen Harper starts a five-day swing through all three northern territories starting tomorrow. The trip will kick off with a visit to Churchill, Man. Aug. 23. Harper will stop in Cambridge Bay Aug. 24, and then to to Resolute Bay on Aug. 25, the Nunatsiaq News reports here.

Gwen Florio

Tags: aboriginal, Aboriginal Women’s Action Network, Ahousaht, Canada, casinos, cigarette taxes, Culinary Workers Union Local 226, David Paterson, Fire Rock Navajo Casino, First Nations, Henry Wallace, Indian gaming, Inuit, Las Vegas, Michael Bloomberg, Native American women, Navajo, Robert Pickston, Shawn Atleo, Stephen Harper, union organizing, Unkechaug Nation

The fact of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ granting – after three decades – of federal status to the 1,300 members of the Shinnecock Nation was quickly overshadowed by speculation about the tribe’s casino intentions. Here‘s how Danny Hakim of the New York Times puts it:

With federal recognition, the tribe can build a casino on its 800-acre reservation in Southampton, N.Y., but the tribe, the state and local officials would prefer to find another location, in New York City or its suburbs, for the casino. That would mean plunging into a thicket of complex federal law, court rulings and political considerations.

Still, there are powerful motivations to help the tribe locate its casino anywhere but the Hamptons, where traffic is already choked by tourists in the summer. The state has been negotiating with the tribe in anticipation of the recognition.

The recognition becomes official after 30 days for public comment. The new status will let the tribe build a Class II casino with slots on its own land, but it would rather build a Class III casino with both slots and table games, elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Jed Morey of the Long Island Press takes New York state Sen. Craig Johnson to task, here, for his report recommending that the state revoke recognition of the should revoke its recognition of the Unkechaug Tribe. Except that Johnson called the tribe Poospatuck.

Morehy writes:

First of all, the tribe is Unkechaug. The reservation is Poospatuck. Second, not only is there no legal precedent for this ridiculous recommendation, there have been numerous opinions written by New York State itself declaring this idea (not the first attempt at this) unconstitutional.

This recommendation can only be classified in the following categories:

A) Stupid
B) Ignorant
C) Racist
D) All of the above

Just for the record, Morey says the correct answer is “D.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Bureau of Indian Affairs, casinos, Federal recognition, Gwen Florio, Indian gaming, Long Island, Native American news, Poospatuck Indian Reservation, Shinnecock Nation, Unkechaug

The Crow Tribe looks a little closer to getting the loan it needs to build a new Little Big Horn Casino.

Yesterday the Crow Legislature approved the resolution needed to obtain a $3 million loan from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Tribe of Minnesota – meaning approval could come as early as next week.

Yesterday was the tribe’s deadline to get funding lined up and approved to build the new casino. Otherwise, the old one would close. As Susan Olp of the Billings Gazette reports here, that deadline was imposed by the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Gwen Florio

PS – With this post, Buffalo Post goes off the airwaves, as it were, for most of the holiday weekend. Have fun and stay safe.

Tags: buffalo post, casinos, Crow legislature, Crow Tribe, Gwen Florio, Indian gaming, National Indian Gaming Commission, Native American news, Shakopee Mdewakanton