Paleo Super Bowl snacks — The caveman game plan
See if you can wait until this afternoon to start whipping up some of the goodies suggested by ICTMN contributer David Bender.

In a story on ICTMN this week, Bender describes how to make a Paleo warrior, caveman style feast for the big game.

That means we’re going commando—no bread, no buns and no sugar.

So with that I give you something we all crave: food you can eat with your hands! That’s right football fans, sans fork and spoon.

Now, what would a Super Bowl party be without chips and appetizers? In this article I have suggestions for snacks (sweet potato chip), appetizers (paleo patties), a condiment (guacamole) and an entree (ribs).

Bender’s post includes a shopping list and recipes. OK, it’s time to get to the kitchen . . .

Funny film gives a unique look at frybread
This week’s second brunch tidbit also involves work in the kitchen.

Have a look at this “frybread “mockumentary” piece featured on Azfamily.com. Stacey Delikat takes us through a synopsis of the funny film.

“More than Frybread” is the brainchild of Mesa filmmaker Travis Holt Hamilton.

The movie follows members of twenty-different Native American tribes as they seek to compete in the made-up “Worldwide Fry Bread Association” competition in Flagstaff.




Courtesy of AZFamily.com.


Hamilton, who has made four other films about Native Americans, says he got the idea for the mockumentary after spending time living on a reservation as a missionary.

“Numerous people have made frybread, everyone claiming their bread is the best,” he explained. “So we thought, let’s kind of play that up and have a competition that these tribes are competing for the championship title.”

To learn more about the film visit Frybreadmovie.com.

Jenna Cederberg

Tags: azfamily.com, david bender, feast, Frybread, ICTMN, indian country today media network, mockumentary, more than frybread, super bowl, travis holt hamilton

As Lodge Grass, a small town on the Crow Agency in eastern Montana, slowly recovers from a flood that washed through there this week, plans are coming together in Washington, D.C., to give tribes better access to disaster funds.

The Billings Gazette continued its coverage of the Lodge Grass floods. Today, the Gazette reports the slow cleanup begins.

By Tuesday morning, a restoration crew had pumped an estimated 212,000 gallons of water from the basement of the Little Horn IGA here, but the ground was so saturated that more kept seeping in.

“It was a nasty mess in there,” store co-owner Doug McCormick said. “All the floors were just covered in mud.”

Rob Capriccioso, of ICTMN, reports from Washington:

On May 24, (Nick J.) Rahall, (D-WV) introduced legislation that he said “reinforces Indian tribe sovereignty during major disasters and emergency situations.” The bi-partisan bill would amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize tribes to directly request the President of the United States to release federal resources.

. . .

Tribal officials noted to Rahall that under current law, tribes that face a disaster or emergency situation must rely upon a state governor to ask the president for an emergency declaration, which in turn triggers federal resources. This process is harmful to tribal sovereignty, according to Indian leaders who say that as sovereign nations, tribes should be able to have a direct relationship with the federal government in emergency situations.

Jenna Cederberg

Tags: billings gazette, Crow Agency, floods, ICTMN, Lodge Grass, Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act

Nuclear reactors and power plants that lie close to reservation land throughout the country are under more severe scrutiny since the Japan earthquake and tsunami damaged nuclear plants there.

But as ICTMN’s Rob Capriccioso reports, the reservation residents who live close the U.S. reactors have always cast a weary eye on their nuclear neighbors.

Capriccioso examines the struggles of the Prairie Island Indian Community in Welch, Minnesota, and looks at what price others are paying for nuclear testing.

Since 1973, citizens of this small Sioux reservation have kept a wary eye on the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, which lies adjacent to their land and is believed to be the closest nuclear power plant to an inhabited community in the country. The plant, owned by Xcel Energy Inc., has long been controversial, not only because of the risk of mishaps with its nuclear reactor, but because nuclear waste produced there since the early 1990s has been stored in large steel casks on concrete pads near the reactor that creates it. This became all the more frightening when residents learned that the damaged Japanese plant had a similar on-site storage system, which caused horrific problems when the electricity went out post-earthquake and the waste there could not be kept cool.

Accidents have occurred time and again at U.S. plants, including the infamous Three Mile Island crisis of the late 1970s in Pennsylvania. In 2006, workers at the Prairie Island plant faced a drama of their own, having been exposed to low levels of radiation resulting from a gas leak. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reported that approximately 110 workers received exposure of 10 to 20 millirads, which the company and the U.S. government say is safe. But John LaForge, writing in the Pulse of the Twin Cities publication and representing the views of many local residents, was not convinced: “Every government agency that deals with radiation says in their official publications that there is absolutely no safe level of exposure, that every single radiation dose carries some increased risk of cancer and other illnesses.”

. . .

Much like Prairie Island, Indians nationwide were rarely consulted as the plants began to invade their lands. According to the Honor the Earth environmental organization, at least two dozen of the nation’s 104 licensed nuclear power plants are close enough to reservations to pose immediate danger if an accident similar to that in Japan were to occur.

Jenna Cederberg

Tags: ICTMN, nuclear plants, nuclear power, Prairie Island Indian Community, Rob Capriccioso

Follow the link to the “latest evolution of Indian Country Today” and you’ll be greeted by an under construction sign of sorts.

But on Jan. 14, ICT will make an expansion as it launches an upgraded and expanded version of itself with Indian Country Today Media Network. New features will include the updated site and a weekly magazine, PR Newswire announced.

Ray Halbritter, Nation Representative and CEO of the Oneida Nation, which owns ITC, made the announcement through Newswire on Thursday.

Thanks to Halbritter’s vision, guidance and his desire to keep pace with today’s expanding media environment, Indian Country Today Media Network was created. “It has always been my desire to create a destination that can bring all the Nations together,” said Halbritter. “With Indian Country Today Media Network we have created a full service media platform that is current, timely, sophisticated, inclusive and widely available. Our whole community now has a place to go to get news, exchange ideas, and communicate with one another.”

The website and magazine will provide essential news and information from Indian Country, featuring new artists and cultural highlights, and give life to the most forceful voices in the national community. The network will also offer online services in the areas of education, business and events—everything from listings of Tribal Colleges to the latest pow wows.

Jenna Cederberg

Tags: ict, ICTMN, Indian Country Today, indian country today media network, Oneida, Oneida Nation, Ray Halbritter