The NY Times would never deal in hearsay. Right?
Looks like this is the reporter they got it from:
Lynnette Curtis, Las Vegas Review- Journal
She won an award:
Cast out of Paiute tribe, disenrolled confront struggles
Reporter Lynnette Curtis charges head first into a feature story about racism. Members of the Paiute tribe are expelling other members because of their “blood quantum,” which sounds like a phrase from the 1940s. Simply, the expelled Paiute members aren’t Paiute enough to other members of their tribe. Curtis shows the division of the tribe’s income drives the issue. The feature moves from ancestral burial grounds to government offices to abandoned buildings where homeless tribe members sleep. Curtis’ well-reported article provides a glimpse of our country that few people ever see.
http://www.nevadapress.com/nevadapress.com/2013_all_awards.html