Free Republic

MORELIA, Mexico (AP) — Authorities in western Mexico say two men wielding automatic rifles have opened fire on a group of men from a town that last year defied illegal loggers and drug traffickers, killing eight. Michoacan state prosecutors' spokesman Jonathan Arredondo says another four men were wounded in the Wednesday attack in the town of Cheran.

SACRAMENTO – The stark disparity in wealth and political power that Indian gambling has brought to California reservations has taken two tribes on decidedly different journeys in recent weeks. The Agua Caliente band of Palm Springs already has 2,000 slot machines in two casinos that generate more than $250 million a year for the 400-member tribe. The Quechan band, whose remote reservation straddles the California-Arizona border in Imperial County, has fewer than 800 slots in two small casinos that produced $71 million last year for the 3,600-member tribe. Both tribes negotiated new gambling agreements that would permit expansions – a...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to announce a deal Tuesday to permit one of the state's richest tribes to open a third casino in the Palm Springs area, a pact that could open a new round of gambling expansion in California. Top Schwarzenegger administration officials said today that the governor and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians are expected to sign a deal that would permit the tribe to have up to 5,000 slot machines. The tribe, which in recent years has been one of the governor's main antagonists, is currently authorized to have 2,000 slot machines in...

WASHINGTON - A Washington lobbyist and his partner twice insinuated themselves into the tribal elections of an Inland tribe, which paved the way for them to receive lucrative contracts worth more than $7.2 million which the two split in a secret deal, according to a nearly 400-page report released by a congressional committee Thursday. The report by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is the most detailed account so far of how the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in Palm Springs came to hire Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his partner, public relations specialist Michael S. Scanlon. Abramoff, who...

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) - The chairman of a Southern California Indian tribe that gave $10 million to indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff apologized Wednesday to other tribal leaders for the ensuing scandal that has tainted many tribes. Richard Milanovich, chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, said tribal officials had only good intentions when they hired Abramoff. He told delegates at the Western Indian Gaming Conference that fallout from the scandal already is hurting the image of tribes in Washington. Abramoff pleaded guilty last week to felony charges involving influence peddling. "It really pains me. It hurts...

<p>It has all the ingredients of a prime time soap opera: The state's political watchdog agency squared off against a powerful special interest. The state's top cop caught between client -- the watchdog -- and campaign contributor -- the special interest.</p>