Free Republic

The Southern Ute Tribe is close to re-establishing hunting rights for its 1,300 members on 3.7 million acres in western Colorado - in accordance with an 1874 federal treaty. The tribe and the Colorado Division of Wildlife are discussing an agreement that would determine when tribal members could hunt game in parts of nine counties and four national forests, an area defined under the 1874 Brunot Treaty... The agreement included a provision allowing the tribes to hunt in the area "as long as the grass grew." Since then, the tribes' two reservations have shrunk by many more millions of acres...

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) -- Alaska Supreme Court Judge Alexander Bryner upheld a 2001 state Superior Court decision affirming the state's right to determine child support in a custody battle involving the Native village of Northway. The written ruling in John v. Baker, issued by Bryner on Dec. 16, is the latest decision in the ongoing tribal sovereignty issue over the jurisdiction of tribal courts. The state has long argued that the rights of tribes to govern their members was limited in scope. Bryner's decision, while giving some support to the state's view, did not completely resolve the issue. The Supreme...