‘Mushroom cloud’

blast destined for Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada (AP)

If the government goes ahead with plans for a non-nuclear explosion to test bunker-buster bombs, it will be in Nevada, not in New Mexico, Sen. Pete Domenici said Nov. 15. The New Mexico Republican, a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, issued a statement in Washington, D.C., saying the Defense Threat Reduction Agency had decided not to conduct the “Divine Strake” test at the White Sands Missile Range. He said DTRA “prefers” a plan to conduct the test at the Nevada Test Site, a vast Energy Department reservation north of Las Vegas where plans for the blast have been stalled by a federal lawsuit.

Girl killed in Spirit Lake house fire identified

Bismarck, North Dakota (AP)

Authorities have identified a 3-year-old child who died in a house fire on the Spirit Lake Reservation. Matisha Lynn Fassett was killed in the blaze Nov. 12, Bureau of Indian Affairs special agent Bentley Greybear Sr. said. Greybear said the girl’s mother and aunt were injured in the blaze. Their names and conditions have not been released. Greybear said one woman was taken to a Grand Forks hospital and the other to a Minneapolis-area hospital. The state fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the fire, he said.

Judge dismisses lawsuit against Cherokee Chief

Tulsa, Oklahoma (AP)

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Cherokee Nation Chief Chad Smith, saying the litigation was the result of “political infighting” and that the plaintiffs had no standing to sue. Seven tribal councilors had accused Smith of improprieties in June after an investigation into his role in the purchase of Global Energy Group as a publicly owned company.

Harrah’s loses vote

on Narragansett casino

Las Vegas, Nevada (AP)

Voters in Rhode Island rejected a measure that would have allowed gambling giant Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. to build a resort casino with the Narragansett Tribe near Providence, R.I. The results of the Nov. 7 vote on gambling measures represented the third defeat on a joint casino proposal by Harrah’s and the Narragansett Tribe in Rhode Island. “We respect the result of the vote,” Las Vegas-based Harrah’s said in a statement. The tribe has been repeatedly thwarted in its almost decade-long attempt to enter the casino gambling market.

Former chairman, Hall, challenges election results

New Town, North Dakota (AP)

Former Three Affiliated Tribes chairman Tex Hall is challenging results from the Nov. 7 election, alleging casino money was used to influence the vote. Hall, 50, lost his bid by more than 200 votes for an unprecedented third term to Marcus Wells Jr., 40, the tribe’s former vice chairman and a tribal councilman the past eight years, Wells has disputed that money from the tribally owned 4 Bears Casino was used to influence the election and said he was offended by the suggestion.

Man gets life sentence

for killing three children

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (AP)

A federal judge on Nov. 15 sentenced a Ft. Cobb man to life in prison for murdering his three young children in 2005. U.S. District Judge Robin J. Cauthron sentenced Dean R. Payne, 48, to three life sentences for killing Ciera Payne, 9; Keelie Payne, 7; and Tye Payne, 5. Prosecutors say Payne shot each of the children in the head twice before setting his Caddo County home on fire early Aug. 26, 2005. Payne pleaded guilty to the three counts on Aug. 10. Their deaths came hours after Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement officers served Payne with a protective order barring him from contact with his wife, Traci Payne.

Sitting Bull College president says nickname hurts partnership

Grand Forks, North Dakota (AP)

The president of Sitting Bull College says the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname could hurt her college’s partnerships with the school. Laurel Vermillion said she delivered that message to UND administrators Bob Boyd and Leigh Jeanotte when they visited the Fort Yates campus during October. Sitting Bull College, on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, partners with other colleges and universities, including UND and North Dakota State University, for grants and programs, Vermillion said. “If we have other people coming offering the same thing as you, I’m going to choose them,” Vermillion said she told the UND administrators, “and it’s because of the ‘Fighting Sioux.”’ Vermillion completed a doctorate from UND in 2005 before becoming president of Sitting Bull College.

Coroner rules homicide in death of 22-month-old boy

Riverton, Wyoming (AP)

An autopsy revealed that the death of a 22-month-old boy a homicide, Fremont County Coroner Ed McAuslan said. Tyraine Wanstall, who lived in Ethete on the Wind River Reservation, passed away No. 1 at the Lander Valley Medical Center. An autopsy was performed in Loveland, Colo., and McAuslan said Nov. 3 that the boy died from trauma.

North Dakota’s

minority population up

Fargo, North Dakota (AP)

North Dakota has more minority residents, though their total number remains relatively small, the director of the state Data Center says. The Data Center analysis shows the state’s minority population grew slightly more than 8 percent between 2000 and 2005, to 49,173. The latest figure is about 7.7 percent of the state’s total population of 636,677. The figures show the American Indian-Alaska Native population, the state’s largest racial minority, increased 7.4 percent during the five-year span.

Police say Cloquet gunman was Redby man

Cloquet, Minnesota (AP)

A man who fired at an officer, carjacked a vehicle and then shot and killed himself in a standoff with police was from Redby, a small town on the Red Lake Reservation, police said Nov. 6. John H. Barrett, 20, was toting an AK-47 assault rifle about town Nov. 3 before his altercation with police, Chief Wade Lamirande said. He said it was believed Barrett was a member of the Red Lake Nation and that his extended family may have been feuding with members of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, whose reservation is near where Barrett was killed.

Keweenaw Bay Chippewa oppose mining project

Baraga, Michigan (AP)

A report unveiled at a council meeting for the Keweenaw Bay Chippewa Community shows the tribal has spent $700,000 in legal fees opposing a proposed mining project. Tribe President and Chief Executive Susan LaFernier said the tribe continues to monitor the Kennecott Eagle Mining Co.’s proposed sulfide mine in western Marquette County. “Our tribe has been very involved with it and we’re going to do whatever we have to do to defend our rights,” LaFernier told The Daily Mining Gazette of Houghton for a story. The tribe has opposed the proposed mining of the Yellow Dog Plains from the beginning. The council also tentatively approved a request from two tribal members to build a lodge near the proposed mine site to keep a fire going nonstop in protest of the project.