Niles Cesar, a BIA regional director forced out of the bureau’s Alaska office for alleged mismanagement and fraud, is slated in late August to take the reins at the BIA’s Midwest Regional Office, which exercises  jurisdiction over 35 reservations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan.
A February 9, 2009 report by Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney concluded that “the Alaska region’s inattention to expenditures and failure to manage its program has repeatedly jeopardized the success of Alaskan Native community roads projects and caused millions of dollars to be wasted or unaccounted for.”

Focusing on the BIA’s administration of the Indian Reservation Roads Program (IRRP), the report found that just 10% of the $32 million in annual program funding was monitored to see if the work was actually performed. Of vital importance to isolated Native communities, the IRRP now stands to lose its share of $3 million in federal stimulus funds appropriated to the state based on the report’s recommendation that any additional federal funds be conditioned upon the implementation of sound management practices.

On April 29, five American Indian students walked out of their Ojibwe language class at Robbinsdale Cooper High School.

“We were tired of the class”, said Ashlee Lemon  (Ojibwe) , an 11th grade honor student, “We were tired that our substitute teacher wasn’t teaching us Ojibwe.”     

The walkout was a culmination of events that began in January 2009. At that time, Shirley Kampa (Manitou Rapids Ojibwe First Nation), the language instructor, left her position due to medical reasons. After Kampa put in for an extended leave at the beginning of the second semester, the position for a replacement was posted. The job position title and classification level was listed as “teacher.”

     “Aaniin” “Boozhoo” – customers to Bem-idji’s Cabin Coffee House & Café are now welcomed in both Ojibwe and English. Table tents show them numbers, animals and the Red Lake clans in both languages. And they can try their Ojibwe language skills to order makade-mashkikiwaaboo (coffee) and naboob (soup).

Noemi Aylesworth, Cabin Coffee House owner, said the idea came from Shared Vision, a Bemidji group working to make relations between American Indians and members of the majority culture more comfortable and friendly. “I thought it would be a kind gesture, and it only made sense,” Aylesworth said. She said she plans to hang a feather painted with “Ininiwag” on the men’s rest room door and with “Ikwewag” on the women’s rest room door.

Shared Vision members Michael Meuers and Rachelle Houle set themselves a challenge to have bilingual English/Ojibwe signage in 20 Bemidji businesses within one year. But with nine additional businesses already committed to, they said they think they might meet their goal by the end of the month.

“I was, ‘Oh, my gosh, why didn’t we think of this before,’” said Moni Schneider, owner of The Wild Hare Bistro & Coffee House. “We just heard about it this week and we’re excited about it. It’s a good way to bring the community together.”

The U.S. Parole Commission is expected to make a decision on the imprisoned American Indian Movement (AIM) activist Leonard Peltier within three weeks.

Peltier was convicted for the June 1975 murders of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He is serving two life sentences for the execution-style deaths of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams during a standoff on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was convicted in Fargo, N.D., in 1977. He has claimed the FBI framed him, which the agency denies, and unsuccessfully appealed his conviction numerous times.Defense attorney Eric Seitz said a representative of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa spoke at Peltier’s first full parole hearing in 15 years, held July 28 in a Lewisburg, Pa., federal prison. The hearing was not open to the public.

A representative of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians said the tribe will welcome Peltier back to the reservation if he wins parole. The North Dakota reservation where Peltier grew up has made arrangements to incorporate him back into society should he be paroled, Peltier’s attorney said. Seitz said the tribe has arranged for Peltier to have a place to live, a teaching job and a position on the Council of Elders.

Josette Croud (White Earth Ojibwe), a Minneapolis 2009 South High graduate, has received the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship based on her academic achievement, test scores, and personal essay – which described her enormous perseverance despite the many obstacles she’s faced in her life. The national scholarship program, which began in 1999, was originally funded by a $1 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The scholarship promotes academic excellence and provides an opportunity for outstanding minority students with significant financial need to attend college.