The Cherokee Police Commission held their first meeting of 2025, including the newly sworn commissioners, in the Ginger Lynn Welch building on the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 16.

In fall 2024, the Cherokee Preservation Foundation awarded 10 grants to partners within Western North Carolina. Grants totaled more than $2.1 million and were awarded to projects advancing the Foundation’s mission of improving the quality of life for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) and neighboring communities.

From January 2024 to January 2025, with help from a year-long grant awarded by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit and Transgender People (MMIWG2T), the Cherokee One Feather has worked to cover as many of the 35+ documented Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) cases as possible with articles and graphics. With the grant year complete, we have compiled an overview of the coverage and developments. 

One of the three legs of the tripod that is Tri-Council has decided to withdraw from participation.  The Legislative Branch of the Cherokee Nation (Okla.) passed Res. No. 24-114 on Monday, Dec. 16 withdrawing their tribe from the Tri-Council which is an annual meeting of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (N.C.), the Cherokee Nation, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (Okla.). 

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) joined Caesars Entertainment on Tuesday, Dec. 17 to celebrate the grand opening of the highly anticipated Caesars Virginia casino & resort. Ugvwiyuhi (Principal Chief) Michell Hicks, alongside members of his Executive team and Dinilawigi (Tribal Council), attended the event, marking a significant milestone in EBCI’s ongoing partnership with Caesars Entertainment.

For the third Congress in a row, a House bill that would grant federal recognition to the state-recognized Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has passed.  By a vote of 311-96, the Lumbee Fairness Act (H.R. 1101) passed the U.S. House of Representatives, in the 118th Congress, on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. 

Tribal officials of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) held a groundbreaking for improvements to the Soco Falls Trailhead on the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 13. The project is being paid for with ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) funds.