North Carolina will have a primary election on Tuesday, May 8, but voting has already begun in Cherokee. A one-stop voting precinct has been set up by the Swain County Board of Elections in the Cherokee Life Center.

Tribal Court Judgments from April 17

A recent report by the Kituwah Preservation and Education Program stated that there were 318 fluent Cherokee language speakers in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians as of March 2012. The New Kituwah Academy is doing its best to increase that number by creating fluent speakers in its daily immersion school classrooms.

Susan Jenkins, executive director of Cherokee Preservation Foundation, has announced her retirement to the board and staff of the Foundation, effective Dec. 31.

An old casserole pot is displayed proudly in the BIA Realty office of Darlene Whitetree. The pot belonged to her mother, Floy Whitetree, and now Darlene wants to return it to the family of the original potter.

A Geiger counter beeps and registers a radioactive signature as Levi Mines runs a common lantern wick under the device. But, don’t worry, Mines wasn’t part of a radioactive clean-up and it wasn’t a science fiction movie.

     NORC at the University of Chicago will interview members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for the REACH US survey. The survey is sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and it provides the Cherokee Choices program with information about...