The Indian and Alaska Native Affairs subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee is slated to have four Democrats and six Republicans according to committee assignments announced by both parties on Monday, Jan. 24.

The Court-ordered process of notifying individual Indians of their right to participate in the historic $3.4 billion class action Settlement, Cobell v. Salazar, is underway.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) will host a United Nations expert this week who is studying why Native women face the highest rates of sexual and physical assault of any group in the United States.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Friday, Jan. 21 the formation and inaugural meeting of the Violence Against Women Federal and Tribal Prosecution Task Force.

Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), will deliver the annual State of Indian Nations address on Thursday, Jan. 27 at 10:30am.

Federal Court Briefs from U.S. District Court on Wednesday, Jan. 19

Robert Benjamin Smith, 24, of Cherokee, NC, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Bryson City on Wednesday, Jan. 19 to second degree murder in connection with his involvement in a Oct. 22, 2010 fatal stabbing incident which occurred on the Cherokee Indian Reservation.