Thanks to a sold-out performance by popular cooking celebrity, restaurateur and best-selling cookbook author Paula Deen, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino & Hotel donated $25,000 Saturday to the Cherokee Indian Hospital Foundation for a Digital Mammography Unit.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced the creation of a new Office of Tribal Government Relations to ensure the more than 200,000 Veterans who are American Indians, Alaska Natives, Hawaiian Natives or are part of the Alaska Native Corporations receive the VA benefits they have earned.

The EBCI Minors Fund was worth over $329 million as of Sept. 30, 2010 according to information presented during a Tribal Council work session on Monday, Jan. 31 to educate the public about the Fund and investments in general.

Important Dates from the EBCI Board of Elections

Tribal Council Agenda – Thursday, Feb. 3

Budget Council Agenda for Tuesday, Feb. 1

The U.S. Department of Justice reports that 1 out of every 3 American Indian women will be raped in their lifetime and 75 percent will be physically assaulted. Rashica Manjoo, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, visited Cherokee on Friday, Jan. 28 to gather information on the problem in Indian Country.