During the late night hours of Monday, Dec. 27, Cherokee Indian Police Department (CIPD) Community Action Team members and Patrol officers successfully apprehended a male subject who had previously escaped custody after having been detained with trafficking amounts of heroin.

Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III was ceremonially sworn in as Director of the National Park Service (NPS) by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland on Thursday, Dec. 16. Sams is the first tribal citizen to lead the agency, which has been without a Senate confirmed leader for nearly five years.  

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland wrapped her week-long trip out West on Sunday, Dec. 12 as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s “Building a Better America” tour.

Following passage of a referendum in September approving the practice, a local business is the first to start the retail sale of beer and wine on the Qualla Boundary.  Ric’s Smokeshop I, located on Casino Trail,  started several weeks ago. 

In the early morning hours of Thursday, Dec. 9, the Cherokee Indian Police Department (CIPD) responded to a domestic violence call at Harrah’s Valley River Casino. Upon arrival, CIPD Patrol Officer Christopher Harris spoke with a male and female subject on foot near the casino and the casino hotel entrance.

Patrons and employees at either of the casino properties owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will no longer be subject to smoking on a large scale.  Tribal Council passed Ord. No. 3 (2021) during its regular session on Thursday, Dec. 9 which limits where people can smoke at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River in Murphy.

Tribal officials celebrated the grand opening of the Cherokee National Research Center in Tahlequah, Okla. on Wednesday, Dec. 8. The state-of-the-art facility is serving as a temporary home to the Nation’s foremost collection of historic Cherokee-related documents and cultural artifacts from the 1700s through present day.

The world-renowned and multi-Michelin star chef is opening a Gordon Ramsay Food Market with Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. This will be the first of its kind in the United States. Ramsay has numerous restaurants across the country, with many of those coming in partnership with Harrah’s Cherokee’s parent company Caesars Entertainment.