LAW360 (Native feed)

A Kansas federal judge has rejected a bid by the state and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska to block a U.S. Department of the Interior decision to allow gambling on Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma trust land, saying they hadn't shown the agency improperly relied on an earlier court ruling.

The Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday said it will not approve a critical water permit for a controversial gold and copper mine in Alaska, saying the project's environmental harms are too great, even considering the estimated economic benefits.

The Trump administration told a Massachusetts federal court that it had the discretion to reach settlements as it saw fit, pushing to end a suit by environmental advocates that said the U.S. Department of Justice's policy banning environmental improvement projects in enforcement settlements is unlawful.

Tribal leaders and health experts in South Dakota are imploring Gov. Kristi Noem and the state Legislature to institute a statewide mask mandate and follow the example of local tribes as the coronavirus wreaks havoc across the Great Plains.

The Second Circuit has affirmed a lower court's ruling in favor of the Oneida Indian Nation of central New York, agreeing that a member of the tribe unlawfully claimed 19.6 acres of land as a trust for himself and his family.

Many organizations are making plans for executives to go into government jobs, or for government officials to join a private sector team, but they must understand the many ethics rules that can put a damper on just how valuable the former employee or new hire can be, say Scott Thomas and Jennifer Carrier at Blank Rome.

The state of Michigan and a Native American tribe have agreed to toss a Michigan federal court suit over a proposed casino on land bought with trust funds, saying the deal ends a decadelong court battle that threatened to go on for at least several more years.

A group of states on Monday asked a federal judge to scrap the Trump administration's rule narrowing the scope of the Clean Water Act's jurisdiction, saying the government failed to study how excluding many previously protected waters would harm water quality and step on states' rights.

A divided D.C. Circuit panel refused to halt construction of President Donald Trump's border wall on Monday, overriding claims from Native American groups that the project is irreversibly destroying significant archeological sites, in violation of federal law.

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups on Tuesday filed a D.C. Circuit challenge against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule that advocates say improperly extends the life of unlined coal ash ponds operated by electric utilities.

Colorado oil and gas regulators on Monday adopted an overhaul of drilling rules to require greater consideration of public health and environmental impacts, including drilling further away from homes and schools and limiting venting and flaring from gas wells.

An Arizona federal judge has tossed a case claiming the Navajo Nation was not given enough time to challenge the Department of the Interior's decision to approve trust land for the Hopi Tribe that included the only public access to a Navajo casino.

After appearing to hedge last week on the potential of a Joe Biden transition, the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday that he's working with the president-elect's team and that the agency has high hopes for one of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine candidates.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP's top officer entered guilty pleas Tuesday on behalf of the company to a three-count felony information detailing Purdue's long conspiracy to defeat federal opioid control programs and anti-kickback statutes, part of a wider $8.3 billion criminal and civil settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Trump administration has told the Ninth Circuit that it properly weighed public health concerns when it approved a land transfer that could allow an isolated Native community to build a road through a wildlife refuge, despite the Obama administration's concern about the project's environmental impact.

As the pandemic brings a variety of legal stresses for businesses, lawyers must understand the emotional dynamic of a crisis and the particular energy it produces to effectively fulfill their role as advisers, say Meredith Parfet and Aaron Solomon at Ravenyard Group.

The D.C. Circuit is set to decide if a group of Oregon ranchers can challenge the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs' enforcement of tribal water rights in their area, and the case may come down to whether the panel is convinced that the government must co-sign tribal calls for enforcement.

Oklahoma U.S. attorneys and tribal leaders of the Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee nations have launched a pilot project to help crack cold cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people, saying on Monday that the plan depends on collaboration between tribes and law enforcement.

A bipartisan pair of U.S. House members urged the FCC on Monday to start rolling out a congressionally mandated plan to pay internet providers for the replacement of network equipment that could pose national security risks.

The state of North Dakota on Friday urged a D.C. federal judge not to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline during a court-ordered environmental review, saying that doing so would harm the state by drastically cutting tax revenues.