In Indian lore, a dream catcher protects children from nightmares by trapping bad dreams in a sinewy web strung across a willow hoop.

An innovative project in Cumberland County schools follows the same idea — filter out some of life’s challenges to keep American Indian students from dropping out.

The Dream Catcher Project is unlike anything else on the East Coast. It aims to keep students in class through an after-school club that combines cultural studies, self-assessment and field trips. There’s a healthy dose of encouragement and praise, while organizers keep close tabs on grades.

Dream Catcher tackles deeper issues such as family strife, cultural identity and racism, that contribute to Indian students dropping out at a higher rate than any other group in North Carolina.

“It’s not easy to be American Indian in Cumberland County,” said Darlene Ransom, the program coordinator in the county.

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The Pascua Yaquis based near Tucson have reached an agreement with the U.S.Department of Homeland Security so that enrolled members can use special tribal ID cards in lieu of a passport when new document requirements take effect Monday at U.S. border crossings.

Marisela Nu√±ez, Yaqui enrollment director, said the tribe’s estimated 16,000 members can apply for enhanced cards featuring electronic verification of the holder’s identity, tribal status and U.S. citizenship.

Beginning June 1, U.S. citizens entering the country from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Bermuda will be required to present a passport or other document recognized under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, a program designed to stiffen border security.

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An American Indian language program in elementary schools could help preserve the language, says Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji.

Her provisions for an American Indian language preservation program were included in the omnibus outdoors heritage funding bill signed late Friday night by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

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Tribal leaders from all seven Montana reservations and the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe laid out housing and education problems Wednesday for top federal and state officials.

The round-table discussion concluded a whirlwind tour of parts of Montana’s Indian Country for two members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet and focused on the unique issues facing the state’s American Indian population, especially regarding higher education and family housing.

“In my mind, housing and education go hand in hand,” said Raymond Parker, chairman of the Chippewa Cree tribe.

He told Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, along with Sen. Jon Tester and Gov. Brian Schweitzer, that it’s not uncommon to find 15 people – as many as 10 of them children – sharing a three-bedroom home. It can be difficult for kids to succeed in school without healthy living conditions, and with more than 600 people on a waiting list for homes on his reservation, the problem is only growing, Parker said.

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Minnesota’s request to overturn a federal law that threw Dakota and Winnebago Indians out of the state can become a way to teach about mistreatment over the years, Native Americans and a state legislator say.

The 1863 law banning the two tribes has been replaced with presidential and congressional actions, and Dakota Indians live on four Minnesota reservations, but the law remains on the books. Rep. Dean Urdahl said on Thursday it is past time to repeal it.

“The affect largely is symbolic,” the Grove City Republican said, but overturning the law could ease remaining Indian resentment.

The symbolism is important, added Annamarie Hill, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council executive director. “It says a lot about where we are in the healing.”

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The Obama administration has nominated a number of Native Americans to powerful positions within the executive branch.

Three have been nominated to positions within the Interior Department, with two already confirmed by the Senate.

Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, Rosebud Sioux, was confirmed May 6 as director of the Indian Health Service, and Larry Echohawk, Pawnee, was confirmed as assistant secretary of the Interior for Indian affairs on May 19.

After a hitch in the confirmation process, the third nominee, Hilary Tompkins, Navajo, looks to be nearing a vote on her confirmation as solicitor of the Interior Department.

Tompkins, who was raised in New Jersey, ran into trouble from a Utah senator who is upset with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for his embargo of oil and gas development near scenic lands in southern Utah.

The leases had been approved in the waning days of the Bush administration over howls of protest from environmental groups.

Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, also said he was unsatisfied with Tompkins’ answer to a question about her stance on a 2003 agreement between Utah and the Interior Department that stopped further designation of Utah land as wilderness study areas – the first step towards federal protections that can sometimes put an area off limits to development.

Bennett was unsatisfied with Tompkins’ response that she would investigate the issue.

But on May 21 Bennett lifted his hold on the Tompkins nomination after receiving an indication from Salazar that he won’t seek to overturn the Utah Wilderness Settlement.

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The Shinnecocks were cheated out of beautiful and valuable land in Southampton 150 years ago by speculators seeking to bring a railroad to the south fork of Long Island. The tribe has protested ever since, and now its luck is finally changing.

Federal recognition of the Shinnecocks as a sovereign nation is on the horizon. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which dragged its review process on for three decades, has settled an unreasonable-delay lawsuit by agreeing to make a preliminary decision by the end of the year. The odds are high that it will accept the tribe’s petition, making formal approval likely by mid-2010.

This recognition would bring a deep satisfaction to the Shinnecock people, an acknowledgment of their nationhood by another nation. Members will be entitled to participate in federal programs that will improve their quality of life, which is in sharp contrast to the wealth of their neighbors.

Among the benefits are eligibility for special Department of Housing and Urban Development mortgages to build and improve homes, the type of financing that is impossible to get for communally owned land. There is also funding for Indian health and educational services, programs that tribes with less documentation have enjoyed for years.

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A potentially violent showdown between Mohawks and Canadian authorities looms after last-ditch efforts to delay Monday’s planned arming of border guards on a reserve straddling the Ontario-Quebec-New York State boundary failed, said an Akwesasne Mohawk chief.

Chief Larry King said the situation was now in the hands of Akwesasne community members, who would begin discussing Friday night whether they would allow armed border guards onto their territory Monday. The Akwesasne Mohawk Council Chiefs offered several compromise positions to senior Canada Border Services Agency officials during a meeting in Ottawa, but were rebuffed, said King.

The Mohawks say they don’t want armed guards at the border post, which is in the community, because it would violate their sovereignty and increase the likelihood of violent confrontations between guards and Mohawks.

“CBSA is a foreign oppressive force who occupies our sovereign community and territory. (They are) unwelcome, uninvited and now carrying firearms. For lack of a different description, that is considered by some an act of war,” said King. “We cannot be held responsible or control what could transpire. There is a real possibility of unrest.”

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Mayor Doug Palmer signed an agreement yesterday with an American Indian tribe that runs a casino in Oklahoma. But the mayor and leader of the Delaware Nation said no casinos are envisioned for New Jersey’s capital city.

“As long as I’m mayor I can tell you that this has nothing to do with casinos,” said Palmer, who is expected to leave office in July 2010.

Kerry Holton, president of the Oklahoma-based Delaware Nation since 2006, said casino gambling “is not on the radar” of American Indians interested in investing in Trenton.

Holton and Palmer said the memorandum of understanding they signed permits Lenape Holdings Inc. to pursue economic opportunities in so-called “green” energy technology, including solar, wind, biomass and geothermal projects.

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