Last week, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians welcomed Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to the exhibit hall at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino to speak to a delegation of members from tribes across the United States as part of the National Conference of American Indians mid-year retreat. 

The N.C. Source Water Collaborative — a statewide drinking water protection group — has announced the winners of the Source Water Protection Awards during the Water Resources Research Institute’s annual conference, held last month, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians took home one of the prizes. 

As keepers of our traditions and sovereignty, we vehemently oppose any attempts to exploit or appropriate the rich cultural legacy of Cherokee people.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony held Friday, Feb. 16, for a building dedicated to preserving the Cherokee language was a celebration of the culture and language that has formed the Cherokee people for countless generations. 

George Mitchell Littlejohn, a commissioner on the Tribal Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, is facing 11 charges in tribal court following a Feb. 16 arrest for allegedly charging more than $1,800 to a TABCC credit card for a variety of unauthorized purchases. 

Rachel Paige Crowe, 33, has been sentenced to four years in federal prison, five years of probation, $5,200 in fines and at least 15 years on the sex offender registry after pleading guilty to engaging in sexual contact with a 15-year-old boy on the Qualla Boundary in 2022. 

After months of stalemate, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians appears ready to advance its cannabis enterprise.

The Cherokee Supreme Court has vacated the conviction of a man who was prosecuted for his alleged role in a cyberattack that crippled the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ computer network in December 2019. 

This award goes to Cherokee’s Sgadugi Constitution Committee, which, as the namesake band sang in its 1997 classic “Tubthumping,” keeps getting knocked down — but just gets up again. 

After more than two months of operating under a continuing resolution, Tribal Council has approved a new budget for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.