Osage News

1 week ago | osagenews.org | Allison Herrera

A lot has happened since the previous Osage Shareholders Meeting in mid-February. Just days before shareholders gathered on Zoom, Adam Trumbly, the Osage Agency Superintendent was let go from his job after the Department of Government Efficiency laid off thousands of probationary employees within the federal government. Trumbly’s job was one of them. He was eventually reinstated a little more than a month afterward and was on this quarterly meeting agenda.

1 week ago | osagenews.org | Allison Herrera

After nearly ten years of litigation, the Osage Minerals Council has prevailed in a lawsuit filed in 2016 that challenged the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review of two leases on the Osage Minerals Estate. The case is also known as Hayes v. Haaland and was argued in the Northern District Court of Oklahoma. “The Hayes II case represented another attempt by surface owners to impede the abilityof Osage Headright Holders to benefit from their mineral interests.

1 week ago | osagenews.org | Shannon Duty

The Osage Nation Congressional Membership Committee has called a July 10 hearing into the allegations against Attorney General Clint Patterson. The allegations claim he illegally obtained an Osage CDIB for his former adopted daughter in 2004 and also illegally obtained an Osage Nation membership for her in 2010. Labeling the woman as “Jane Doe” to maintain confidentiality, Tulsa-based attorney Logan Hibbs of Crowe Dunlevy gave a report to the committee on May 27.

2 weeks ago | osagenews.org | Allison Herrera

Twenty-five Bureau of Indian Affairs buildings were slated to be closed as part of a Department of Government Efficiency plan to reduce government spending. This included the Osage and Pawnee agencies. The buildings were on a list released in late February by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The 25 buildings represented 27% of the BIA buildings in operation.

2 weeks ago | osagenews.org | Shannon Duty

The Osage Nation, Muscogee Nation and the Quapaw Nation are unifying in their approach to resolving their Tobacco Compact issues with the state of Oklahoma. In a May 19 joint statement, the leaders of the three tribes have “committed to collaborate and seek positive action from the State of Oklahoma on tobacco tax compacts. To date, the Nations have not been able to reach tobacco tax compacts in negotiations with Governor Stitt.