Duncan sworn in, then raises eyebrows by declining three Osage Nation felony arrests
As expected, Gov. Mary Fallin appointed Rex Duncan as district attorney for Osage and Pawnee counties last Tuesday, but no one expected what would happen the following day. On the arraignment docket Wednesday afternoon were three felony cases in which the Osage Nation Police Department had made arrests on non-tribal land. At Duncan’s behest, all [...]
A first: Carrying the torch
While Osage County Deputy Sheriffs Travis Harris, Terry York and Kevin Burke rappelled down into the Oklahoma Special Olympics opening ceremonies in Gallagher Iba Arena in Stillwater on Wednesday night, Osage Nation Sgt. Michael Fish walked alongside athletes and other officers. All four of the men, including other officers from Highway Patrol Troop K, the [...]
Osage Chief on separation of powers
The Founding Fathers of our country recognized and understood the importance of the separation of powers among established branches of government, and this understanding was instrumental in drafting the United States Constitution. As a result, the separation of powers has become a key component at all levels of government, which include state, local and tribal [...]
The last of the Osage 10 comes home to Pawhuska
The last bronze bust made from a plaster mold of a living Osage by the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History was unveiled Saturday at the Constantine Theater to a packed audience. Ten busts were made of Osages and another 82 were also cast of native people from around the globe, including Mongolians, Peruvians and [...]
A day just for children
The Osage Nation’s annual Day of the Child celebration took place Wednesday with visiting kids, critters, fire trucks and more. Photos by Louise Red Corn
Changes afoot at Bighearttimes.com
On Wednesday, The Bigheart Times made an unusual move for a newspaper: We put our website behind a pay wall. It’s also unusual for a weekly newspaper with a two-person newsroom to have a website of our caliber. The new move should please our past e-subscribers, who have been gradually left without access to the [...]
Times takes home awards
The Bigheart Times took home almost a dozen awards Saturday in the Society of Professional Journalists Oklahoma Pro Chapter’s 2011 contest among all newspapers in the state with circulations of 25,000 or under. Photographer Rachel Anne Seymour was given the top award in her field, with the best photographic portfolio, while Publisher Louise Red Corn [...]
Pawhuskan critically hurt in three-vehicle accident on U.S. 60
A Pawhuska man is in critical condition following an accident tonight on U.S. 60 a mile west of his hometown. Chey Berghoefer, 27, was flown to Saint John’s Hospital in Tulsa after the accident around 5 p.m. tonight, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. An OHP report says that Barbara Cheves, 76, also of Pawhuska, [...]
Osage Nation board quits
All four members of the Osage Nation’s Health Authority, which oversaw the tribe’s social services and health divisions and was negotiating to compact the Indian Health Clinic, resigned on Tuesday, effective immediately. “It is clear that you plan to run the Heath and Wellness division without any input or consideration from the Health Authority,” the [...]
Vote saves Osage LLC
The Osage Nation Congress rejected a bill that would have dissolved its business arm, Osage LLC, a move heavily advocated by Congressmen Geoffrey Standing Bear and William “Kugee” Supernaw. Opposition to the bill was adamant, though Standing Bear and Supernaw said that the corporation has lost millions of dollars and failed to employ Osages. “We [...]
Tribe drops wind appeal
The Osage Nation abruptly dropped its litigation aimed at stopping Wind Capital Group’s wind farm west of Pawhuska, but vowed that it would pursue other means to stop the 8,500-acre development from being built. “The tribe remains steadfastly opposed to the siting of industrial wind energy projects in Osage County,” the tribe’s governmental affairs Director [...]
Tight schedule for wind farm
Financing for the 8,500-acre wind farm on the tallgrass prairie west of Pawhuska is hanging in the balance as the Osage Nation and Wind Capital battle over the project in the U.S. Court of Appeals. In court documents, Wind Capital says that its lenders, who are to finance the project to the tune of hundreds [...]
Tribe willing to pay Wind Capital
The Osage Nation objects, in part, to Wind Capital Group’s demand that they pay certain expenses stemming from litigation over the tribe’s effort to stop an 8,500 acre wind farm west of Pawhuska. Wind Capital is asking that the tribe pay $9,241for copying, court reporter and other expenses it incurred fighting a failed attempt by [...]
Redoing 21st Street
The Osage Nation is getting ready to spend some big bucks to widen 21st Street in Pawhuska and install curbs and gutters, City Manager Paul McAlexander told the City Council on Monday night. The tribe, using federal money, is going to improve the road from U.S. 60 to Indian Camp School and do more work [...]
Pawhuska Boxer swings hard in Kansas
Pawhuska Osage ameturer boxer Ben Cottingham will head Colorado in late February for the first qualifying tournament of this year’s Summer Olympics. He is one fight away from being the Oklahoma State Champion. Below are several videos of Cottingham (red headgear) fighting in the Kansas-Oklahoma Regional Golden Gloves finals at the Memorial Hall in Hutchinson, Kan., March 27, 2010. [...]
Osages buy some fancy new rides
Osages were blessed by some big bucks thanks to the settlement of the tribe’s massive trust case against the United States. For every full headright a person regardless of whether they were Osage, the government forked over more than $150,000. That added up to some serious Christmas Eve jack for some folks. Some went on [...]
Wind Capital: Tribe should pay
Wind Capital Group is asking a federal judge to order the Osage Nation Minerals Council to reimburse the company for some costs it incurred successfully defending the case. The request, filed Dec. 30, comes shortly after the Minerals Council decided to take the case to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, a move that could [...]
Coats for kids in Head Start Program
Osage Casinos helped make winter much warmer for more than 200 children at the Osage Nation Head Start program. Winter coats were provided on the last day before the holiday break for 210 children who attend school at the Osage Nation Head Start programs in seven locations throughout Osage County. Funding for the coats from [...]
Judge rules in favor of Wind Capital, not Osage Nation
The Osage Nation lost and lost hard in its fight to stop wind farms from sprouting atop oil reserves that could promise a rebirth of the of a lucrative oil patch. After a two-day trial in which the tribe’s experts postulated that wind development “might” interfere with tapping the potentially vast reserves of the Burbank [...]
Judge rules in favor of Wind Capital, not Osage Nation, in wind trial
United States District Court Judge Gregory Frizzell turned down the Osage Nation’s request for an injunction on a planned wind farm near Burbank and ruled in favor of Wind Capital Group after a two-day, nonjury trial. The Osage Nation, through the Osage Minerals Council, filed a federal lawsuit in October, claiming the 94-turbine wind farm [...]
Battle lines drawn in wind scrap
The battle over a planned wind farm on the Osage prairie’s most promising oilfield will come to a head at trial in U.S. District Court on Wednesday and Thursday this week, with each side in the fight deeply entrenched and determined to win. In court filings Monday, the Osage Nation and Wind Capital Group are [...]
