It’s a start: Indians to get 3.4 billion
I guess the feds are glad they didn’t lose Manhattan:
Parties reach deal in Indian trust suit
WASHINGTON – The U.S. government will pay as much as $3.4 billion and institute reforms to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit brought by Indians who claim federal mismanagement of billions of dollars in mineral and grazing royalties from their lands dating to the 19th century.
The settlement of the Cobell lawsuit, announced Tuesday, would provide $1.4 billion in payments to more than 300,000 Indians, scattered mostly west of the Mississippi River, whose land is held in trust and overseen by the federal government. Each would get at least $1,500.</em>
“Now, about those smallpox infected blankets…”
