American Indians

Over the years, Ray C. Frost has found little reason to leave his tribe's reservation to hunt the deer and elk whose meat fills his freezer. Game is plentiful on the Southern Ute tribe's land in southwest Colorado and the hunting "fantastic," Frost said. But next year, the former tribal councilman and other Southern Ute hunters will venture off their land for a historic act: They will hunt on public lands, exercising long-dormant rights under a century-old treaty with the federal government.

For the first time, federal legislation has set aside the day after Thanksgiving -- for this year only -- to honor the contributions American Indians have made to the United States. Frank Suniga, a descendant of Mescalero Apache Indians who lives in Oregon, said he and others began pushing in 2001 for a national day that recognizes tribal heritage. Suniga, 79, proposed his idea to a cultural committee that is part of the Portland-based Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.

Growing up in a Native American community in Oregon, Jack Strong ate a lot of canned meat and processed cheese, handouts from the Department of Agriculture. Strong wasn't exposed to most traditional Native American foods until two years ago, when he began working as the chef de cuisine at Kai, the AAA five-diamond restaurant at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort in Chandler, Ariz. Now he cooks with as many native ingredients as possible, including plenty of beans, corn and cactus.

More than 15 years of acrimony came to an end Saturday when about 1,000 Native American remains that had been exhumed during construction were laid to rest and covered with white seashells during a sacred burial ceremony near the Westchester bluffs.

Phil Lucas, 65, a film producer and director who focused on telling the stories of American Indians, died Sunday in Bellevue, Wash., of complications after heart surgery. In his four decades as a filmmaker, Lucas wrote, produced or directed dozens of feature films, television series and documentaries in an industry that often stereotyped Indians.

A 14-year-old boy accused of gunning down his sister's boyfriend on a small American Indian reservation shook his head and cried Friday as he was charged as an adult with murder. Marcos C. Escareno did not enter a plea in Mendocino County Superior Court because his family asked for more time to hire a lawyer. He was held at juvenile hall in lieu of $550,000 bail, and his arraignment was postponed until Feb. 21. According to Mendocino County Sheriff's Lt.

Perched over the Grand Canyon close to a mile above the Colorado River, a massive, multimillion-dollar glass walkway will soon open for business as the centerpiece of a struggling Indian tribe's plan to lure tourists to its remote reservation. An engineering marvel or a colossal eyesore, depending on who is describing it, the horseshoe-shaped glass walkway will jut out 70 feet beyond the canyon's edge on the Hualapai Indian Reservation just west of Grand Canyon Village.

The Autry National Center has received a $340,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitally catalog 15,000 California Indian objects. The two-year project, to be announced Monday, will deal with ethnographic objects, archeological artifacts and sound recordings collected by the Southwest Museum, which merged with the Autry in 2003. "This grant fits very well with two of our initiatives," NEH Chairman Bruce Cole said on a recent visit to the Autry.

FOUR years later, the grieving parents are doing OK. Better than OK. They cruise through most days upbeat -- determinedly grateful for all the good things given them since the worst day of their lives. They've received a pat on the back from the president. They've been given, free and clear, a new home on 5 1/2 acres, a mini-palace of stone and clay, which they've filled with gifts of paintings and statues and prayer quilts and hand-woven rugs. A veritable museum of tributes.

When Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" premiered last December, the action-filled film set against the backdrop of the Maya empire launched the career of a young Texan named Rudy Youngblood. In interviews plugging the movie, Youngblood, who plays the film's central character, Jaguar Paw, routinely discussed his Indian ancestry and his connections to three American tribes.