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A28 u.s. news
Diasabra 19 Maart 2022

California governor floats $100M plan for tribes to buy land

(AP) — California Gov. one else."
Gavin Newsom on Friday
proposed giving Native Caleem Sisk, chief of the
American tribes $100 mil- Winnemem Wintu Tribe,
lion so they can purchase noted some tribes — like hers
and preserve their ances- — are not recognized by the
tral lands. federal government and have
few resources of other tribes
The proposal is part of his that are federally recognized.
pledge to make sure nearly "We're not in any position to
one-third of California's land really compete with them for
and coastal waters are pre- a grant," she said.
served by 2030. But rather Crowfoot said he did not
than have the government do have a "quick and easy an-
all of that, Newsom said trib- swer" to some of the council's
al leaders should have a say in concerns. He said ultimately
what lands get preserved. the state will need "some sort
of consultative body to help
"We know that California us shape this funding to be
Native peoples have always able to work through that."
had an interdependent rela-
tions with land, waters, ev- Natural Resources Secretary ment to return Native Amer- astic about Newsom's pro- Newsom signed an executive
erything that makes up the Wade Crowfoot said the ad- ican homelands to the de- posal, but worried how it order in 2020 directing that
state of California," Newsom ministration is "committed scendants of those who lived would work in practice. In 30% of California's land and
said. "Unfortunately we also to developing a structure or a there for millennia before some cases, tribes have com- coastal waters be preserved
know that the state has had process where tribes are de- European settlers arrived. peting claims over the same by 2030. He has called that
a role in violently disrupting ciding where these funds are land. Deciding who will get goal a "mandate," saying it is
those relations." going." Aside from buying land, the money to purchase that important for California to
The money is one piece of tribes in California could also land would be difficult. reduce the effects of climate
Newsom's $286.4 billion "There's so much that we use the money for programs change.
budget proposal. The state need to learn, obviously, from that address climate change Kouslaa Kessler-Mata, a
Legislature would have to ap- the tribal communities about and workforce development. member of the Truth & Crowfoot echoed that senti-
prove the spending before it how to do this," Crowfoot Healing Council, said the ment Friday, saying preserv-
could happen. said. "We've disconnected Crowfoot spoke during a state needed to have a policy ing land would allow more
ourselves from all the tribal meeting of the California in place to resolve those con- plants and soil to "actually
The funding would not ecological knowledge that we Truth & Healing Council, flicts "so that we don't just absorb that pollution from
function like a traditional need to heal and care for the established by Newsom in wake up one day and say, 'Oh, the atmosphere and store it
state grant program, where lands." 2019 to "clarify the record" guess what? Right now, that in the land."
the state decides who gets of the "troubled relationship land that you thought was "Nature is needed in this
the money and how they can The proposal comes amid a between tribes and the state." in your ancestral territory is effort to combat climate
spend it. Instead, California growing Land Back move- Tribal leaders were enthusi- now being acquired by some- change," he said.

Treasure hunters: Did FBI destroy video of Civil War gold?

(AP) – Treasure hunters who filing Friday that the FBI ini- lawyer. Weismann asked a The Justice Department says FBI affidavit unsealed last
claim the FBI made off with tially said its records of the judge to order the FBI to ex- it can begin turning over re- year at the request of news
several tons of buried Civil dig included 17 video files. plain the discrepancy in the cords by the end of May, in organizations, including The
War-era gold are now ques- Now, the government claims number of video files it says monthly batches of 500 pag- Associated Press.
tioning whether evidence re- there are only four videos. it has. es. In all, the FBI says there The Paradas accompanied
lated to the 2018 excavation Federal officials have not ex- are about 2,400 pages of re- the FBI to the site in Dent's
in Pennsylvania has been de- plained the discrepancy, the A spokesperson for the U.S. cords and 1,000 photos in ad- Run, but say they were con-
stroyed. treasure hunters said. Attorney's Office in Wash- dition to the video material. fined to their car while the
ington, D.C., which is de- Weismann asked the judge FBI excavated.
Finders Keepers, which sued "This raises the obvious ques- fending the treasure hunters' to require the government to
the Justice Department over tion of whether videotapes lawsuit, declined comment accelerate its production of Federal officials have persis-
its failure to produce records were destroyed in the in- on the videos. records. tently slow-walked the duo's
on the FBI's search for the terim," wrote attorney Anne demands for information
legendary gold, said in a court Weismann, Finders Keepers' The FBI has long insisted its Finders Keepers' owners, the about the dig.
March 2018 dig at the remote father-son duo of Dennis
woodland site came up emp- and Kem Parada, spent years The FBI initially claimed it
ty, but Finders Keepers says looking for the fabled 1863 had no files about the inves-
the government has acted shipment of Union gold that tigation at all. Then, after the
suspiciously throughout the was supposedly lost or stolen Justice Department ordered
four-year saga. on its way to the U.S. Mint in a more thorough review, the
"Its behavior points to one Philadelphia. The pair even- FBI claimed its records were
conclusion: The FBI does tually led the FBI to a remote exempt from public disclo-
not want to acknowledge site 135 miles (220 kilome- sure. Finally, in the wake of
publicly or to plaintiff that ters) northeast of Pittsburgh the treasure hunters' appeal,
it located gold at the Dent's where they say their instru- the FBI said it had located
Run site in March 2018," ments detected a large hunk records it could potentially
Weissman wrote. of metal. turn over — but that it would
The records her clients are take years to do so. That
seeking, including the videos, The FBI's own contractor, prompted the treasure hunt-
"would confirm the truth using more sophisticated in- ers' Freedom of Information
or falsity of this claim," she struments, said it detected a Act suit seeking to compel
wrote. 9-ton metallic mass sugges- production.
tive of gold, according to an