Here is a round up of business news from around Indian Country.
GAMING
• The Comanche Nation has started construction on its sixth gaming facility with a groundbreaking April 3 for a new casino in Cache, Okla., according to a report from KFDX. The 17,000-square-foot facility will house 250 machines and a restaurant when it opens, which is expected later this year. Comanche Nation Entertainment also operates casinos in Lawton, Devol, Elgin and Walters, and features gaming at the Comanche Nation Travel Plaza, also located in Devol.
• Jamul Casino, the gaming enterprise of the Jamul Indian Village located in San Diego County, California, promoted Theresa Grady to become chief financial officer. Previously, Grady served for nearly four years as director of finance and led efforts in January to refinance the casino with an array of lenders that included Western Alliance Bank, Nevada State Bank, Columbia Bank and CIT Bank, according to a statement. Grady is a 25-year veteran in finance, including 14 years in the gaming sector. In the new role, she will be responsible for overseeing the compliance, procurement, cash and club services department. “The Tribe has a relatively young casino, but has been able to establish it as a respected leader in the San Diego gaming industry. Being a part of helping the Tribe grow and prosper by creating this stable platform for future generations has been very rewarding,” Grady said in a statement. Jamul Casino opened in 2016 and features 1,700 slot machines, 41 table games and a dedicated poker room, as well as various hospitality offerings.
• The Tule River Indian Tribe held a groundbreaking at a site in Porterville, Calif. where it will relocate the Eagle Mountain Casino, according to a report in The Porterville Recorder. Eagle Mountain Casino currently operates from a site on the Tule River Reservation about 20 miles away, where it has been for nearly 25 years. The tribe may repurpose the current site to expand health services to tribal members, according to the report. The tribe expects the new Porterville location will be completed in 18 months.
GOVERNMENT
• Robert Anderson, an enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe who has served as Principal Deputy Solicitor for the Department of the Interior since January, was formally nominated by the Biden Administration this month to serve as solicitor of the department. Anderson has a two-decade career as a law professor at the University of Washington, where he also led the Native American Law Center. For 12 years, Anderson also was the Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Anderson previously served in the Department of the Interior during the Clinton administration as the Associate Solicitor for Indian Affairs and Counselor to the Secretary. “Bob has extensive legal expertise with regard to Native American Tribes, public lands, and water — all of which will help advance Interior’s mission to steward America’s natural, cultural and historic resources and honor our nation-to-nation relationship with Tribes in accordance with the spirit and letter of the law,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.
HOSPITALITY
• Crews have started construction on a new three-story, 83-room La Quinta Inn on Navajo Nation in Shonto, Ariz. The tribe is funding the 54,000-square-foot project with a $5 million allocation from Permanent Trust Fund interest income, $3 million from the Navajo Nation Division of Economic Development, and $3.1 million from the Abandoned Mines Land Program, according to a statement. Once it opens, the new hotel is expected to create 30 permanent jobs. The Navajo Nation Division of Economic Development and the nonprofit Shonto Economic Development Corporation are overseeing the project, which is being built by Medallion Hospitality. “This initiative is part of a larger vision of creating a tourism corridor that will attract more visitors to Navajo land to increase our economic potential,” Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said in a statement.
