Latest news with #Tolan
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Black Hills still not for sale, Oglala Sioux Tribe rejects FOIA request to unseal value
Talli NaumanBuffalo's Fire Oglala Sioux Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out says U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum should deny a major media request to reveal the Black Hills Claim accounting record. Speculation is that interest earnings are worth over $1 billion on the $102 million land payment that federal courts adjudged to the Sioux Nation 50 years ago. The Oglala and their six fellow Teton Sioux bands never took the 1974 federal claim money offer for the theft of their Black Hills treaty-guaranteed territory. So, the Interior Department, as their legal trustee, invested the nations' behalf through its Bureau of Trust Funds Administration. CNN Investigative Unit reporter Casey Tolan, a data journalist, filed the request under Freedom of Information Act terms. He asked the Interior Department for 'the most recent statement available listing the total amount of money held in trust by the department.' Oglala leaders recently rejected the idea after being notified by the department. When Interior officials notified the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Star Comes Out said the request is 'just an underhanded way to ultimately get the Oglala Sioux Tribe to implicitly accept the 1980 Black Hills Claim.'' He told Buffalo's Fire: 'All the Sioux tribes have informed the United States since 1980 that 'The Black Hills Are Not For Sale'.' The Indian Claims Court determined the award in 1974, six years later the Supreme Court affirmed it. However, the Oglala Nation never agreed to any settlement of the Black Hills Claim, Star Comes Out said in the official response to Interior's February notification. The Oglala told Interior in their March response that the department has a fiduciary duty to keep all the information requested by CNN confidential: Case law supports that argument under Exemption 4 of the FOIA. The response, obtained by Buffalo's Fire through official channels, asserts that 'disclosure of the information in question would harm the interests of the tribes.' It says that 'wide dissemination of the amount of money in the Black Hills award trust account would likely lead to the Sioux tribes being subject to harder bargaining in commercial dealings and transactions with third parties.' Furthermore, disclosure would help individuals 'to put pressure on the tribes to make immediate distributions from the Black Hills award trust.' That would challenge tribal leadership policies that such distributions run counter to tribes' long term interests, it says. Asked for a comment, Star Comes Out said: 'Why now? Why is CNN all of a sudden interested in the current balance of the 1980 Black Hills award, especially during the Trump Administration's recent actions to cut government appropriations for Indian tribes. I would like to know who prompted Mr. Tolan to make the FOIA request.' Tolan did not answer Buffalo's Fire attempts to ask about his actions. Oglala Sioux Tribal Treasurer Cora White Horse sent the Interior Department a notarized affidavit stating she cannot release the information without a tribal council resolution. 'The Black Hills statement information requested by CNN has … never been disclosed to the public nor been shared with any private commercial entity, nonprofit organization, or with any state, local, or other tribal government,' White Horse stated in the affidavit. Furthermore she said, the information is 'subject to physical security measures and cybersecurity measures instituted and maintained by my office to prevent the trust account statements from either being hacked or otherwise leaked or disclosed in an unauthorized manner to others.' Oglala Sioux Tribal Attorney Mario Gonzalez drafted the tribal response to the CNN FOIA request -- in consultation with President Star Comes Out and Treasurer White Horse. Gonzalez was the attorney who stopped payment of Black Hills Claim money to the Oglala Sioux Tribe in 1980. His litigation in the 1973 Claims Distribution Act ultimately kept the money in trust for all the Sioux tribes with no call for them to cede the territory. Star Comes Out told Buffalo's Fire, 'We will never sell out our holy lands, the Black Hills, to the United States for monetary compensation.' He said: "I believe, however, the Sioux tribes would be open to engaging in nation-to-nation consultations under mutually agreed-to protocols with new Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to find innovative ways to resolve the Sioux land claims without having to sell out our homelands.' The Oglala Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux tribal councils 'have a pending request for such consultations with Secretary Burgum," Star Comes Out said.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Island City Lions Club folds, Hog Wild Days end
ISLAND CITY — The Island City Lions Club is folding up, and with it go its major fundraising events, the annual gun show and Hog Wild Days. 'Hog Wild Days has been an annual tradition for over 40 years,' John Tolan, Island City Lions president said. 'It was quite a run, and then COVID took a big toll on us and after that people just didn't want to volunteer for service.' The club's gun show also ends with the club's closure. 'We have held the gun show for at least the last five or six years, and it was pretty successful,' Tolan said, 'but even the current climate with gun control and those kinds of issues going on, we kind of struggled with that a little bit for a few years, not knowing if we could have gun shows anymore with background checks.' With the dwindling of the club's membership, it became apparent the two major fundraisers held so close together were too much work. Some members had jobs and others just wanted to spend more of their time with their families. The club's membership was healthy before the pandemic, but COVID-19 diminished the membership with deaths and people leaving. 'So, we really pondered whether we had enough people to organize the Hog Wild Days,' Tolan said. None of the club's members were from Island City or had family members living in the city, and none of the members had any attachment to Island City Elementary School, except for Tolan, a retired long-time principal. 'So, it was voted upon that we just end our Island City Lions Club this year and donate as much as we could to Island City Elementary School and various projects along with scholarships to La Grande seniors who attended Island City Elementary School,' Tolan said. He let the city of Island City know about the club's closure and discontinuation of Hog Wild Days and told the city it was more than welcome to take over the event. 'This is sort of the end of the era for us because we don't have the members to do it, and the members that we have are ready to go on and do other things,' Tolan said. The Lions club will officially dissolve at the end of July after it liquidates its pig train, trailers and other club assets. 'The Island City Lions Club has been privileged to support the community of Island City, and we want to thank all the patrons in Island City for all of their support over the years,' Tolan said. 'We helped many families with sight and hearing over the years, and we're always committed to helping the community through volunteerism. I just want to thank them for all their support for Island City Lions.'
New York Times
05-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
When Older Renters Become First-Time Buyers
It was the fire in her Harlem rental building that galvanized Sandra Foley. With her longtime apartment suddenly uninhabitable, Ms. Foley, a nanny, stayed with her employer for a few months, then with an aunt. And she began to rethink the future. 'Getting older, you know, I wanted to make sure I had something for myself later in life or when I retired,' said Ms. Foley, 60, who moved to New York from Trinidad more than 30 years ago. 'And I have a daughter, and I wanted to make sure that there was something left behind for her, too.' Last year, she made her first home purchase — a one-bedroom co-op in Riverdale, the Bronx, in an all-cash deal for $170,000. While the monthly maintenance is more than she was paying in rent, 'It's worth it,' said Ms. Foley, who's in the process of renovating the kitchen. 'It's totally worth it because this is something I own.' In 2024, the median age of first-time buyers in the United States was 38, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. Only 11 percent of buyers in the 55-to-64 demographic, and 6 percent of buyers in the 65-to-74 category, were first-timers. Hesitant older buyers have all sorts of reasons to explain their hesitation, said Kathy Braddock, co-owner of Braddock and Purcell, a residential real estate consulting firm. They may be paying an unbeatable rent, or they may be comfortable where they are and don't want the hassle of relocating. They may not have the wherewithal for a down payment because they're saving for their children's college tuition. Or they may live in a big city where renting is the norm. But there are just as many reasons longtime renters choose to take the plunge. Some have come into a bonus at work, vested stock or a family inheritance, and decide to invest the proceeds in real estate. Others are sick of writing rent checks with nothing in the way of equity to show for it. Then there are those who are bumping up against that most unattractive truth: They aren't getting any younger. 'Fifty, or 50-ish, is like the last exit,' Ms. Braddock said.' People think to themselves, 'if not now, when?' And for many, she added, 'homeownership is still the American dream.' It was never Kathleen Tolan's dream. An actor, playwright and professor, Ms. Tolan, now 74, came to New York City as a college student and began a long tenure as a renter, first in the East Village, later in Chelsea, and most recently in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, where the full floor of a brownstone (admittedly a narrow floor) was hers for $2,000 a month. The apartment was lovely, with exposed brick and good light. The landlord was lovely too: He never raised the rent. 'It felt cozy and I thought, 'I'll never leave,'' recalled Ms. Tolan, who's divorced and has two adult daughters. 'I didn't feel any need to own.' But that was before the landlord came to her and explained that he wanted the space back for his daughter and her growing family. Accordingly, Ms. Tolan began looking for a new place near Prospect Park, an area she knew and liked, but was stunned by the high rents. 'My mother died some years ago, and I realized I had enough money for a down payment on something,' Ms. Tolan said. 'I talked to a financial adviser, which was very grown-up of me, and he said it made sense for me to buy.' At the suggestion of friends, she looked at two adjacent neighborhoods just south of the park: Kensington, then Ditmas Park — which is where she ended up, in a prewar one-bedroom co-op. She was firm on a single issue: 'There had to be an elevator.' It's one of the things that's often on the 'must have' list for older buyers. It may not be needed right away, but it will be crucial down the line. Stairs outside a building are also a consideration, 'as are the topography and logistics of managing a neighborhood,' said Peter Cohen, a licensed salesman at Brown Harris Stevens. Elevator and all, Ms. Tolan hopes the one-bedroom apartment, which she bought for $540,000, will belong to her daughters someday. 'But I have a 30-year mortgage,' she said. 'It will be astounding if I pay it off.' By law, a borrower's age must be irrelevant to a lender. 'Whether 25 or 55, applicants must meet set qualifications in the same core areas when it comes to home financing,' said Sam Lanfear, a senior vice president at Tomo, a mortgage lender. Still, buyers over 50 may have an advantage over younger ones. 'They've had more time to establish both a long credit history and to accumulate savings,' Mr. Lanfear said. 'That could make it easier for them to qualify in general, and also to get financing with better terms.' Ronell Mitchell, a 56-year-old father of two and a lifelong renter in Harlem, the Bronx and Queens, always wanted to own a place. He attended numerous seminars and classes on the ins and outs of home buying before he took the leap of faith. 'It just felt like a lot of talk about regulations and loopholes,' said Mr. Mitchell, who owns a retail clothing business. 'I think that's what kept me on the sidelines for so long. But the desire was always there. I understood that it was a way to create generational wealth. If something happened to me, I'd have something to leave to my kids.' A helpful mortgage lender helped ease Mr. Mitchell off the sidelines. Because he had fond memories of apple-picking trips to Connecticut with a favorite elementary schoolteacher, he focused on properties in Bridgeport, Waterbury and Hartford. Late last year, Mr. Mitchell closed on a three-bedroom townhouse in Hartford for $185,000. 'It's like I was in a football league for 20 years and never won a championship, and then all of a sudden I'm the MVP and also have a Super Bowl ring,' he said. 'That's what buying feels like.' His monthly mortgage payment is $1,600 — $300 less than he'd most recently been paying in rent. Should he have bought 20 years ago? Ten years ago? Think of all the money he could have saved. But that's just not how he likes to look at things. 'I always tell people we can't argue about when blessings arise,' he said. 'I would rather it happened now than to have it never happen at all.'
