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Pedestrians pass the New York Stock Exchange in New York’s Financial District on Nov. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan) New York, United States — World oil prices advanced Monday on moves by China to boost its economy as traders tracked an uncertain future for Syria and the wider crude-rich Middle East. Major stock markets diverged as investors reacted to political crises in South Korea and France, and tracked the perspectives for interest rate cuts. Wall Street stocks retreated, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq pulling back from all-time highs as investors await key US inflation data later in the week. READ: Seoul stocks dive on South Korea woes as Asian markets struggle Gold, seen as a haven investment, pushed higher. “The week has kicked off on a largely upbeat tone following the welcome announcement that Chinese authorities plan to enact further stimulus over the year ahead,” noted Joshua Mahony, analyst at traders Scope Markets. “This shift has already fueled sharp gains in key assets, with the Hang Seng surging 2.8 percent and commodities like copper, zinc, iron ore, and palladium rallying on expectations of increased demand.” Oil prices rose around 1.5 percent as traders tracked developments in Syria after president Bashar al-Assad was ousted over the weekend as Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus. Investors also reacted to developments in China where President Xi Jinping and other top leaders said Monday they would adopt a more “relaxed” approach to monetary policy as they hashed out plans to boost the economy next year. The world’s second-largest economy is battling sluggish domestic consumption, a persistent crisis in the property sector and soaring government debt — all of which threaten Beijing’s official growth target for this year. Leaders are also eyeing the second term of Donald Trump in the White House, with the president-elect indicating he will reignite his hardball trade policies, fueling fears of another standoff between the superpowers. Elsewhere in Asia, South Korean stocks tumbled as the country was racked with political uncertainty after President Yoon Suk Yeol escaped impeachment following his brief imposition of martial law last week. The Paris stock market rose on Monday, with President Emmanuel Macron apparently eyeing a broad alliance to form a new French government, after Michel Barnier was ousted last week over his 2025 budget plan. Investors also have their eyes on possible cuts to interest rates. The European Central Bank is expected to lower borrowing costs this week and the US Federal Reserve holds its rate meeting next week. But US consumer price inflation (CPI) and wholesale price inflation data are due to be released this week, which could influence the Fed’s decision. Among individual companies, shares in Nvidia fell 2.6 percent at the start of trading after China on Monday launched an investigation into the US chip giant for allegedly violating its anti-monopoly laws. Hershey surged 10.9 percent following reports it had been approached by Mondelez over a potential takeover. Mondelez lost 2.3 percent. New York – Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 44,401.93 (close) New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.6 percent at 6,052.84 (close) New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.6 percent at 19,736.69 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 7,480.14 (close) Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 20,345.96 (close) London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 8,352.08 (close) Seoul – Kospi: DOWN 2.8 percent at 2,360.58 (close) Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 percent at 39,160.50 (close) Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.8 percent at 20,414.09 (close) Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,402.53 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0555 from $1.0568 on Friday Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2746 from $1.2744 Dollar/yen: UP at 151.21. yen from 150.00 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.78 from 82.92 pence Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.4 percent at $72.14 per barrel Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.7 percent at $68.37 per barrelSolarvest acquires 30% stake in SMSBLower interest rate regime sustains stock market’s positive trend
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( MENAFN - The Rio Times) The London stock exchange faces its most significant challenge since the 2009 financial crisis. In 2024, 88 companies abandoned the British market, with only 18 new listings to offset the losses. This exodus represents £94 billion in market value leaving the exchange, with £84 ($67) billion from FTSE 350 companies alone. High-profile departures include Ashtead Group, Flutter Entertainment, and CRH, with a combined market capitalization exceeding £100 ($80) billion. These companies chose to relocate to the New York Stock Exchange, citing better valuations and a deeper investor pool. The exodus began in 2022 when BHP, a mining giant worth $125 billion, shifted its primary listing to Sydney. While some argued this move reflected BHP's Australian-centric operations, others saw it as a sign of London's declining influence. The reasons for this shift are multifaceted. UK-listed companies often trade at a discount compared to their US counterparts. The FTSE 100 rose only 7.5% in 2024, while the S&P 500 surged 27.5%. Brexit's impact lingers, creating regulatory uncertainty and shrinking the potential investor base. Mergers with US companies have also contributed to the trend. These consolidations often result in the relocation of corporate headquarters and stock listings to the larger market. This pattern reflects the UK's economic challenges compared to the US. London Stock Exchange Loses Record Number of Firms Since 2009 Crisis UK pension funds have dramatically reduced their investments in domestic shares , from over 40% three decades ago to just 4% today. This shift further erodes the appeal of London's market. The consequences extend beyond the financial sector. London's status as a global financial hub faces a serious threat, potentially impacting job markets, tax revenues, and the UK's overall economic standing. Experts suggest several measures to stem the tide, including encouraging UK pension funds to increase domestic equity investments, establishing a UK ISA for retail investors, and cutting stamp duty on shares to improve competitiveness. As 2025 approaches, the financial world watches London closely. The city's ability to adapt and reclaim its position will shape its role in global finance for years to come. This situation holds significant implications not just for investors, but for the future of international economic power dynamics. London Stock Exchange Loses Record Number of Firms Since 2009 Crisis MENAFN29122024007421016031ID1109039908 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Change is here. Philadelphia has introduced Philly Stat 360 , a bold and groundbreaking digital tool aimed at revolutionizing city government transparency and accountability. Launching earlier this month, this state-of-the-art website is no empty political gesture—it’s Mayor Cherelle Parker’s answer to a widespread demand for real-time access to the facts driving the city’s progress. Philly Stat 360 isn’t just about numbers on a screen. It’s a call to action. With over 30 metrics tracking everything from public safety statistics to how many trees have been planted, this interactive dashboard turns data into a conversation between city officials and residents. It’s designed to make government tangible—something you can “see, touch, and feel,” as Mayor Parker so often underscores. A hallmark of Parker’s administration, Philly Stat 360 gives everyday people a front-row seat to City Hall. Want to know how Philadelphia is tackling crime? Click the “Safer” category. Curious about efforts to combat climate change? Click “Greener.” Each metric dives deep, explaining how the information is collected, why it’s important, and even offering historical comparisons to track progress over time. This isn’t just a window into government activity—it’s a magnifying glass. “Philly Stat 360 is not only a tool for measuring progress but also for identifying areas where we need to invest more resources,” said Mayor Parker during the launch. “I believe in a city government that our citizens can see, touch, and feel with visible actions that help people at the neighborhood level, and this is a key link in creating that.” Backing this revolutionary tool is a collaboration between the Mayor’s Office of Philly Stat 360, the Office of Innovation and Technology led by Chief Information Officer Melissa Scott, and the Office of Integrated Data for Evidence and Action (IDEA). Together, they’ve built a portal that simplifies the complexities of government operations for the average Philadelphian. Kristin Bray, Chief Counsel to Mayor Parker and Director of Philly Stat 360, summed it up perfectly, saying, “Philly Stat 360 is a manifestation of that vision—an accessible and interactive tool that empowers residents, enhances transparency, and makes government operations easier to understand.” Each of Philly Stat’s five categories—Safer, Cleaner, Greener, Economic Opportunity, and Core Services—offers insight into significant areas of city functioning. These analytics go beyond sterile statistics. They reflect how Philadelphia is handling critical challenges like crime, neighborhood revitalization, and employment growth. They invite accountability not in speeches but in tangible, visible outcomes. Importantly, the website remains a living project. Expect more metrics and features in the coming months to fully capture the dynamic nature of Philadelphia’s evolution. For government critics, spectators, and the simply curious, Philly Stat 360 is Philadelphia’s bold statement for the future. It’s a tool for progress, a watchdog for accountability, and a tangible sign that the city isn’t just talking about change—it’s delivering it. The launch of Philly Stat 360 signals a new era where accessible data meets actionable results. With the nation’s eyes constantly on Philadelphia’s historic significance, it’s clear the city is ready to be just as celebrated for its forward-thinking government as for its storied past. If you want to see government work in real-time, Philly Stat 360 is where your attention should be. For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News and MSN .Notable quotes by Jimmy Carter
PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter's in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Defying expectations Carter's path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That's a very narrow way of assessing them," Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” ‘Country come to town’ Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn't suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he'd be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter's tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter's lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” A ‘leader of conscience’ on race and class Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor's race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival's endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King's daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn was Carter's closest advisor Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters' early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Reevaluating his legacy Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan's presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan's Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. Pilgrimages to Plains The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.A popular pop singer who died at 20 after going through a horrible ordeal following a massage said she was "in so much pain". Ping Chayada posted a poignant final message on social media as she battled ill-health following the massage. The talented star, who was suffering from septicemia (blood poisoning), died on Sunday December 8. Her final post to her 22,000 followers reads in full: "The first time I got a massage, my symptoms were normal. I went for another massage, the same therapist in the same room, this time twisting my neck. After two weeks, I started to have very, very tight pain to the point that I couldn't lie on my back or stomach. "I've been learning massage since I was a child. I really like massage. I thought it was just another side effect of the massage, this kind of body pain. I went again. But this new person massaged hard and it was swollen and bruised for a week. After that, I took medicine to relieve the symptoms all the time. "I started to have an electric shock in my fingertips. The right side, I realised was numb after the third round of massages. After another two weeks, I couldn't lift my right arm. "I want to leave this as a lesson for anyone who really likes massage. I will recover. I'm in so much pain. I want to work now. But now I'm just waiting for the right time." In the aftermath, the provincial health chief has claimed that an autopsy must be conducted to uncover the facts surrounding her death. He added that all seven masseuses, working at the parlour, were licensed. However, the authorities have launched an investigation, with concerns raised over whether the massages aligned with the practice of traditional Thai massage. It is believed Ping hoping to fix neck and shoulder pain that she'd been experiencing. But 48 hours later, realising she was in a state of discomfort, the singer, took some pain relief medication, completely unaware that what she was going through wasn't normal. The following week, Chayada began to suffer numbness in her arm, but still returned to the parlour to receive her second massage. A fortnight later, the artist's body began to stiffen, with the issue becoming so bad, she couldn't even lie down. The Thai went for a third massage, this time from a new masseuse. Shortly after this, she started to feel a tingling sensation, itching in her fingers and a numbness in her right leg. With the pain becoming unbearable, on October 30, the Bangkok native visited the hospital, where she was given medication. However, by November 6, she was hospitalised due to severe leg and neck pain, that rendered her completely unable to move her limbs.
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Women's Top 25 roundup: No. 3 Notre Dame dominates VirginiaInstead of celebrating Native American Heritage Day on Friday, Nov. 29, Chinook Indian Nation Chairman Tony Johnson said tribal leaders continue to focus on their fight for federal recognition as a sovereign entity. Throughout Native American Heritage Month leading up to Nov. 29, Johnson said the tribal leaders’ focus centered around federal acknowledgement. “As the elected chairman of the Chinook Indian Nation, it is the commitment of our tribal council and ultimately our committees and staff to remain very single-minded on the issue of federal acknowledgement,” Johnson said. “That does not mean we are not doing work every day to serve our membership or to further our cultural goals or community goals. But, sometimes things like commemorations, events that have importance and are important in the broader native community are places where we’re just not willing to put our precious energy.” The Chinook Indian Nation includes roughly 3,000 members who descend from five Chinookan-speaking tribes west of Longview: the Clatsop and Cathlamet of present day Oregon and the Lower Chinook, Wahkiakum and Willapa of present day Washington. In order to be a citizen of the Chinook Indian Nation, a person has to descend from those tribes. Achieving sovereign status would benefit the Chinooks in many ways, including funding and access for their own health care and education service programs as well as the ability to buy land and start businesses. Along with improved economic opportunities, the nation would have better access to natural resources at the mouth of the Columbia River, which they call home. This is an ongoing fight for the Chinooks — over 120 years. During their fight to be federally acknowledged, the Chinooks are without a reservation but have been able to call their ancestral lands home. They also share many of the same experiences, positive and negative, as other recognized sovereign nations. “We certainly have our own family experiences that make it hard for us to even say that we are not federally recognized,” Johnson said. “You know, that’s one of our great frustrations. And we say that often ... How are we not federally recognized if our families were all forced to Indian boarding schools or all of our families have allotments or the heads of households have individual Indian money accounts? ... How did we have blue cards that allowed us to hunt and fish in our territory? Through many of our lives, we just feel quite strongly about that reality, but we need to clarify the status because this gray area we’re living in is just not tenable.” Johnson added that the Chinook Indian Nation has all of the same challenges a recognized sovereign nation does, but none of the means of fixing those problems because the Chinooks continue to live without recognition from the U.S. government. At one point, the Chinooks believed their fight was over when, in 2001, the Chinook Indian Nation obtained federal recognition from the U.S. government. That victory was short-lived as their sovereign status was revoked just 18 months later by the George W. Bush administration. On July 5, 2002, a release by the Bureau of Indian Affairs stated that Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb signed a reconsidered final determination declining the Chinook Indian Nation’s acknowledgment. The reconsideration found that the January 2001 determination generated from improper interpretation of a 1925 claims act, a 1912 claims act and a 1911 allotment act. Johnson previously stated in an opinion piece on the Chinook Nation website, the tribe spent decades collecting over 85,000 pieces of historical and legal evidence for the 2001 decision to be recognized by the Clinton administration. He stated the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the time, Kevin Gover, an acknowledged Native law expert, told the Chinook tribe that once the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., recognized the tribe as a sovereign nation then that recognition would be forever. “In 18 months time, a Bush administration appointee, with no experience in Federal Indian Law, reversed our hard-won recognition,” Johnson wrote in his opinion piece on the Chinook Nation website. According to an article on the Chinook Indian Nation website in 2021, the Quinault Nation appealed Chinook sovereignty with days left before the recognition’s comment deadline. According to a 2002 news article from The Daily News, the government reversed its decision because of a political dispute between the Chinooks and the Quinault Nation, who the Chinooks said maintain control over natural resources in Grays Harbor and Jefferson counties. According to a Prism article in 2023 by Luna Reyna, in 1856, the federal government negotiated the Quinault, Quileute, Queets and Hoh tribes into the Quinalt Reservation, while the Chehalis, Chinook and Cowlitz nations were negotiated into an expansion of the Quinault Reservation in 1873. Later, in 1905, the government divided the Quinault Reservation into 80-acre allotments assigned to individual people from the seven nations, resulting in individual Chinook citizens becoming majority landholders on the Quinault Reservation, “further fueling a rivalry between the two nations that goes back 10,000 years, according to Chinook leaders.” According to The Daily News article, however, the BIA stated the decision was reversed because the Chinooks “failed to meet three requirements: maintaining political influence, comprising a social community and being identified as a tribe on a regular basis.” In the Daily News article, Lewis and Clark College history professor Stephen Dow Beckham said, “the reversal is a throwback to decades-old attitudes against American Indians.” Beckham researched the Chinook nation for 23 years, saying that thousands of documents written throughout history, as well as U.S. Supreme Court cases are able to prove the Chinook were an organized and recognized group, the Daily News article stated. Johnson said a significant factor in today’s fight comes down to treaty understandings of the past. “Chinook is not federally recognized today because [of] two treaty negotiations, one in 1851 in our territory down at Tansy Point — so that’s between Warrenton and Hammond on the south shore of the Columbia River — and then one at Cosmopolis up on the Chehalis River, that was in 1855,” Johnson said. “In both of those treaty negotiations, the government representative was sent to remove us from our lands. In both cases, the Chinook Indian Nation said no, we are staying with the bones of our ancestors.” At this juncture, Johnson said it is up to legislators — Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, and Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, and all four of Washington and Oregon’s senators — to champion the Chinook Indian Nation Restoration Act, which would again recognize the Chinooks as sovereign. He added that the bill is fully developed after years of work. “It’s been shopped around to our neighboring tribes and, you know, everybody’s on board with making this happen,” Johnson said. “So, at this point, that’s the work for us...” Johnson encourages residents to contact their legislators and “say, ‘Hey, enough’s enough.’” you know, it’s time to once and for all recognize the Chinook Indian Nation and do it by championing the restoration bill for our community.” Johnson said the Chinook Indian Nation believed it would have had the restoration bill introduced in this current Congress. “But there was pressure from some constituents to expressly take away rights from the Chinook Indian Nation,” he said, although he didn't want to specifically name those people. “All we’ll continue to say is, ‘Chinook has given up enough.’ It’s outrageous that anybody would ask the Chinook people at the mouth of the Columbia River to give up more. So the way the bill is written and what we are asking to have introduced is a bill that says that the bill does not grant or take away any rights from the tribe.” Johnson said the Chinook people only want the same rights as other federally recognized sovereign nations and do not want to infringe on the rights of others. “We just can’t be a third class, like, lower than the other sovereign nations,” he said. “... Marie has been good to work with over the years, but she needs to make good on her promise because in her very first campaign, she made a clear commitment to introduce and champion our recognition bill and we need her to make good on that promise and do it now. Because, every day that Chinook doesn’t have clear recognition is a day where there are unneeded problems happening in our community, you know, we have folks that are struggling and recognition would allow us to proactively assist those folks.” Johnson said that, if federally recognized, the Chinook Indian Nation could improve the quality of life for all residents by improving access to health care, educational opportunities and natural resources. “Chinook will do nothing but work to enhance the sturgeon, the salmon, the deer, the things that are important to everybody at the mouth of the Columbia River,” he said. “We will bring a better economy. We will bring jobs, and then [there is] the obvious thing of being able to have access to resources like other tribes do to be able to move ahead, like all the nations around us.” To learn more about the over 120-year fight for federal recognition, visit chinooknation.org/recognition/ . The Chinook Indian Nation tribal office is located at 3 E. Park St., Bay Center, Washington, and can be reached at 360-875-6670 or by emailing office@chinooknation.org .