Glendale to challenge decision on tribe's casino plans

While leaders of the Tohono O'odham Nation say they want to sit down and talk out differences, Glendale is mounting a legal challenge to a federal decision to turn 54 acres near the city's sports and entertainment district into a tribal reservation. It's a high-stakes situation as the city tries to stop the reservation and the tribe's proposal to build the state's largest casino and a resort near 91st and Northern avenues. The tribe still must get federal approval to open a casino there. However, a major hurdle was cleared last month, when the U.S. Department of Interior approved the tribe's application to take just more than a third of the 134 acres it owns into the reservation system. Shortly after the decision, Tohono O'odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. sent a letter to Mayor Elaine Scruggs, asking for both sides to set aside differences and to sit down and talk about the project's infrastructure needs and the city's concerns.

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