The Southampton Town attorney met privately with lawyers for the Shinnecock Indian Nation last weekend to discuss "potential areas of settlement" of the escalating legal dispute over the tribe’s plans for a travel plaza-gasoline station in Hampton Bays. Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that the meeting was preliminary and informal, and there is no guarantee talks will end in a settlement, representatives for both sides said.

"While we did not agree on any particular specifics, we did agree to keep on communicating to see if we could utilize examples of other agreements that have taken place throughout the country between the respective nations, state and federal governments and the local governments, to see if we could reach some common ground on the issues involved," said Southampton Town Attorney Jim Burke, who toured the Shinnecock Powwow on Sunday.

A Shinnecock official said the town sent a letter earlier this month indicating an openness to start talks to potentially settle the case, which the town filed in state court in December, and which has led to a shutdown of construction for the gas station on the nation’s Westwoods property in Hampton Bays. Shinnecock Indian Nation chairwoman Lisa Goree, in a statement, said the tribe had declined to agree to a meeting until it had received an outline in writing about the proposed scope of the meeting, which she said it has yet to receive. She acknowledged the tribe's attorneys met with Burke last week "as a courtesy," but she stressed they did "did not discuss any settlement proposal."

"During the meeting the Town attorney did not address the parameters of a meeting with the nation, but instead inquired about applicable Indian law. The nation’s lawyers directed his attention to relevant materials already filed in ongoing litigation and resources available through the federal government. Until the nation’s trustees authorize a meeting to discuss settlement, no such meeting can take place," Goree said.

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Opponents of a proposed settlement in the Connetquot school district's litigation over the state's Native American mascot ban said this week that they are considering taking legal action to push back against the deal. Darwin Yanes reports in NEWSDAY that the Connetquot school board voted 3-2 on Tuesday to move forward with the settlement, which would allow the district to use the nickname "T-Birds" instead of its current name, the Thunderbirds. Current images of "an eagle, thunderbolt and/or lightning bolt" would be allowed and rebranding changes would have to be made by March 1, according to the agreement.

An attorney for former board trustee Jaclyn Napolitano-Furno, who has been a vocal opponent of the deal, called the agreement "fraudulent."

“Everything is on the table right now,” Oliver Roberts said of his client's potential next steps.

A member of the Native American Guardians Association, a North Dakota-based group that has criticized the state's mascot ban, said his organization is also considering legal action.

"We believe this decision violates federal civil rights protections by sidelining Native heritage, and we’re prepared to explore legal options, including Title VI claims, to challenge it," he said.

But John Kane, a Mohawk activist and member of the New York State Indigenous Mascot Advisory Council still finds the term T-BIRD offensive. He called the agreement a “cop out" noting that under the proposed settlement, the district would represent that "T-Birds" has "never" been associated with any Indigenous imagery.

“The stipulation in the agreement that suggests that the use of 'T-Birds'...has never had a Native reference is just false," he said.

J.P. O'Hare, the NYS education department's communications director, said in a statement that the ban tasked school boards with determining if their mascots are derived from, or have connections to, Indigenous...