The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has filed a federal lawsuit over a recent decision from the U.S. Department of the Interior that would pave the way for the Catawba Indian Nation to build a casino in Cleveland County near Charlotte.   

Almost 60 days after closing their doors to help slow the spread of COVID-19, Harrah’s Cherokee Casinos will begin a gradual reopening of Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River on Monday, May 18.

As Harrah’s Cherokee Casino marks its seventh week of closure due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, leadership for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is planning for the tribe’s financial future in the face of evaporated casino revenues. 

Continued testing by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Swain and Graham counties, the tribe’s Public Health and Human Services Department announced this weekend. These results mark the first positive cases in either county.

During a special-called session April 9, the Cherokee Tribal Council unanimously passed a resolution designed to help small businesses operating on the Qualla Boundary survive the COVID-19 crisis. 

Harrah’s Cherokee Casinos announced April 1 that its COVID-19-induced closure would extend through the end of the month, and that same day Principal Chief Richard Sneed issued his own announcements about changes to compensation for tribal employees in the weeks ahead.

DreamCatcher Hotels, the Memphis-based hotel developer that brought Memphis the Guest House at Graceland hotel concept, is sending a large, delicious care package to a customer in Cherokee as a way to support their community during the Covid-19 quarantine and scare.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians received notice of its first confirmed positive case of COVID-19 on Friday, March 27.

The closure of Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resorts will extend an additional two weeks from the initial March 18 through April 1 period, the casino announced March 26. While two weeks from April 1 would put the expected reopening at April 15, a press release announcing the closure extension left the reopening plans vague. 

Principal Chief Richard Sneed has issued a March 25 curfew order on the Qualla Boundary in hopes of preventing spread of COVID-19 on Cherokee lands.