OK, no more music.

There is a bit of snow in the air, and it is cold enough for more. Story time is upon us. Once the sun goes down, I will post a story, but for now, here's some news.

The Cobell settlement was passed by the House and Senate. The next step will be Obama's signature, then from there, it will pass back to the Federal Court overseeing Cobell v Salazar. The case has been in litigation for 13 years. Obama was scheduled to sign it yesterday.

The $3.4 billion settlement amount is slated to be distributed as follows:

The case will award the 500,000 Native Americans with individual federal trust accounts - including an estimated 42,000 Navajos - partial compensation for the mismanagement of those accounts by the federal government over the past 100 years.

Each allottee will receive $1,000 up front, with the remainder of the $1.4 billion set aside for payouts divided between the claimants. Two billion dollars will be awarded to the allottees' tribes to buy back and consolidate factionalized land claims, with up to $60 million of that set aside for tribal scholarships.