California native tribe says county duped them into dubious $12 million airport land deal

That won’t fly. A California native tribe is accusing Riverside County of fraud and racial discrimination after the county passed a law barring them from negotiating access to an airport next to its property, according to a lawsuit obtained by Law360. In a lawsuit filed Monday, the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians claim that after they spent $12 million to purchase 612 acres of land adjacent the Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal, Calif., Riverside County sneakily passed a resolution blocking them from entering into a Through-the Fence (TTF) agreement with the airport. The Twenty Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians say Riverside county discriminated against them in their bid to broker an agreement that would allow them to taxi planes onto a county-owned airport. Destina