Past News Items

The Department or the Interior today announced the award of a $331,445 contract for construction or new dormitory facilities at Magdalena, New Mexico, that will make it possible for 128 Navajo children from the surrounding area to attend the local public schools.

Appointment of Robert L. Bennett, a veteran of nearly 25 years' service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as Area Director for the Bureau at Juneau, Alaska, was reported today by the Department of the Interior.

An Oneida Indian and native of Wisconsin, Bennett has been serving as Assistant Area Director at the Bureau's area office at Aberdeen, South Dakota, since 1958. At Juneau he succeeds James E. Hawkins who has been Area Director there for the past five years and who will be given another assignment in the Bureau.

I congratulate the Oglala Sioux Housing Authority and Mrs. McGuire, the Public Housing Commissioner, and Housing Administrator Robert Weaver, in working out this project to enable Federal assistance to be used for the decent housing of our Indian families as it has been used for so many others.

This is the first use of public housing aid to meet the needs of our Indians and it is long overdue. It expresses our determination to extend the benefits of Federal Housing aids to all Americans. And certainly these Indian families are the first who can claim their rights as Americans.

Award of a $770,300 contract for the construction of a new elementary school for Indian students at Cherokee, North Carolina, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract calls for the construction of a 24-classroom building with a multipurpose room, office, kitchen and library. It will have a total floor area of approximately 65,000 square feet.

The contract also includes grading and utility connections.

HHFA-OA-No. 61-240

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Housing Administrator Robert C. Weaver today announced approval of a loan of $166,600 to build a housing-for-the-elderly project in the middle of the 2,000,000-acre Pine Ridge Indian reservation in southwest South Dakota.

The project was initiated by leaders of the Oglala-Sioux Tribe of Indians most of whose 12,000 members live on the reservation.

Bena MN – The Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke was among the dignitaries to speak at the dedication of the newly constructed Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig High School on the Leech Lake reservation, a replacement building resulting from the combination of efforts made over 25 years. The new building replaces the metal clad pole barn, a structure originally built as an auto mechanic shop and bus garage. It lacked proper insulation that made regular classroom sessions difficult during Minnesota’s harsh winters.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall stated today that the revised budget estimate for fiscal year 1962 which President Kennedy submitted to the Congress is a great step forward in the Administration's programs in conserving and developing our Nation's natural and human resources.

"The request for additional appropriation of $40,668,000 over the amount submitted by the previous administration", he said, “will launch a vigorous resources program.”

WASHINGTON – As part of President Obama’s Generation Indigenous (“Gen-I”) initiative to remove barriers to success for Native American youth, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S.

Award of a $34,193 contract for improvement to the water supply system at Shiprock, New Mexico, on the Navajo Indian Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract provides for approximately 2,000 feet of water main, and for the construction of a water treatment plant with a capacity of 750,000 gallons per day. This work is the second phase of a project to provide adequate water supply at Shiprock for a recently completed Indian hospital, a 1,000-pupil Indian boarding school and a sub-agency headquarters of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that the Department of the Interior has finalized updates to Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) regulations on Secretarial elections for tribal governments that will, among other things, protect the rights of tribal members living away from their communities to vote in these elections. A Secretarial election is a federal election conducted by the Secretary of the Interior for federally recognized tribes under a federal statute or tribal governing document (25 C.F.R. Part 81).