Past News Items

The Bureau of Indian Affairs will transfer fifteen Alaskan village day schools to the state school system at the end of this school year. Deputy Assistant Secretary John Fritz ordered the transfer completed by June 15.

The move is part of a plan to transfer all BIA schools in Alaska to the state.

In 1982-83, the BIA will operate 22 village schools and one boarding high school in Alaska. At the end of that year the high school will be closed and the village schools transferred to the state.

(Washington, DC)--The U.S. Department of the Interiors Office of Indian Affairs headed by Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb will be hosting a National Indian Energy Summit “Indian Energy Resources, Helping to Fuel America’s Needs” at the Adams Mark Hotel in Denver, Colorado on December 6 and 7, 2001.

(Washington)-- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb will participate in a ground breaking ceremony held by the Muskogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma for a six million dollar office building that will house a Bureau of Indian Affairs regional office. "This project is an example of federal and tribal governments working to ensure needed services continue in a cooperative effort." said Perry Beaver, Principle Chief of the Creek Nation. The ground breaking ceremony will take place in Muskogee, Oklahoma on Friday, December 14, 2001 at 10:00 a.m.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Interior Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb and Deputy Assistant Secretary Wayne Smith will meet with tribal leaders on Thursday, December 20, 2001, in Minneapolis, Minn., at a second consultation meeting on the Department's plan to improve the management of Indian trust assets. The meeting will be held at the Doubletree Hotel (7901 24th Avenue South) starting at 9:00 a.m. (CST).

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Interior Assistant Secretary ~ Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb and Deputy Assistant Secretary Wayne Smith will meet with tribal leaders on Thursday, January 3, 2002, in Oklahoma City, Okla., at the third in a series of consultation meetings on the Department's plan to improve the management of Indian trust assets. The meeting will be held at the Westin hotel (1 North Broadway) starting at 9:00 a.m. (CST).

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Interior Secretary Gale Norton today announced her designation of Aurene M. Martin, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, as Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. “Aurene Martin brings solid experience in Indian affairs and a commitment to excellence to her new role,” said Secretary Norton.

WASHINGTON - The Department of the Interior has submitted plans to a federal court outlining a proposed $335 million effort to conduct an historical accounting of individual American Indian and Alaska Native trust accounts as well as a separate blueprint to guide the future management of Interior's trust obligations to American Indians and Alaska Natives.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today approved gaming compacts between the State of Arizona and 17 of the state’s 22 Federally recognized tribes. “I congratulate the tribes and the State of Arizona for successfully completing the compacting process, and wish them much success in their economic venture,” Martin said. The compacts will take effect when notice of the BIA’s approval is published in the Federal Register. The compacts supersede and replace any existing compacts between the State and the tribes.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin will visit New Mexico on Tuesday, February 4, 2003, to inspect two Bureau of Indian Affairs-operated schools – Wingate High School in Ft. Wingate, N.M., and Baca Community School in Prewitt, N.M. – that are on the Bureau’s list of schools slated for replacement within the next few years.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Bush has proposed a $2.31 billion budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for Fiscal Year 2004, an increase of $62.0 million over the FY2003 request, to improve the Interior Department’s management of individual Indian and tribal trust assets, to operate new tribally-operated detention centers and to develop tribal economies. The request also maintains the President’s commitment to eliminate the school maintenance backlog and provide tribes with greater opportunities to directly operate BIA schools.