Past News Items

Carl J. Cornelius, 57, an Oneida Indian from Green Bay, Wisc. and a Bureau of Indian Affairs employee for 36 years has been named Deputy Director of Management Services of the Bureau by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce. He replaces Harold Bassett, who transferred to the Office of Management and Budget.

The Department of the Interior has proposed regulations to simplify and standardize procedures for compiling Indian tribal rolls and disposing of enrollment appeals.

The new enrollment regulations would eliminate the need to issue and publish in the Federal Register procedures governing preparation of rolls each time the Secretary of the Interior is directed by Congress to prepare an Indian tribal roll. However, qualifications for enrollment would not be standardized under the proposed regulations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) awarded more than $1.5 million to 10 federally recognized tribes for projects expanding their capacity to develop and regulate energy projects on tribal lands.

“Tribal self-governance goes hand-in-hand with economic development,” Washburn said. “These capacity grants help tribes develop rules and regulatory regimes for energy development and for protection of their own energy assets.”

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today launched his Earth Week activities with an address to Indian educators attending a workshop on environmental education sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Park Service.

This is an important time in the history of Indian affairs, and this organization, the National Congress of American Indians, is in a good position to affect the future course of events.

Because this organization is comprised of Indian membership -- both tribal and individual -- it can and needs to become a source of great strength in the shaping of policies, programs and laws.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – William Mendoza, Director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education at the U.S. Department of Education, and Dr. Charles M. “Monty” Roessel, Director of the Bureau of Indian Education, today announced that the Pine Ridge School in South Dakota has received $218,000 at their request under the U.S.

Indians who work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C., are offering three multi-colored travel posters for sale as unusual Christmas gifts.

The posters, designed by American Indian art students, are based on the theme, "Discover America with the First Americans, " an invitation to visit Indian reservations at vacation time.

The posters sell for $1.75 each with all proceeds going directly into college scholarships for Indian youngsters.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced the signing of a contract today between the Western Superior Corporation, a subsidiary of the BVD Co., Inc. and the Hopi Tribal Council for the establishment of a new $1.5 million garment manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Winslow, Ariz. The nationally known organization will be located on a 200-acre area site donated to the Hopi Indian tribe by the town of Winslow.

WASHINGTON – National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis this week announced $8.78 million of grants to 154 American Indian tribes to support their historic preservation offices in order to carry out national historic preservation program responsibilities on tribal lands.

A few weeks ago, on the busy Colorado river reservation near, Parker, Ariz., Sam Lockshin, President of Prest-Wheel, Inc., turned the keys to his firm’s branch plant over to two Colorado River Indians: Vincent Scott, superintendent and Myron Murdock, production planning manager.

It’s the first time that non-Indian businessman have transformed total management responsibilities to their Indian employees. People who watch such things believe it may be a trend in the making.