Past News Items

WASHINGTON - Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will bring his message about the benefits of positive thinking and making healthy life choices to an assembly of students, parents, faculty and staff at Sequoyah High School, a contract school for grades 9-12 operated by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. It is the ninth school in a series of visits Anderson plans to make to BIA field offices and education facilities during his administration.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today called for a ten-year plan "to raise the standard of living on Indian reservations above the poverty line."

In a memorandum transmitted through the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to reservation superintendents and other top administrators of the Bureau, the Secretary restated the goals of manpower and resource development on reservations that have characterized the Department's administration during the past three years.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

WASHINGTON - The House and Senate appropriations committees with funding authority over Department of the Interior (DOl) programs have approved a DOl plan to realign the management organization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST). Input for the reorganization plan was received through the Joint Tribal/DOl Task Force on Trust Reform and a series of consultation meetings the Interior Department held over the past year with tribal leaders.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, has announced the appointment of Arthur O. Allen, a general engineer in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as Assistant Commissioner for Engineering. Allen succeeds Fred M. Haverland, who retired January 11.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney is proud to announce that the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) awarded business development grants totaling $727,229 to 21 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. Over half of the awards are for proposed or existing projects located in Opportunity Zones.

WASHINGTON – Interior Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced his strategic plan for bringing transparency, responsiveness and resources to the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) Federal acknowledgment process under 25 CFR Part 83.

Award of a $941,100 contract to build a 10-classroom school at Peever, S.D., was announced today by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior.

The contract includes a multi-purpose room, kitchen, instructional materials center and such facilities as utilities and paving.

When completed, the project will provide elementary school facilities for 300 Indian and non-Indian children in the area.

The low successful bid was by Schull Construction Co. Watertown, S.D. Eight other bids ranging to a high of $1,209,400 were received.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney announced today that she has approved two long-standing land-into-trust applications from The Osage Nation in Oklahoma for its casino projects in the cities of Bartlesville and Pawhuska. The applications were first submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

WASHINGTON – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb announced his appointment of Brian Burns as the Chief Information Officer for Indian Affairs. Mr. Burns was formerly the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Resources Management and the Deputy Information Officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).