Past News Items

Washington - Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will address attendees at the 618t Annual National Congress of the American Indians Convention on Tuesday, October 12, 2004, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The theme for this year's convention is "Renewing the Vision: Setting a New Course for Indian Country."

The appointment of women to two major (Grade 15) positions in the Bureau of Indian Affairs was announced today by the Secretary of the Interior.

Miss Wilma Louise Victor, a Choctaw Indian of Idabel, Okla, , was named superintendent of the Intermountain Indian School, an off-reservation boarding school operated by the Bureau at Brigham City, Utah.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced a streamlined system for the use or distribution of judgments made to American Indian tribes and groups by the Indian Claims Commission or the United States Court of Claims.

In implementing a 180-day time schedule in accord with the Act of October 19, 1973, new Regulations published in the Federal Register January 15, 1974 include these provisions:

LENEXA, Kan. – The dedication today of the American Indian Records Repository at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records facility here marks a new chapter in the Interior Department’s undertaking to improve federal management of Indian records, said Interior Assistant Deputy Secretary Abraham E. Haspel.

Legislative authority for sustained yield management of Indian forest lands and more judicious procedures for sale of Indian timber are incorporated in proposed regulations announced today by the Department of the Interior. The changes would conform to Public Law 88-301, enacted April 30, 1964.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Ralph E. Paisano, a Laguna Pueblo Indian, as Superintendent of the BIA's Ramah Navajo Agency, Ramah, New Mexico.

Paisano, who has been an Employment Assistance Specialist in the Albuquerque Area Office, assumed responsibility at Ramah on April 11.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson and Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O. Swimmer testified jointly today before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the Interior Department’s trust initiatives for the 21st century and the successful implementation of Secretary Gale Norton’s Comprehensive Trust Management Plan.

Three leases covering approximately 120 acres of the Seminole Indian reservation in Florida under which Joseph L. Antonucci, mobile home manufacturer and trailer park operator, will establish both a plant site and trailer park were signed here today.

The leases between the Seminole Nation of Hollywood, Fla. and Antonucci were formalized in a ceremony at offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They call for an initial payment to the tribe of $70,000 for the first year, and escalations in succeeding years, including tribal participation in the profits in the future.

WASHINGTON, DC – Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney announced the appointment of Timothy LaPointe as the Great Plains Regional Director. The appointment is effective June 23, 2019.

On September 10, 2002, the Department of the Interior received a Class III gaming compact executed by the Seneca Nation of Indians and the State of New York. Under the terms of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), the Secretary may approve or disapprove the compact before the date that is 45 days after receipt of the compact. If the Secretary does not approve or disapprove the compact by that date, the compact is considered to have been approved, but only to the extent that its terms comply with the requirements of IGRA.