Past News Items

PHOENIX - Tribal leaders, federal officials and leaders of national Native organizations came together this week at the National Native American Economic Policy Summit, agreeing upon 314 economic policy recommendations for Indian Country.

New regulations for a program affecting 100,000 Indian children in 435 public school districts and 23 states were published in the Federal Register August 21, 1974. "These regulations reflect the vast changes and development in the Indian community of the past several years," said Commissioner Morris Thompson of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director W. Patrick Ragsdale today announced that he has named Omar C. Bradley as the Regional Director for the BIA’s Navajo Regional Office in Gallup, N.M., which serves the 16 million­ acre Navajo Reservation located in western New Mexico, northeastern Arizona and southern Utah. Mr. Bradley, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, had been serving as the acting regional director since May 2006. His appointment was effective February 4, 2007.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of Jose A. Zuni, 53, full-blooded Isleta Pueblo Indian, and Superintendent of the Nevada Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, to be Director of Administration of the Bureau.

WASHINGTON – Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Department of the Interior declined to acknowledge that the groups known as the Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut (EP) and the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut (PEP) are Indian tribes within the meaning of Federal law.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of Elmer F. Compton, 53, Rosebud Sioux tribal member and former officer and economic development officer of the Rosebud Agency, Bureau of He has been acting in that Indian Affairs, to the post of Superintendent. He has been acting in that capacity since October 1972.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton has upheld a June 2004 decision by former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin, who declined to acknowledge as an Indian tribe a group known as the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe of Indians. The petitioning group, headquartered in Trumbull.
Connecticut, did not successfully demonstrate that it meets all seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe under Federal regulations.

Proposed regulations to govern the preparation of a roll of persons of Cherokee Shawnee Indian ancestry are being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today. The roll will be used for a per capita distribution of funds awarded to the Shawnees by the Indian Claims Commission.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has awarded $196,735 to the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon for a due diligence study for the Warm Springs Biomass Demonstration Project, an effort by the tribes to enhance an existing biomass electrical generating plant located on the reservation.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the award of a contract amounting to nearly $1.33 million to construct a Bureau of Indian Affairs elementary school at Casa Blanca, Arizona, on the Gila River Indian reservation. The school will serve young Pima Indians.

Successful bidder is J. R. Youngdale Construction, Inc., San Diego, California.