Past News Items

WASHINGTON – President Bush has proposed a $2.3 billion budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for Fiscal Year 2005 that will ensure the continuation of the Interior Department’s Indian trust reorganization and management improvement efforts, maintain the commitment to implementing the No Child Left Behind Act in BIA-funded schools, continue school replacement construction projects, and support law enforcement. The request also includes payments for Indian water and land claims settlements.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today plans for establishment of an Educational Cultural Center for Alaskan Native students between the ages of 17 and 20 in cooperation with the University of Alaska.

Udall said the signing of an agreement with the University of Alaska by the Bureau of Indian Affairs brought to successful culmination negotiations which began on June 4, 1968.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney today announced a number of firsts for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its Wildland Fire and Aviation Management program resulting from their efforts to aid Indian Country and which demonstrate exceptional interagency collaboration abilities and commitment to improving the development of their wildland fire workforce through new training opportunities for women.

Bureau of Indian Affairs Sends Seven Wildland Firefighters to Australia

WASHINGTON – Building on the momentum created by the National Summit on Emerging Tribal Economies, Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced that he plans to use the event as a springboard for developing a national strategy on reducing unemployment and enhancing economic development in Indian Country.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Harrison Loesch today directed the, Commissioner of Indian Affairs to replace immediately the Superintendent and the Principal of the Chilocco, Oklahoma, Indian school pending completion of a thorough investigation of conditions there.

The high school is run by the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs. It accommodates about 1,000 Indian boarding pupils from various parts of the nation.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Mac Lean Sweeney today announced she has approved a business leasing ordinance submitted by the Catawba Indian Nation in South Carolina under the Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership (HEARTH) Act.

WASHINGTON - Interior Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs extended his gratitude to Special Trustee for American Indians Tom Slonaker, who resigned from his position earlier today. McCaleb thanked Slonaker for his record of public service:

"Tom Slonaker has been a good friend of mine and an effective ally for the people we serve across Indian Country. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors."

McCaleb also extended his congratulations to Donna Erwin, who was named Acting Special Trustee by Interior Secretary Gale Norton today:

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett today hailed the amendment to the Adult Vocational Training Act as one of the most helpful pieces of legislation ever approved to assist the Indian people.

The amendment increases the authorization for annual appropriations from $15 million to $25 million o President Johnson announced February 5 that he had signed the legislation.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced that the Joint DOI/Tribal Leaders Task Force will hold its next meeting on May 19- 21, 2002 in Minneapolis, Minn. The Task Force was established in February of 2002 to review plans on improving the Department’s management of individual Indian and tribal trust assets.

"Three From Santa Fe" is the title of an exhibition of paintings, ceramics and sculpture to be shown May 7 through June 28 in the Department of the Interior Art Gallery, 18th and C Streets, NW, Washington, D.C.

Sponsored by Washington's Center for Arts of Indian America, the three featured artists are employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, working and teaching at the unique Institute of American Indian Arts, at Santa Fe, N. M.