Past News Items

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.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb and Deputy Assistant Secretary Wayne Smith will meet with tribal leaders on Thursday, January 10, 2002 in Rapid City, S.D., at the fourth in a series of consultation meetings on the Department’s plan to improve the management of Indian trust assets. The meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn Rushmore Plaza (505 N. 5th St.) starting at 9:00 a.m. (MST).

Owen D. Morken, 57, a native of Minnesota who has served in the Bureau of Indian Affairs almost 30 years, has been appointed Area Director for the Bureau at Minneapolis, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett announced.

Morken's appointment is effective October 6.

He succeeds Glenn R. Landb1Qom, who has been Area Director since January, 1966 and who will transfer to a position in the Division of Economic Development of the Bureau in Washington.

Effective April 2000, all remaining Individual Indian Monies (IIM) trust fund accounts have been converted to a new, automated Trust Fund Accounting System (TFAS). The implementation of this new accounting system at all BIA Regional Offices marks the completion of a significant component of the Secretary of the Interior’s Trust Management Improvement Project. TFAS is the responsibility of the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST).

The Department of the interior said today it has proposed to Congress that a 1931 Act regarding the acceptance of gifts by the Secretary of the Interior for the benefits of Indians be broadened.

The present act authorizes the Secretary to accept contributions or donations for Indians for the benefit of Indian institutions or for the advancement of the Indian race. However, the language of the Act seems to limit the use of funds to institutions or to individual Indians, the Department added.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. and Hopi Vice Chairman Todd Honyaoma today signed an historic Navajo-Hopi intergovernmental Compact, resolving a 40-year-old dispute over tribal land in northeastern Arizona.

"I am grateful to all the people who worked so hard over the years to resolve this dispute," Kempthorne said at the signing ceremony in Phoenix. "You have overcome a long history of bitterness and dispute. You truly have laid the foundation for a new relationship - one that will benefit all your people. You have made history."