Past News Items

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.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress proposed legislation providing for disposition of three judgment funds, now totaling approximately $4.5 million, recovered from the Government by the Miami Indians of Oklahoma and Indiana.

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.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will address the May 14 commencement ceremony for the 2003-2004 graduates of Haskell Indian Nations University, a Bureau of Indian Affairs operated post-secondary institution located in Lawrence, Kan. Anderson, himself the son of Haskell alumni, is very proud and honored to be with the students at this important event in their lives. For 120 years Haskell Indian Nations University has educated generations of Indian students from tribes around the country.

This conference is auspicious for more reasons than one. It has brought together the key field personnel of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and officials of several other Federal agencies that are involved in President Johnson's War on Poverty.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary–Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Trust Services, working in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) are planning to hold a series of tribal energy transmission system planning workshops for tribal leaders and tribal resource managers.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs will publish the Replacement School Construction Priority List in the Federal Register. The current list, which was last published on July 9 and July 18, 2003, is revised by the addition of newly prioritized schools. The BIA uses the list to determine the order in which Congressional appropriations are requested to replace aging BIA-funded schools and dormitories.

The Center for Arts of Indian America is presenting its Fourth Invitational Exhibit of Indian Arts and Crafts in the Gallery of the Department of the Interior, 18th and C Streets, N.W., in Washington, D. C.

Mrs. Stewart L. Udall, executive director of the Center, said more than 40 Indian tribes and Alaska Native groups are represented, including Eskimo, Spokane, Cherokee, Navajo, Delaware, and numerous Pueblo tribes.

The exhibit is open free to the public, through December 13, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, exception holidays.

ANADARKO, Okla. – Today, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney praised the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Anadarko Agency for deploying the first Tribal Access Program (TAP) biometric/biographic kiosk workstation. The TAP kiosk will help process finger and palm prints, take mugshots, and access data with the national crime information databases to better ensure the safety of children in foster care.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) today issued the following statement relating to a DOI notification to federal court officials on behalf of Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb. “