Past News Items

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B Morton today announced the appointment of Marvin L. Franklin, 56, an Oklahoma City business executive and member of as Assistant to the Secretary for the Iowa Indian Tribe Indian Affairs, a new position in the Interior Department.

Four small bands of Paiute Indians in Utah, comprising 232 members, will take over full responsibility for management of their own affairs under a proclamation approved by Acting Secretary of the Interior Fred G. Aandahl in fulfillment of a 1954 congressional enactment.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk welcomed representatives of several federal agencies and non-profit organizations who are at the forefront of combating alcohol and substance abuse and domestic violence to a conference on creating safe schools held December 8 by the Bureau of Indian Education. The Safe School Summit kicked off a BIE initiative to establish partnerships with law enforcement, security, and health and safety agencies to ensure BIE-funded schools are safe and secure learning environments for their students.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today named superintendents to three Alaska Bureau of Indian Affairs agencies - those at Fairbanks, Nome, and Bethel. The appointments are effective August 1, September 1, and August 4, respectively.

A move to provide better governmental services to Alaska Natives by the Bureau of Indian Affairs begins on September 24, 1979. Assistant Secretary of Interior for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard today announced that Price, Waterhouse and Company, a well-known consulting and accounting/firm with Alaska experience, will review the BIA area office in Juneau.

The study is part of Gerard's management improvement program to streamline and restructure the Bureau offices to serve Indian people in an effective and efficient manner.

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Bureau of Indian Affairs Larry Echohawk will join Myron L. Rolle to announce an innovative health program for Indian schools.

The 1:00 p.m. EDT event in the Main Interior Building’s South Penthouse will be followed by a news media availability. Media can also participate via a moderated teleconference by dialing 1-888-603-9712 and entering the access code 3561667.

Contracts totaling nearly $7.5 million to build roads on American Indian reservations entered into by the close of fiscal year 1973 will help make those land areas more economically and socially viable and accessible to visitors, Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs predicted today.

The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a $6.6 million contract for relocating and lining 61/2 miles of main canal on the Colorado River Indian Reservation surrounding the town of Parker, Ariz., Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will administer the oath of office to Larry Echo Hawk as Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs at a 10:00 a.m. ceremonial event on Friday, June 26, 2009, in the Sidney R. Yates Auditorium of the Main Interior Building.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced that a nearly $2.2 million contract for surfacing about 25 miles of road on the Papago Indian Reservation in Arizona -- second in size among Indian reservations only to the Navajo -- has been let to a Phoenix, Ariz., contractor, Tanner Bros. Contracting Co.