Past News Items

The Bureau of Indian Affairs today awarded a contract to Southern Cafeteria Operating Company, Birmingham, Alabama, for the provision of noonday meals during the coming school year at five Federal day schools on the Cherokee Reservation in western North Carolina.

Southern Cafeteria’s bid of 44 cents per meal was the lowest of those received in response to invitations issued by the Indian Bureau on July 22. The bids were opened August 15.

The Indian Education for Health Committee of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare will meet July 19 and 20 between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. in the Indian Health Area conference room, 388 Old Post Office and Court House Building, Oklahoma City, Okla., Marvin L. Franklin, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs announced today.

"The meeting is to continue to develop ways and means of coordinating and improving education and health programs for Indians throughout the United States, Franklin indicated.

WASHINGTON –Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will hold a news media teleconference today to announce a milestone in renewable energy development in Indian Country.

Members of the news media can join the 1:30 pm EDT teleconference by dialing 1-888-790- 1963 and providing the access code INTERIOR

Headquarters for the Menominee Indian Agency in Wisconsin will be transferred as soon as possible from Neopit to Keshena, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.

Primary reason for the move, which has been discussed with Menominee tribal representatives over the past several months, is to separate the Indian Bureau's governmental functions at the agency from the operations of the Menominee tribal lumber mill located at Neopit.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today called President Nixon's nomination today, of Morris Thompson! 34, of Juneau, Alaska, to be Commissioner of Indian Affairs "a key step in assuring constructive progress in helping our Indian citizens move forward."

"Morris Thompson, an Indian himself, will bring to the Bureau of Indian Affairs the professional qualifications and leadership which are needed to meet the urgent challenges facing the Indian people today," Secretary Morton said.

LINCOLN, CALIF. — The sixth government-to-government tribal consultation regarding the draft report on Indian Affairs Administrative Organizational Assessment and Bureau of Indian Affairs/Bureau of Indian Education streamlining plans starts Thursday, May 17, 2012, at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif. The two-day consultation is the sixth of seven that will take place around the country in Arizona, Florida, South Dakota, Washington, Oklahoma and Alaska. The first was held in Miami on April 12 and 13, 2012.

Award of a $201,750 contract for Indian education to the Department of Public Instruction, State of North Dakota, was announced today for the Department of the Interior by W. Barton Greenwood, Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Mac Lean Sweeney today announced that she has appointed Darryl LaCounte to the position of director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the U.S. Department of the Interior. LaCounte, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota, has served as acting director since 2018. His appointment is effective April 28, 2019.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the settlement of lawsuits filed by 41 federally-recognized tribes against the United States, in which the tribes alleged that the Department of the Interior and the Department of the Treasury had mismanaged monetary assets and natural resources held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the tribes.

In accordance with their own expressed wishes, about 2,100 Indians of western Oregon are taking over full control of their ow property and will no longer receive special Federal services because of their status as Indians under a proclamation signed this week (August 13) by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.