Past News Items

PARIS, France – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell met today with French Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira to express the United States' concern about tribal sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony that are sold at French auction houses, and to seek cooperation in working to repatriate objects to Indian tribes in the United States.

James J. Thomas, 27, Winnebago Indian, has been named special assistant to the Department of the Interior's Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Louis R. Bruce, the Commissioner announced today.

Thomas, horn and reared on the Winnebago I Indian Reservation, Nebraska, recently completed an Indian administrator development program of the Bureau.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced an agreement between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Radio Corporation of America which will provide young natives of Alaska and American Indians with broad opportunities for electronics training and for jobs in the worldwide RCA communications and defense warning systems.

The agreement, Secretary Udall said, not only opens new doors of economic advancement to Indians and Alaska natives but also will assist the defense of the United States.

WASHINGTON– Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts today announced final, updated measures to protect the rights of Indian children, their parents and their tribes in state child welfare proceedings. The measures, comprised in a final rule announced today, will support the stability and security of Indian families and tribes by providing a more consistent interpretation of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), regardless of the child welfare worker, judge or state involved.

It is a great pleasure to be with you today. I bring greetings from Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce.

The Department of the Interior, on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, accepts with great pride the contract for the first Army Junior ROTC unit ever installed at an all-Indian high school.

Fort Sill Indian School, I am sure, is justly proud of this achievement and honor. The staff of this fine institution is aware of the importance ROTC can play in the life of this country.

American Indians are attacking on all fronts in the war against poverty, with youth programs leading the field, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said today.

RED VALLEY, Ariz. – On the heels of President Obama’s State of the Union address where he committed to focusing on challenges and opportunities that will impact America for generations to come – including in Indian Country – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced $45 million to build the last previously identified Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) school construction projects.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Public Land Management Harrison Loesch today called for accelerated road construction on Indian reservations; stepped-up assistance to improve public land development roads and trails, improvement of national park roads, roadways, and trails; and highway development in the Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa. He testified before the Senate Public Works Subcommittee on Roads.

The Department of the Interior said today a petition from the combined tribal councils of the Ute Mountain and Southern Ute Indian Tribes that the Bureau of Indian Affairs split up the Consolidated Ute Agency at Ignacio, Colo., into the Ute Mountain Agency, Towaoc, Colo., and the Southern Ute Agency, Ignacio, Colo., has been approved.

No additional funds or employees will be needed to accomplish the changes. The division into two separate agencies will give both of the Ute tribes better service, Bureau of Indian Affairs officials said. The change was made effective December 29.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Justice Services (OJS) in collaboration with the United States Department of Justice, United States Attorney’s Office District of Montana, and the Montana Department of Justice will hold the third of its 2014 tribal court trial advocacy training sessions for tribal court personnel on May 19-22 in Helena, Montana.