Past News Items

A $700,000 contract to provide on-the-job training for 1,481 Navajo Indians has been signed with the Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corp., the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today. The training will take place at Fairchild's Semiconductor plant at Shiprock, N. Mex.

The largest of several electronics plants now located in Indian areas, Fairchild currently employs 366 Navajos in the operation at Shiprock which commenced 14 months ago.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of the Interior, in partnership with the Crow Tribe, will enter into an agreement for hydropower development on the Yellowtail Afterbay Dam, downstream of Yellowtail Dam and Powerplant, on the Bighorn River near Fort Smith, Montana.

The agreement is part of the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010. Under the settlement, the Tribe holds the exclusive right to develop and market power generation on the Yellowtail Afterbay Dam.

BIA SCHOOL OFFICIAL NAMED TO INTER-STATE BOARD--Dr. William J. Benham, Jr., Director of Schools for the Navajo Area of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' school system recently was appointed to the board of directors of the Southwestern Cooperative Educational Laboratory. Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico are represented on the 16-member panel.

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that on December 20 the Bureau of Indian Affairs began its 2010 impaired driving prevention campaign, “Don’t Shatter the Dream,” which is being conducted by BIA and tribal law enforcement agencies in Indian Country through January 2, 2011.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has announced the award of a $737,093 contract for construction of a new school at Tyonek, Alaska, a native community on Cook Inlet.

The new building replaces a dilapidated structure that was built in 1930. Contract specifications call for: three classrooms; a kitchen; multi-purpose room; library; offices; a gymnasium with a stage; a storage area and janitor facilities. Also included will be a sewerage system; utilities; concrete sidewalks; play areas and site grading. There are now approximately 60 Indian children enrolled at the Tyonek School.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that he has named Kevin J. Martin, an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma, as Director of the Indian Affairs Office of Budget Management (OBM). The Director, who reports to the Chief Financial Officer for Indian Affairs, is responsible for all aspects of the Indian Affairs budget process including planning, formulation, presentation, justification and execution. His appointment became effective September 26, 2010.

The Department of the Interior today announced that in response to a request from the Hopi Indian Tribal Council, it is directing the removal of about 35 Navajo Indians who are illegally residing within the Hopi Reservation in northern Arizona.

Assistant Secretary of Interior Harry R. Anderson instructed the Superintendent of the Hopi Agency, Clyde Pensoneau at Keams Canyon, Arizona, to serve the eviction notices on those Indians who did not comply with previous eviction notices of the Hopi Council.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk on June 24, 2010, issued a final approval to the May 11, 2010, proposed Class III Gaming Compact (Compact) between the Seminole Tribe of Florida (Tribe) and the State of Florida (State). The signing of the approval letter was conducted on his behalf by Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Del Laverdure.

The award of a $2,930,848 contract for the construction of an elementary boarding school at Dilkon, Arizona was announced today by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The new school complex will make possible the closing of three small trailer schools. Construction plans call for 26 classrooms; a multipurpose building; kitchen-dining building; bus garage; two 128-pupil dormitories; 10 one-bedroom staff apartments; 20 two-bedroom houses and 30 three-bedroom houses and an instructional materials center and administration offices.

Albuquerque, NM – Today Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget at the Department of the Interior Rhea Suh delivered welcoming remarks at the Federal Employment Workshop: Accessing Employment with the Department of the Interior at the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Federal Employment Workshop is part of Secretary Ken Salazar’s Youth in the Great Outdoors Initiative aimed at employing, educating, and engaging youth in America’s great outdoors.