Past News Items

Washington –

“Last week, the Cedarville Rancheria experienced a terrible tragedy. Three tribal members, one tribal employee were killed and two tribal members were seriously injured, leaving the community aggrieved and in shock.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce today announced the award of an $808,000 contract for construction of a graphic arts building at Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kans., to Constant Construction Co., Inc., of Lawrence, Kans.

Haskell Indian Junior College, a Bureau of Indian Affairs school, has an enrollment of about 200 American Indian students in its college program an 1,000 in its trade-technical and business training program.

Action taken by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada to develop a major recreation center on their reservation 30 miles from Reno has been approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, it was announced today.

Private developers throughout the Nation are invited to submit proposals for a water-oriented vacation and residential center on the shores of one of the last large undeveloped lakes in the Nation.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary Kevin K. Washburn today announced that he has named Dr. Charles M. “Monty” Roessel as Director of the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). Roessel, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, had served as the acting director since February 2013.

The announcement came today as Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Assistant Secretary Washburn and Director Roessel were in Laguna, New Mexico to tour a Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) tribally controlled grant school located on the Pueblo of Laguna reservation.

Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton today announced the appointment of William. L. Rogers of San Marine, Calif., as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, a new position created to bring operations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs closer to the Secretariat of the Department of the Interior.

The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded an $8,640,411 contract to construct nearly 6 miles of main canal tunnel and open canal on the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project about 59 miles east of Farmington, N.M., the Department of the Interior reported today. The project is being built by Reclamation for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The joint venture of Shea-Kaiser-Macco, Redding, Calif., was awarded the contract on the lowest of ten bids received under Specification No. DC-6l87.

WASHINGTON – Today, Thursday, September 24, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will join U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in a press conference call to discuss more than $5 million in funding to help Native American and Alaska Native youth become college- and career ready. Under a new Native Youth Community Projects (NYCP) program, the Department of Education is making grants to a dozen recipients in nine states that will impact more than 30 tribes and involve more than 48 schools, some of which are schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Education.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce today announced the appointment of William F. Streitz, 44" to be Superintendent of the Uintah and Ouray Agency, Fort Duchesne, Utah. Now Superintendent of the Sisseton Agency; S. Dak., Streitz will assume the Utah post January 2.

Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, announced today that John H. Artichoker, Jr., Superintendent of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Agency, Lame Deer, Mont., has been named Superintendent of the Papago Agency, Sells, Ariz.

John R. "Bob" White, Superintendent of the Rocky Boy's Agency, Box Elder, Mont., will replace Artichoker at Lame Deer. Both transfers became effective November 27, 1966.

WASHINGTON – Following extensive environmental and economic analyses and robust tribal and public outreach, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Mike Connor today approved the Four Corners Power Plant (FCPP) and Navajo Mine Energy Project in northwestern New Mexico, under a plan that would minimize and mitigate the project’s projected environmental impacts while maintaining the substantial economic benefits of coal mining and energy production for the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and local communities.