Past News Items

Award of a $2,129,250 contract for the construction of elementary school facilities at Rough Rock, Arizona, on the Navajo Indian Reservation, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The scheduled construction, which will replace the obsolete existing temporary sheet metal building serving some 60 children, will provide an additional 260 Navajo children with needed school accommodations.

President Ford will meet with more than 200 leaders of the American Indian community at the White House Friday afternoon (July 16), Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

It will be the first time a President of the United States has met with such a broad representation of the Indian leadership.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced he has confirmed Clayton J. Gregory as regional director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Pacific Regional Office in Sacramento, Calif., effective July 11. Gregory, an enrolled member of the Crow Tribe of Montana with more than 20 years of government service, had been serving as the acting regional director since May 2003.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today that five prominent figures in the art world--Commissioners of the Department's Arts and Crafts Board--will be among the guests at the invitational opening of an Indian art exhibit, Monday, May 11. The exhibit features the re-activating of the Department’s art gallery after nearly two decades.

The Board's Commissioners, all serving without pay, are Dr. Frederick J. Dockstader, chairman of the Board; Vincent Price; Rene D'Harnoncourt; Lloyd New Kiva; and Erich Kohlberg.

It would appear that the origins of our State names would be well-established facts; however, when an attempt is made to trace these origins, they are found to be quite elusive and controversial. In most instances, loose translations are offered as an explanation for the meaning of the original word; this is especially true for State names of Indian origin. Some of the following information is quoted, and some is a composite of ideas and opinions expressed by several authorities.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will give the keynote address at the United Tribes Technical College 2004 commencement ceremony scheduled for May 7. The event will be held at the UTTC campus in Bismarck, N.D., starting at 1:00 p.m. (CDT). This year’s graduating class of 89 students, representing 25 tribes from across the United States, is the largest in the college’s 35-year history. Over 10,000 students have graduated from UTTC since the school’s founding.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced approval of $1,000,000 in community and urban development projects on 36 Indian reservations and communities in 12 States under the Accelerated Public Works Program.

The projects will provide nearly 1,700 man-months of needed employment for the Indian areas, which are administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They will, in addition, bring long-range benefits to the Indians by promoting the advancement of social and civic standards in their ·communities.

Tomorrow, June 1, 2012 at 1:30 p.m. EDT, the White House will host a panel discussion of leaders who have contributed to the progress of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! in Indian Country initiative and whose work can be expanded across Indian Country. The discussion will be streamed online at www.WhiteHouse.gov/live. As a key component of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative, Let’s Move! in Indian Country focuses on four pillars that are essential to building a healthy future for American Indian and Alaska Native youth:

(SACATON, ARIZ.) – On a visit to the Gila River Indian Reservation in south-central Arizona, Interior Secretary Gale Norton, joined by Gila River Governor Richard Narcia, today announced that the Gila River Indian Community has been designated as an expansion site of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Indian Land Consolidation Program.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, announced award of a contract for $1,098,491.74 to provide for bituminous surfacing of 11.28 miles of road on the Navajo Indian Reservation, from Indian Service Route 12 to Washington Pass, via Crystal, N.M.

This project is the first half of an eventual all-weather road from Crystal through Washington Pass to Sheep Springs, N.M., on U.S. Highway 666.

The successful low bid was submitted by Nielsons, Inc., of Dolores, Colo. Eight other bids were submitted, ranging from $1,199,481.91 to a high of $1,496,646.90.