Past News Items

Edward McCabe, Jr., a member of the Navajo Tribe, has been named Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Shiprock Agency in northwestern New Mexico. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced that the appointment is effective immediately.

McCabe, 54, has been Senior Program Director for the School of Business at the University of New Mexico. He has in the past served as Treasurer, Acting General Manager of the Utility Division and Director of Administration for the Navajo Tribe.

The lead agency coordinating the federal response to COVID-19 is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Emergency Management (OEM) are supporting this by planning and implementing DOI’s response.

Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel and Health and Human Services Secretary Otis Bowen, M.D., have signed a memorandum of agreement to coordinate implementation of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. A portion of the law is devoted to the prevention and treatment of alcohol and substance abuse among American Indians and Alaska Natives.

A plan for the distribution and use of more than $16 million awarded to the Chiricahua Apache Indians by the Indian Claims Commission is being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today. The plan, approved by Congress, has an effective date of March 16.

The award represents payment for more than 15 million acres of land in New Mexico and Arizona taken without compensation on September 4, 1886, when Apache Chief Geronimo and his followers surrendered to the United States forces.

Forty-three Indian tribal leaders and officials of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will meet September 4-6 in Bismarck, N.D. to discuss the reorganization of the BIA.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Juanita Cata as Assistant Area Director (Education) for the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Albuquerque Area. She has held this position in an acting capacity since the retirement of Henry Wall.

Cata, a member of the San Juan Pueblo, has completed Ph. D. course requirements at the University of Albuquerque. She graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1961 and earned a Master's in elementary education from the same university in 1967.

Under Secretary Frank A. Bracken said today the Department of the Interior already has begun correcting problems identified in a just released Senate report on Indian Affairs, and will continue cooperative efforts with the Congress and the Tribes to improve programs

Regulations governing the preparation of the membership roll for the per capita distribution of more than $20 million awarded to Northern Paiute Indians by the Indian Claims Commission (Docket 87) are being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

The proposed regulations state that all persons who meet the following requirements shall be entitled to be enrolled to share in the distribution of the fund:

1) Persons who were born on or prior to and living on October 10, 1974;

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – At a signing ceremony today, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke approved the Shawnee Tribe’s application to put 102.98 acres of land in Guymon, Texas County, Oklahoma, into federal Indian trust status for gaming. The Shawnee Tribe proposes to develop a 42,309-square foot gaming facility on the site comprised of a 20,206-square foot gaming floor, a restaurant, retail space, and office spaces for the Shawnee Tribe Gaming Commission.

The Department of the Interior today announced the resignation of Ross Swimmer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. Last November he tendered his resignation to then President Reagan and in a recent letter to Secretary Don Hodel made it official as of January 29.

"I believe we have moved the agenda forward for a real change in Indian country," he wrote Hodel. "Certainly, there is a new awareness of what the problems are and the solutions to those problems. This is a convenient time for me to leave and rejoin my family in Tulsa, (Oklahoma)," he said.