Past News Items

Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs Raymond V. Butler announced today the appointment of Wayne H. Chattin, Jay T. Suagee, and Joe G. Weller to top positions in a newly created Division of Self-Determination Services within the Office of Indian Services in Washington, D.C.

The division will have responsibilities related to the implementation of Public Law 93-638, the Indian, Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.

WASHINGTON – Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs George T. Skibine today issued a proposed finding not to acknowledge the petitioner known as the Brothertown Indian Nation (Petitioner #67) as an Indian tribe. This petitioner, located in Fond du Lac, Wisc., has 3,137 members.

Award of a $1,437,000 contract for the construction of school facilities at Toadlena, New Mexico, on the Navajo Indian Reservation was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has requested an increase of $64.4 million in appropriated funds for fiscal year 1978. The Bureau's request submitted January 17 to Congress as part of the President's budget, asks for $842.3 million. This includes $654.7 for the operation of Indian programs: $87.2 million for the construction of irrigation systems, buildings and utilities; $70.3 for road construction, and $30 million for payments under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

On Saturday, April 25, 2009, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will visit North Dakota, where he will be joined by Senators Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) and Gov. John Hoeven, and meet with local leaders and tribal officials. The Secretary will announce Interior’s Indian Affairs funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. He also will visit communities hit by recent flooding and confer with state and federal flood response officials.

W. Wade Head, area director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Gallup, New Mexico since 1954, and Fredrick M. Haverland, who has occupied the comparable position at Phoenix, Ariz., since 1955, will exchange positions in the near future, the Department of the Interior announced today.

The appointment of Ronald L. Esquerra as his executive assistant was announced today by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson. Esquerra 29, is an enrolled member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe.

"Ron has an impressive record of achievement," the Commissioner said. "He will be working very closely with me and will be a valuable asset for the Bureau and for Indian people."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne will be joined by Kindergarten – 3rd graders and faculty from 20 Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) funded schools on Wednesday, November 7, to kick off the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education’s ‘BIE READS’ plan to improve BIE students’ literacy. The Secretary will read with the students, who are from high performing BIE-funded schools from across the country, after which he will announce the schools selected to participate in the initial phase of the plan.

The Department of the Interior today released $1,871,000 in Accelerated Public Works funds to stimulate employment through 28 projects. The allocation increases funds already approved for 14 of the projects. The new allocation will be invested in 12 States on a variety of forestry improvements. Most of the work will begin within 30 days, the Department said.

Approximately 2,100 man-months of on-site employment will be created by the newly approved projects. An equivalent amount is expected to be generated elsewhere in supplying materials and equipment.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Charles W. James, 53, Choctaw Indian born in the Indian community of Kanima, Okla., to the post of Area Director, Anadarko Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.