Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Today at the 63rd Departmental Honor Awards Convocation held in the Sydney R. Yates Auditorium at the U.S. Department of the Interior, it was a time for the Department to honor its own – those who have served with sudden seconds of valor and long years of excellence. At the ceremony a private citizen and three Bureau of Indian Affairs employees were among the many to be awarded for their bravery, outstanding contributions and dedicated service to the Department. Edward D.

(Washington, D.C.) – James E. Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary announced today that the BIA Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES), in conjunction with the Indian Country Section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police will hold its 15 th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Service on May 4, 2006. The service is to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice made by American Indian law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while serving on Indian lands. The Memorial Service will begin at 10:00 A.M.

ALBUQUERQUE – An estimated audience of almost 1,000 guests and dignitaries today watched as Interior Department officials formally dedicated the Bureau of Indian Affairs gleaming modern office building at 1011 Indian School Road N.W. in Albuquerque, N.M., to former Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan, Jr., and officially opened DOI’s new National Indian Programs Training Center (NIPTC), a major occupant of the facility. Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason and Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today announced that the Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) will sponsor the conference “Accessing Capital: Lending Opportunities in Indian Country” to be held May 1-3, 2006, on the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians reservation in Minnesota. The conference will take place at the tribe’s Shooting Star Casino Hotel and Event Center in Mahnomen, Minn.

WASHINGTON – Former Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan, Jr., will join Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason and Special Trustee for American Indians Ross O. Swimmer in Albuquerque, N.M., on April 27, 2006, at a ceremony to officially dedicate the Bureau of Indian Affairs Manuel Lujan, Jr. Indian Affairs Building and to open DOI’s National Indian Programs Training Center (NIPTC). They will be joined by All Indian Pueblo Council Chairman Amadeo Shije and Governor Roland Johnson of the Pueblo of Laguna.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs Director W. Patrick Ragsdale today announced the BIA Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, S.D., will hold the 8th Annual Great Plains Region/Tribal Economic Development Summit on April 26-27, 2006 in Sioux Falls, S.D. The theme for this year’s summit is “Building Human Capital: Identifying Challenges and Creative Solutions in Indian Country.” It will focus on breaking down barriers that exist in business and workforce development by bringing together resources that can be utilized to overcome them.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary James E. Cason today issued a proposed finding to acknowledge the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Incorporated, (Mashpee) as an Indian tribe. The 1,462-member tribe is located in Barnstable County, Cape Cod, Mass.

To discuss Indian Trust Management Reform regulations: • Probate of Indian Estates (25 CFR 15, 43 CFR 4) • Tribal Probate Codes (25 CFR 18) (New) • Life Estates and Future Interests (25 CFR 179) • Land Records and Title Documents (25 CFR 150) • Conveyances of Trust and Restricted Land, Removal of Trust or Restricted Status (25 CFR 152)

WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior’s Office of Indian Gaming Management (OIGM) will hold a series of tribal consultation meetings on the development of proposed regulations to establish standards for implementing Section 20 of IGRA, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (25 USC 2701-2721). The meetings will take place in Uncasville, Conn., Albuquerque, N.M., Sacramento, Calif., and Minneapolis, Minn., starting on March 30, 2006.

WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior will hold a tribal consultation meeting on draft DOI Indian trust management regulations on March 29, 2006, at the Doubletree Hotel, Lloyd Center in Portland, Ore., starting at 8:00 a.m. (local time). The consultation meetings are a component of the Department’s implementation of its Fiduciary Trust Model to improve and reform Indian trust management for the benefit of all Indian beneficiaries.