Past News Items

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will give the luncheon keynote address at the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Symposium on Child Protection in Indian Country being held March 9-11, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort at the Santa Ana Pueblo in New Mexico. He will speak on Tuesday, March 9, from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. (MST).

Three American Indians, including Miss Indian America and the curator of the Navajo Tribal Museum. will fly to Germany April 1 as part of the first European promotion of Indian-made merchandise.

They will take part in an "American Week" series being launched in several foreign countries by the Department of Commerce in cooperation with the State Department.

The promotion will test the European sales potential of American Indian merchandise. It is sponsored by two German department store chains, Klingenthal and Gebreuder-Lefferso

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar kicked off the White House Tribal Nations Conference today at the Interior Department, emphasizing President Obama’s commitment to reform, restructure and rebuild federal relations with Indian Country and underscoring initiatives that are building safer and stronger American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has awarded a $98,750 contract to Twinco-Enki Corp. of San Fernando, Calif., to review and evaluate projects undertaken by the Bureau under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

The Act, which was amended in 1966 to provide funds for Indian education, requires a broad-based evaluation of projects carried out under its provisions. Twinco-Enki will direct the evaluation from its Muskogee, Okla., branch office, which is centrally located for a number of BIA education projects currently operating.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Deputy Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs for Policy and Economic Development Jodi Gillette and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Director Michael Black met with tribal leaders in Oklahoma City, Okla., today in the sixth regional government-to-government tribal consultation meeting on the Trust Land Consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement. The consultations are part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to re-invigorating nation-to-nation relationships with tribes.

A plan for the distribution and use of more than $8 million awarded to Saginaw, Swan Creek and Black River Chippewa Indians is being published in the Federal Register, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard announced today.

The judgment award, granted by the Indian Claims Commission, is additional compensation for more than seven million acres of land in Michigan ceded by the Indians to the United States by the treaty of September 24, 1819.

A new federal framework to assist American Indian and Alaska Native communities in achieving their goals in the prevention, intervention, and treatment of alcohol and substance abuse was announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ken Salazar, and Attorney General of the United States Eric Holder.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D, Andrus announced today that he has asked the Department of Justice to file protective notices of appeal from a federal District Court decision involving reservations of easements on Alaskan lands conveyed to Natives.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- The First Lady’s, Let’s Move! in Indian Country initiative is partnering with the United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY) council, and the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute at the 2011 UNITY National Conference. Let’s Move! in Indian Country (LMIC) is an initiative dedicated to ending childhood obesity among Indian youth, a group which is twice as likely to be overweight when compared to the general U.S. population.

J. Kenneth Adams, a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, has been named Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Agency at Sisseton, South Dakota.

Adams has been the Administrative Officer at the agency. He has been serving as the acting superintendent for the past ten months.