Past News Items

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton has upheld a June 2004 decision by former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin, who declined to acknowledge as an Indian tribe a group known as the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe of Indians. The petitioning group, headquartered in Trumbull.
Connecticut, did not successfully demonstrate that it meets all seven mandatory criteria for Federal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe under Federal regulations.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Director W. Patrick Ragsdale toured the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Reservation yesterday to view the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina and to meet with Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin and tribal officials on the Bureau’s continuing relief efforts in the area.

WASHINGTON – Interior Associate Deputy Secretary Jim Cason today announced that Captain John Herrington, an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and the first American Indian astronaut to serve with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will provide the keynote address this morning at the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP) FACE and Baby FACE National Training Conference in Pearl River, Miss. The event is scheduled for March 8-10 at the Silver Star and Golden Moon Resort on the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians reservation.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Interior today announced that its Office of Hearings and Appeals is operating under a new structure that will improve and expedite the resolution of Indian probate cases. OHA has created a separate hearings division to focus exclusively on these cases; is opening new offices in Alaska, S.D, and Ore.; and is increasing its staff devoted to probate adjudication.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced a cooperative initiative with the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide Federally recognized tribes participating in the Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) Native Sovereign Nation (NSN) Domain Name Program with the opportunity to use E-Buy, GSA’s online procurement system for products and services.

WASHINGTON—Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced he has named W. Patrick Ragsdale to be Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs(BIA) effective Feb. 13, 2005.

Ragsdale, who is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, has been serving for the last year as Director, Trust Review and Audit in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians.

WASHINGTON – President Bush has proposed a $2.2 billion budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for Fiscal Year 2006. The budget continues the Department’s commitment to reform trust management and provides increases for law enforcement and detention centers, an economic development commission, and a leadership academy pilot program.

Secretary Gale Norton:
"Convinced Indian Country is Better Off Because You Served"
Associate Deputy Secretary Jim Cason
to Temporarily Assume Responsibilities of Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs

(WASHINGTON) - Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Dave Anderson today announced his decision to resign, effective February 12, 2005.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is one of several major sponsors of “RES 2005,” the 19th Annual National Reservation Economic Summit & American Indian Business Trade Fair, which will be held Feb. 7-10, 2005, at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nev. The BIA also will host one of four conference tracks and Anderson will be the keynote speaker at the RES 2005 Indian Business Achievement Awards Luncheon on Feb. 10.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will attend the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BCGA) 2005 Native American Summit in Phoenix, Ariz., next month where he will sign a cooperative agreement with the organization to establish BCGA Indian Clubs at or near schools funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The summit will take place Feb. 1-3 at the Embassy Suites Hotel Phoenix-North.