Past News Items

WASHINGTON. D.C.--Senator James Abourezk today asked Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton to take immediate personal charge of the Bureau of Indian Affairs until a commissioner of that agency is legally appointed. Abourezk is chairman of the Senate Interior Subcommittee on Indian Affairs.

Abourezk said that the intervention or the Interior Secretary is required immediately to stop the BIA from going ahead with a reorganization plan which is being implemented "prematurely, illegally and without realistic involvement of the Indian tribes."

LINCOLN, CALIF. — The sixth government-to-government tribal consultation regarding the draft report on Indian Affairs Administrative Organizational Assessment and Bureau of Indian Affairs/Bureau of Indian Education streamlining plans starts Thursday, May 17, 2012, at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, Calif. The two-day consultation is the sixth of seven that will take place around the country in Arizona, Florida, South Dakota, Washington, Oklahoma and Alaska. The first was held in Miami on April 12 and 13, 2012.

Award of a $230,677 construction contract for Indian school facilities at Round Rock, Ariz., was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract was awarded to 'Wilson, Hockinson & Cantrall, Inc., of Albuquerque, N. Mex. Five other contractors from Colorado and New Mexico submitted higher bids, ranging from $238,990 to $294,000.

The Round Rock project is one of several which the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior is undertaking under its long-range program of providing school facilities for all school-age Indian children.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney praised the seizure of over $400,000 in high-grade marijuana made by a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) – Office of Justice Services (OJS) K9 unit during a traffic stop. On April 6, 2019, a BIA-OJS K9 officer, serving as part of the OJS Division of Drug Enforcement (DDE), seized over 81 pounds of the high-grade marijuana within the exterior boundaries of the Laguna Pueblo on Interstate 40 in New Mexico.

MIAMI, FLORIDA — The first government-to-government tribal consultation regarding the Indian Affairs Administrative Organizational Assessment Draft Report and Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education streamlining plans starts today at the Miccosukee Resort in Miami, Fla. The two-day consultation is the first of seven that will take place around the country in Arizona, Washington, South Dakota, Oklahoma, California and Alaska.

Awarding of contracts totaling $240,000 to three Arizona public school districts for the provision of additional classroom space to accommodate Navajo Indian children from reservation areas not now served by the districts was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

A contract of $120,000, covering space for 120 Navajo children, goes to Holbrook High School District No. 3, Snowflake Elementary School District No. 5 received $80,000 to accommodate 80 youngsters. Taylor Elementary School District No. 6 is being awarded a $40,000 contract for 40 students.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Mac Lean Sweeney joined Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Chairman Rodney A. Butler in a first-ever virtual signing ceremony on July 29, 2020, for the Nation’s 105(l) lease agreement with the Department of the Interior (DOI) under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 (ISDEAA) for a public safety facility.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools can now apply for the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon School program (ED-GRS), which provides national recognition for schools using outstanding environmental programs and techniques, BIE Director Keith Moore announced today.

Aided by record lumber prices, Indians in the United States earned $32.7 million -- twice the amount of two years ago -- from the sale of reservation timber in fiscal year 1969, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs announced.

The $32.7 million represents an increase of $11 million over the previous fiscal year. However, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce said that the same level of income cannot be expected to continue in the face of recent declines in the market value of timber.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney today announced she has approved two fee-to-trust applications submitted by The Chickasaw Nation for casino resorts in and near the Oklahoma cities of Ardmore and Kingston, respectively.