Past News Items

A series of public hearings on the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 have been scheduled throughout the United States in early March, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.

The hearings will be conducted by the National American Indian Court Judges Association and the National Congress of American Indians, under contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has authorized a $44,000 contract with the Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C., to examine the needs in English language teaching programs for American Indians.

In announcing the contract, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett said:

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Associate Deputy Secretary Meghan Conklin and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Director Michael Black today were in Tulalip, Washington for the third of six regional government-to-government tribal consultations regarding the Trust Land Consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement. The meetings with tribal leaders represent part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to re-invigorating nation-to-nation relationships with tribes.

The Department of the Interior announced today two personnel moves involving superintendents of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in North Dakota and South Dakota.

Owen D. Morken, who has been superintendent of the Fort Berthold Agency, New Town, N. Dak., since 1957, will move on October 13 to the comparable position at Pierre Agency, Pierre, S. Dak. He will replace Christian H. Beitzel who retired August 31.

The Departments of "the Interior and Commerce announced today the addition of representatives of the Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to the federal task force working to attain a settlement of the salmon fishing controversy in Washington state.

Washington, DC— On Monday July 11, 2011 at 10 AM, DC area and Native American youth will visit the White House for a South Lawn Series event highlighting Let’s Move! in Indian Country and celebrating lacrosse and its origins. Students will participate in lacrosse stations on the South Lawn that will demonstrate both the traditional and modern forms of the game.

Award of a $176,195 contract for improvement of approximately 27 miles of road from U. S. Highway 18 north to Sharps on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Shannon County, South Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

When completed, the project will provide a bituminous surfaced road to communities at Wounded Knee, Porcupine, and Sharps and serve approximately one thousand Indian residents of the central section of the Pine Ridge Reservation for school bus, mail route, and farm to market travel.

Dr. William J. Benham, Jr., Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Indian Education Resources Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico has been selected for a year of special study at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Benham will begin in September a mid-career program "designed to broaden the perspective and increase the professional competence of Federal employees." He will resume his duties in Albuquerque in June, 1978.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will be joined by Office of the First Lady, Executive Director of Let’s Move! Initiative Robin Schepper, USDA Deputy Administrator for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Lisa Pino, IHS Director for Improving Patient Care Program Lyle A. Ignace M.D., M.P.H., and Menominee Tribal Chairman Randal Chevalier to launch Let’s Move! in Indian Country (LMIC). This event marks the First Lady’s launch of Let’s Move! in Indian Country hosted by the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.

The withdrawal of 1,393 acres of public lands in New Mexico for scientific research by New Mexico’s A. &M. College with a special provision protecting the traditional right of local Indians to use a portion of the area for religious purposes was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The lands are located in Dona Ana County. They Hill be used by the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts for research on electromagnetism and other subjects.