Past News Items

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today was joined by college football All-American and Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle to announce a new partnership that will introduce an innovative physical fitness and health program into Interior-funded American Indian schools.

WASHINGTON –The Office of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! Initiative and four federal agencies today launched Let’s Move! in Indian Country (LMIC). LMIC is an initiative to support and advance the work that tribal leaders and community members are already doing to improve the health of American Indian and Alaska Native children. As a part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative, LMIC brings together federal agencies, communities, nonprofits, corporate partners and tribes to end the epidemic of childhood obesity in Indian Country within a generation.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced the establishment of a new Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform that will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of Interior’s trust management and provide recommendations on how to improve performance. The announcement kicks off a 30-day period during which Secretary Salazar is seeking nominations and input from the public on individuals to serve on the new commission, as well as comments on the commission’s proposed charter.

WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior (DOI) has awarded a contract to Bronner Group, LLC, a small, woman-owned business based in Chicago that specializes in consulting with government and the public sector. The contract for more than $400,000 is on behalf of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and is to conduct an evaluation of their support services. Bronner will assist the Assistant Secretary–Indian Affairs as he oversees a review of functions that support the two bureaus and suggest improvements.

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Director Michael S. Black today announced that the Office of Indian Services (BIA-OIS) Division of Human Services was recognized by Computerworld for the Division’s case management automation initiative. The Laureate award bestowed on the Division recognizes visionary application of information technology promoting positive social, economic, and educational change. The presentation took place at the Annual Laureates Medal Ceremony & Gala Awards on Monday, June 20, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the Departments of Interior and Justice applauded the final approval by U.S. Senior District Judge Thomas F. Hogan of the settlement of Cobell v. Salazar, a long-running and contentious individual American Indian trust class-action lawsuit. The court’s approval of the $3.4 billion settlement paves the way for payments to be made to as many as a half-million individual American Indians who had Individual Indian Money accounts or an interest in trust or restricted land managed by the Department of the Interior. The suit has been pending for 15 years.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) has submitted the featured entry in the 2011 Indian Education Renewable Energy Challenge targeting college age students and the Oneida Nation High School has submitted the featured entry in the high school-age challenge category.

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin – Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today affirmed that the Department of the Interior will continue to pursue a balanced course on off-reservation gaming policy, taking into account the views and concerns of tribes, Federal, State and local elected officials and affected citizens. Echo Hawk spoke at a gathering of the National Congress of American Indians in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk will offer remarks at the Society of American Indian Government Employees (SAIGE) 8th Annual National Training Conference being held June 13-17, 2011, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa in Catoosa, Okla. He will speak during the lunch period on Wednesday, June 15.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes today announced Billings, Montana as the location for the first of six regional government-to-government tribal consultations regarding the Trust Land Consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement.