Past News Items

This press release is being issued to clarify a release of May 2 pertaining to the lowering of the voting age for tribal elections.

Prior Lake, Minn. — The fourth consultation session on the proposed rule to implement the Buy Indian Act will be held on the morning of Thursday, August 23, 2012. The Act provides Indian Affairs with the authority to set-aside procurement contracts for qualified Indian-owned businesses. The proposed rule describes uniform administrative procedures that Indian Affairs will use in all of its locations to encourage procurement of goods and services from eligible Indian economic enterprises, as authorized by the Buy Indian Act.

Adult Indians on reservations who missed the advantages of education in their youth and are now handicapped by lack of ability to read, write, speak or understand the English language will be given an opportunity to develop these basic skills under a new Indian Bureau Program announced today by Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons.

Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton has assured representatives of the Indian tribe that the Interior Department is committed to finding “a practicable way'' to deliver which the tribe is entitled as recognized in a 1965 agreement, involving construction of the Central Utah Project.

In a statement released in Washington today, Secretary Morton said the Department intends to carry out terms of the water agreement "with all possible dispatch," and that he has ordered the Bureau of Reclamation to expedite its feasibility report on phases of the Central Utah Project.

FLAGSTAFF, AZ —Government-to-government tribal consultation will occur Friday, July 20, 2012 in Arizona regarding a proposal that would help the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) achieve the objectives of President Obama’s Executive Order 13592 concerning improving educational opportunities provided to American Indian and Alaska Native students.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today that he has appointed a three-man team to investigate the collapse of a footbridge on the East Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina on July 3.

Members of the team left today to confer with James H. Baley, Jr., United States District Attorney at Asheville, No Co, Richard D. Butts, Superintendent of the Cherokee Indian Reservation, and Frank Parker, General Counsel for the Cherokee Indians.

It is a pleasure for me to be with the Tribal Chairmen’s Association today. We have a common interest in improving the quality of life for Indian people. The problems that face us are complex and difficult and they will require all the effort we can put against them.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Donald “Del” Laverdure today issued decisions on two tribal gaming applications in California, determining that one of the proposed gaming sites meets the legal and regulatory requirements and one does not.

Laverdure approved a gaming application for the Ione Band of Miwok Indians in Amador County, Calif., that includes authorization for land to be acquired in trust for gaming purposes under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act’s (IGRA) “Equal Footing Exceptions.”

A Forestry Service Center to help Indians develop productive capacities of their commercial forest lands has been established at Littleton, Colo., in the Denver metropolitan area, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today.

The new office will be directly under the Central Office of the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, and initially will be staffed with six employees. Bruce said the Cen­ter is centrally located to most Indian reservations.

It is a great pleasure to be here and l am highly honored to address this first graduating class of reservation Police officers trained at Brigham City, which represents the beginning of a new era and a new chapter in Indian community self-awareness.

I bring greetings from Secretary of the Interior Morton and the regrets of the Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs Marvin Franklin who could not accept your invitation because of pressing matters in Washington.

This graduation marks a milestone in the progress of Indian people towards self-determination.