Past News Items

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs John Tahsuda today announced the appointment of Charles Addington as deputy bureau director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) Office of Justice Services (OJS). The appointment by BIA Director Bryan Rice became effective on December 24, 2017. Addington, a member of the Cherokee Nation, had been serving as OJS’s acting deputy bureau director since October 2, 2017.

Addington has over 25 years of law enforcement experience, 20 of which are in the management of Indian Country law enforcement programs.

A $261,176 contract has been awarded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a road improvement project on the Fort Hall Reservation in southeastern Idaho. The reservation is the home of about 1,770 Shoshone and Bannock Indians.

Contract specifications call for crushed rock base and bituminous plant-mix surfacing of slightly over 12 miles of the Ross Fork and Lone Pine roads, located one mile east of the Fort Hall Indian Agency.

This project is part of the Bureau’s long- term program to improve transportation on Indian reservations through better roads.

Henry A. Dodge, a member of the Navajo Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent- of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Fort Apache Agency at Whiteriver, Arizona, Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today.

Dodge has been the Supervisory General Engineer, Branch of Land Operations, in the Phoenix Area Office since 1977. He was the BIA Natural Resource Manager at the Chinle Agency on the Navajo Reservation 1972-76 and worked as Civil Engineer for the Bureau at Fort Defiance, Arizona, for more than 10 years.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke issued the following statement today which was read during the 26th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service at the United States Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M. The ceremony formally announced the names of three fallen law enforcement officers from the Navajo and Chickasaw Nations as new inscriptions to the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Monument.

The award of a $3,386,999 contract for the construction of high school facilities at Sisseton, S.D., was announced by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior.

Gordon E. Cannon, an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Red Lake Agency in Minnesota, Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today.

Cannon, who had been Superintendent of the Fort Totten Agency in North Dakota, began his career with the BIA in 1961.

A United States Army veteran, Cannon, 42, previously served as realty officer for the Colville, Hoopa and Western Washington agencies.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts announced today that applications to the Indian Affairs Student Leadership Summer Institute, a 10-week paid internship for post-secondary Native students now in its second year, are being accepted for 2017. The deadline for applications is November 30, 2016.

"SIPAPU" B. drama of authentic American Indian tales, dances and chants, will be presented at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre in Washington, D. C., June 1, 3, 4 and 5 at 8:30 each evening. The show will include a cast of 75 performers representing 31 Indian tribes from virtually all over the country. The drama is sponsored by the Center for Arts of Indian America.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is publishing in the Federal Register October 14, a proposed rule to establish procedures for the preparation of a roll of Mohave Indian descendants enrolled as members of the Colorado River Indian Tribes. The Mohave Indians placed on this roll would share with the members of the Fort Mohave Indian Tribe an award of $468,358 from the Indian Claims Commission.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn announced today that he has signed a reservation proclamation for approximately 292 acres of trust land located in the city of Payson, Gila County, Ariz., belonging to the Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona. The parcel will be added to the Tribe’s existing reservation under the authority of the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 984; 25 U.S.C. 467).