Past News Items

WASHINGTON--The Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Law Enforcement Services (BIAOLES) announces the 2nd Annual Indian Country Corrections Summit to be held from July 16 - 18, 2002, at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The summit theme is "Positive Change Through Effective Partnership." The purpose of the Summit is to create awareness, share ideas, establish partnerships and enhance commitment to Indian Country Corrections.

The Department of the Interior today announced a proposed revision of Federal regulations to remove restrictions against road construction that have applied for more than 20 years on 2,935,000 acres of the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona and Utah.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton today conducted a ceremonial swearing-in of the founding members of the American Indian Education Foundation (AIEF) Board of Directors at its inaugural meeting in the Interior Department's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Congress established the Foundation in December, 2000 under the Omnibus Indian Advancement Act (Public Law 106-568).

Three major personnel changes in the Bureau of Indian Affairs involving the area offices at Muskogee, Okla., and Minneapolis, Minn., were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Paul L. Fickinger, area director at Muskogee since 1954, has been named special assistant to Deputy Commissioner John O. Crow and will be stationed at Albuquerque, N. Mex. His first major assignment will be to supervise a comprehensive survey of the adequacy of the Bureau's buildings and plants, consisting largely of school plants, located at its field installations throughout the country.

WASHINGTON - The Department of the Interior has submitted plans to a federal court outlining a proposed $335 million effort to conduct an historical accounting of individual American Indian and Alaska Native trust accounts as well as a separate blueprint to guide the future management of Interior's trust obligations to American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Award of a $1,085,400 contract for the construction of new school facilities at Nenahnezad School on the Navajo Indian Reservation near Fruitland, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Facilities to be constructed include two 160-pupil dormitories, a kitchen-dining building, a multipurpose building, a storage and utility building, employees' quarters, and a 9-stall garage. In addition, the existing school building will be remodeled, the streets and parking areas paved, and all utility systems will be replaced or expanded.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Wayne R. Smith will be a guest speaker this Thursday, October 25, on Native America Calling, the national public affairs and news radio call-in program of the Koahnic Broadcast Corporation. He will address the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ role in the Federal Acknowledgment Process. The program will air live starting at 1:00 p.m. (ET).

Award of a $758,802 contract for construction of school facilities at Kaibeto, Arizona, on the Navajo Indian Reservation, was reported today by the Department of the Interior.

Facilities to be built under the contract include a two-classroom and multipurpose room addition to the existing school, a 128-pupil dormitory, five one-bedroom apartments, and a multistory building containing two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced that the Joint DOI/Tribal Leaders Task Force will hold its next meeting on April 25- 26, 2002 in San Diego, Calif. The Task Force was established in February to review plans on improving the Department’s management of individual Indian and tribal trust assets.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary -- Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney announced today that the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has approved $1.55 million in Tribal Energy Development Capacity (TEDC)