Past News Items

Albert L. Lerner, 38, Field Employment Assistance Officer, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Chicago, has been reassigned to the same post in Los Angeles, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today. He will replace Daryl L. Mahoney, who has been reassigned to the position of Area Employment Assistance Officer in the Anadarko Area Office.

WASHINGTON, DC- Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced today that savings in the Indian Affairs’ American Recovery and Reinvestment Act construction projects will be used to start four additional high-priority school projects in Arizona, New Mexico and South Dakota.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Van A. Peters as Superintendent of the Stewart Indian School, Stewart, Nevada.

Peters, a member of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada, has been a school principal in Elko County, Nevada since 1972. He was previously a teacher and athletic director in Reedsport, Oregon.

A United States Army veteran, Peters earned both his B.A. and M.Ed. degrees from the University of Nevada.

Secretary of the Interior Fred .A. Seaton announced today the Departments’ approval of the November 1 action of the Navajo Tribal Council in appropriating $300,000 of tribal funds for use by the Tribe to induce new industrial plants to locate in the vicinity of the reservation. The added payrolls would provide increased job opportunities for tribal members, it was explained.

The Department has also approved the Tribal Council’s proposal to use $44,000 in previously advanced Federal funds for the same purpose.

WASHINGTON – As part of President Obama’s commitment to empower tribal nations and strengthen their economies, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced final regulations that will streamline the leasing approval process on Indian land, spurring increased homeownership, and expediting business and commercial development, including renewable energy projects.

Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe announced today that he had approved a tribal tax on coal mining on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and a tribal zoning ordinance for the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho.

In both instances, the tribal laws call for the exercise of jurisdiction by the Indian tribe over non-Indians on the reservation. The question of tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians in civil matters has become a major issue in many parts of the country.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton announced today that he has asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs to send one of its forestry experts immediately into northern Idaho for an investigation of timber sale prospects on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services (OJS) will hold its fifth training session to improve the trial advocacy skills of tribal court prosecutors, defenders and judges on November 13-15, 2012, in Seattle, Wash. This training will focus on cases dealing with sexual assault on children and adults.

Jack R. Ridley, a Washoe-Shoshone Indian, has been appointed Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Tribal Resources Development in Washington, D.C., Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today

Ridley has served as Director of the Center for Native American Development at the University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho since 1977.

A $1.6 million contract for expanded school facilities at Choctaw Central School, at Pearl River, Miss., has been awarded by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The contract calls for the construction of a 16-classroom building with offices and an instructional materials center; a combination music and industrial arts building; an addition to an existing dormitory building; a food storage building, and remodeling of some existing facilities.

The project includes related on-site improvements such as paving and utility systems.