Past News Items

Indian leaders of the National Tribal Chairmen's Association (NTCA) had a "productive" meeting with Vice President Walter Mondale at the White House July 24, according to Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard.

Gerard said that the Indian, in an hour-long meeting, discussed various Indian programs and trust-related issues but "stressed the need for Government consultation with the elected leaders of Indian tribes before making Indian policy decisions."

A new set of regulations on the leasing of Indian lands held in trust by the Federal Government, which will permit leasing in some cases up to 25 years, in line with a Congressional law enacted last August, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

Under the old law, Secretary McKay explained, most leases of Indian land were limited to a five-year period although longer leases were permitted in some cases.

Billings, MT - The second consultation on the Buy Indian Act will be held Wednesday, August 15, 2012. The Buy Indian Act provides Indian Affairs with the authority to set-aside procurement contracts for qualified Indian-owned businesses. This 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.

Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest J. Gerard today announced the appointment of James L. Sansaver as Special Assistant in the area of trust services.

Sansaver, a member of the Assiniboine-Sioux Tribes of the Ft. Peck Reservation, will work on the Assistant Secretary's immediate staff in matters involving natural resource programs and the strengthening of tribal governments.

The Potawatomi Area Field Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has been operating from both Mayetta and Horton, Kansas locations, will be consolidated in the near future into a single office at Horton, the Department of Interior announced today.

Up to now only the land operations personnel and the Bureau's field representative were stationed at Mayetta. Tho latter, however, served three days a week at Horton.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Donald E. “Del” Laverdure today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has provided $50,000 in a one-time emergency funding for the Emmonak Women’s Shelter in the Yup’ik Eskimo village of Emmonak, Alaska. The village’s only facility offering domestic violence protection is facing imminent closure due to a funding shortfall.

A recent Supreme Court decision that Indian tribes have no inherent criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians does not leave a void in criminal law enforcement on reservations, Interior Department Solicitor Leo M. Krulitz said in an opinion released today

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced that representatives of the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs will meet with Indian tribal representatives in Washington, November 25 and 26 for a national conference on American Indian youth.

BILLINGS AND CROW AGENCY, MT--At two events with tribal leaders in Montana today, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and other top Interior officials took what he called “the latest steps to implement President Obama’s pledge for reconciliation and empowerment for American Indian nations.”

Richard C. Whitesell, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, has been appointed Assistant Area Director, Community Services, in the BIA's Phoenix Area Office, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today.

Whitesell has been Superintendent of the Flandreau Indian School at Flandreau, South Dakota.

A former marine, Whitesell was Education Program Administrator at Riverside Indian School in Oklahoma before going to Flandreau. He began
his career as an educator in the Brockton, Montana schools in 1961.