Past News Items

New superintendents have been named for two Bureau of Indian Affairs agencies -- the Zuni in New Mexico and the Fort Hall in Idaho -- Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, announced today. Both superintendents are Oklahoma men and transfer from North Dakota agencies.

I James D. Cornett, Superintendent of the Fort Totten, N. D., and Agency has been reassigned to head the Zuni Agency, and William A. Mehojah, Superintendent of the Turtle Mountain Agency, Belcourt, N. D., is to be Superintendent of the Fort Hall Agency.

Vincent Little, the Bureau of Indian Affairs Portland, Oregon Area Director, has been detailed to serve as the acting Phoenix Area Director for a period not to exceed 120 days.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William Hallett said that Little "is an excellent administrator who will provide effective leadership for the Phoenix area in a critical period of change."

A Mohave Indian, Little was named Arizona Indian of the Year in 1971 when he was in charge of the Phoenix Indian School.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump today proposed a $2.4 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget for Indian Affairs, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) led by the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs.

­A test group of young teacher interns -- most of them Indians and all of them undergraduates -- is breaking new ground to find ways that will motivate Indian pupils to stay in school and learn more.

In the process, the.20 interns are developing ideas that may stimulate more young people like themselves to stay in college, complete their teacher training, and go out and teach more Indian children,

What they and their professional mentors learn as they go along may prove to be valuable to disadvantaged non-Indians facing similar problems.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William Hallett today announced the appointment of Susan Drake to his Public Information Staff in the Washington Office. Ms. Drake, who will head the publications function for the BIA, will be responsible for the annual report, fact sheets, newsletters, brochures and the many BIA publications distributed to the general public.

WASHINGTON, D.C. | U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is confirmed to attend the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 2017 Mid Year Conference & Marketplace (Mid Year) at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut held from Monday, June 12 to Thursday, June 15, 2017.

About 1,000 teachers, from Bureau of Indian Affairs schools and from public and private schools attended by Indian students, are scheduled for intensive training in new teaching methods this summer, the Department of the Interior announced today. The program is being conducted for the Bureau of Indian Affairs by the University of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Ariz., under a c $399,800 contract, financed with a part of a $9 million grant from the Department, of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today that charges of financial abuses or mismanagement in the Comanche Indian Tribe of Oklahoma appear to be unfounded.

Hallett said that the Inspector General's Office of the Interior Department this month completed a survey of the tribe's financial records, including "documentation" presented to support charges made by some members of the tribe. It determined that there was no substantiation of the charges and that the tribe's financial records were in good order.

TO: Indian Country Reporters
FROM: U.S. Dept. of the Interior Communications Office
DATE: December 2016
RE: U.S. Department of the Interior Tribal Nations Accomplishments

Today, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will begin a nationwide tour to highlight the progress the nation has made over the last eight years on public lands, waters and wildlife management and restoring nation-to-nation relationships with Native Americans.

The transfer of three Indian Agency superintendents in Arizona has been announced by Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Homer M. Gilliland, Superintendent at the Co1brado River Reservation, has been named Superintendent at the Hopi Reservation. He replaces Clyde W. Pensoneau who is retiring from Federal service.

Succeeding Gilliland at Colorado River will be John H. Artichoker, Jr., now Superintendent of the Papago Reservation. Artichoker will be succeeded by Joseph M. Lucero, now an administrative manager and acting superintendent at the Hopi Agency.