Past News Items

Proposed regulations to govern the preparation of three separate rolls of Delaware Indians eligible to share in the distribution of $4 million in Indian Claims Commission awards are being published in the Federal Register, Commissioner of Indian Affairs William E. Hallett said today.

On August 1, 1980, President Carter signed legislation (P.L. 96-38) setting forth provisions for the distribution of the judgment funds among four Delaware groups: the Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma, Cherokee Delawares, Kansas Delawares and Idaho Delawares.

The Department of the Interior today announced the revocation of a provision in Federal regulations which for many years has limited the appearance of professional attorneys before courts of Indian offenses on Indian reservations.

Courts of Indian offenses are organized and staffed by Indian tribal groups under regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior. Fifteen such courts are now in operation.

WASHINGTON - From May 15, 2018 through May 26, 2018, the Department of the Interior (DOI) Opioid Reduction Task Force conducted a Criminal Interdiction Operation in and around Tribal reservations in Arizona, seizing 9,050 Fentanyl pills, 48.2 pounds of methamphetamine, 1.2 pounds of heroin, 863 pounds of marijuana, one-half pound of cocaine, and $30,000 in cash. In total, the drug bust yielded a seizure of 913.5 pounds of illegal narcotics, with a street value of approximately $4,791,417.00, and led to 86 total arrests.

Interior's Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Sidney Mills said today that the Department continues to recognize Mrs. Stephanie Hanson as the Treasurer of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, despite a prior attempt by the tribal council to oust Mrs. Hanson from that role

The Department of the Interior today announced a change in the schedule of meetings to be held in March and April by the five-man task force on Indian affairs at key western points.

The locale of the March 24 and 25 meetings has been shifted from Prescott, Ariz., to Phoenix. Otherwise the schedule remain3 as announced in the Department's press release of March 10.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn today announced that the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs has extended the effective date of its rights-of-way final rule by 90 days. The extension provides grantees, potential grantees, landowners and BIA personnel with more time to review the final rule and to adequately prepare for its implementation.

Assistant Secretary of the' Interior Richard S. Bodman announced today that Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters personnel are now all back at work. Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton vested authority for administrative control of all Indian operations in Bodman, Assistant secretary for Management
and Budget, on December 2.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced today the appointment of W. W. Keeler, Bartlesville, Okla., as consultant on planning policy and reorganization of functions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Mr. Keeler, executive vice president of the Phillips Petroleum Company and principal chief of the Cherokee Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, has agreed to serve without compensation for a period of 90 days starting February 5.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary –Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts today announced the approval of a $23.5 million loan guarantee to the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) that will allow it to acquire a greater ownership interest in NTUA Wireless, LLC, a telecommunications services company serving the Navajo Nation. The company is a partnership of NTUA and Commnet Wireless, a rural wireless service provider based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Francis E. Briscoe, 54, an enrolled member of the Caddo Indian Tribe from Anadarko, Okla., has been named Area Director for Administration in the Bureau of Indian Affairs; Area Office, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce announced today. Briscoe replaces Doyce Waldrip, who has been named Assistant Area Director for Economic Development in the Portland Area.