Past News Items

Two changes in the Federal regulations governing the preparation of an up-to-date membership roll for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina were announced today by the Department of the Interior.

Both modifications were recommended by the tribal council of the Eastern Cherokee Band to clarify the intent of the regulations which have been in effect since January 1959.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will give the keynote address at the United Tribes Technical College 2004 commencement ceremony scheduled for May 7. The event will be held at the UTTC campus in Bismarck, N.D., starting at 1:00 p.m. (CDT). This year’s graduating class of 89 students, representing 25 tribes from across the United States, is the largest in the college’s 35-year history. Over 10,000 students have graduated from UTTC since the school’s founding.

The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and the Department of the Interior are now in agreement on a plan developed by the Tribe for future control of its property and service functions after Federal trusteeship is terminated next year, Acting Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett announced today.

The plan was developed by the Tribe under terms of the Menominee Termination Act of 1954 and was submitted to the Secretary of the Interior on July 28. It includes six major parts.

WASHINGTON – Secretary Gale Norton and Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has been awarded $32.4 million in three grants from the U.S. Department of Education to improve student reading, school performance and teacher quality in BIA-funded schools under President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

The Department of the Interior announced today the award of a $372,551 contract for the construction of educational facilities at Rosebud, South Dakota.

WASHINGTON – David W. Anderson, an enrolled member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Lake Superior Band of Ojibwa in Wisconsin, who also shares ancestry from the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, and President Bush’s nominee for Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior, was sworn in today by Interior Secretary Gale Norton. “I am deeply honored by the confidence that President Bush and Secretary Norton have shown me through this appointment,” Anderson said.

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Roger Ernst today announced the restoration of nearly 9,000 acres on two Indian reservations in South Dakota to tribal jurisdiction.

Thirteen tracts totaling over 3,000 acres of the restored land are on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. An additional 5,880 acres are on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation.

WASHINGTON - Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced the formation of the National Indian Country Telecom Infrastructure Consortium (NICTIC) to coordinate an effort to build and improve the telecommunications infrastructure throughout Indian Country. "Creating this consortium supports the President's National Strategy for Homeland Security by providing critical direction to improving the telecommunications infrastructure in Indian Country," said Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb.

Award of a $243,427.06 contract for grading, drainage, and crushed gravel surfacing of 15.4 miles of roads on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in Dewey County, South Dakota, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of the Interior (DOI) will continue its schedule of presentations to employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) on the reorganization of both agencies. This week, employees of the Northwest Region will be briefed on June 4 in Portland, Ore., and June 5 in Spokane, Wash. Western Region employees will be briefed on June 4 in Phoenix, Ariz.