Michael Black, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, will continue to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Only difference now is that it’s official.

Black has held the job on an interim basis since March, but now has been officially given the agency’s top spot, reports Ledyard King of the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader, here:

Michael Black

Black, who held the post on an interim basis since March, will manage the BIA’s day-to-day operations through four offices: Indian Services, Justice Services, Trust Services and Field Operations. Those branches administer or fund tribally based infrastructure, law enforcement, social services, tribal governance, natural and energy resources and trust management programs for 564 federally recognized Native American and Alaska Native tribes in 33 states.

“I am deeply honored to have been offered this opportunity to lead the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” Black said in a statement. “I want to express my appreciation to (Interior) Assistant Secretary (Larry) Echo Hawk for his confidence and to affirm my commitment to strengthening the BIA’s mission of service to Indian Country.”

Tribes from reservations in the Dakotas hailed the move. “A good deal” is how Michael Jandreau, chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, termed it, calling Black “pretty sensible and pretty open-minded.”

And Rosebud Sioux Tribe Chairman Rodney Bordeaux says that Black “knows our needs out here. Oftentimes, our needs on the Great Plains and in the Rocky Mountain Region are overlooked in favor of the smaller tribes and self-governance tribes.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: Assistant Interior Secretary Larry Echo Hawk, buffalo post, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Gwen Florio, Lower Brule Sioux, Michael Black, Michael Jandreau, Native American news, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Rodney Bordeaux, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, U.S. Interior Department

For more than a half-century, KELO-TV has been watched by people throughout central South Dakota.

But now the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe wants the station to find a new spot for the broadcast tower that was blown down in last month’s winter storms, Seth Tupper of the Mitchell Daily Republic reports here.

.KELO is putting up a temporary tower and will apply to the Federal Communication Commission for a permanent one.

But, as Tupper writes, the old tower was on Medicine Butte in central South Dakota, a site sacred to the Lower Brule Tribe.

“It ties into a whole sacred set of buttes that figure predominantly in our culture, and I would like to have our folks comment more on that,” says tribal Chairman Michael Jandreau. He says his tribe wants to consult with the FCC on the matter.

KELO general manager Jay Huizenga told Tupper that that the old 700-foot tower supplied a television signal for people in central South Dakota, and that there are other towers on Medicine Butte.

And, writes Tupper:

Jandreau acknowledged that there may be little his tribe can do to get KELO’s tower moved, given that the site is not within reservation boundaries or held in trust for the tribe. He is holding out hope, though, and he playfully suggested that perhaps the winter storm wasn’t the only force at work in the tower’s fall.

“When it was built, some of our old men told them that it was going to fall down,” Jandreau said. “It took 53 years, but it fell down.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Eagle Butte, Federation Communication Commission, Gwen Florio, KELO-TV, Lower Brule Sioux, Native American news, S.D.

Michael Jandreau says he’s watched too many of his people die of alcohol-related problems.

So Jandreau, chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux tribe, and his tribal council have banned alcohol sales on their reservation in central South Dakota, according to this Rapid City Journal story.

The downside has been a marked drop in business in the tribe’s Golden Buffalo Resort and Casino. C’mon, it’s possible to gamble sober. And, probably advisable!

Gwen Florio

Tags: Alcohol abuse, buffalo post, Golden Buffalo Resort and Casino, Lower Brule Sioux, Native American news