Assistant Secretary Larry EchoHawk opened a new Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Palm Springs, California, on Tuesday. EchoHawk said the 14,500-square-foot office represents a new era in federal-tribal relations. “Of all the groups in the U.S., California has the darkest history in what happened to Native American people," he said, The Palm Springs Desert Sun reported. “I would like to join with you in writing a new chapter, a better chapter — a brighter chapter." The agency primarily serves the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. The tribe and its members own 28,000 acres of lucrative property in Palm Springs. "We have a multifaceted, high-level complex that handles real estate development on many scales,” said Chairman Richard Milanovich, the paper reported. Milanovich asked EchoHawk to send more personnel to the understaffed agency, which handles more than 400 deals on Agua Caliente land. Get the Story:
Bureau of Indian Affairs opens new agency complex in valley (The Palm Springs Desert Sun 10/14)