Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful gives away tarps to cover loads of garbage
♦ The Senate has confirmed New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland as interior secretary, making her the first Native American to lead a Cabinet department and the first to lead the federal agency that has wielded influence over the nation’s tribes for nearly two cen
Kimberly Lewis (left) a Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful volunteer hands a tarp to Billy White at the Midway Remote garbage collection site Saturday. KRFB was giving away the tarps to encourage people to cover their loads of garbage to keep litter from blowing out on the highways. Left: Ryan Crabtree (left) got out of his car to accept a tarp from Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful volunteer Kensley House.
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WASHINGTON — The Senate on Monday confirmed New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland as interior secretary, making her the first Native American to lead a Cabinet department and the first to lead the federal agency that has wielded influence over the nation’s tribes for nearly two centuries.
Haaland was confirmed by a 51-40 vote, the narrowest margin yet for a Cabinet nomination by President Joe Biden. Four Republicans voted yes: Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Democrats and tribal groups hailed Haaland’s confirmation as historic, saying her selection means that Indigenous people — who lived in North America before the United States was created — will for the first time see
a Native American lead the powerful department where decisions on relations with the nearly 600 federally recognized tribes are made. Interior also oversees a host of other issues, including energy development on public lands and waters, national parks and endangered species.
“Rep. Haaland’s confirmation represents a gigantic step forward in creating a government that represents the full richness and diversity of this country,’’ said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
“Native Americans for far too long have been neglected at the Cabinet level and in so many other places,’’ Schumer said.
Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo and a 35thgeneration resident of New Mexico, thanked hundreds of supporters at a virtual party hosted by Native American organizations.
Her confirmation shows that tribal members are “visible” and being taken seriously, Haaland said after the vote. “And no, it should not have taken more than 200 years for a Native person to take the helm at Interior, or even be a Cabinet secretary for that matter.”
Haaland said she was “ready to roll up my sleeves” so Interior can play its part in Biden’s plan to “build back better” and “responsibly manage our natural resources to protect
them for future generations.’’
Haaland’s nomination has been closely watched by tribal communities across the country, with some virtual parties drawing hundreds of people to watch her twoday confirmation hearing last month.
Supporters projected a photo of Haaland, a two-term congresswoman who represents greater Albuquerque, on the side of the Interior building in downtown Washington with text that read “Our Ancestors’ Dreams Come True.”
Many Native Americans see Haaland, 60, as someone who will elevate their voices and protect the environment and tribes’ rights. Her selection break a two-century pattern
of non-native officials, mostly male, serving as the top federal official over American Indian affairs. The federal government often worked to dispossess tribes of their land and, until recently, to assimilate them into white culture.
“It is long past time that an American Indian serve as the secretary of the Interior,” said Fawn Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians, the nation’s oldest and largest tribal organization.
“The nation needs her leadership and vision to help lead our response to climate change, to steward our lands and cultural resources and to ensure that across the federal government, the United States lives up to its trust and treaty obligations to tribal nations and our citizens,’’ Sharp said.
Jonathan Nez, president of the Navajo Nation in Arizona,
New Mexico and Utah, called Haaland’s confirmation “an unprecedented and monumental day for all first people of this country. Words cannot express how overjoyed and proud we are to see one of our own confirmed to serve LQ WKLV KLJK OHYHO SRVLWLRQ ļ
Haaland’s confirmation “sets us on a better path to righting the wrongs of the past with the federal government and inspires hope in our people, especially our young people,’’ Nez added.
Not everyone was celebrating. Some Republican senators have criticized Haaland’s views on oil drilling and other energy development as “radical” and extreme, citing her opposition to the Keystone XL oil pipeline and her support for the Green New Deal, a sweeping, if mostly aspirational, policy to address climate change and income inequality.
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ATLANTA — The Georgia prosecutor investigating potential efforts by Donald Trump and others to influence last year’s general election has a message for people who are eager to see whether the former president will be charged: Be patient.
“I’m in no rush,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said this week in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think people think that I feel this immense pressure. I don’t.”
Willis, a Democrat elected in November, sent letters to state officials on Feb. 10 instructing them to preserve records related to the election, particularly those that may contain evidence of attempts to influence elections officials. But she said this week that she’s not sure where the investigation will go or how
long it will take.
Her office confirmed that the probe includes a call in which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state. Willis also said she has questions about a call U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham made to Raffensperger, the sudden departure of a top federal prosecutor and statements made before Georgia legislative committees.
The investigation is in the very early stages, Willis said. Lawyers are sifting through data — including news reports — to compile a witness list. Once they start talking to people, it will inevitably lead to other people and records they want to see. Eventually, Willis said, they’ll have enough information to decide whether laws were actually broken.
Democrats and a few Republicans have condemned Trump’s call to Raffensperger,
with some critics saying the recording is proof of criminal election interference.
Lawyers from around the country have offered help, Willis said. While she may eventually seek outside counsel with specific expertise, she said, it will require careful vetting.
“I don’t want anyone that’s already got a result in mind,” she said.
Willis wrote in the letters to state officials that her office had opened a criminal investigation into “potential violations of Georgia law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration.”
She wrote that her team has “no reason to believe that any Georgia official is a target of this investigation.”
After a coronavirus-related pause, two grand juries are to be seated next week, which will allow prosecutors to seek subpoenas.
Following the November general election, Trump refused to accept his loss by about 12,000 votes in Georgia, long a Republican stronghold. He and his allies made unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud and hurled insults at Raffensperger, Gov. Brian Kemp and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan — all fellow Republicans — for not acting to overturn his loss.
State and federal officials have repeatedly said the election was secure and that there was no evidence of systemic fraud.
In a Jan. 2 telephone conversation with Raffensperger, Trump repeatedly suggested
Raffensperger could change the certified results of the presidential election, an assertion the secretary of state firmly rejected.
“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said. “Because we won the state.”
When Willis’ investigation became public, senior Trump adviser Jason Miller said it “is simply the Democrats’ latest attempt to score political points by continuing their witch hunt against President Trump, and everybody sees through it.”
During the call with Raffensperger, Trump also appeared to suggest that Byung J. “Bjay” Pak, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Atlanta, was a “never-trumper” — a term often used for conservative critics of Trump. Pak abruptly announced his resignation the day after the call became public. He’s never publicly explained his departure.
“I find it particularly peculiar the way that he left and when he left,” Willis said of Pak. “It’s something that, to do my job correctly, I have to ask questions about. That’s just logical.”