WASHINGTON — Confederate symbols immortalized in bronze at National Park Service sites dodged a bullet this week. The final version of the fiscal 2021 spending package excluded language pushed by House Democrats that would remove the monuments from those sites.
Republicans had described the provision as a “poison pill” and “veto bait,” given President Donald Trump’s opposition. But Democratic supporters say dropping the provision represents a temporary truce rather than a white flag on their part. The Senate cleared the spending bill Monday.
House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Betty McCollum, D-Minn., lamented the absence of the monument provision.
“I am disappointed that Senate Republicans and President Trump refused to include House-passed provisions to remove hateful Confederate symbols from our national parks as a step toward confronting our nation’s legacy of racial injustice,” McCollum said in a statement.
At the heart of the issue are National Park Service sites commemorating Civil War battlefields such as Gettysburg that include monuments honoring Confederate soldiers who fought and died there.
NEW YORK — Ghislaine Maxwell discussed divorce with her husband because of the “terrible consequences of being associated with her,” her attorney wrote in a new filing Wednesday, asking a judge to approve a $28.5 million bail package.
The Manhattan Federal Court filing by attorney Mark Cohen is the latest salvo in a dispute over the nature of Maxwell’s marriage.
Prosecutors said her husband, whose name is redacted from public court documents, is not a trustworthy co-signer of her proposed bail package while she awaits trial on charges of grooming Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking victims in the mid-1990s.
It was revealed last week that Maxwell told authorities after her arrest that she was in the process of getting a divorce.
But that’s not because the British socialite is estranged from her hubby, Cohen wrote.
“Prior to her arrest, Ms. Maxwell and her spouse had discussed the idea of getting a divorce as an additional way to create distance between Ms. Maxwell and her spouse to protect him ... from the terrible consequences of being associated with her,” Cohen wrote in a sentence that was partially redacted in public records.
—New York Daily News
DALLAS — Edgardo “Eddie” Garcia will become Dallas’ next police chief, making him the first Latino to lead the department.
City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced the city’s 30th police chief Wednesday after a three-month search to find a replacement for Police Chief U. Reneé Hall, who announced in September that she would leave at the end of the year.
Garcia, who was the San Jose police chief for four years before retiring recently, will start in his new role in Dallas on Feb. 3.
“We should celebrate the fact that Chief Garcia will become our first Hispanic police chief,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said in a statement after the announcement. “This truly is an historic moment for Dallas."
Garcia, 50, spent nearly three decades of his law enforcement career with the San Jose Police Department in California. He rose up the ranks as a narcotics officer, sergeant over SWAT, lieutenant over patrol watch, and captain over the San Jose’s bureau of special investigations, according to his application.
—The Dallas Morning News
ATLANTA — Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Wednesday asked Georgia state representatives to end no-excuse absentee voting, a proposal that would limit the voting method over 1.3 million people used in the presidential election.
Raffensperger wants to reduce absentee voting after promoting it during the coronavirus pandemic, when he mailed ballot applications to active registered voters before the primary election.
In last month’s election, about one-quarter of Georgia’s 5 million voters cast absentee ballots as Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump.
“It makes no sense when we have three weeks of in-person early voting available. It opens the door to potential illegal voting,” Raffensperger told the House Governmental Affairs Committee. “From a logistical challenge, it’s a tremendous burden on our counties” that run elections.
Absentee voting became politicized after Trump frequently suggested it wasn’t trustworthy, causing Republicans to move toward voting early or on Election Day. About 34% of Biden voters submitted absentee ballots, compared with 18% of Trump voters.
Georgia law has allowed anyone to cast an absentee ballot without having to give a reason since 2005.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
