California
Census Bureau sued over bid to end early
More than a half-dozen cities, counties and civil right groups sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, saying there was no justification for its decision to cut the 2020 census short by a month, and it will lead to the undercounting of minority communities and an inaccurate head count of every U.S. resident.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose, California, against the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Commerce, which oversees the statistical agency, asks a judge to reinstate a plan that had the once-a-decade head count ending in October instead of September.
“Undercounted cities, counties and municipalities will lose representation in Congress and tens of millions of dollars in funding. And communities of color will lose core political power and vital services,” the lawsuit said.
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The lawsuit was filed by the cities of Los Angeles, San Jose and Salinas in California. Also joining were Harris County in Texas, King County in Washington, and several civil rights organizations.
Female AG group backs Biden-Harris ticket
A group of female attorneys general is throwing its support behind the presidential bid of former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, who served as California Attorney General from 2011 to 2017.
The group includes 29 current and former attorneys general from 24 states and U.S. territories. It’s made up of all Democrats, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.
The group “takes particular pride that one of ‘ours’ — a former distinguished state attorney general — has been tapped as the candidate for the second-highest office in the land,” Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in a statement.
Montana
Public lands chief Pendley hangs on
BILLINGS — A former oil industry attorney will continue calling the shots for a government agency that oversees nearly a quarter-billion public acres in the U.S. West, despite the White House saying over the weekend that President Trump would withdraw the nomination of William Perry Pendley.
Pendley’s continued reign at the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management comes under an unusual arrangement that Pendley himself set up months ago, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.
In May, as a temporary authorization for him to lead the agency was about to expire, Pendley signed an order that makes his deputy director position the bureau’s default leader while the director’s post is vacant, the document shows.
Texas
Museum: Statue part of healing over slavery
HOUSTON — A Houston museum dedicated to conserving African American culture said Tuesday that its decision to display a more than 100-year-old Confederate statue is about providing Black Americans with a way to confront slavery’s painful legacy and include their lived experiences in the conversation.
The towering bronze statue, called “Spirit of The Confederacy,”
arrived at the Houston Museum of African American Culture on Monday and was viewed by reporters with The Associated Press on Tuesday in an exclusive tour.
Wire reports
