Reports: Oklahoma Senator Considered for Interior Department Leadership in Trump Administration
National media are reporting that President-elect Donald Trump is considering Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin for a leadership post for the U-S Department of the Interior.
Mullin is a Cherokee citizen, business owner and rancher. He is the second Cherokee citizen elected to the Senate and the first tribal citizen to be a senator in nearly 20 years.
He’s often advocated for tribal sovereignty and hit the campaign trail for Trump, preaching the importance of energy independence for the country and tribal nations.
"The reservations that we have are treated like National Parks. You have drilling rigs and you have natural resources being pulled out of the ground right across the fence from reservations," Mullin said at Trump event in North Caroline.
He’s also introduced legislation to improve Indian Health Service retention and the recruitment of healthcare professionals.
If appointed, Mullin would be the second Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. The first was current Secretary of The Interior Deb Haaland
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Senator did not deny interest but said Trump and Mullin had not spoken about any cabinet positions.
New Education Committee To Prepare For Potential Changes In Federal Education Policy
State Superintendent Ryan Walters is forming an advisory committee to oversee anticipated federal education policy changes from the incoming Trump administration.
The move comes after sending a memo last week preparing schools for the potential elimination of the U.S. Department of Education.
Walters said Monday the committee will be charged with identifying how to align state policy with a new federal agenda, including phasing out and replacing federal programs, and proposing state legislation.
While Walters searched across the country for other recent high-profile committees - like tapping the president of the Heritage Foundation for a social studies review committee and LibsofTikTok’s Chaya Raichik for a library advisory committee - he said the department is looking for education leaders and policymakers from across Oklahoma for this committee.
He said the search has commenced for people who have championed parents’ rights, school choice, minimizing government bureaucracy and fought against “social indoctrination.”
Members will be announced in the coming days.
Search for 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Victims Continues
The City of Tulsa continues its search for remains of people murdered in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
Archaeologists took soil samples at Newblock Park last week to uncover differences in the ground.
State Archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck says that anomalies in the soil tell a story.
“When you go over a larger area, presumably, you’re going to have a high degree of consistency. It’s going to look very similar across a given area unless you encounter something different," Stackelbeck said.
When an archaeologist uncovers something inconsistent it could mean that something lies beneath the soil. Once inconsistency is found in the ground, archaeologists test or excavate the land. This can lead to many different discoveries.
“That can be anything from a buried building foundation to a trench to a burial, right. So, there’s a number of different things that can actually cause that and might not necessarily be what we’re looking for," Stackelbeck said.
The only way to figure out what the anomaly is is to break ground.
The massacre was a white supremacist terrorist act that left as many as 300 dead in Tulsa’s wealthy Black Wall Street community. Some bodies are still missing.
Tulsa Race Massacre Survivor Celebrates 110th Birthday
One of the two remaining survivors of the 1921 Race Massacre turned 110 years old on Sunday.
Lessie Benningfield Randle has become a supercentenarian.
Family, friends and elected leaders gathered Sunday afternoon to celebrate.
Fellow survivor Viola Fletcher was in attendance, as were Tulsa Mayor-elect Monroe Nichols and U.S. Representative Al Green of Texas.
The Massacre Randle and Fletcher survived leveled the historic Black Wall Street, possibly killing hundreds.
Green said back in September that he intends to file legislation that would give 10-million-dollars to each of the two remaining survivors, though no such bill has been introduced yet.
In an interview, Green says he’d like his fellow House members to sign on.
“I want all of them to sign on to this legislation and, hopefully, through this legislation we can bring some justice to the two persons who are the actual survivors," said Green.
Oklahoma Representative and Senator-elect Regina Goodwin presented Randle with a citation from the state House commemorating her 110th birthday.
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