A few scattered headlines to chew on:
* Sexual harassment allegations in Washington County. The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports on allegations of sexual harassment at the Washington County Road Department, where just three of the 88 employees are women. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating and one employee accused of sexual harassment has resigned. At least three other county employees have been reprimanded or fired over sexual harassment issues since 2016, according to information provided by the county in response to the paper’s Freedom of Information Act request (those employees worked at the Juvenile Detention Center, the Circuit Clerk’s Office, and the Juvenile Court). Meanwhile, in the county seat in Fayetteville, readers of this blog will recall that the school superintendent has been accused of sexual harassment, allegations that he denies.
* Staff reshuffling at Interior Department disproportionately impacts Native Americans. Interesting story from Talking Points Memo on staff reshuffling by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, which disproportionately impacted Native American career officials at the agency. Democrats recently called for an investigation into whether discriminated when he made the reassignments. TPM reports:
Former government officials tell TPM that they see the reassignment of top Native American staffers as part of an effort to remove internal opposition to Zinke’s plan to open up more tribal and public lands to the fossil fuel industry.
* Trump’s tariffs — a carveout for Ivanka? ThinkProgress examines the kind of grubby corruption and rampant conflicts of interest that dominate the Trump administration. Because Trump is such an offensive buffoon and such a clown on policy matters, it’s easy to miss the most consistent story about this White House: A plutocrat with no scruples has taken power and is using his office to enrich himself, his family, and his friends. This may well turn out to be the most corrupt presidency in the nation’s history, which is saying something. The Washington Post had a good roundup of these issues earlier this year.
* Alexander city treasurer arrested for possession of child porn. The D-G reports that Kenneth Miller was arrested Thursday by Arkansas State Police and charged with 20 counts of distributing, possessing, or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child after authorities found pornographic images of children in his possession. Miller, 66, has been Alexander’s city treasurer since 2015.
The line is open. Over to you…