Another example of the shut down not meaning a shut down when it comes to a favored group of people. In this case: hunters. The rest of us? Forget about it.
Excerpt from this PBS story:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is directing dozens of wildlife refuges to return to work to make sure hunters and others have access despite the government shutdown, according to an email obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.
The partial restaffing of 38 wildlife refuges is angering wildlife groups, who accuse the Trump administration of trying to minimize the public impact of the more than two-week-old shutdown to limit the political blowback for President Donald Trump. Trump and Democrats in Congress are locked in a dispute over Trump’s demand for billions of dollars for a wall on the southern U.S. border.
In an email sent Tuesday afternoon, Margaret Everson, principal deputy director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, cites “opportunities, including hunting” that are being lost in the shutdown.
Everson advises in the email that 38 wildlife refuges around the country will bring back some furloughed staff using carryover funds.
“While many of our refuges have remained accessible, but not staffed, the extended lapse in federal appropriations is impacting both our ability to serve the public and to protect natural resources under our care in some places,” Everson wrote.
“For the next 30 days, using previously appropriated funds, we will bring back a limited number of employees to resume work on high priority projects and activities that support the Service’s mission and meet the public’s desire for access to Refuge lands,” Everson said in the email.
Rosetta Tharpe, the daughter of Arkansas cotton pickers, brought the gospel music of her church to the world.
She recorded her first hit, Rock Me, in 1938 when she was just 23 years old. She went on to have a music career which spanned five decades . Rosetta’s sound - especially her distinctive guitar-playing - was a pioneering influence on rock and roll.
For a long time Rosetta’s talent was forgotten in favour of the men who came after her - her influence has been acknowledged by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, and countless others.
When Rosetta died in 1973, she was buried in an unmarked grave. It wasn’t until 2008 when a concert of Rosetta’s friends and admirers in the music industry raised the funds to buy her a gravestone. Rosetta’s musical partner and probable lover, Marie Knight, was among the performers. The day of the concert, January 11, was proclaimed Rosetta Tharpe Day. In 2017, Rosetta was finally elected to join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
