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Trump may rescind new national monuments in California
Critics blast Trump order as free speech threat, but others say it's needed
By Joe Taglieri
By City News Service
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joet@beaconmedianews.com
y March 31, federal agencies that answer to the White House are required to identify policies available "for fighting antisemitism," mainly at colleges that have hosted pro-Palestine protests, prompting several Inland Empire residents to express fear of a "chilling" effect on free speech, while others support the action. "This is about silencing criticism of Israeli genocide in Gaza," UC Riverside graduate Shaheen Nassar, whose family immigrated from the Palestinian territories, told City News Service. "Cheerleaders of the genocide do everything in the way of intimidation against people daring to speak out against it." President Donald Trump's executive order to "Combat Antisemitism," issued Jan. 30, gave agencies 60 days to submit details on legal resources and options to "punish
The Chuckwalla National Monument. | Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management
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VOL. 9, 11,
See Trump order Page 36
he Chuckwalla National Monument in Riverside and Imperial counties, along with another newly designated monument in Northern California, may lose federal protections following reports over the weekend that President Donald Trump plans to rescind the monuments established by President Joe Biden. Just before leaving office in January, Biden declared the Chuckwalla National Monument that protected 624,270 acres of desert habitat from development. Biden also established the 224,676-acre Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in the Cascade Mountains' Medicine Lake Highlands in Siskiyou County.
The New York Times and Washington Post reported Trump's intention to rescind the monuments Saturday, after the White House published a document late Friday that listed many executive orders canceling Biden administration actions, including one "terminating proclamations declaring a million acres of new national monuments that lock up vast amounts of land that lock up economic development and energy production." That entry was later removed, however, without clarification from the White House. The U.S. Department of Interior and White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Coachella Valley officials and community members who advocated for the Chuckwalla National Monument vowed to fight attempts to rescind federal protections. "I hope the Trump administration doesn't alter Chuckwalla National Monument," Assemblyman Greg Wallis, R-Bermuda Dunes, told City News Service. "Chuckwalla is extremely popular across the political spectrum and was advocated for by a large, bipartisan coalition. Our local communities know that safeguarding our desert is good for the economy and is smart for the well-being of generations to come." Palm Desert City Councilman Evan Turbee told CNS his business Big Wheel
Tours, which provides off-roading excursions in Chuckwalla, is dependent on the protected wilderness area. "Hundreds of business owners like myself advocated for Chuckwalla National Monument to be protected and removing those protections would be deeply, deeply unpopular," Turbee said. "There is nothing partisan about it — it's something our community really fought for." Janessa Goldbeck, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and CEO of Vet Voice Foundation, said, "Chuckwalla National Monument isn't just a stretch of land — it's
former Desert Hot Springs city councilman who damaged a young man's car in a fit of rage following a roadway encounter was sentenced Friday to 12 months' probation and ordered to pay the victim $3,400 in restitution. Russell Trueman Betts, 66, pleaded guilty last week to an unlawful fight in public, a misdemeanor, under an agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. In exchange for his admission, prosecutors dropped two related charges against Betts. During a hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice Friday, Superior Court Judge Gail O'Rane certified the terms of the
See Chuckwalla Page 35
See Councilman Page 18
Former DHS city councilman gets 12 months' probation for road rage By City News Service
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