The LuLac Edition #669, Dec. 17th, 2008

PHOTO INDEX: PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA WITH NEW INTERIOR SECRETARY KEN SALAZAR AND OBAMA'S LATEST TRIUMPH, BEING NAMED TIME MAGAZINE'S MAN OF THE YEAR.

MORE CABINET PICKS

On a pre-holiday push to fill his Cabinet, President-elect Barack Obama announced his choices of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack to be agriculture secretary and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar to lead the Interior Department. President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be interior secretary is vowing to be a "strong voice" for the west, and for the nation. Salazar was named by Obama to head the Interior Department at a Wednesday morning news conference in Chicago. "Ken will bring to the Department of the Interior an abiding commitment to this land we love,” Obama said in a news conference, his third in as many days to announce Cabinet choices. “His family has farmed and ranched the same land in Colorado for five generations." Wearing a string tie and cowboy hat, Salazar said he was looking forward to working toward energy independence and confronting global warming, and making wise use of the nation's natural resources. Salazar will head a department that oversees oil and gas drilling on public lands and manages the nation's parks and wildlife refuges.

MAN OF THE YEAR

President-elect Barack Obama has won another contest: He's been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2008. Runner ups were Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Gov. Sarah Palin and Chinese director Zhang Yimou as runners-up. 2007's winner was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Previous individual winners have included Bono, President George W. Bush and Amazon.com CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.

DOING WHAT THEY DO

Under the catagory, "doing what they do best", the County Court has file a lawsuit against the county commissioners and salary board saying the court system will suffer "irreparable harm" if its budget request for 2009 is not fully granted. The suit, filed in county court, seeks to prevent commissioners from laying off any court personnel. It contends the budget request made by the court system is "reasonable and necessary," and that failure to fully grant the request will cause "irreparable harm" to the court's ability to serve the citizens of the county. The suit was filed by President Judge Mark Ciavarella.