![Harriet Tubman monument replacing a Christopher Columbus statue in Newark is "poetic," mayor says](https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/06/21/a97ba150-1dd5-4ee8-9648-e2d8df2a0430/thumbnail/1200x630/0d211657b2dd2edcd0ff46d1c84c375e/01-nina-cooke-john-shadow-of-a-face.jpg)
Harriet Tubman monument replacing a Christopher Columbus statue in Newark is "poetic," mayor says
CBSN
Almost a year ago, the city of Newark removed a Christopher Columbus statue amid the national reckoning spurred by the death of George Floyd. The city's mayor, Ras Baraka, recently revealed the design of the Harriet Tubman monument that will replace it.
"I think it's a little better than what we envisioned," he told CBS News in an interview on Friday. "I think that it's going to turn out to be something great." Baraka said having Tubman take over Columbus' old spot in Washington Park was "poetic." As the nation continues to weigh the future of controversial statues, he said the monument felt like an opportunity to embrace history and Tubman's roots in the Garden State.![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250214202746.jpg)
Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a high-stakes meeting at this year's Munich Security conference to discuss the Trump administration's efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Vance said the U.S. seeks a "durable" peace, while Zelenskyy expressed the desire for extensive discussions to prepare for any end to the conflict.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250214133557.jpg)
Washington — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation's largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who hadn't yet gained civil service protection - potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250214133528.jpg)
It was Labor Day weekend 2003 when Matt Scribner, a local horse farrier and trainer who also competes in long-distance horse races, was on his usual ride in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada foothills — just a few miles northeast of Auburn, California —when he noticed a freshly dug hole along the trail that piqued his curiosity.