and of course today we learned that Mayor Pete will be the new Transportation Secretary:

and here's a new message from Biden's appointee for CDC Director:

Formal notice of the Pete Buttigieg nomination has been added to the Biden-Harris feed:

and here is a Vilsack statement they put up earlier today:

Scoop: Biden eyes last-minute Republican pick

by Hans Nichols @ Axios.com, 41 mins. ago

President-elect Joe Biden is considering some well-known Republicans — think Meg Whitman types — for Commerce secretary as a way to signal to red-state Americans he understands their concerns and plans to address them.

The big picture: Biden's team is debating the political upside of an across-the-aisle pick, and it's still very possible the president-elect will settle on an all-Democratic Cabinet, according to people familiar with the matter.

• For Commerce, he also could select a mostly apolitical CEO, like former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, as a neutral way to reach out to the business community. The Commerce secretary is considered an administration's ambassador to the business world.

Why it matters: While Biden again promised Monday night to be a “president for all Americans,” his team hasn’t decided on a strategy to convince some of the 74 million Trump voters he will address their issues.

• Democratic and progressive criticism of picking a Republican centers on the changing nature of the GOP, which has fully embraced President Trump — even during his election challenges.
• Some possible Republican picks like Whitman, the former Hewlett Packard CEO, are considered RINOs, or traitors, by the new Republican base. She endorsed Biden.
• Aside from short-term favorable media coverage, some Biden confidants are unconvinced there is a long-term benefit from selecting a Republican [....]

Biden makes historic pick with Haaland for Interior secretary, current headline @ The Hill (with, whoa, 98,000 shares already?!) by Rebecca Beitsch - 12/17/20 02:36 PM EST

Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) has been selected to lead the Interior Department in President-elect Joe Biden's administration, making history as the first Native American tapped for a Cabinet position.

Haaland, who has been backed by a number of progressive groups as well as tribes, would take over a sprawling, 70,000-person agency with a mandate from Biden to help deliver on his climate promises.

If confirmed by the Senate, Haaland would likely deliver a significant turnaround for an agency that has rolled back environmental and endangered species protections and expanded oil and gas drilling. Biden has pledged to bar any new oil and gas leasing on public lands — an effort likely to require action from Interior.

Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, was one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress, alongside Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.), and was an early backer of the Green New Deal.

Her potential nomination generated significant momentum, particularly after news that she was being vetted by the Biden team.

She would make history not only as a Cabinet secretary but as the first Native American to take the reins of an agency with significant responsibility to tribes — an area where critics say the department has often fallen short [....]