Environmentalists' lawsuit to halt 'Alligator Alcatraz' filed in wrong court, Florida official says
Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida's southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state's middle district. Decisions about the facility also were made in Tallahassee and Washington, Kevin Guthrie, executive director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a court filing.
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Trump struggles with facts as Fed Chair Jerome Powell corrects him in real time
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CNN
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Exclusive: ‘A more vulnerable nation': FEMA memos lay out risks of plan to cut $1B in disaster and security grants
Federal agenciesFacebookTweetLink Follow The Federal Emergency Management Agency has proposed cutting nearly $1 billion in grant funding that communities and first responders nationwide use to better prepare for disasters and to bolster security for possible terror or cyberattacks. The proposed cuts, which still require approval from the White House budget office and Congress, would zero out funding for more than half of FEMA's emergency management and homeland security grant programs, according to internal memos and two FEMA officials familiar with the plans. This comes amid an overhaul of the disaster relief agency at the hands of the Trump administration, which seeks to drastically shrink FEMA's footprint and shift more responsibility for disaster preparedness, response and recovery onto states. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, has looked at slashing grant funding as part of that effort. 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Congress allocated a total of more than $4 billion this fiscal year for FEMA to support these national preparedness programs, which state and local governments, emergency management agencies, and fire and police departments depend on for essential staffing, equipment, and training. But in recent months, the disaster relief agency, at the direction of DHS, has largely halted the selection of new grant recipients so it could review the programs. That has left emergency managers across the country waiting for FEMA to issue Notices of Funding Opportunities, or NOFOs, which allow local jurisdictions and organizations to apply for grants and are now more than two months behind schedule. 'We've been ghosted by FEMA,' a North Carolina official recently told CNN, expressing frustration over the lack of guidance on whether states can expect funding in the coming months. Now federal and state emergency managers are increasingly concerned that large portions of this year's funds will go unspent, as the funding streams expire unless allocated by the end of September. At a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Richardson told concerned lawmakers, 'We're getting the NOFOs out the door as we speak.' The acting FEMA chief did not mention the looming cuts he had authorized in the memo he signed days before the hearing, though he criticized the agency's grant programs. 'A lot of the grants sound good, and then you dig into them, and they're not so good,' Richardson said, citing resilience projects 'used for things like bike paths and shade at bus stops.' During Wednesday's hearing, Rep. Dina Titus, a Nevada Democrat, pressed Richardson about the status of UASI funding, emphasizing its importance for protecting Las Vegas from potential terror threats. Richardson responded: 'What I can commit to is that we've been doing due diligence on all of the grants.' He did not mention the program's potential termination. Responding to CNN's new reporting Thursday, Titus said the plan to cut UASI is 'deeply irresponsible and endangers our public safety.' 'These grants played a significant role in the response to the Harvest Festival shootings and are critical to protecting the public in all major cities and at big events such as the Super Bowl, Formula One races, and golf tournaments,' Titus said in a statement to CNN. 'I implore Secretary Noem to administer these public safety grants as Congress directed and ensure that our first responders and emergency personnel have the tools they need to address future threats in our communities.'
