Latest news with #Honea
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
City of Albertville breaks ground on Sand Mountain Marketplace
ALBERTVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The City of Albertville has broken ground on Sand Mountain Marketplace. The 250,000 sq. ft. development will include Target, Academy Sports + Outdoors, HomeGoods and Burlington along with retailers that will be announced at a later date as well as additional restaurants and retail offerings. Willow Capital Partners, an Atlanta-based commercial real estate firm, acquired the 30 plus acre site in April and site work is currently underway. 'The city is extremely proud to partner with Willow Capital Partners to bring thissignificant project to life in Albertville.' said Mayor Tracy Honea. The Sand Mountain Marketplace is located at the intersection of Highway 431 and HT Greer Road along the city's primary commercial corridor. The site is situated betweenthe Birmingham and Huntsville markets. 'The Sand Mountain Marketplace is the culmination of many hours, weeks and monthsof work by numerous people and entities and will be a destination center that will notonly serve the citizens of Albertville – but Marshall County and the surrounding area aswell,' added Mayor Honea. The center is expected to be completed in the spring of 2027. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Top Enlisted Leaders Say They Support Extending Parental Leave Period to 2 Years
The armed services' highest-ranking enlisted leaders told members of Congress on Tuesday they support a proposal to extend the parental leave option period for troops following the birth of a child or adoption from one to two years. Reps. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., introduced a bill in January that would let service members use parental leave at any time within two years of a child's birth or adoption and would standardize the services' requirements for exempting them from performance evaluations while they are gone. During a hearing held Tuesday by the House Appropriations Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies subcommittee on military quality of life, Bice pressed the top enlisted leaders for their opinions on the proposal. Read Next: Toxic Exposure at Domestic Military Bases Is Next Step After PACT Act, Democratic Lawmakers Say She received a resounding "yes" from Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy James Honea and affirmative nods from the other four. "I really appreciate your willingness to engage in this conversation, because I do believe that if we could expand that to two years, or have a conversation [about it], we could figure out how to get there," Honea told Bice. Under a policy rolled out in 2023, active-duty service members and activated Guard and reserve members can take up to 12 weeks of leave if they give birth, have a spouse who gave birth, adopted a child or became foster parents. The leave must be taken within 12 months of the birth or adoption event. But Honea said that the one-year time frame, combined with the annual leave troops accrue in a year, make it "challenging for someone to execute parental leave inside one year." "That flexibility would be extremely helpful," Honea said, referring to the two-year option. In announcing the legislation last year, Bice said the extra year to use the leave would be helpful for service members to plan timing regarding their family circumstances and permanent change of station orders. "I see a lot of heads nodding," Bice said during the hearing. "Thank you for that." The services rolled out new parental leave policies in 2023 after Congress required them to provide 12 weeks of paid parental leave to new military parents for members designated as primary caregivers as well as secondary caregivers, the latter of which was once called paternity leave. The 12 weeks is in addition to convalescent leave for military moms who give birth or adopt a child. For all branches of the military other than the Army, parental leave can be denied by lower-level commanders. In the Army, only the first general in a secondary caregiver's chain of command can deny parental leave. The Army was the last among the services to reveal its policy, in large part because of the debate over the denial of leave, with some officials wanting the authority to go to commanders and others wanting the final say to be from a general officer. The other services allow commanders to deny parental leave. Other quality-of-life issues addressed during the hearing were the services' approaches to improving barracks for single enlisted personnel and providing additional housing options such as apartments run by public-private partnerships, as well as child care, health care for service members and their families, and educational opportunities. Nearly universally, the enlisted leaders said that a congressional decision this year to fund the Defense Department without having passed a fiscal 2025 budget bill -- using a continuing resolution based on the previous year's budget limits -- has hurt their services' efforts to improve conditions for military personnel and families. "The loss of the fiscal 2025 budget, that did have a lot of effects," Honea said. "We're not putting shovels in the ground and building barracks. We're not putting shovels in the ground to build new child development centers." "The Space Force has operated under a continuing resolution for 51% of our existence, limiting our ability to evolve as necessary," Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna said. Subcommittee Chairman Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, said committee members would work to get the appropriations process back on track for fiscal 2026. "Everyone on this dias is an appropriator. We don't like [continuing resolutions]," Carter said. "We know you don't like them. We don't like them. All that work ... we're the only people who get things done and then they throw us out like trash." Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, the subcommittee's ranking Democrat, asked the services to provide their priorities for projects such as child care centers, housing and other infrastructure that were included in the fiscal 2025 budget but were not funded. "I was incredibly disappointed by the way the fiscal year 2025 process ended and the missed opportunity for this committee to make the necessary investments to build on our progress in recent years addressing quality-of-life projects," Wasserman Schultz said. Related: Pentagon Unveils New Parental Leave Policy After Delay Caused Uncertainty for Troops
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Troops need better health care access, top enlisted tell lawmakers
Senior enlisted leaders called on lawmakers to help address ongoing problems with health care access for troops and their families during a congressional hearing on military quality-of-life challenges this week. Funding shortages in the Military Health System and Defense Health Agency continue to affect the care available to beneficiaries and provider recruitment, said Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy James Honea during testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. 'I ask for your continued support for the Military Health System and finding innovative ways to ensure that DHA funding doesn't compete with our warfighting priorities,' Honea told lawmakers. When care isn't available in the military treatment facilities, beneficiaries rely on civilian networks. However, limited resources have affected care delivery, provider recruitment and Tricare's ability to compete in the civilian insurance market, Honea said, adding that Tricare's reimbursement rates are tied to Medicare rates and are often too low for providers. Honea also noted complications with the new Tricare contracts have delayed claims processing and damaged civilian medical providers' trust in their timely payment. Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., said the continued payment problem could result in some providers leaving the Tricare network. He cited one provider who is owed about $100,000 from Tricare. 'Our family members in Jacksonville deserve to have these outside providers available,' he said. Tricare snafus cause medical shortfalls for military families Military families have reported extensive issues with health care access since the new Tricare contracts began in January, which have caused medical shortfalls for some families and some providers dropping Tricare patients because of the difficulties, Military Times previously reported. West Region beneficiaries and health care providers have reported a number of problems with the contract transition from Health Net Federal Services to TriWest Healthcare Alliance. Meanwhile, Humana Military has remained the East Region contractor, but a number of providers have reported difficulty getting paid since Jan. 1. 'I've taken a number of complaints from those providers,' said Honea. 'They're not being reimbursed on time. Defense Health Agency has worked with me to have those bills paid as quickly as possible.' Medical provider shortages in the military health care system isn't unique, as it is affecting communities across the country. However, with little to limited control over their assignment locations and providers, service members and their families are dependent on the Military Health System and local care. When that access to health care doesn't happen, Honea said, 'It's going to have detrimental effects to our family readiness and possibly to our military readiness, especially if we end up having to spend military readiness dollars toward making that account whole.' Health care access is a pressing issue across all of the service branches, leaders said Tuesday. For instance, some Marines are having to seek out mental health care from civilian providers because there aren't enough mental health providers in military treatment facilities, Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlos Ruiz told lawmakers. Because there are few providers and appointments available in the civilian community, they may have to wait 45 to 60 days to get the help they need, Ruiz said. 'I can't solve that problem, so I'm looking for you to help us bring attention to it,' he said.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Yahoo
Vigil honors dozens killed in crashes along Las Vegas highways
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Family and friends joined law enforcement and community advocates Friday for a vigil to honor those killed on Southern Nevada highways. In 2024, 412 people lost their lives in crashes on Nevada roadways, including 293 in Clark County. Nevada Highway Patrol held the annual event at its headquarters near Bermuda and Sunset Roads to remember 88 people who died in their jurisdiction. 'You never get over that pain,' Diane Malone said. 'It's with you all the time.' Malone attended Friday's event to remember her daughter and son-in-law who were hit and killed by a drunk driver in 2018. 'They were just sitting at a stoplight waiting for the light to change,' Malone said. 'And he rammed them at over 100 miles an hour. They didn't have a chance.' Malone was one of many people who showed up to offer support as law enforcement and other community members spoke on the importance of what they called a commitment to reclaim the roadways. 'It's important that they know,' Nevada Highway Patrol Major Kevin Honea said. 'That we feel that loss too.' Major Honea and several others spoke on their efforts to focus on the faces behind the tragedies they deal with daily. During the ceremony, the name of each person killed was read while troopers lit candles to remember them. 'It's important for everybody to know that we understand that that's a father, that's a sister,' Major Honea said. 'Everybody had an empty table at Christmas last year.' More people died in crashes across Clark County in 2024 compared to 2023, according to Nevada State Police. Statistics released in January cited a 6% rise in overall fatalities, with impairment and speeding listed as top factors. Major Honea also spoke with 8 News Now Friday about work to make changes and increase safety. 'We do what we can, obviously with the legislative session that we are currently in,' Major Honea said. 'There are a lot of traffic safety initiatives, there are a lot of little tweaks to the law.' Malone expressed her ongoing grief and sadness, which she described as never-ending. She hopes her story serves as a reminder to never drive impaired. 'Just never drive drunk. There is absolutely no excuse for it,' Malone concluded. 'There are too many other options out there as far as transportation.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Evacuations failed and 85 people died during California's deadliest wildfire. What are lessons for L.A.?
A spark from a malfunctioning transmission line ignited a blaze. Before long, gale-force winds whipped the flames into a mighty firestorm that tore through the Sierra Nevada foothills at the rate of one football field a second. By 8 a.m. Nov. 8, 2018, when embers began to rain down on the town of Paradise, most residents had not been ordered to evacuate — even though an hour and a half had passed since the fire was first reported in a remote wooded area seven miles away. Many fled before they got official evacuation warnings or alerts. As thick smoke and orange sparks filled the air, roads out of Paradise became gridlocked. Hundreds abandoned their cars and tried to outrun the fire on foot. In the end, 85 people died, making the Camp fire the deadliest wildfire in California history. Six years later, how that Northern California community responded to the botched evacuations offers lessons for Los Angeles County, where wireless evacuation alerts to western Altadena came nine hours after the Eaton fire broke out. A Times investigation in January found that of the 17 confirmed deaths, all occurred on the west side. As Butte County's sheriff, Kory L. Honea was responsible for evacuating people to safety. He was strongly criticized for not acting sooner to alert residents. "We had absolutely no evacuation orders,' Leigh Bailey, a resident of Magalia, just north of Paradise, told The Times in 2018. 'No call, no emergency text, nothing — and neither did anyone I know.' Fewer than a quarter of Paradise's 27,000 residents received official evacuation orders via phone. A 2020 after-action report found just one trained staffer was managing alerts during the first 16 hours of the fire, the county struggled with the latest Wireless Emergency Alerts technology and did not sufficiently test its new system for a worst-case scenario. Honea has since overhauled his county's alert and warning system. In an interview with The Times, Honea described the lessons he learned from the Camp fire and offered advice for Los Angeles officials after the Palisades and Eaton fires killed 29 people. "I do get a sense of PTSD when I see these things going on," Honea said of watching news coverage of evacuation failures in Pacific Palisades and Altadena. "The task of alerting people to threats and providing them with information is an incredibly complex process,' Honea said. 'Unfortunately, a lot of citizens don't understand how complex that is — and for that matter, a lot of government entities, I don't think, are truly prepared.' Evacuate early Most people think of wildfires as moving in a linear form, with the fire's fast-moving head consuming communities. But Honea said the Camp fire taught him that strong winds can cause fires to skip and hop across a community, carrying burning embers to areas more than a mile away. On the morning of Nov. 8, a fire chief made the call via radio to evacuate the eastern side of Paradise at 7:46 a.m. When fire was first reported in Paradise at 8 a.m., most residents made their getaway before they received any official alerts. Now, Honea said, he tends to issue alerts earlier. 'The ideal would be to alert them well before embers actually start falling," he said, 'because once that happens, you know you're already behind the eight ball.' Honea isn't the only local California official who has been slow to alert residents with mass wireless alerts. When the 2017 Tubbs fire swept through Northern California's wine country, officials in Sonoma and Napa counties decided not to send mass wireless alerts, fearing they would cause countywide gridlock and panic. Twenty-two people died. Such practices — and the subsequent loss of life — led the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services in 2019 to establish statewide Alert and Warning Guidelines. They urge local officials to issue alerts and warnings when there is 'an imminent threat to life, health, or property.' Even if a threat might not be imminent, the guidelines recommend that warnings can help 'communicate that threat out to the public so that they may be better prepared.' 'Fear of triggering 'panic' is not a valid reason to delay or avoid issuing a warning,' the guidelines state. ''Mass panic' very rarely occurs as the result of a warning message." When weighing how soon to alert an area, Honea said, he looks at population density, road infrastructure and topography. Paradise, a town built on volcanic ridges with a maze of dead-end roads offering few ways in and out, was particularly difficult to evacuate. Butte County has also taken steps to keep and update a list of vulnerable residents — people with mobility issues or who are unhoused — so emergency workers can try to notify them ahead of a disaster and arrange for transportation. Create a team with clearly defined roles Before the Camp fire, Butte County relied on its dispatch center to push out alerts. But the county's small team was swiftly overwhelmed, Honea said, as they tried to craft and push messages in a timely manner while answering 911 calls and talking to responding units via radio. A 2020 after-action report into the Camp fire found that the county had five people trained to operate its mass alert system, but one was on vacation when fire broke out Nov. 8 and another was evacuating family. That left two dispatchers answering calls in the initial two hours of the fire and just one staff member crafting and sending dozens of mass alerts for the entire county. After the Camp fire, Honea created a separate alert and warning team: 25 people — search and rescue team volunteers and non-sworn civilian staff members — are trained to push out alerts. Message across multiple platforms For Honea, the most effective way to urge people to evacuate is for a uniformed law enforcement officer to go into neighborhoods and knock door to door. But in a fast-moving disaster, there is just not enough time. "There are times when, literally, there are not enough law enforcement officers and firefighters in a particular area," Honea said. "I think that's clearly what transpired in the Palisades and Eaton fire situation.' In an age when most people are glued to their phones, wireless cellphone alerts can be a vital way to spread news quickly, Honea said. But such technology can also be vulnerable if cell towers go out or if there is a software error. 'There's no guarantee or foolproof system,' Honea said. 'But what we're hoping is that with our team, we're in a better position to make sure that all of the areas that need to be warned or evacuated are, in fact, being warned or evacuated, and then we monitor that as we go.' Butte County's warning and alert team has some people sending notifications via Facebook, X and Instagram, others by news releases and communication with traditional media partners. Alerts are sent via the CodeRED emergency mass notification system and IPAWS, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's national system for local alerting that sends Wireless Emergency Alerts to the public through mobile phones and uses the Emergency Alert System to transmit information via radio and television. In addition, Honea said, somebody manages the infield response of deputies who knock on doors. Train and practice regularly After the Camp fire, investigators found that Butte County did not sufficiently test its mass notification systems to prepare for the worst-case scenario. After switching to a new mass notification software system in 2017, the county did not dedicate enough time to practice using it, the 2020 after-action report found. When fire broke out Nov. 8, 2018, the CodeRED system integration that allowed officials to send IPAWS alerts failed, but staff did not realize it until the next day. Now, Honea said, his alert and warning team meets monthly to conduct mock trainings, ask themselves what zones they will issue evacuation orders to and practice tailoring pre-written messages to specific areas. They also rehearse accessing various platforms, making sure their logins for social media and IPAWS accounts are working. 'They do everything they need to do, short of actually pressing the final Send button,' Honea said. Officials are constantly learning Even after the Camp fire, Butte County has not always sent mass alerts promptly. In 2020, county officials were criticized again for issuing late evacuation warnings and orders during the North Complex fire. But since then, Honea said, the biggest, most recent test of his ability to respond to a major fire was the July 2024 Park fire that ignited in Chico's Bidwell Park. Honea decided to evacuate the tiny mountain town of Cohasset, even though the fire was still many miles away. Within about an hour, Honea said, the county put out initial warnings. Then, it issued evacuation orders. As the fire progressed, officials updated the orders and warnings. The fire did sweep through Cohasset, destroying dozens of structures. But no one died. 'As a sheriff with responsibility for alert and warning evacuation, that's my primary goal," Honea said. "We were able to get everybody out.' Still, Honea considers the dangers of over-warning. If people don't see the threat, he said, they immediately start pushing back to open it back up. 'There is this constant dynamic that you have to contend with, where you are alerting people, warning them, making the appropriate orders, but not doing so to the point where people stop paying attention to you, because they have lost faith in your ability to assess the risk.' The public should play a more active role No matter how many platforms officials use to send alerts, Honea said, some people will not heed warnings. But after the Camp fire, Honea said, it had become easier for him to issue evacuations because many residents have grown accustomed to the threat of deadly fires and taken steps to prepare. 'They're more apt to listen to us,' he said. Honea said he was not sure that residents of a densely populated metro region such as Los Angeles would have listened, before the Palisades and Eaton fires, to official calls to evacuate many hours or a day ahead. They might have assumed the chances of fire spreading through the city were remote. 'If you've never been through it, it's hard to really imagine what it's like to go through it,' Honea said. 'Now people understand. Once the fire takes hold in a populated area with all these buildings and structures, it can really take off.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
