Latest news with #Joplin
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri gears up for 2026 state representative primaries
SOUTHWEST MISSOURI — It's an election that's still more than a year away – but there are already a few southwest Missouri candidates throwing their hats in the ring. Primaries for local State Representative seats won't take place until August of 2026. But three politicians have filed the paperwork saying they'll run for office. In Joplin's 161st district, Thomas Ross says he'll run as a Republican… his third time seeking the seat. It is currently held by Lane Roberts who will be term limited. MO State Rep from Neosho accepts Trump appointment Meanwhile, there are two names in the race for the 160th district in Newton County, which is vacant following the resignation of Ben Baker in May. Both Jonathan Russell and Chris Wright have indicated they will run as Republicans. While the governor had the option to name a special election to choose a replacement, experts agree that's unlikely given the amount of time required for filing and the election preparation process. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump targets disaster mitigation funds, raising risks in future crises
The Trump administration appears to be drastically reducing the federal funds it offers to help states head off future natural disasters, a decision that could come under fire as the White House faces scrutiny over its response to Texas's deadly flooding. The administration has responded to criticism of its handling of the Texas floods with claims that it is 'remaking' the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to better help states. But after the deadly Independence Day floods, the administration declined to provide Texas with access to a tranche of FEMA funds aimed at heading off the next disaster — money intended to pay for things such as warning systems, tornado shelters and anti-flood measures. A review of federal documents by The Hill shows that the administration denied such 'hazard mitigation' funds to states after 16 out of 18 flood disasters during the Trump presidency, with both of the approvals coming before mid-March. In May, children in a Missouri elementary school sheltered from a tornado that shattered windows and ripped gutters off the building inside a safe room purchased with hazard mitigation money issued after the deadly 2011 Joplin tornado. Though the Trump administration approved Missouri's disaster declaration, it refused the hazard mitigation funds the state requested to buy generators and more outdoor warning sirens, state officials told The Hill. Missouri is appealing that decision. In neighboring Oklahoma, the Biden administration had in November approved hazard mitigation funding for wildfires and straight-line winds. But even as those funds went out, more wildfires, driven by straight-line winds, were raging across the Sooner State. President Trump issued a disaster declaration on the last day of the weeklong emergency — but denied hazard mitigation funding. It was the first time in at least 15 years that Oklahoma wasn't approved for requested hazard mitigation, according to state emergency management officials. This pivot — which breaks longstanding federal precedent — comes amid steep Trump cuts to FEMA, which he has also talked about eliminating entirely, as well as cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the federal forecasting and research apparatus. Veterans of these agencies told The Hill there has been appetite for reform and arguments made for shifting more responsibility to the states. 'But this is like, 'You need an appendectomy? Well, let's get the garden shears,'' said Candace Valenzuela, former HUD director for the region that includes Texas. Experts say cutting off hazard mitigation funds after floods marks a major shift in federal priorities. FEMA has traditionally given states 15 to 20 percent of the disaster response budget to help prevent future catastrophes — spending the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found pays for itself by at least $2 saved for every $1 invested. That return is even greater for flood mitigation, where the CBO found every dollar spent yields $5 to $8 in avoided damages. And that benefit is growing. Over the past decade, floods have cost the U.S. an average of $46 billion a year — or $135 annually per American — a figure expected to rise to as much as $60 billion by midcentury as the atmosphere warms and holds more moisture. A wetter atmosphere, in turn, means more extreme rainfall such as the deluge that hit Central Texas earlier this month. Former meteorologist and National Weather Service (NWS) union legislative director John Sokich said he's seen more such downpours 'in the last 10 years than I saw in my 35 years before that.' Those worsening events make proactive spending even more effective, said Chad Berginnis, head of the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM). 'If you have more and more extreme events in the area you've mitigated, your benefits come faster,' Berginnis said. The administration has also frozen a major flood mitigation program and clawed back funds from flood control projects nationwide that were already underway. Last week, a coalition of 20 blue and purple states sued the federal government over the clawback of funding for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which began under the first Trump administration. Money pulled from BRIC included funds that would have paid for an Oklahoma flood warning system, a North Texas flood control dam and $1 billion in flood control projects across the Chesapeake Bay. 'The impact of the shutdown has been devastating,' the states wrote in their suit. 'Communities across the country are being forced to delay, scale back, or cancel hundreds of mitigation projects,' many of which had cost millions and had taken years to plan and permit. 'In the meantime, Americans across the country face a higher risk of harm from natural disasters,' the suit added. The states also argued the pullback was illegal since Congress made forward-looking mitigation one of FEMA's core responsibilities in 1997. The administration did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the shift in FEMA strategy. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has said the administration is 'leading a historic, first-of-its-kind approach to disaster funding.' That approach, she said, means 'providing upfront recovery support — moving money faster than ever and jump starting recovery,' while pivoting away from 'bloated, D.C.-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force' that shifts responsibility to the states. But emergency managers say the administration is cutting off vital resources that states and municipalities need to avoid financial ruin from worsening disasters. 'Mitigation is a lifeline,' Berginnis said. 'It's a way out of a really bad cycle of disaster, damage, repair, damage that a lot of folks of modest means really can't escape.' As a state emergency manager in Ohio, he said he saw FEMA hazard mitigation funding change lives by allowing the state to buy out flood-prone properties. By contrast, FEMA's 'individual assistance' programs, which the administration continues to offer, only cover structural repairs, often for homes likely to flood again. 'When I presented a check to buy out his property, the owner said, 'This is the only chance for me and my family to get our lives back to normal,'' Berginnis recalled. In addition to dramatically cutting back funds to help states and municipalities prepare for the next flood, the administration also quietly changed FEMA standards to make it easier to build in floodplains. One thing amplifying flood danger in the United States is that the nation's builders, insurers and emergency managers often don't even know how bad the flood risk is because it has never been assessed for most of the country's creeks and streams. The deadly July 4 flooding that swept away more than two dozen children and counselors from Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, for example, came when Cypress Creek burst its banks. That risk was obscured, Berginnis noted, because like two-thirds of similar waterways around the country, its floodways have never been mapped. ASFPM has estimated that a complete re-mapping project would cost about $3 billion to $12 billion — just 3 to 25 percent the annual cost of flood repair, which they say that mapping would reduce. Once that project was done, they estimated, keeping it up to date would cost $100 million to $500 million per year, or between 0.2 and 1 percent of current annual spending on flood damages. This is not money that the current administration seems eager to spend, however. Instead, it is moving away from spending on forecasting or research — including into how to best warn communities when deadly threats are coming their way. DOGE cuts have disrupted a NWS reorganization meant to centralize operations so field offices could spend more time helping local emergency managers interpret often-ambiguous forecasts, agency veterans said. That program had aimed to address the challenge that emergencies like the one in Kerr County are low-likelihood but high-impact, which can breed complacency until it's too late. Rather than pivot, NWS is 'trying to keep its head above water,' said Alan Gerard, a former NOAA warnings expert who took a buyout this year. He warned that other cuts threaten research to understand the novel weather patterns of a hotter planet — research that could one day give communities like Kerr County six hours' warning before fast-moving storms. 'That stuff is still years away — both from the physical science aspect, and the social science of helping people understand it,' he said. If the Trump cuts go through, he said, 'that would all stop.'
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Heroic moment cop saves driver having heart attack behind the wheel of his car
This is the dramatic moment a hero cop saves a driver who was having a heart attack behind the wheel of his car in Joplin, Missouri. Footage shows Sergeant Nick Booe of the Newton County Sheriff's Office, running to help Barton County farmer Spencer Arnold, after realising he was having a medical emergency. Click above to watch the video.
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Joplin's Homewood Suites Breakfast fails food inspection
JOPLIN, Mo. — A Joplin hotel fails a food inspection Thursday. According to the City of Joplin Health Department, Homewood Suites Breakfast, located on E 32nd Street, failed its most recent routine food inspection on July 17. The inspector noted the following under Observations & Corrective Actions: 3-3: 3-304.14Type: ['Violation']Violation Code: 3-304.14 – Core – Wiping Cloths, Use Limitation Wiping cloth observed lying on preparation Wiping cloth observed lying on preparation table. 3-5: 3-501.16 (A)Type: ['Violation']Violation Code: 3-501.16 (A) – Priority – Potentially Hazardous Food, Cold Holding Salsa, shredded cheese, oatmilk overnight oats on buffet is being cold held above 41° Salsa, shredded cheese, oatmilk overnight oats on buffet is being cold held above 41° Actions: Maintain cold PHF's at or below 41°F. Do not store PHF's in this unit until it is able to maintain 41°F or below. Discard any PHF that has been out of temperature control for more than 4 hours or an unknown length of time. Repair, replace, or remove the unit. 4-5: 4-501.112Type: ['Violation']Violation Code: 4-501.112 – Priority – Mechanical Warewashing Equipment, Hot Water Sanitization Temperatures Water temperature is 115 ° Water temperature is 115 ° Actions: Water temperature may not be more than 194°F or less than 165°F or 180°F. The hotel passed its last four routine visits. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Editorial: Congress must reclaim war power
Editor's note: This editorial originally ran in fellow CNHI paper the Joplin, Missouri, Globe. Congress has been dropping the ball for years. It needs to reclaim its authority among the three branches of the federal government; in fact, the Constitution lists the legislative first among equals for a reason. It first lays out the duties and powers of the legislative branch, then outlines the authority and responsibilities of the executive and judicial branches. Intended to be the branch that most closely represents the will of the people, it instead has been captured by partisans beholden to party and president. With the power to challenge even controversial rulings by the Supreme Court through legislation or proposing amendments to the Constitution, it instead seems to duck its responsibilities and give away its power. The founders implemented a government of divided authority and responsibility — divided power between not just the three federal branches but also the states — to limit the risk of runaway government. Congress' tendency for years now has been to cede its power to the other branches. Legislation written to counter questionable rulings by the high court has all but stopped, and we haven't seen a constitutional amendment proposed in generations. Lawmakers have been actually energetic in giving away their power to the executive branch, actively writing laws that hand over their authority to increasingly imperial presidents. After all, bearing the responsibilities of the legislative branch carries much more risk than posturing and bloviating while dodging those things for which a Congress member might be held to account. As we said in an earlier editorial about Congress yielding its tariff authority to presidents, 'How the nation drifted is a long and legal story, but most Americans recognize that central to that story is the failure of members of Congress to get in the game.' Though game is really much too gentle a term for Congress yielding its most deadly authority — the constitutional power to declare war and to establish, regulate and fund the instruments of war. The recent action by President Donald Trump in bombing Iran without congressional approval — regardless of whether history ends up showing the action vindicated — is just the latest example of Congress abdicating its authority. U.S. Constitution Article I, Section 8: 'The Congress shall have Power To … declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces …' The founders separated the war powers for a reason, making the president the commander in chief of the armed forces when they are called into action — a power to carry out a war Congress declares. While we understand the occasional modern need for rapid emergency action, the president's authority should not extend to singular action without Congress. Congress granted the president the authority to make rapid strikes in emergencies but requires Congress, or at least key members with national security oversight, to be informed beforehand. and lawmakers retained the right to review and end such conflicts. Presidents over the years have continued to stretch this power beyond the scope of the original law and to call things emergencies for which they rightly should have sought approval. It is time for lawmakers to revisit Congress' use of force authorization, to tighten and redefine it and insist that no executive have the unilateral power to launch a war.
