Latest news with #KarenPulferFocht
CBS News
28-04-2025
- CBS News
Fire destroys Clayborn Temple, historic Memphis church with ties to MLK and Civil Rights Movement
A historic Black church in downtown Memphis that was the organizing point for Martin Luther King Jr.'s final campaign in 1968 caught fire early Monday morning and suffered significant damage. "The inside is a total loss, but we're still somewhat hopeful that some of the facade will be able to be left standing," Memphis Fire Chief Gina Sweat said at a Monday morning news conference. She said the fire was reported at 1:39 a.m. through a commercial alarm service. Local fire and police officers are investigating the cause, along with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Firefighters outside the historic Clayborn Temple after it caught fire Monday, April 28, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. Karen Pulfer Focht / AP It is "way too early" to know anything more, Sweat said, adding that the investigation is going to take some time due to the significant damage. Firefighters were working to put out hot spots as late as 9 a.m. Monday, CBS affiliate WREG reported. The fire chief said structural engineers will have to come in and "look at what's left standing to make sure that we can leave it as it is." "It's not just a structure. It's sacred and significant to our entire community," Sweat said at the news conference. Sadyya Rockett-Miller and her husband Andre LeMoyne Miller grieve outside of the historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis after it caught fire early Monday, April 28, 2025. Karen Pulfer Focht / AP King was drawn to Memphis in 1968 to support some 1,300 predominantly Black sanitation workers who went on strike to protest inhumane treatment. Two workers had been crushed in a garbage compactor in 1964, but the faulty equipment had not been replaced. On Feb. 1, 1968, two more men, Echol Cole, 36, and Robert Walker, 30, were crushed in the compactor. The two men were contract workers, so they did not qualify for workmen's compensation, and had no life insurance. Workers wanted to unionize, and fought for higher pay and safer working conditions. City officials declared the strike illegal and arrested scores of strikers and protesters. In a statement posted to social media, King's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, said he and his wife are "deeply saddened by the devastating fire." "The flames that consumed Clayborn Temple cannot erase its legacy as sacred ground. We honor its history and we are committed to supporting efforts to rebuild this cornerstone of the civil rights movement," they wrote. Before the fire, the Clayborn Temple was undergoing a $25 million restoration that was slated for completion in 2026. The initiative aims to preserve the architectural and historical integrity of the Romanesque revival church and includes the restoration of a 3,000-pipe grand organ. At the same time, the project seeks to help revitalize the local neighborhood with a museum, cultural programing and community outreach, according to a news release on the renovation. "This morning we woke up to heartbreaking news: a devastating fire has ravaged one of our city's greatest treasures, Clayborn Temple," Memphis Mayor Paul Young wrote in a statement posted to social media. "Clayborn is more than a historic building. It is sacred ground. It is the beating heart of the civil rights movement, a symbol of struggle, hope, and triumph that belongs not just to Memphis but to the world." FILE - A bronze and steel sculpture honoring a sanitation workers strike that brought the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis in 1968 was dedicated on April 5, 2018, in Memphis, Tenn. The memorial sits next to the Clayborn Temple, which served as the headquarters of the strike. Adrian Sainz / AP Just south of Beale Street, Clayborn Temple was built in 1892 as the Second Presbyterian Church and originally served an all-white congregation. In 1949, the building was sold to an African Methodist Episcopal congregation and renamed Clayborn Temple, according to the release. Memphis sanitation workers started striking in February 1968 after Cole and Walker were killed on the job. The Clayborn Temple hosted nightly meetings and the campaign's iconic "I AM A MAN" posters were made in its basement. The temple was also a staging point for marches to City Hall. They included a March 28, 1968, march led by King, a rally that turned violent when police and protesters clashed on the iconic Beale Street, and a 16-year-old was killed. When marchers retreated to the temple, police fired tear gas inside. People broke some of the stained-glass windows to escape. King promised to lead a second, peaceful march in Memphis, but he was killed by a sniper while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on April 4. After King was assassinated and the strike ended with the workers securing a pay raise, the church's influence waned. It fell into disrepair and was vacant for years before the renovation effort that took off in 2017 thanks to a $400,000 grant from the National Park Service. In this photo from April 8, 1968, people gather at the Clayborn Temple in Memphis as they prepare to march in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., four days after the civil rights leader was assassinated. AP Clayborn Temple was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Anasa Troutman has been leading the restoration effort as executive director of Historic Clayborn Temple. "To everyone who has loved, supported, and prayed for Historic Clayborn Temple, we are still committed to her restoration," she wrote in a Monday statement urging supporters to donate money if they are able. Jimmie Tucker, one of the architects who has worked on the restoration for years, spent Monday morning working on a plan to try to shore up the exterior walls. "As a native Memphian, this project is personal," he said. "It has so much meaning." Tucker said he had been speaking to some of the people who helped after a similar Memphis fire at First United Methodist Church in 2006. He said that project gives him hope because they were able to rebuild. He was also encouraged that the mayor pledged to support the project. Young said in a social media statement that the city will "help ensure this sacred place rises again."
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Requests for concealed carry permits hit record highs in January
Requests for concealed carry permits hit record highs in October and January, continuing a rise that began with the U.S. Supreme Court's Bruen decision. (Karen Pulfer Focht for Tennessee Lookout) The number of New Jersey residents seeking permits to carry handguns has hit record levels nearly two and a half years after a U.S. Supreme Court decision limited the state's ability to deny such applications. Authorities processed 4,282 applications for carry permits in January, the highest number on record, just months after exceeding 3,000 approved applications for the first time in October, according to data maintained by the state attorney general. In the two years before the Supreme Court ruling, the highest number of these applications in a given month was 102. Gun rights advocates say as we move farther from the decision, case known as Bruen, they expect more New Jerseyans will seek to carry firearms as 'the issue matures' and as legal challenges filed in the wake of the high court's ruling are settled. 'A lot of people initially were reluctant to apply until the dust settled on the post-Bruen squabble that was going on,' said Scott Bach, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs. Bruen struck down as unconstitutional a New York law that required applicants for concealed carry permits to show their need to carry a handgun. The ruling forced New Jersey lawmakers to rewrite carry laws here to eliminate a requirement that residents show a justifiable need to carry a handgun beyond their home or business, spawning a wave of litigation targeting the state's other gun restrictions. New Jersey authorities received 61,751 applications for permits to carry a firearm between the Bruen ruling in June 2022 and last month (some of the increase may be attributable to permit renewal applications, though it's unclear how much). In the two and a half years before the ruling, the total number of applications was around 1,500. Under New Jersey's post-Bruen concealed carry law, carry permits must be renewed two years after they are issued. Data maintained by the state attorney general reports 1,465 renewal applications, though that number accounts for a fraction of the applications that would have expired in recent months. The court's landmark ruling narrowed the list of reasons authorities can use to deny carry permits, though New Jersey law still allows authorities to withhold permits because of an applicant's prior domestic violence convictions, drug or alcohol addiction, mental disorder, and some other reasons. Virtually all of the permit applications New Jersey police have received since Bruen have been approved, with only 325 applications denied. The rates at which residents sought carry permits varied wildly between New Jersey counties, though they were typically more numerous in more Republican areas of the state and less so in Democratic ones. For example, 1,988 Sussex County residents have obtained carry permits since Bruen — about 13.8 for every 1,000 residents there. Meanwhile, urban and heavily Democratic Hudson County saw 1,723 residents receive permits to carry, or about 2.4 permits for every 1,000 residents. Statewide, there were roughly 6.1 carry permits for every 1,000 residents. Despite recent spikes in the number of carry permit applications, the number of those permits sought and issued remains far below predictions made by top law enforcement officials in the aftermath of Bruen. Then, State Police Superintendent Col. Pat Callahan predicted the state would see 200,000 applications for permits to carry, more than three times as many as have been processed to date. Bach predicted the number of permit seekers would continue to rise as residents grow more used to the new regulatory regime and as lingering legal issues surrounding New Jersey's post-Bruen gun laws wind their way through the courts. 'As the law becomes clearer and clearer and as New Jersey catches up with the rest of the country, which has had right-to-carry for decades where the right hasn't been suppressed and repressed, as it becomes more natural and normal for people to take responsibility for their own safety in an emergency, you're going to see more and more people doing it,' he said. Shortly after Bruen, New Jersey lawmakers passed and Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation that bars residents from carrying guns in certain areas, including parks, bars, and hospitals, among others. A federal judge paused enforcement of that law in 2023, but an appeals court allowed enforcement to continue that June, pending a final outcome. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals is still weighing that case, which was filed by gun owners and firearms groups. 'There are a lot of gun owners that have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for a resolution before they apply,' said Bach. His group estimates there are roughly 1 million gun owners in New Jersey. Democratic officials predicted that expanded access to firearms and carry permits would increase gun crime in the state — Murphy called Bruen's expansion of access to carry permits a 'recipe for tragedy' shortly after the Supreme Court issued the ruling — but gun crime has fallen since then. Murphy in January announced the number of New Jersey shooting victims in 2024 fell to the lowest level recorded since the state began tallying those statistics in 2009, declining for the second consecutive year to 778 victims, including 152 fatalities. Administration and law enforcement officials credited expanded violence intervention efforts and the state's gun violence task force — an information-sharing hub for agencies across the state's 21 counties — for the decreases. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The Lower Mississippi River's largest ecosystem restoration project got the federal go-ahead
The Hernando DeSoto Bridge over the Mississippi River in Memphis. A first-of-its-kind ecosystem restoration project seeks to rehabilitate habitats for native species along a 39-mile stretch of the Lower Mississippi River from the Wolf River to the Hatchie River. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht for The Tennessee Lookout) A first-of-its-kind project seeking to restore river ecosystems along 39 miles of the Lower Mississippi River has federal approval to move forward — if it can secure a slice of the federal bankroll. The Hatchie-Loosahatchie Mississippi River Ecosystem Restoration project would restore the habitats of endangered species, support natural culling of invasive carp and restore floodplain ecosystems severed from the Mississippi River by decades of flood control measures. The project received legislative approval in January in the Water Resources Development Act, a law passed by Congress every two years that gives the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) authority to conduct studies and projects for water resource conservation and development. The roughly $63.7 million undertaking would be the largest ecosystem restoration project in the history of the USACE Memphis District. Restoration efforts would touch more than 6,000 acres in Tennessee and Arkansas, stretching from the Hatchie River to the Wolf River near downtown Memphis. The project will cover the portion of the Mississippi River bordering Crittenden and Mississippi counties in Arkansas and Lauderdale, Tipton and Shelby counties in Tennessee. The main goal is habitat restoration to support the hundreds of species along the river by reconnecting secondary river channels, reforesting bottomland hardwood forests, seeding wetland plants and fixing bridges, among other things. It will also include trail improvements in Meeman Shelby Forest and Wolf River Harbor. The project isn't expected to negatively impact navigation or flood mitigation on the Mississippi. Initial efforts to revitalize the Lower Mississippi River began about 25 years ago when a resource assessment identified eight sections of the river for habitat restoration. The Hatchie-Loosahatchie project is the first to complete its feasibility study and cross the legislative approval hurdle. USACE Memphis District Program Manager Jason Allmon served as project manager for the Hatchie-Loosahatchie Ecosystem Restoration Study for three years, alongside supervisory biologist and environmental lead Mike Thron. 'Flood risk management and navigation have traditionally been the main mission areas, particularly in the Memphis District,' Thron said. 'This is kind of the first time we're taking a large-scale approach of ecosystem restoration.' Allmon said this project is serving as a pilot for restoration that could extend to the rest of the Lower Mississippi all the way to New Orleans. 'This is a significant opportunity for this region and for the country, too, with the Mississippi River being the largest river in America,' Allmon said. 'Doing this 39-mile stretch of ecosystem restoration … could make a big difference, and it could also lead the way for other projects in the future, which have already actually been authorized for us to study.' Extensive flood protection measures altered the river and threatened habitats since the early 20th century. The federal government and Corps began extensively fixing the river in place through a system of levees after the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 inundated 27,000 square miles. The levees, along with navigation along the Mississippi, have also disconnected the river from its floodplain. Michael Butler, CEO of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, said decades of alterations to the Mississippi River and nearly all of its tributaries in West Tennessee had major unintended consequences. The Hatchie River is the last remaining tributary that has not had its main stem channelized, which hampers a river's natural meandering flow through a floodplain. 'When you look at that floodplain, it is a dynamic living system,' Butler said. 'I think what the Corps is trying to do, which we support, is to restore some of those processes that are going to help recover some of those habitats that have been really, really damaged by early approaches.' Flood risk management and navigation projects have removed about 152 miles of bends from the river, according to the Corps study. About 80% of forest habitat along the river has been converted to agricultural use. Meander scarps, the remnants of those meandering river channels, were separated from the Mississippi's main channel in the 1930s and 1940s. The few remaining meander scarps connect floodplains and provide ideal habitats for many species, including the federally endangered fat pocketbook mussel and its fish host, the freshwater drum. 'Fat pocketbook mussels are a good representative species for all the freshwater mussels that are out there in the river, and they do help with water quality,' Thron said. As bottomfeeders, they filter water and naturally clean it. The scarps also provide refuge from dredging and barge traffic, making them a fitting nursery for young pallid sturgeon, another federally endangered species. Only 14 meander scarps remain along the Mississippi, and they no longer occur naturally due to engineering. The Hatchie-Loosahatchie project seeks to preserve the three that lie in the project area. Eric Brinkman is the assistant chief of aquatic conservation at the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, which is part of the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee, the project's non-federal sponsor. 'Hundreds of animals are dependent on that floodplain,' Brinkman said. He added that the floodplains have additional benefits, like sequestering nitrates and phosphorus that otherwise flow downriver and create the 'dead zone' in the Gulf of Mexico — which President Trump directed the government refer to as the Gulf of America in a January executive order. An alligator gar swims in an aquarium at the Tunica Riverpark and Museum in Tunica, Mississippi. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht for The Tennessee Lookout) The Mississippi River on Feb. 7, 2025. If it receives funding, the Hatchie-Loosahatchie Mississippi River Ecosystem Restoration project would restore wetland habitats of species like the alligator gar, a natural predator for invasive carp. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht for The Tennessee Lookout) Fish, a gar and a catfish, both native to the Mississippi River swim in an aquarium at the Mississippi River Museum in Tunica, Mississippi on Feb, 7, 2025 (© Karen Pulfer Focht for Tennessee Lookout) Native species are facing another challenge to their survival: invasive carp species that reproduce and grow rapidly, feeding on plankton and outcompeting native species for vital resources. 'The carp grow so fast that they don't have many natural predators,' Thron said. Enter the alligator gar. Alligator gar are native to the Lower Mississippi River. They can grow up to 8 feet long and weigh more than 300 pounds, making them 'one of the only native predators that grow large enough to eat these invasive carp,' Thron said. But both Tennessee and Arkansas identify the alligator gar as a species of conservation concern, which means they're at risk of going extinct. Changing habitats and overfishing have caused populations to decrease. They rely on floodplains and wetlands to spawn, and Thron said restoring floodplains will provide more habitat. Many of the measures in the Hatchie-Loosahatchie project are aimed at promoting the alligator gar's spawning habitat. The study identifies the fish as a key component of the Mississippi River basin's strategy to control invasive carp. While the project has moved on track so far, Allmon acknowledged that it is a long-term endeavor. Engineering and design work come next, but funding remains the biggest question. The cost of the restoration components of the project would be shared by the federal government (65%) and nonfederal sources (35%). The recreation projects would be split 50/50. Included in the recommended recreation projects is an increase in boat ramps. There are currently six boat landings along the reach. Six are in Tennessee; one is in Arkansas. Recreation in the lower Mississippi River generates $1.3 billion and employs 55,000. USACE's civil works budget falls within a multi-step federal budgeting process that is driven in part by political priorities from the presidential administration. Projects can also be funded with supplemental appropriations. USACE has received supplemental funds nearly every year since 2017 — with the exception of 2021 — but those are typically given for repairs following significant storm damage, according to a 2022 overview of USACE's budget process. Brinkman, with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, said he wouldn't be surprised if it took decades for the funding to be approved. 'Something of this scale has not been accomplished before … it is a slow process, for sure,' he said. Allmon said his team never knows what will get funded or when. 'If it doesn't get funded this cycle, it's not to say it won't get funded in the next cycle,' he said. Working with local landowners is another potential hurdle. Most land within the batture — the area of the alluvial plain extending from the river to the levee — is privately owned. The project as planned requires the purchase of more than 2,881 acres of private land, and easements for roads and construction at an estimated cost of $17.6 million, according to a project recommendation letter from USACE Chief of Engineers Scott Spellmon. Of the total 3,044 acres of private and public land encompassed by the project, about half lies in Tennessee, and half lies in Arkansas. Spellman's letter lists real estate acquisition as one of the project's 'major uncertainty drivers.' But it also notes that the majority of the project benefits are expected to be successfully completed on public land and land purchased from willing sellers. 'There's been some apprehension around that,' Brinkman said. 'There will definitely be some negotiations. A lot of discussions are gonna have to happen before anything is done on the ground.' This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The Lower Mississippi River's largest ecosystem restoration project got the federal go-ahead
The Hernando DeSoto Bridge over the Mississippi River in Memphis. A first-of-its-kind ecosystem restoration project seeks to rehabilitate habitats for native species along a 39-mile stretch of the Lower Mississippi River from the Wolf River to the Hatchie River. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht for The Tennessee Lookout) A first-of-its-kind project seeking to restore river ecosystems along 39 miles of the Lower Mississippi River has federal approval to move forward — if it can secure a slice of the federal bankroll. The Hatchie-Loosahatchie Mississippi River Ecosystem Restoration project would restore the habitats of endangered species, support natural culling of invasive carp and restore floodplain ecosystems severed from the Mississippi River by decades of flood control measures. The project received legislative approval in January in the Water Resources Development Act, a law passed by Congress every two years that gives the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) authority to conduct studies and projects for water resource conservation and development. The roughly $63.7 million undertaking would be the largest ecosystem restoration project in the history of the USACE Memphis District. Restoration efforts would touch more than 6,000 acres in Tennessee and Arkansas, stretching from the Hatchie River to the Wolf River near downtown Memphis. The project will cover the portion of the Mississippi River bordering Crittenden and Mississippi counties in Arkansas and Lauderdale, Tipton and Shelby counties in Tennessee. The main goal is habitat restoration to support the hundreds of species along the river by reconnecting secondary river channels, reforesting bottomland hardwood forests, seeding wetland plants and fixing bridges, among other things. It will also include trail improvements in Meeman Shelby Forest and Wolf River Harbor. The project isn't expected to negatively impact navigation or flood mitigation on the Mississippi. Initial efforts to revitalize the Lower Mississippi River began about 25 years ago when a resource assessment identified eight sections of the river for habitat restoration. The Hatchie-Loosahatchie project is the first to complete its feasibility study and cross the legislative approval hurdle. USACE Memphis District Program Manager Jason Allmon served as project manager for the Hatchie-Loosahatchie Ecosystem Restoration Study for three years, alongside supervisory biologist and environmental lead Mike Thron. 'Flood risk management and navigation have traditionally been the main mission areas, particularly in the Memphis District,' Thron said. 'This is kind of the first time we're taking a large-scale approach of ecosystem restoration.' Allmon said this project is serving as a pilot for restoration that could extend to the rest of the Lower Mississippi all the way to New Orleans. 'This is a significant opportunity for this region and for the country, too, with the Mississippi River being the largest river in America,' Allmon said. 'Doing this 39-mile stretch of ecosystem restoration … could make a big difference, and it could also lead the way for other projects in the future, which have already actually been authorized for us to study.' Extensive flood protection measures altered the river and threatened habitats since the early 20th century. The federal government and Corps began extensively fixing the river in place through a system of levees after the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 inundated 27,000 square miles. The levees, along with navigation along the Mississippi, have also disconnected the river from its floodplain. Michael Butler, CEO of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, said decades of alterations to the Mississippi River and nearly all of its tributaries in West Tennessee had major unintended consequences. The Hatchie River is the last remaining tributary that has not had its main stem channelized, which hampers a river's natural meandering flow through a floodplain. 'When you look at that floodplain, it is a dynamic living system,' Butler said. 'I think what the Corps is trying to do, which we support, is to restore some of those processes that are going to help recover some of those habitats that have been really, really damaged by early approaches.' Flood risk management and navigation projects have removed about 152 miles of bends from the river, according to the Corps study. About 80% of forest habitat along the river has been converted to agricultural use. Meander scarps, the remnants of those meandering river channels, were separated from the Mississippi's main channel in the 1930s and 1940s. The few remaining meander scarps connect floodplains and provide ideal habitats for many species, including the federally endangered fat pocketbook mussel and its fish host, the freshwater drum. 'Fat pocketbook mussels are a good representative species for all the freshwater mussels that are out there in the river, and they do help with water quality,' Thron said. As bottomfeeders, they filter water and naturally clean it. The scarps also provide refuge from dredging and barge traffic, making them a fitting nursery for young pallid sturgeon, another federally endangered species. Only 14 meander scarps remain along the Mississippi, and they no longer occur naturally due to engineering. The Hatchie-Loosahatchie project seeks to preserve the three that lie in the project area. Eric Brinkman is the assistant chief of aquatic conservation at the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, which is part of the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee, the project's non-federal sponsor. 'Hundreds of animals are dependent on that floodplain,' Brinkman said. He added that the floodplains have additional benefits, like sequestering nitrates and phosphorus that otherwise flow downriver and create the 'dead zone' in the Gulf of Mexico — which President Trump directed the government refer to as the Gulf of America in a January executive order. An alligator gar swims in an aquarium at the Tunica Riverpark and Museum in Tunica, Mississippi. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht for The Tennessee Lookout) The Mississippi River on Feb. 7, 2025. If it receives funding, the Hatchie-Loosahatchie Mississippi River Ecosystem Restoration project would restore wetland habitats of species like the alligator gar, a natural predator for invasive carp. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht for The Tennessee Lookout) Fish, a gar and a catfish, both native to the Mississippi River swim in an aquarium at the Mississippi River Museum in Tunica, Mississippi on Feb, 7, 2025 (© Karen Pulfer Focht for Tennessee Lookout) Native species are facing another challenge to their survival: invasive carp species that reproduce and grow rapidly, feeding on plankton and outcompeting native species for vital resources. 'The carp grow so fast that they don't have many natural predators,' Thron said. Enter the alligator gar. Alligator gar are native to the Lower Mississippi River. They can grow up to 8 feet long and weigh more than 300 pounds, making them 'one of the only native predators that grow large enough to eat these invasive carp,' Thron said. But both Tennessee and Arkansas identify the alligator gar as a species of conservation concern, which means they're at risk of going extinct. Changing habitats and overfishing have caused populations to decrease. They rely on floodplains and wetlands to spawn, and Thron said restoring floodplains will provide more habitat. Many of the measures in the Hatchie-Loosahatchie project are aimed at promoting the alligator gar's spawning habitat. The study identifies the fish as a key component of the Mississippi River basin's strategy to control invasive carp. While the project has moved on track so far, Allmon acknowledged that it is a long-term endeavor. Engineering and design work come next, but funding remains the biggest question. The cost of the restoration components of the project would be shared by the federal government (65%) and nonfederal sources (35%). The recreation projects would be split 50/50. Included in the recommended recreation projects is an increase in boat ramps. There are currently six boat landings along the reach. Six are in Tennessee; one is in Arkansas. Recreation in the lower Mississippi River generates $1.3 billion and employs 55,000. USACE's civil works budget falls within a multi-step federal budgeting process that is driven in part by political priorities from the presidential administration. Projects can also be funded with supplemental appropriations. USACE has received supplemental funds nearly every year since 2017 — with the exception of 2021 — but those are typically given for repairs following significant storm damage, according to a 2022 overview of USACE's budget process. Brinkman, with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, said he wouldn't be surprised if it took decades for the funding to be approved. 'Something of this scale has not been accomplished before … it is a slow process, for sure,' he said. Allmon said his team never knows what will get funded or when. 'If it doesn't get funded this cycle, it's not to say it won't get funded in the next cycle,' he said. Working with local landowners is another potential hurdle. Most land within the batture — the area of the alluvial plain extending from the river to the levee — is privately owned. The project as planned requires the purchase of more than 2,881 acres of private land, and easements for roads and construction at an estimated cost of $17.6 million, according to a project recommendation letter from USACE Chief of Engineers Scott Spellmon. Of the total 3,044 acres of private and public land encompassed by the project, about half lies in Tennessee, and half lies in Arkansas. Spellman's letter lists real estate acquisition as one of the project's 'major uncertainty drivers.' But it also notes that the majority of the project benefits are expected to be successfully completed on public land and land purchased from willing sellers. 'There's been some apprehension around that,' Brinkman said. 'There will definitely be some negotiations. A lot of discussions are gonna have to happen before anything is done on the ground.' This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Tennessee governor's bill removes vaccinations, education requirements from welfare program
Gov. Bill Lee's administration is pushing a bill that would remove the requirement for children to get vaccines in order to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht/Tennessee Lookout) Gov. Bill Lee's administration is pushing legislation that would remove school attendance and vaccine mandates for families receiving state financial assistance payments. Required immunizations, which met opposition in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, are believed to be the impetus for the bill. After the COVID vaccine became available in December 2020, former President Joe Biden — who took office in January 2021— issued an executive order requiring federal employees and contractors to be fully immunized by December 2021. In Tennessee, Lee encouraged people to take the shots, even when protesters railed against his COVID-19 policies. The bill comes as Congress is on the verge of approving Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, as secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services agency. House Bill 107, sponsored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth of Portland, deletes old 'personal responsibility' rules for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families dealing with education and vaccinations children must receive to attend school and contains measures for child support, work requirements and transportation. Trump taps vaccine skeptic RFK Jr. to lead Department of Health and Human Services Known in Tennessee as Families First, the federal program provides block grants to states to help boost needy families with children toward self-sufficiency. Tennessee receives about $190 million annually for the program. State lawmakers put new rules into the program more than a decade ago. But this measure eliminates requirements that aid recipients ensure children attend school, receive immunizations and health checks and for parents to attend conferences with teachers, take eight hours of parenting classes and participate in child support services. Lamberth referred questions about the bill Tuesday to a House Republican Caucus spokesperson. The Lookout received no response by deadline. Department of Human Services spokesperson Danielle Cotton said Tuesday the proposed 'personal responsibility plans' are designed to match federal requirements. Under current law, failure to comply with these education and vaccination guidelines could lead to a reduction in a family's TANF payments by 20%. The maximum amount a family of three can receive from the program is $387 a month, 18% of the federal poverty level. Democratic state Rep. Sam McKenzie said Tuesday he believes the current rules are designed to hold parents accountable by making sure they send children to school and ensure they get the required shots. 'These are valuable things that ensure that these federal dollars are going to parents that are engaged in their child's life,' McKenzie said. 'And to see that list of cuts, to me it's a poor piece of legislation, and it's going to lead to poor parenting.' The new bill contains no accountability requirements for parents and no fine for failing to meet the 'personal responsibility' guidelines, McKenzie said. He predicted an 'erosion' in what he considers an effective program. Lawmakers have been trying to increase the program's financial distributions since the revelation a few years ago that the state had a $730 million surplus in the TANF fund, money that comes to Tennessee from the federal government. That amount peaked at $798.3 million in 2021 but was still at $717 million a year ago. A spokesperson with Lee's office didn't respond to questions from the Lookout Tuesday. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
