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Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Here's how federal assistance might work after the ice storm
A snapped-off utility pole lays by the side of the road in Bear Creek Township on March 31, 2025. (Photo: Michael Livingston/IPR News) This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. Last week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer requested an emergency declaration from President Donald Trump for the state, 12 counties and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians following the historic ice storm that hit northern Michigan. If granted, up to $5 million from the federal government would be made available to help northern Michigan clean up and recover. Local, tribal and state entities and utilities have been responding to the storm for weeks, clearing roads, cleaning up debris and repairing power lines. Whitmer also called in the National Guard to help. The state estimates that costs for responding to the storm already exceed $7 million. Officials have said federal assistance is central to recovery in the region. U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, a Republican, and Sens. Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, both Democrats, supported that request. In a news release from the governor's office, Col. James F. Grady II, director of the Michigan State Police, said approval of the emergency request 'would bring critical federal resources to support local response operations that are still ongoing. This is a necessary step while we work toward the broader disaster declaration that will bring additional relief.' But how does the process actually work? After a disaster hits, local, tribal and state governments will typically be the first to respond. If they don't have enough resources to deal with the aftermath, governors and tribal governments can request assistance from the federal government, which the president has to sign off on. Disaster declarations are structured through a law called the Stafford Act. 'There are incidents that obviously the state needs help dealing with, because no state or community can take care of it on their own, and that's when federal aid is designed to kick in,' said Anna Weber, a senior policy analyst for climate adaptation at the environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council. Weber spent a decade working on federal contracts related to water infrastructure and environmental health. There are two types of federal disaster declarations. One is an emergency declaration, which the president decides on and which doesn't have to meet any threshold. The other is a major disaster declaration, which often requires a damage assessment to determine if an area is eligible. (In situations where it's clear that federal assistance will be required, officials don't have to wait for a damage assessment to request federal assistance.) The state of Michigan will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, and the Small Business Administration to assess whether the region is eligible for that assistance. It's up to President Trump to decide whether or not to grant that relief, which usually goes to local entities to help with cleanup and recovery. In an emailed statement to IPR, White House spokesman Kush Desai said, 'The Trump administration is closely tracking the situation and is working with state and local officials to assess what next steps are needed.' Emergency declarations are typically processed pretty quickly because they don't need to meet any specific criteria. The goal is to get aid to the area quickly. And that can also be a stopgap to give FEMA time to assess the damage to see if more assistance is needed. If that is the case, the governor can request a major disaster declaration which would unlock additional federal dollars. And unlike the initial emergency declaration, in a major disaster declaration FEMA considers a range of criteria, such as a state's financial capacity and resources. Those assessments begin next week. 'There'll actually be people out there driving around to areas that they can reach, you know, going looking at things with clipboards, writing down the kinds of damages that we've seen in these areas, how much money it costs and how many additional resources the state might need in order to address it,' Weber said. If the region is eligible for major disaster relief, other forms of aid can then come into play — such as cash payments to individuals and public assistance for more long term recovery like repairing infrastructure. Rep. Bergman is urging counties to assist in those assessments. 'For us to have a chance at securing Individual Assistance and Public Assistance, we need to take an all-hands-on-deck approach,' he wrote in a newsletter from his office on Thursday. 'I encourage our leaders in all 12 counties to support this effort as we work together to secure help for our communities.' These relief efforts kick in after events like the ice storm, but federal hazard mitigation grants have also aimed to reduce the impact of future disasters. Uncertainty surrounds FEMA amid the Trump administration's efforts to cut costs and reshape the federal government. Trump and those in his administration have said they want to drastically reduce – or even eliminate — the agency. The situation has been constantly changing, but Weber said there have been concrete impacts: 'What we have seen is that staff and programs at FEMA are being eliminated, and aid is being slower to arrive even if it's already been approved.' Those cuts have reached efforts to prepare for disasters as well. For example, Grist reported earlier this month that FEMA plans to dismantle a program, passed under the first Trump administration, to help communities prepare for disasters before they hit. FEMA didn't respond directly to IPR's questions this week about criteria for a major disaster declaration in northern Michigan or what the damage assessment consists of. Still, Weber said the big takeaway is that federal aid is meant to supplement what's already being done, so people can look to local governments and organizations for information and help.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Del Cerro residents sue city over recent reversed decision on mega church project
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Resident group 'Save Del Cerro' is legally challenging the city council's recent approval of the All Peoples Church project, a large scale church at the intersection of College Avenue and Interstate 8. 'Del Cerro residents really had no choice but to sue because of the city council's arbitrary decision-making,' said Michael Livingston, with Save Del Cerro. Save Del Cerro's lawsuit claims the environmental review of the development was flawed and inadequate. In fact, more than a year ago, the city council agreed when they originally shot the project down in a 6-2 vote. In March, the city agreed to reconsider the project as part of ongoing litigation with All Peoples Church. 'The project was the same, everyone acknowledges that including councilmembers at the meeting, and yet there was no request for additional information. It was simply the same project after a lawsuit had been filed, so we believe that this is not what the city wants to stand for,' Livingston said. The 'Light Project' was subsequently approved in a 5-4 vote. The six-acre plot of land was originally zoned for housing, with plans for two dozen single family homes. Attorney for Save Del Cerro Cory Briggs provided a statement that reads: 'Given the city's persistent declaration that we are experiencing a housing shortage, it is impossible to understand why the city would eliminate a site perfectly situated for housing. The city's lie about the lack of harm to the public makes this even worse.' Meantime a representative for All Peoples Church told FOX 5/KUSI: 'While news of the lawsuit is disappointing, we believe the Light Project will prevail given the exhaustive analysis conducted during the lengthy approval process.' However, it's that very analysis that is now the basis of Save Del Cerro's legal fight that once again leaves this project in limbo. In the end, it just couldn't make the findings required. It couldn't rely on the data that the developer provided and all of these things end up in this environmental impact report. This is the basis for which the city denied it originally and which were challenging the approval now, explained Livingston. The city is unable to comment on pending litigation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alaska's 'Nazi Creek,' a legacy of World War II, is set for a name change
Apr. 7—This month, state officials voted unanimously to change the names of a creek and a hill on an Aleutian island in response to proposals arguing they were offensive and arbitrary. The features in question are "Nazi Creek," a mile-long stream, and "Nip Hill," a modest summit — both on the southeastern side of Little Kiska Island, beside the bigger, more prominent Kiska Island 242 miles west of Adak at the far end of the Aleutian chain. The move comes after several years of efforts across the country, including in Alaska, to drop words and names with derogatory connections from maps, buildings and civic institutions. Michael Livingston, who submitted the proposals to formally get rid of the existent names, said "Nazi Creek" is particularly offensive given the history of violence that took place during World War II in the Aleutians. "During World War II, the Unangax̂ people — and millions of others — paid dearly due to the actions of Adolf Hitler's Nazis and their Axis powers," Livingston testified during a meeting last Thursday of the Alaska Historical Commission. "After Pearl Harbor was bombed, Dutch Harbor was bombed and 43 Americans were killed in Alaska. Then 881 Unangax̂ people were forcibly relocated. Forty-two people from Attu Village were taken prisoner of war, where 24 died." According to the United States Geological Survey's database of domestic place names, the only geographic feature with "Nazi" in the name is the Aleutian stream on Little Kiska. The term "Nip," Livingston testified, was a derogatory term for Japanese people that came into use during the second World War. It was a derivation of "Nippon," which is the name for Japan in the Japanese language. Livingston is originally from Cold Bay and is a member of the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska. A retired police sergeant, for years he's worked on a number of cartography projects to revise and highlight Unangax̂ history in the U.S. and Alaska. He's also been steadily working to make Alaska maps more accurate. The explanation he's come up with for why a creek and hill on Little Kiska got these names is: expediency. Per the "Dictionary of Alaska Place Names," during World War II the U.S. Army was putting tactical names on geographic features throughout the Aleutians. They did so in grids, and applied an alphabetized naming convention for each square. "Nip" and "Nazi" both started with N. The names were arbitrary, Livingston said in the proposals he submitted, possibly picked by young GIs who had the ongoing war and propaganda front of mind at the time. [The ominous true stories behind Alaska's bloody and brutal place names] His recommendation, adopted 6-0 by the commission, is to give the creek and hill names from Unangam Tunuu, the Indigenous language of the region. Moses Dirks, a member of the Sand Point Village tribe and expert on Unangam Tunuu, recommended renaming the creek "Kaxchim Chiĝanaa" and the hill "Kaxchim Qayaa." The names mean "Gizzard Creek" and "Gizzard Hill" respectively — "Kanchix," or "gizzard," being the traditional name for Little Kiska Island. "A local Indigenous name from people who have lived in the region for thousands of years is more appropriate than the name of Adolf Hitler's murderous Third Reich regime responsible for millions of homicides," states one of the two official name change proposals submitted to the U.S. Geological Survey. Little Kiska is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, and most of the land is owned and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Now that the Alaska Historical Commission has supported the name change, the proposal will go on to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which will decide whether to switch the creek and hill names on federal maps. "The process isn't always entirely step-by-step straightforward ... but in this case it is fairly straightforward," said Katie Ringsmuth, state historian in Alaska's Office of History and Archaeology. If members of the federal board vote to approve the proposals, then federal sources will follow Alaska in renaming the two features in official materials. For years now, and especially following the death of George Floyd and ensuing protests in 2020, Americans have been reconciling with ugly parts of national history and character in skirmishes over place names. Monuments have come down, sports franchises rebranded, schools and institutions renamed. Under the Biden administration, the Interior Department began systematically renaming geographic features — including more than two dozen sites in Alaska — whose titles included a derogatory name for a Native woman. Under the Trump administration, there's been a push to halt or reverse some of those renaming efforts, including restoring the name Bragg to a North Carolina military base and ordering that the name of North America's tallest mountain revert to McKinley from its Koyukon-Athabascan name, Denali.
