A combination of budget cuts and incompetent leadership has left FEMA unprepared to deal with a major natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina. So says a letter from more than 180 agency staff that was sent to Congress this week as Louisiana officials commemorate the 20th anniversary of the deadly storm. The Washington Post’s Brianna Sacks reports:
The hurricane made landfall in southeast Louisiana in August 2005, leading to at least 1,800 deaths and $100 billion in damage. The resulting legislation allowed FEMA to better prepare communities for and help them recover from disasters. But the letter warns that the Trump administration is sending the agency and the country back to a pre-Katrina era by not having a Senate-confirmed and qualified emergency manger at FEMA’s helm; by slashing mitigation, disaster recovery, training and community programs; and by thwarting officials’ ability to make decisions because of a restrictive new expense policy.
While it appears the Trump administration no longer plans to dismantle FEMA altogether, other funding and administrative moves could have serious consequences:
FEMA has faced drastic institutional changes in recent months, including the loss of one-third of its workforce and programs that help communities prepare for disasters and rebuild after they’ve been hit. … The letter argues that leaving communities — specifically Indigenous, Black, Brown and lower-income — to fend for themselves by cutting funding, trainings and other forms of assistance has the “appearance of cost reduction” but will instead “result in an opposite outcome.”
Preserving a historic wrong
In 2018, Louisiana voters overwhelmingly overturned a Jim Crow-era law that allowed people to be convicted of crimes by nonunanimous juries. In the ensuing years, both the U.S. Supreme Court and Louisiana Supreme Court ruled the change should only apply to future cases. Verite News’ Richard A. Webster explains how Louisiana is trying to deny justice for people, like Lloyd Gray, who were convicted by a nonunanimous verdict before 2018:
The conservative state Legislature, meanwhile, has repeatedly rejected bills that would have required a reexamination of their cases. That left one very narrow path for Gray and others like him, mostly Black men, to have their cases revisited. If they could credibly argue that their convictions were secured illegally — if there was race-based discrimination in the case, for example — they could strike a plea deal with a prosecutor, securing their release. But a new state law, passed last year at the urging of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, limited local prosecutors’ ability to broker such deals, cutting off the last remaining avenue of relief for those imprisoned by nonunanimous juries.
Oregon, the only other state to have a nonunanimous jury law on its books, has taken a different path:
In contrast to Louisiana, Oregon’s Supreme Court vacated every split-jury conviction in the state, after which prosecutors offered plea deals with reduced sentences to the majority of those prisoners convicted by nonunanimous juries.
“Overspending” at child welfare agency
Louisiana’s child welfare agency is paying too much to outside vendors for some services and needs to take corrective action to avoid future missteps, according to a new report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Julie O’Donoghue reports:
Over budget years 2021 through 2024, [Department of Children and Family Services] payments through the child welfare agency’s online system increased far more than the number of clients served. Spending climbed 53% from $80.9 million to $124.1 million over the period, while the total number of people who received services increased 10% from 21,436 to 23,599. The department attributes these increases to rising day care and foster care costs and more demand for those services. The number of children in day care went from 1,528 to 2,784 per year over the review period, and the cost rose from $3.9 million to $12 million at the same time.
A June report from the legislative auditor found that DCFS continues to struggle to recruit and retain front-line caseworkers. Vacancies at the department jumped from 118 in 2023 to 140 in February.
Low life expectancy in Baton Rouge
Life expectancy for people living in Louisiana’s capital city is four to five years shorter than the national average, according to a new report from the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. The Times Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Haley Miller explains the five factors that are contributing to early death:
The report found that premature deaths from cardiovascular disease, accidents, homicide and kidney disease, along with infant deaths, are more common in Baton Rouge, in some cases four times the national average. … The analysis predicts that the premature death rate in the parish could decrease by 25% by addressing the leading causes. Even if they only matched the U.S. averages, the benefits would be significant, BRAF leaders said.
Miller analyzes factors that contribute to high rates of infant mortality and possible solutions:
High rates of poverty and poor maternal health care access likely account for the problem, according to the report. If the mother suffers from preexisting health conditions, the risk of infant mortality goes up. The report recommended heightened prenatal services, such as home visits and educational programs for mothers, to improve the parish’s infant mortality rate. “There are so many great examples across the nation of how these simple initiatives, and clearly affordable initiatives, can actually make pretty significant change,” Benson Lamb said.
Number of the Day
17% – Percentage of full-time public elementary and secondary school teachers in the U.S. who worked a nonschool job during the 2020-21 school year, the most recent year with available data. (Source: National Center for Education Statistics)