skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Study Finds Long Road to Recovery for Hurricane Harvey Victims

play audio
Play

Thursday, December 7, 2017   

BEAUMONT, Texas -- Three months after Hurricane Harvey hit southeast Texas, nearly half of the residents affected by the storm say they are not receiving the help they need to recover.

A joint survey by the Episcopal Health Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation found that black and Hispanic families were hit harder than others, and reported much higher percentages of losses due to property damage and lost income. Elena Marks, president of the Episcopal Health Foundation, said they did the survey to find out where recovery funds might do the most good.

"Philanthropy has been very, very generous and hundreds of millions of dollars have been raised,” Marks said. "We wondered how those people would know what to do with that money, and how the agencies they might distribute it to would know who needed what kind of help."

The study found that two-thirds of the residents in the 24-county region affected by Harvey suffered damage to homes and vehicles, employment disruptions or lost income. Marks said Harris and surrounding counties had significant storm damage, but the Beaumont-Port Arthur and Corpus Christi-Rockport areas were hit hardest.

Only about half of the people whose homes were damaged had homeowner's or renter's coverage, Marks said, and just one-fourth had flood insurance. She added that minority neighborhoods were hit particularly hard.

"Black and Hispanic populations in all of the areas show a greater need and less progress toward recovery than white counterparts,” she said.

Marks said that while many respondents may complain that recovery assistance is too slow in arriving, there is also concern that others are afraid to even seek help:

"Particularly with lower income and vulnerable populations who can often be invisible in times like this,” she said. “We've got immigrant populations who are afraid in the current climate to come out and seek help"

The report also found that the storm has taken a toll on people's mental and physical health, with six out of ten storm victims reporting they have skipped or postponed a doctor's appointment or had difficulty obtaining mental health care.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021