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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

NY Communities Still Face Flood Damages, Call for Bipartisan Climate Bill

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Thursday, July 7, 2022   

The Atlantic hurricane season typically runs from June to October, and environmental groups are urging Congress to advance a bill which would require the federal government to implement a National Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy.

It would also create a position for a chief resilience officer, which some state and local governments already have, to coordinate responses to intense weather events and develop approaches to combating climate change.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., the bill's primary sponsor, said states are doing this work, and need backup.

"The steadily increasing intensity and severity of wildfires and tornadoes, of hurricanes and storm surges, have an impact on all of our communities that we should be preparing for and responding to in a well-coordinated way," Coons urged.

Coons added the Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy is not all will be needed to address climate change, but argued there is an appetite for it, and the bill has bipartisan support. He pointed out in 2021, climate-driven natural disasters cost $145 billion nationwide.

Forbes Tompkins, senior manager for The Pew Charitable Trusts' Flood-Prepared Communities Program, said rising sea levels and storms have led to increased flooding along the entire East Coast, and he outlined some key tasks with which a federal chief resilience officer would be charged.

For instance, they would take stock of federal barriers to enhancing resilience, and then lead the development of a strategy to address them.

"Along with identifying opportunities to streamline federal support, lead with science, and put nature to work in ways that help localities, states and regions better prepare before disasters strike," Tompkins explained.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., this week on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist local governments near Lake Ontario with flooding mitigation projects. The Wayne County area, for instance, is still reeling from major high-water events in 2017 and 2019. Funding from the bipartisan infrastructure bill is helping, but Schumer contended more is needed to fully recover.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.


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Health and Wellness

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Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

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Social Issues

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Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

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Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

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New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

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Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

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