Category: Natural Disasters

News | Legalizing Marijuana is “Throwing Gasoline” on Addiction…

Former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy spoke with GoLocal LIVE on Wednesday about efforts in Rhode Island once again to legalize marijuana – and what he said is the country’s crisis of addiction, and why he is opposed to marijuana legalization. “We’re going though an epidemic of addiction and depressionand we’re in the midst of the rollback the biggest expansion of healthcare coverage that benefits people with mental illness [and] addiction, and this was the first time the ever got coverage,” Kennedy told GoLocal’s Kate Nagle on Wednesday.

Valley congressman leads the charge for more funding to fight drug abuse

Congressman Tim Ryan is leading a bipartisan coalition of 23 members of Congress calling on President Donald Trump to include full funding of $9.3 billion to fight the opioid and prescription drug epidemic in the United States. “This epidemic is costing our nation $700 billion nationally in health, crime and lost productivity costs, but that is nothing compared to the toll it is taking on our families and friends.

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House Republicans on March 6, released their long-awaited plan for unraveling former President Barack Obama’s health care law, a… The nation’s passionate debate about the role of government in providing health care for citizens and paying the costs is unlikely to be settled by the legislation House Republicans have unveiled. The nation’s passionate debate about the role of government in providing health care for citizens and paying the costs is unlikely to be settled by the legislation House Republicans have unveiled.

The Latest: Oklahoma woman dies trying to fight wildfire

Grass fires fanned by gusting winds scorched swaths of Kansas grassland Monday, forcing the evacuations of several towns and the closur… . Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Chaplain Jeff Thompson passes bags of chips to, from left to right, Suzanne Morgan, Carol Shaylor and Linda Nimmo Monday, March 6, 2017, inside an evacuation center at the Kansa… .

The Latest: Kansas governor warns dry weather will remain

Grass fires fanned by gusting winds scorched swaths of Kansas grassland Monday, forcing the evacuations of several towns and the closur… . Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Chaplain Jeff Thompson passes bags of chips to, from left to right, Suzanne Morgan, Carol Shaylor and Linda Nimmo Monday, March 6, 2017, inside an evacuation center at the Kansa… .

Boise River Flows Increasing to Flood Stage

The Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are again increasing flows from Lucky Peak Dam because of above-normal winter precipitation in the Boise River drainage. Beginning March 6, flows through the City of Boise will increase incrementally 250 cubic feet per second per day to reach approximately 7,000 cfs, which is flood stage, on Tuesday, March 7. These releases are necessary to help reduce the risk of increased flooding later in the spring, which can happen with rapidly melting snow and seasonal precipitation.

Rural California levees besieged by pounding wet winter

Billions of dollars in flood projects have eased fears of levee breaks near California’s capital and some other cities, but state and federal workers are joining farmers with tractors in round-the-clock battles this week to stave off any chain-reaction failure of rural levees protecting farms and farm towns. As the wet winter forces operators of dams to send more water roaring downstream, the struggle to spot and shore up weak spots in nearly 1,600 miles of levees in the Central Valley is unrelenting, said Rex Osborn, spokesman for emergency operations in San Joaquin County, one of the nation’s main farm and dairy counties.

Bono thanks Pence for support in combating AIDS crisis in Africa

The two men met at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday after Pence pledged “unwavering” commitment to NATO and vowed that President Trump will “hold Russia accountable.” Bono, who called the Vice President “the second busiest man on Earth,” thanked Pence for voting twice to pass the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – once in 2003 when introduced by George W. Bush and then to renew it in 2008.

2 dams illustrate challenge of maintaining older designs

Twelve years ago, widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast helped… . FILE – In this Feb. 6, 2015 file photo, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, right, talks with David Thomas, director of the Joint Federal Programs for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Sacramento District, aft… .

NY Post Writer Avoids Mentioning Wilson’s Contribution to…

The New York Post though usually perceived as a right-leaning newspaper, has room for columnists from the “other side” – including selective and truth-challenged ones like Jennifer Wright. Wright’s February 11 column covers “some of the most gruesome plagues” in human history, in the process promoting a new book that is quite a departure from her previous ventures ” covering sex and dating .”

Yiannopoulos postpones book to include campus protests

Tens of thousands of people below the tallest U.S. dam evacuated after its damaged emergency spillway threatened to give way from the pressure of high water levels and cause massive flooding. Tens of thousands of people below the tallest U.S. dam evacuated after its damaged emergency spillway threatened to give way from the pressure of high water levels and cause massive flooding.

The Latest: State of emergency in Louisiana after tornadoes

Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency for Louisiana after a severe storm moved across the state’s southeast corner, including the parishes of Ascension, Livingston, Orleans, St. James, St. Tammany and Tangipahoa. Edwards says he’s heartbroken to see Louisiana families suffering again.

Gov. John Bel Edwards seeks President Donald Trump’s help in securing $2B more in federal flood aid

Gov. John Bel Edwards, right, and FEMA Regional Administrator Tony Robinson talk while arriving with other officials to take a tour of flood damage Thursday, August 25, 2016, in and near Youngsville, La. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards wants President Donald Trump’s help in getting another $2 billion in federal aid for the state’s recovery from last year’s historic floods and loosening restrictions that limit how the money can be used.

Sierra Nevada snowfall is at the heaviest in 22 years

Ivanka looks somber as Nordstrom dumps her fashion line from stores and online in response to boycott by thousands of women over the election… but Jared is all smiles as he meets Queen Rania Husband admits stabbing his pregnant wife to death in front of their two children after she begged her church, the police and relatives for protection from his abuse for months Can this Twitter account predict the future? Mysterious social media handle appears to have called Brexit, Trump and Beyonce being pregnant Why noisy eating can frazzle your brain: Scans find that people who become annoyed at chewing or have an abnormality in the organ Woman, 19, was ‘robbed, strangled and thrown off a 50ft bridge by her two FRIENDS’ before her body was swept out to sea and never recovered White man who shot NFL star Joe McKnight in road rage attack is charged with murder after outrage over police who … (more)

Lake Darling to be lowered

In the wake of the first Spring Runoff Outlook issued by the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency, Lake Darling will be lowered below its prescribed operating level in preparation for snowmelt runoff. Frank Durbian, Souris River Basin Complex manager, says the current operating plan is to draw down Lake Darling well below its normal spring operating level of 1,596 feet.

Violent protesters block Berkeley talk by Breitbart editor

The University of California at Berkeley is bracing for major protests against Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos on the last stop of a tour aimed at defying what he calls an epidemic of… Protesters hurled smoke bombs, broke windows and started a bonfire prompting University of California at Berkeley officials to cancel a talk Wednesday by a polarizing editor of Breitbart News out of safety concerns Some Maine sixth-graders are pushing state lawmakers to pass a bill that would make it easier for residents to keep hedgehogs as pets Some Maine sixth-graders are pushing state lawmakers to pass a bill that would make it easier for residents to keep hedgehogs as pets The handlers of Pennsylvania’s most famous groundhog are set to announce whether the rodent will predict an early spring or six more weeks of winter The handlers of Pennsylvania’s most famous groundhog are set to announce … (more)

New Jersey set to hand over millions in tobacco cash

Gov. Chris Christie has dedicated his final year in office to addressing the opioid epidemic, but the state’s failure to spend on smoking cessation efforts when thousands of people still die annually from tobacco-related illnesses has drawn derision from advocates and public health officials. Instead of spending millions from a landmark 1998 settlement with the tobacco industry on smoking cessation efforts, New Jersey this year will begin repaying hundreds of millions of dollars to bondholders after converting the settlement money into $90 million to fill a budget hole in 2014.

18 dead amid reported tornadoes, other storms in the South

A severe storm system that spun off apparent tornadoes and left scattered destruction around the Southeast has claimed at least 18 lives on a two-day sweep across the region, authorities said. The enormous system put millions of people in the South on edge during a weekend of violent weather that left crumpled trailer homes, downed trees and other damage in the hardest-hit communities from Mississippi to Georgia.

More deaths reported after 16 die amid Southeast tornadoes

Emergency responders rushed to answer new reports of deaths and injuries Sunday evening in southern Georgia as violent storms already blamed for killing 16 people in the Southeast continued to inflict destruction. An apparent tornado blew through a mobile home park early Sunday in southern Georgia’s rural Cook County – sheering off siding, upending homes and killing seven people, local authorities said.

California flood sweeps cabins, cars down coastal canyon

More than 20 people escaped injury when a flood swept cabins and vehicles down a coastal canyon as the second in a trio of storms drenched California with heavy rain and brought more snow to the mountains. The dramatic scene about 115 miles northwest of Los Angeles came during a day of pounding rain in Southern California that caused flooding, rockslides and an avalanche warning.

Guilford Mom Shines Spotlight On Opioid Epidemic

Sue Kruczek didn’t know that when she began talking a year ago about how her son died of a drug overdose at the age of 20 that she would become one of the go to spokespeople on the opioid epidemic plaguing the state of Connecticut. She was at the side of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy last May when he signed landmark legislation placing a 7-day cap on opioid prescription, a law sponsored by Guilford State Rep. Sean Scanlon, another politician that Kruczek has spent much of the past year with at events concerning the opioid crisis.

Asian shares mixed after Trump offers scant policy details

Authorities urged thousands of people in Northern California to evacuate homes as rivers swollen by four days of heavy rain threatened to crest above flood level, even as another day of showers was forecast for… Rescue workers used boats and firetrucks to evacuate dozens of Northern California residents from their flooded homes Wednesday as a drought-busting series of storms began to move out of the region after days of heavy rain… Lawyers for Texas death row inmate Christopher Wilkins looked to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep him from becoming the first prisoner executed in the nation this year. Texas on Wednesday put to death an inmate convicted of killing two men over a phony drug deal, the first U.S. execution of 2017.

Asian shares mixed after Trump offers scant policy details

Authorities urged thousands of people in Northern California to evacuate homes as rivers swollen by four days of heavy rain threatened to crest above flood level, even as another day of showers was forecast for… Rescue workers used boats and firetrucks to evacuate dozens of Northern California residents from their flooded homes Wednesday as a drought-busting series of storms began to move out of the region after days of heavy rain… Lawyers for Texas death row inmate Christopher Wilkins looked to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep him from becoming the first prisoner executed in the nation this year. Texas on Wednesday put to death an inmate convicted of killing two men over a phony drug deal, the first U.S. execution of 2017.

‘Pressing concern’ to manage water in Middle East troublespot

There is a “pressing concern” to manage Euphrates River water, a key resource for a “politically volatile” area of the Middle East, US officials said, in a face of another sub-par rice crop in Iraq. Iraq, which until the mid-1970s relied on home-grown rice to cover most domestic demand, has seen buy-ins soar, becoming one of the top 10 biggest importers.

Youngstown CEO to host presidential party

A Valley businessman is invited to take part in President Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration festivities in Washington D.C. After Trump takes his oath on Jan. 20, Bruce Zoldan, CEO and president of Phantom Fireworks, will be ready to party with the president. Zoldan also mentioned tweets from both Trump and his wife Melania Trump about how excited they are about the party.