With Kristi Noem Out, Can a Hamstrung FEMA Rebuild — Even Under Trump?

During the year she spent leading the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, Kristi Noem faced a torrent of criticism. Lawmakers from both parties assailed her for lying about the shooting of protestors in Minneapolis and spending millions of dollars on television commercials. Government audits concluded that she “systematically obstructed” investigations and created security risks at…
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Noem Faces More Calls to Resign After Gutting FEMA, Abandoning Disaster Victims

Secretary Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was already facing scrutiny as temperatures plunged and winter storms rolled across much of the United States at the end of January. The expansive winter storms came just after immigration officers ultimately under her command killed two people in Minnesota. The killings heightened public anger against Immigration and Customs…
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Trump Administration Makes Deep Cuts at FEMA as Climate Crisis Accelerates

The Trump administration this week made abrupt cuts to the top federal disaster response agency, even as US communities face increased threats from natural disasters caused by the global climate crisis. Independent journalist Marisa Kabas reported on Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “has begun issuing termination notices” to staff at the agency’s Cadre of On-Call…
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Survivors Slam Kristi Noem Over FEMA’s Response to Deadly Disasters

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem is under fire from disaster survivors for mismanaging the federal government’s response to recent storms, floods, and deadly wildfires as staffing cuts and controversial policy changes continue to cause chaos at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Disaster survivors from 10 states and Puerto Rico gathered Monday on…
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Jamaican Americans Mobilize for the Island’s Recovery After Hurricane Melissa

Out of many, one people. Kimisha Simpson says she’s confident that Jamaica’s national motto will rally the diaspora and others to help rebuild the island that was battered by Hurricane Melissa earlier this week. “We like to say, ‘We’re the heartbeat of the Caribbean,’” Simpson said. “Jamaica is an island that has given so much to the world — entertainment, the arts, the culture…
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Trump Cuts and Climate Change Compound Worry in Alaska After Typhoon Disaster

After the latest catastrophic storm hit Western Alaska, displacing more than 1,500 people, killing at least one and leaving villages in ruins, residents face an existential crisis. Will the wide delta that fans out between the lower Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers and has supported one of the circumpolar north’s largest Indigenous populations for millennia continue to be a place where Alaska’s…
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