Preparedness

With potentially record-breaking rainfall predicted for Sunday and Monday, Los Angeles and its neighboring counties were well-prepared, having endured a storm of similar magnitude in January 2023.

Supported by a federal grant, Riverside Local School District in Ohio is spending $250,000 with Vocera Communications to replace analog radios with 400 new digital badges and radios that are typically used in hospitals.

The grant has to be accepted by the council for the city to begin building the emergency shelter. The council will consider accepting the grant during today's 6 p.m. meeting at City Hall.

Gusts up to 80 mph are also anticipated in the highest peaks of the Santa Lucia Range and San Benito County mountains. A flood watch is in effect from the North Bay to Big Sur until at least Monday morning.

Even with months of planning for an active shooter drill at a high school in Conneaut, Ohio, with an emphasis on interoperability, the drill showed how ingrained in police departments is the inability to communicate.

A new bill introduced in the Senate, and a companion House bill, would reclassify 911 dispatchers as first responders, giving them increased benefits like access to mental health services.

Columbia likely won't be the last department to see across-the-board support for its volunteers. Dozens of municipalities and school districts in the county are considering their own tax credit programs.

The company has launched new product tiers, with features that include audio processing and artificial intelligence. Prepared recently completed a Series A funding round with a VC heavyweight.

Councilman John Meredith said the only information he had on the status of city roadways came from citizens’ posts on social media and Huntsville Police Department posts listing street closures.

But a growing portion of windward Hawaii island is considered abnormally dry, and long-range models are still predicting below-average rainfall across the state for February and March.

It’s a story that will only continue to play out across New Jersey for the years and decades to come, forcing residents statewide to confront the realities more floodwaters will inevitably bring.

"The biggest thing in any event like this is ensuring the coordination and communication is happening regarding what resources are available," Greeley City Manager Raymond Lee said.

Steve Patterson, mayor of Athens, Ohio, representing the National League of Cities, noted that since 2017, the NFIP's authorization has been extended 28 times, all on a short-term basis.

A project using multiple data sets and lidar technology can predict and model how fires will affect specific forested areas and help balance the interests of sometimes-competing stakeholders.

"I'm really disappointed how many people have told me in the past three and a half years I've been involved with this, 'Yeah, I'd like to be more involved' with those people not ending up helping out."

FEMA is currently accepting applications for teens interested in emergency management and community preparedness, which the agency says gives a “glimpse into the future of our profession.”

Multnomah County officials said they could have kept warming sites open longer if the city had been more willing to pitch in. Portland officials say longer accommodations would have been easier to provide if the county had been more cooperative.

Chief executive officer, Julie Burline, has more than 25 years of experience in obtaining such funds for first responders, hospitals, municipal infrastructure, school district and corporate entities, according to the resolution.