City of Dadeville awarded $322,857 grant for new firefighting vehicle
Congressman Mike Rogers issued a press release congratulating the City of Dadeville for receiving a $322,857.14 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The funding will help the city purchase a new firefighting vehicle. Rogers stated, “Tallapoosa County’s first responders are our first line of defense. I congratulate the men and women of the City of Dadeville for receiving this grant and hope it will ultimately help increase the safety for all local citizens. I am pleased to see the federal government is continuing to make these types of investments in the Third District.” Rogers, who serves as the lead Republican on the House Armed Services Committee said the grant should be awarded under the 2020 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, an essential federal program that supports first responders. According to the Homeland Security Department, which administers the grant, the purpose of the program is to award funding directly to fire departments, nonaffiliated EMS organizations, and state fire training academies. These awards aim to enhance first responders’ ability to protect the health and safety of the public, as well as that of first-responder personnel, with respect to fire-related hazards.
Shortages of supplies and workers will delay Gulf rebuilding
Joe Sobol, owner of Big Easy Construction in New Orleans, has bad news for homeowners who’ve been calling about roofs damaged by Hurricane Ida or to get an update on renovations that were scheduled before the storm ripped through the area. The job will cost a lot more than usual — and take much longer, too. Ida slammed into the Gulf Coast — then took its destruction to the Northeast — at a time when building contractors were already grappling with severe shortages of workers and depleted supply chains. The damage inflicted by Ida has magnified those challenges. The struggle to find enough skilled workers and materials will likely drive up costs, complicate planning and delay reconstruction for months. “My expectation,” said Ali Wolf, chief economist at the real estate research firm Zonda, “is that it only gets worse from here.” Consider that Lake Charles, Louisiana, 200 miles west of New Orleans, still hasn’t recovered from the damage left when Hurricane Laura tore through the area a year ago. The challenges facing construction companies stem from what happened after the nation endured a brutal but brief recession when the viral pandemic erupted in March 2020: The economy rebounded far faster and stronger than anyone expected. Businesses of all kinds were caught off-guard by a surge in customer demand that flowed from an increasingly robust economic recovery. Workers and supplies were suddenly in short supply. For months now across the economy, businesses have been scrambling to acquire enough supplies, restock their shelves, and recall workers they had furloughed during the recession. Construction companies have been particularly affected. Among building executives Zonda surveyed last month, 93% complained of supply shortages. Seventy-four percent said they lacked enough workers. And that was before Ida struck. “Natural disasters do cause a strain on building materials, reconstruction materials, and on labor,” Wolf said. “The difference today is that the entire supply chain has been battered even before Ida’s occurrence. You really have all these things hitting at the exact same time. Frankly, the last thing the supply chain needed was extra strain.” A result is that the cost of materials and supplies has been surging. Combined prices for windows, doors, roofing, and other building products jumped 13% in the first six months of this year, according to Labor Department data. Before 2020, by contrast, such aggregate prices would typically rise a bit more than 1% annually, on average, in the first six months of a year. Prices for steel mill products were up more than twofold in July from a year earlier. Gypsum products, which are needed for drywall, partitions, ceiling tiles, and the like, were up 22%. Henry D’Esposito, who leads construction research at the real estate services company JLL, said the toughest challenge in rebuilding now is the delays in acquiring drywall, glass, steel, aluminum, and other materials. “A lot of the materials that you would need for any project and especially something this urgent — you’re not able to get on-site for weeks or months,” D’Esposito said. Sobol, in the course of his career, has ridden out some of the biggest hurricanes to strike Louisiana, including Betsy in 1965, Camille in 1979, Katrina in 2005, and Ida last week. On Friday, he received a text from a client who had hired Big Easy for home renovations. The client wanted to know whether the initial cost estimate still stood. “I said, ‘You can probably add 10%,’ “Sobol said. And now, the project will likely take nine months instead of six. “We’re having to jump through hoops,” said Robert Maddox, owner of Hahn Roofing in Boyce, Louisiana, 200 miles northwest of New Orleans. “We’re having to pay more for labor. We’re having to pay more for supplies. We’re having to bring supplies in.” The insurance companies that are footing the bill for many of the hurricane repairs, Maddox said, can pose an additional burden. “I’ve spent more time fighting with insurance companies over prices than I did roofing houses,” he said. Jacob Hodges, co-owner of a family roofing business in Houma, Louisiana, complains that shingles are in such short supply that it’s hard to buy them in the same color consistently. One day, they’re available only in black; the next day, only gray. Hodges takes what he can get. So do his customers, who are desperate to have their roofs patched up or replaced after the storm. Then there’s the labor shortage. Among workers in short supply are framers, who build, install and maintain foundations, floors, and door and window frames; carpenters; electricians; plumbers; and heating and air-conditioning specialists. “Workers — they have the power,” said Wolf, the economist at Zonda. “They can go where they can make the most money. So if you need access to workers, you’re going to have to pony up.’’ Maddox said typical pay for roofers has soared 20% over the past year or so. Some can earn $400 a day. “If you don’t pay them,” he said, “someone else will.’’ In normal times, demand for their services was so uneven that roofers often split their time working for different contractors. “Now, we all need them,” Hodges said. Making matters worse, the power is still out in many places, gasoline is in short supply, and the Gulf Coast weather is sweltering. With nowhere to stay, workers involved in reconstruction have to drive in from afar. Maddox said he has roofers commuting in from Lake Charles, a three-hour drive from the hurricane zone. “We’re losing half our time driving,” he said. He wishes that hotels that have running water would reopen — even without electricity — so that workers would have a place to stay. “Those guys don’t mind cold showers,” he said. Weighing the magnitude of the hurricane damage against the shortage of supplies and workers, Hodges envisions a prolonged, grinding period of reconstruction from Ida. “To get everything back like it was,” he said, “you’re talking … well, we’ll probably be working on this this time next year.”
Justice Department will ‘protect’ abortion seekers in Texas
The Justice Department said Monday that it will not tolerate violence against anyone who is trying to obtain an abortion in Texas as federal officials explore options to challenge a new state law that bans most abortions. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department would “protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services” under a federal law known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Garland said in a statement that federal prosecutors are still urgently exploring options to challenge the Texas law. He said the Justice Department would enforce the federal law “in order to protect the constitutional rights of women and other persons, including access to an abortion.” The federal law, commonly known as the FACE Act, prohibits physically obstructing or using the threat of force to intimidate or interfere with a person seeking reproductive health services. The law also prohibits damaging property at abortion clinics and other reproductive health centers. The new Texas law prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks — before some women know they’re pregnant. Courts have blocked other states from imposing similar restrictions, but Texas’ law differs significantly because it leaves enforcement up to private citizens through lawsuits instead of criminal prosecutors. Justice Department officials have also been in contact with U.S. attorneys in Texas and the FBI field offices in the state to discuss enforcing the federal provisions. “The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack,” Garland said. “We will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services, physical obstruction or property damage in violation of the FACE Act.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
After unrelenting summer, Joe Biden looks to get agenda on track
The collapse of the Afghan government, a surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the delta variant, devastating weather events, a disappointing jobs report. What next? After a torrent of crises, President Joe Biden is hoping to turn the page on an unrelenting summer and refocus his presidency this fall around his core economic agenda. But the recent cascade of troubles is a sobering reminder of the unpredictable weight of the office and fresh evidence that presidents rarely have the luxury of focusing on just one crisis at a time. Biden’s unyielding summer knocked his White House onto emergency footing and sent his own poll numbers tumbling. “The presidency is not a job for a monomaniac,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss. “You have to be multitasking 24 hours a day.” Never has that been more true than summer 2021, which began with the White House proclamation of the nation’s “independence” from the coronavirus and defying-the-odds bipartisanship on a massive infrastructure package. Then COVID-19 came roaring back, the Afghanistan pullout devolved into chaos, and hiring slowed. Biden now hopes for a post-Labor Day reframing of the national conversation toward his twin domestic goals of passing a bipartisan infrastructure bill and pushing through a Democrats-only expansion of the social safety net. White House officials are eager to shift Biden’s public calendar toward issues that are important to his agenda and that they believe are top of mind for the American people. “I think you can expect the president to be communicating over the coming weeks on a range of issues that are front and center on the minds of the American people,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. “Certainly, you can expect to hear from him more on his Build Back Better agenda, on COVID and his commitment to getting the virus under control, to speak to parents and those who have kids going back to school.” During the chaotic Afghanistan evacuation, the White House was central in explaining the consequences of Biden’s withdrawal decision and the effort to evacuate Americans and allies from the country. Now, officials want to put the State Department and other agencies out front on the efforts to assist stranded Americans and support evacuees, while Biden moves on to other topics. It’s in part a reflection of an unspoken belief inside the White House that for all the scenes of chaos in Afghanistan, the public backs his decision, and it will fade from memory by the midterm elections. Instead, the White House is gearing up for a legislative sprint to pass more than $4 trillion in domestic funding that will make up much of what Biden hopes will be his first-term legacy before the prospects of major lawmaking seize up in advance of the 2022 races. On Friday, in remarks on August’s disappointing jobs report, Biden tried to return to the role of public salesman for his domestic agenda and claim the mantle of warrior for the middle class. “For those big corporations that don’t want things to change, my message is this: It’s time for working families — the folks who built this country — to have their taxes cut,” Biden said. He renewed his calls for raising corporate rates to pay for free community college, paid family leave, and an expansion of the child tax credit. “I’m going to take them on,” Biden said of corporate interests. While Biden may want to turn the page, though, aides are mindful that the crises are not done with him. Biden is planning to speak this week on new efforts to contain the delta variant and protect kids in schools from COVID-19. And his administration continues to face criticism for his decision to pull American troops from Afghanistan before all U.S. citizens and allies could get out. “President Biden desperately wants to talk about anything but Afghanistan, but Americans who are hiding from the Taliban, ISIS, and the Haqqani network don’t give a damn about news cycles, long weekends, and polling — they want out,” said Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska. He called on the Biden White House on Friday to provide a public accounting of the number of Americans and their allies still stuck inside Afghanistan. Biden also will soon be grappling with the fallout from the windup of two anchors of the government’s COVID-19 protection package: The federal moratorium on evictions recently expired, and starting Monday, an estimated 8.9 million people will lose all unemployment benefits. The president also is still contending with the sweeping aftereffects of Hurricane Ida, which battered the Gulf states and then swamped the Northeast. After visiting Louisiana last week, he’ll get a firsthand look at some of the damage in New York and New Jersey on Tuesday. Already, he is trying to turn the destruction wrought by the hurricane into a fresh argument for the infrastructure spending he’s been pushing all along, telling local officials in Louisiana, “It seems to me we can save a whole lot of money and a whole lot of pain for our constituents — if when we build back, we build it back in a better way.” According to White House officials, even as other issues dominated headlines, Biden and his team have maintained regular conversations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., about the president’s legislative agenda. His legislative team held more than 130 calls and meetings with members of Congress, their chiefs of staff, and aides on the infrastructure bill and spending package, and his administration has held over 90 meetings with legislative staff on crafting the reconciliation bill. Responding to concerns raised by pivotal Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., over the price tag on the roughly $3.5 trillion social spending package, White House chief of staff Ron Klain told CNN on Sunday that he was convinced that the Democrat was “very persuadable” on the legislation. Cabinet officials have also been engaged with lawmakers, officials said, and traveled to 80 congressional districts to promote the agenda across the country while Biden was kept in Washington. Biden, said Beschloss, may have
Alabama to use $12 million in relief funds to recruit nurses
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday reallocated $12.3 million of the state’s coronavirus relief funds to hire travel nurses to help state hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. The Republican governor announced the move as the state continues to see a surge in virus cases, straining hospital resources and staff. “I’m pleased to see more folks getting vaccinated, but we are still in the thick of COVID-19, and our hospitals are overwhelmed,” Ivey said in a statement. “The money is coming from the state’s share of CARES Act funds. Until our vaccination rates rise and our COVID-19 hospitalization rates fall, we will need the extra support these nurses provide.” Alabama on Thursday had 2,838 COVID-19 patients in state hospitals, a number just below the January pandemic peak of a little over 3,000. But the state has a record number of virus patients in intensive care, causing hospitals to convert other areas to make-shift intensive care units. The state has 1,541 staffed intensive care unit beds, but on Thursday had 1,661 patients receiving intensive care. More than half of the intensive care patients are people with COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated a nurse staffing crisis, sending U.S. hospitals into a competition for travel nurses and staff to handle the crush of patients this summer. Hospitals need more staff to handle the patient loads while some nurses have left because they are exhausted, taken lucrative travel jobs, or are out sick because they themselves are sick with COVID-19. Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery, like hospitals across the country, has turned to travel staff to fill positions. “It’s a national arms race for clinical talent,” CEO Peter Selman, said. He said the hospital is paying up to between $140 and $155 an hour to national staffing firms. “We’re at our most critical juncture for clinical staff, namely nurses and respiratory therapists and we have a heavy reliance on travel nurses.” The Alabama Hospital Association said there was already a nursing shortage in Alabama before the pandemic, but that after “18 months of grueling hours and emotionally draining work, the shortage has only worsened.” “The dedicated staff who continue to care for Alabamians with COVID-19 and those in need of other hospital services are simply overwhelmed and exhausted, and it’s time to send in some reinforcement,” the organization said in a statement. “This funding comes at a crucial time and will make a tremendous difference in increasing the nursing workforce in our state,” State Health Officer Scott Harris said in a statement. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
